Why the idea ofa safety net is bullshit

Dodoc:Why the idea of a safety net is bullshit

Founders: Federico Cismondi,

Carlos Boto, Paulo Melo

HQ:Boston, US

Edition of Lisbon Challenge: 2014

The essence of what they do: Medical and scientific writing made easier,

combining a simple interface with real time collaboration. They occupy the space

between Microsoft Word and Google Docs, enabling you to do everything in one platform with a neat, final layout.

Interviewee:Federico Cismondi (CEO)

Carlos, Paulo, and Federico met at MIT. They collaborated on a project and were eager to continue working together in one way or another.

However, they needed an idea. How they got there depends on the founder you talk to, but this is Federico’s version. Whilst doing his PhD, Federico participated in a competition on improving the submission of scientific articles. At the time, he was struggling to create tables using LaTeX, a system that has seen very little changes since the 70s.

It is required to use by most scientific journals, yet is not a user-friendly option. The “language is fantastic for rendering beautiful documents, but it takes a lot of work, you basically have to code.” The idea was to create an interface where the user simply inserts the input into a prespecified table without the need for coding.

It didn’t win, but the idea remained, and later resurfaced during a brainstorming session between the three founders.

Written byAmalie NaustdalCommunication Manager at Beta-i

All or nothing Two weeks later, they had a working prototype.

They decided to commit themselves fully to the project to

see if it could be something.

When you start a company, people typically say you need a safety

net, like a part-time job to fall back on. The truth is that’s bullshit.

They knew there are very few investors willing to invest in a

company where the founders are not fully invested in the

company. The Lisbon Challenge was the opportunity to take

the leap of fate. An opportunity to validate the idea with a

community of investors, mentors and potential customers.

Before entering Lisbon Challenge, they had agreed that if

no one showed interest they would quit the project. It was

the opposite.

Lisbon Challenge & Techstars The team went through three different accelerators. During

Lisbon Challenge, they polished their presentation skills. This

proved a useful skill, as a founder you are always pitching.

To customers, investors, business partners, and employees.

Yet, the most important aspect of the program was the

community and network that came along with it. He asserts

“I think it has been the best-organised accelerator process

we’ve been to, compared to BGI and even Techstars”.

He continues, “I’m not sure how Beta-i did it.” During the

Lisbon Challenge they had the typical 14 hour-day of an

entrepreneur. They worked from 8 in the morning till 10 at

night and would go out with the rest of the batch, including

mentors, until 4 in the morning.

Work hard, play hard was definitely our motto. Actually, it was the

motto followed by all the companies in that batch.

Afterwards, ‘they practically killed themselves’

Dodoc: Why the idea of a safety net is bullshit

to get into Techstars. Federico compares the chances of getting accepted to that of the Ivy League schools in the US. Yet, the effort was worth it. They were accepted as the first Portuguese startup. The most important learning was how to fundraise the American way, a vital skill when expanding the business.

You learn to sit with a person and ask for a check without blinking

an eye.

It’s all about the communityIn every success story there is an element of luck, but more

important than luck is the community. A community to give

advice, that won’t just give you the shit talk, but tell it to you

straight. Also, access to mentors who know the industry or

have experience in something similar.

It is something very interesting about the definition of a company

in Portugal. It’s an entity that is supposed to have some sort of

social role. You’re in the middle of nowhere without the community.

One of the main challenges the team faced was the lack

of community in Boston. They didn’t have the relationships

needed, with mentors, customers or business partners. Now,

why would they decide to go to Boston with an already

established community in Lisbon? The answer is simple:

proximity to customers and prospects. 11% of the global

investment in pharma is concentrated in Boston. The potential

for a community is immense, walk 1 block from the office and

you’re at Pfizer, walk 1 block the other direction and you’re

at AstraZeneca.

You meet some people, talk to them for a couple of seconds and

ideas are immediately triggered.

Dodoc: Why the idea of a safety net is bullshit

Trial and errorWhen asked what they should have done differently,

Federico asserts that they took too long to hire people.

They were too concerned with hiring the wrong person.

The difference between someone from a technical background

and someone from a business background is your reaction to

failure. Business people don’t give a fuck.

The problem is you don’t learn unless you fail. And to

fail, you have to try. If you’re concerned with finding

the best first employee, you are going to search for

a long time and miss the learning curve for how you

should search for the best people. If you’re wrong,

that’s ok. You will know better next time.

Feeling the pressureQuoting his dad, Federico asserts that pressure is the

feeling that a person with three hungry kids and no

income feels. They didn’t have kids but felt the pressure

from not having a stable income.

We had zero money, we had savings that started draining, but

we were absolutely convinced that we could build something

successful. Sounds like a motivational speech, but it was like that.

Not only that, they felt three additional pressures

arising. After a while, it is no longer an idea, it’s a

company who people depend on.

Suddenly, they were using money that didn’t belong to

them and felt the pressure to make the best possible

use of that money. They also felt the pressure of having

employees, to pay their salaries at the end of the month.

Not to mention, the pressure from having customers,

to deliver a reliable product that the customers can

depend on.

The most important assetThe founders’ proudest accomplishment is the team,

‘without them absolutely nothing would be possible’.

When talking about the team, Federico sounds like a

proud dad talking about his kids. What was surprising

to hear is Paulo leaving the company less than a

month ago. Typically this occurs when the company

isn’t doing well, or when there is an exit. This time it’s

neither. The company is thriving and they have no

plans for an exit.

What is next?Currently, their focus is on building use cases in pharma

to prove the value and complete the sales process.

Yet, expanding to other industries is on the horizon,

with new partnerships being created with companies

such as Microsoft, SAP and Intralinks, and sales

representatives working on a contract basis in the oil

and gas sector. In terms of product, they have plans to

extrapolate the concept into other areas. The product

can be used for any application where you need to

present information, such as excel and powerpoint.

They need to make the product robust, but flexible

enough to accommodate future changes. In terms of

customers, their goals is to complete certain milestones

to prove that they can scale up. Their hopes for the

future is to become success stories on the likes of

Uniplaces or Feedzai. To achieve this, they believe the

missing piece is learning to become sales machines.

Or as they call it: ‘Sales Terminators’ and they are

already on a good way.

www.lisbon-challenge.com

Why the idea ofa safetynet is bullshit