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]]>A Funderbeam exclusive interview with Thomas Padovani. He is an entrepreneur and investor. Thomas co-founded the Webinfluence Group in 2007, then went on to found the globally successful online media advertising platform Adcash. Stepping back from the Adcash CEO position in 2018, Thomas now focuses on building and investing in new aspiring startups with growth opportunities. Now he is a lead investor for Punch Drinks funding campaign.
As an early stage investor, what questions do you always ask when looking at a business and its management team?
The thing is that I have been through the same stage as they would experience during their growth, therefore it’s quite natural to ask yourself what I would do if I would be in their shoes at the moment. Seeing similarities, affinities, or familiar behavior is something that would make you confident to make the investment.
BUT! That’s not enough, bringing things too close to your heart will lead to emotions. Emotions are very important; but decisions resulting strictly from our emotions can lead to mistakes. This is what Elon Musk calls “wishful thinking”.
More rationally, going through these stages also brought me a lot of experience that I’m using to understand, in a better way, the challenges that the team will face.
Sectors are different; but challenges can be categories in the same way. The industry, the people, the regulation, the trends, and the economic situation. Financials and business plans are important in the rational part of the decision making.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned in investing in early-stage companies?
Two words, “Human factor”. Focusing only on the potentials that the market is giving or the financial data at a certain point give a shortened and misleading overview. Bottom line the humans behind the idea, concept, businesses are the ones that will make the mistakes, and there, nothing is taken for granted. Pick the right humans with the right ideas.
Are you sector agnostic when it comes to making investments as long as they meet your criteria?
We have usually a preference for SaaS and Softwares, but we are looking as well in a wider range of opportunities.
What is the tipping point to you when you decide in favour of investing?
The momentum is basically between Company potential/growth versus current valuation.
Can you tell us about some of your favourite companies in your portfolio?
What areas do you think will present the most opportunity for early-stage investors over the next 18–24 months?
Softwares, health, entertainment, finance.
Where are you seeing the most exciting early stage opportunities? What are the ‘ones to watch’/ most currently underrated?
Estonia provides quite a lot of opportunities for investors in different sectors.
What are your fears as an investor?
Human Factor as described earlier
A book to read or a blog or podcast to follow…
How did you discover Funderbeam?
Through media coverage and successful fundraising of the start-up that was looking at.
What is Funderbeam to you?
A good tool for a start-up to get known and raise funds.
1) If you could be a founder/CEO of any company in the world, what would this be and why?
IKEA, because the model is close to perfection.
2) Would you like to win the Nobel prize, Oscar or Olympic gold medal? Why?
None of the listed above but 1st position at 24h of Le Mans would be a great achievement.
Why? Because after all we love winning and all entrepreneurs must be competitors in their soul.
3) If there’s 1 question in the world where the universe provides you the correct answer, then what would this question be?
What happens after we die.
1) What’s your superpower or secret sauce, how do you help your companies?
As an investor, we must first help people not investing in companies that we believe will not work. It saves time for every one.
Otherwise, when we invest in a company we share our contacts, experience, and whatever is necessary but we don’t interfere. We provide the fuel when necessary the engine is the team.
Article source and credits by Funderbeam. Visit the original article here
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]]>The post Adcash founders invested in Estonian beverage manufacturer to produce disinfectants during the crisis. appeared first on Bellone Invest.
]]>Estonian beverage manufacturer Punch Drinks started manufacturing disinfectants in order to help contain the spread of COVID-19 virus in Estonia. The sanitizers are available in e-shop, Bolt Food and soon pharmacies across Estonia.
„In the light of the corona virus we decided that it is our duty to help our country and people in these difficult times. We had the production capacity and capability, so shifting temporarily our strategy seemed the only reasonable thing to do,“ said Kristjan-Walter Kask, the CEO of Punch Drinks.
Punch Drinks, whose main products are organic craft soft drinks and cocktails, quickly familiarized themselves with the regulations and requirements needed for the disinfectant manufacturing and rearranged their current production processes. “We didn’t hesitate in the production for a second, but were dependent on how we could obtain the needed permits and certificates. We’re glad that the Health Board was on board from the minute we contacted them and fastened the bureaucratic processes to issue the certificates,” explained Kask. He added that Punch Sanitizers are officially approved by the Health Board, for which the biocidal product registration has been issued.
Entrepreneurs share the responsibility to help during crisis
To increase the production capability, Thomas Padovani together with the Webinfluence Group and Bellone Invest made a quick investment decision, when heard that Punch Drinks wanted to expand their activity. “I strongly believe that all entrepreneurs have a responsibility to help to fight this virus, if possible. We appreciate Punch Drinks’s commitment to contribute to the community and safety of all of us,” explained Thomas Padovani. He added that even though they currently invested to help to increase the production of sanitizers, they see great potential of Punch Drinks becoming a strong player. “The ambitions of Punch are strong in our region. There is a clear market demand for organic crafted drinks elaborated by top bar tenders,” noted Padovani.
Padovani brought out that during the crisis they try to be there for all their current investments and partners to go through the crisis together. “Nobody knows at the moment how deep the fall will exactly be. One could never imagine that the world and economy could be paused like this, so this is completely a new situation. Therefore, we do our best to help to ease the situation for our partners,” said Padovani.
Available in e-shop, Bolt Food and pharmacies
Punch Sanitizer antiseptic sprays effectively kill bacteria, yeasts, mold and viruses. In addition, the product is colourless and fragrance-free, and suitable for both professional and home use. “Today we are able to produce around 4000L of sanitizers a day, but we hope to increase that up to 6000L a day. We do our best to ensure the supply of raw materials, which is very unpredictable in today’s circumstances,” said Kask.
He noted that if they find a partner abroad they could also start exporting. “At the moment we have the biocidal product permit only for Estonia and currently there is no single Estonian company who has been listed as biocidal producers abroad. If we find a partner, who would have needed licenses, then we would be ready to export,” explained Kask.
Currently the sanitizers are sold in Punch Drinks e-shop in different sizes and quantities, but soon also available in Bolt Food and pharmacies. “We have sealed a deal with Magnum Medical, which means that our sanitizers will be available in pharmacies across Estonia. We’re actively searching for new retailers to make the product available to all citizens and companies in need,” stressed Kask. He added that their goal is not to earn easy income during the crisis and therefore have kept their pricing reasonable and competitive.
Additional information: https://punch-drinks.com/sanitizer
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