Fundraising is a difficult process. According to Nikola Komes from the Croatian startup InsiderCX, every day a new fire breaks out that you have to extinguish and then get to your day-to-day working, so fundraising took (at least) five months of his time to close the round. But what’s the secret? “You realign yourself and make the best out of it”, then you secure a 500k investment from a VC fund you meet at Podim.
Curious to read his startup’s story? Read on.
InsiderCX operates a patient experience platform, catering specifically to healthcare providers aiming to enhance service. It revolves around feedback collection, delivering a consistent flow of insights sourced directly from patients. It empowers healthcare providers to make informed decisions, track performance across various locations and departments, and actively engage with patients post-therapy. Established in late 2020, InsiderCX prides itself on revolutionizing the healthcare landscape by prioritizing patient-centric strategies for healthcare quality.
“At Podim, I prioritized all the VCs and scheduled as many meetings as possible”
InsiderCX initially received funding from DAfund early last year, allowing them to test their product and reach more customers in the healthcare field. After gaining traction and breaking even midway through this year, they stepped up their fundraising efforts.
Podim was a huge stepping stone in their direction towards success, as it allows startups to schedule an unlimited number of one-on-one meetings with investors (and vice versa) to explore collaboration opportunities.
According to Nikola, fundraising is a lot like a sales process and its funnel – you have to fill it with a lot of quality contacts at the top to get interested investors at the bottom of the funnel, which can be quite time-consuming.
“Usually, it would take me at least two months to schedule 50ish meetings with investors, but Podim was a place where I had my buyers all in one place at the same time.” he highlights a game-changing opportunity where, within two days, he had access to a concentrated pool of potential investors actively engaged in their stage of growth.
“My guys from the sales department would trade anything to have the opportunity to have 50 qualified buyers in one place and speak to them one-on-one” said Nikola on Podim’s Deal Room meetings.
They met various investors at Podim, and their recent funding from Silicon Gardens, received a few weeks ago and worth €500k, is a big step forward for their startup in growing their healthcare technology business.
The goal is to reach some traction and market validation outside the region
Nikola outlined their strategic plans following their €500k euro investment, primarily aimed at expanding their market reach beyond the current region for enhanced traction and market validation, eyeing the UK and Germany.
Additionally, a part of the investment will secure a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to address any technical debts. This move aims to streamline the platform’s functionality, aligning their product vision seamlessly with technical enhancements.
Podim: a place to feel the vibrancy of the startup scene and get feedback
This is not the first year at Podim for their startup. While Nikola’s focus in the prior year centered more on engaging with various sessions on stages, this year’s approach leaned heavily towards Deal Room meetings.
He highlighted the conference’s significant value for him and his team. It provided a vibrant platform to grasp the pulse of the startup scene. Nikola emphasized the learning curve in understanding how others marketed their ideas and capitalized on opportunities.
Most memorable was the feedback from uninterested VCs, “Every single one of them had feedback that I could I could learn. Usually, they would say, ‘This is bullshit. I don’t believe this’. So I needed to take a step back and see how to be great at communicating this more efficiently because the way that I put it, they were just not buying it”.
“Unless you’re doing something really wrong, you will get some results”
Speaking to Nikola, he told us why startups should apply to Podim, emphasizing the opportunity to break out of the bubble that often characterizes startup life. It’s about hearing or seeing diverse approaches to products and communication strategies via the Podim Marketplace, often finding relevant insights from unrelated startups that could be easily applied.
Networking with relevant stakeholders of the ecosystem is a breeze and Podim’s educational stage program offers seasoned entrepreneurs’ experiences of overcoming obstacles and successfully navigating similar hurdles, offering inspiration for startups on their journey.
“You will need to face 99 rejections to get one ‘yes’, but unless you’re doing something really, really wrong, you will get some results” Nikola concluded.
