Building a sustainable startup – perspective of a VC

PT Mandiri Capital Indonesia

2
Every startup should begin with a “Problem and Solution”
process, then start building the team

Find problems that have The solution should fit

not been solved yet or the problem and can be
still exists opportunities scaled!!!

Hacker
…your typical tech
heads who
Hustler
routinely appear
more machine Hipster ….the business
savvy person who
than human ….designers that
makes sure the
ensure the
company makes
product delivers
money
the best user
experience
The appropriate business model is critical to achieve
sustainability

Source: fourweekmba.com
Over time, startups will need investors that will bring them
to the next stage

Venture Capital, IPO,

Angel Investors
Strategic Investors Acquisitions
Seed Stage Early Stage Growth Late Stage
Stage

3F
TRACTION

3rd

2nd

Valley of Death Series A Series B Series C Series D, E, etc

Source: Bain Analysis, A.T. Kearney, MCI Analysis TIME & SERIES
 VCs look at different factors, depending on the stage of
the startup

Seed/
Early Stage

Founder Market Business Market Traction Strategic Fit

Team Potential Concept Competition

Growth Stage
 The valuation method commonly used by many VCs is
the comparable/multiples approach

Research comparable Determine the ratio Adjust the multiple

companies and their of their performance up or down
performance indicator: indicator and market depending on the
revenue, EBITDA, or value (usually market development of start-
GMV price) up or other factors
To conduct a valid multiples analysis, we need to obtain
information that is not publicly available
Metrics that we use for comparables:
• Ecommerce/Marketplace: GMV
• SaaS: # of customers, ARR/MRR
• Gaming: MAU/DAU, ARPU
• Fintech Lending: Loan Disbursed,
revenue, etc

Company GMV Valuation Multiple

Ecommerce A $35m $42m 1.2x
Ecommerce B $70m $77m 1.1x
Your Startup $20m $22-28m 1.1x-1.4x