• A Danish team who will help used car buyers search and find the best prices with the help of a sophisticated statistical algorithm
• A Danish / Russian team with an app platform which converts desktop games and applications to run in web browsers
• A Romanian team developing a green ad platform 
• An English / Portuguese / Danish team working to harness Facebook to improve movie marketing
• A Lithuanian team improving ad effectiveness through social media analytics
• A Danish / American team who is building a web based workflow solution for publication management
• An Argentinian / Italian team developing embeddable multi-platform mini app stores
• An Icelandic team who will make finding, comparing and applying to universities finally easy and painless
• A Latvian team building an online market place connecting long-tail car rental companies with bargain hunters
• A German / Nigerian team revolutionizing tailor made clothes purchasing for women

• Show me the demo!
  For god's sake, get to the demo!  When you're on your tenth presentation or discussion with the same marketing buzz words you just stop listening. Investors want to see what you can actually build.  If your prototype isn't ready, show something you've done before. If you're not a programmer give evidence of some success you've had in the past. 

• Never start with an apology or qualification
  "We're only early stage", "This is the first time we pitch".  You're never going to have the perfect conditions whether it's pitching to an investor or selling to a customer.  Investors know this so they're looking for evidence of your ability to make the best of what you've got.  Starting with a negative is just a bad start.

• Don't ask others to decide for you
  Never ask "should I do X…?" The investor doesn't know and it just demonstrates your indecision.  Open ended questions are really hard to bounce on.  Rather argue something strongly and let the investor react, you never know, you could start a great discussion.

• Don't make someone ask you "how can I help you?"
  Tom Keller introduced one team to a very senior connection at Disney and another to a totally relevant senior exec in New York so I know some teams got a lot of value - but in many cases he had to ask "so... how can I help you?".  Even if you're not raising funds, every quality investor you meet knows someone who can help your startup so don't waste the opportunity by not asking.

• Be different and/or aggressive
  At the end of a day with 15 back to back meetings, all the startups and entrepreneurs start to blend together.  Have you thought about what you're going to do to stand out? And how will you follow up the meeting? 

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 Go West young man or woman!

Every aspiring Danish entrepreneur with an idea that needs funding almost automatically turns his or her eyes towards the ecosystem of Danish venture capital firms. As a Copenhagen-based Danish lawyer who specialises in advising start-ups from the region in among other things fundraising, I often advise these entrepreneurs to think twice before they seek out Danish VC-money.

To get an idea off the ground, it is often necessary with only a relatively small amount to fund the basic needs to get the idea into some kind of alpha or even beta version. You need to have something to show, and that it is working in a way so that you can convince customers and others to back you. To get to that point and a little beyond, you will often as an entrepreneur have to bootstrap, and the money needed for that is often raised best by small bank loans, your personal savings, or by raising external funds from FFF (friends, family and fools), or from angel investors. Such external funds are often raised on the most advantageous terms from the people who are relatively close to you, either by relation or by geography.

It is my argument that the next round of financing, the first round of a serious amount of money from venture capitalists, would be best obtained from a truly international venture capitalist firm based in one of the VC centres of the world, ie. London, Boston or Silicon Valley. I would even argue that raising this often considerable amount of money between EUR 1 – 10m from a Danish VC would be counterproductive. Of course the money is always nice to have, and beggers can’t be choosers. But if you in any way as a start-up is in a position to raise funding outside of Denmark, you will be well advised to try so.

In my opinion, and I am sorry to say, Danish venture capitalist firms often do not contribute much more to the party than their money. Of course all Danish VCs employ highly intelligent and well-intended people but compared to the quality and the abilities of international venture capitalist firms, they are simply not in the same league. All too often a Danish VC will not understand, and thus in a qualified way not be able to challenge and improve the business idea, the technology and a market for the start-up. Almost never a Danish VC will have the international network of movers and shakers within the industry to really push the start-up forward in all the right venues and connections.

Admittedly, painting the picture black and white, getting first funding from a Danish VC will often mean that the start-up is put in some kind of limbo for the period of time that it takes to use up the funds. At best they will move forward in development of the product. At worst they will move nowhere for a crucial couple of years not capturing important customers, positioning them within new markets or changing their initial business models radically in due time as is often badly needed. And probably the worst thing is that they after a couple of years – without having moved considerably in the right direction – will have spent 20 – 30 per cent of their equity on funding, and a co-owner who has very little value to offer going forward. You effectively have a dead hand controlling a major part of your project.

Of course trying to raise funding from an international top quality venture capitalist firm is not easy. You are then competing in a global market not just in a small Danish market for funding. Therefore, my advice for start-ups to seek their first round of venture capital funding directly from abroad is only for those who are really ambitious, really talented and have great potential. That is the top tier of Danish entrepreneurs. For the second tier of ideas, among which there are of course also clever, dedicated, enthusiastic and worthwhile ideas, the Danish market for venture capitalist funding is much more suitable.

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Danish VC's can help you win!