NetSolid Investments FAQ

About fund

• Who are we? About NetSolid Investments.
  We are a Ukraine-based investment fund. Our company invests money and expertise in digital marketing, IT and traffic projects to help young businesses become leaders in their niche as well as on the global stage. Details.
• What is the purpose of the fund?
  Our purpose is to help talented leaders and entrepreneurs reach a whole new level by creating highly profitable digital marketing businesses. We find talented entrepreneurs and promising projects and share with them the formula for a profitable business: mentorship, expertise and resources. Our aspiration is to:

  • Create the largest hub of digital marketing businesses.
  • Ensure that each project is a leader in its niche internationally.
• Is your company different from the classic VC and PE funds?
  We represent a young and ambitious generation of funds of the state-of-the-art European format. Unlike traditional venture capital funds, we invest in growth-oriented businesses not just money, but also SMART money in the form of operational and marketing expertise. After all, we ourselves have come a long way: from the idea to profitable projects and businesses. Our company is constantly expanding its range of expertise to provide effective support to start-ups to become leaders in their niches. In addition, we differ from classical funds by being selective with regard to the projects we are ready to work with. While Venture Capital invests primarily in early and growth-stage projects, Private Equity prefers mature companies. As far as our Fund is concerned, we have four investment programs designed for companies at various stages of their life cycle, including even the idea stage.
• What makes you so sure that a start-up has a better chance of success with you?
  The main thing is that we invest not only money but also expertise. We have our own experience in creating successful businesses and we are ready to share our knowledge and skills. We provide advice and assistance in starting and setting up business processes and teach you how to build a business. This means that we don’t just invest money in a project, but make every effort to make it work at its best.
• What is smart money?
  It is an external investment involving knowledge, cases and real expertise. This approach has a much higher value than just an infusion of funds. Smart money is a way for a start-up to attract all the resources it needs, not just funding. Through investor mentoring, the project gets the opportunity to identify growth points, create a strategy and cover key competencies.

Projects

• What kind of expertise do you have and in which areas?
  Our team includes professionals in financial and other operational activities: business organization, accounting, legislation, HR including recruitment. Our core business is digital marketing: SEO, and affiliate marketing. We have the technology services for this expertise, as well as our own experience in building successful companies from the ground up.
• Do you always work under the smart money concept or there is the option of purely financial investment without expertise available?
  We offer a smart money approach in the following cases:

  1. If we understand that our expertise will add value to the start-up and open up new opportunities.
  2. If the startup itself understands that there is a need for it.

  If the business has enough in-house expertise, a financial investment-only option is possible.
• Which projects are of interest to your fund?
  NetSolid Investments invests in start-ups with a market potential of over $1 billion. Our company focuses on the following niches:

  • Digital marketing;
  • Affiliate marketing;
  • Traffic products;
  • Marketplaces;
  • Platforms;
  • SaaS;
  • Apps;
  • Other IT products.

  This list is not exhaustive and much depends on the specifics of the project.
• What are the growth stages of start-ups?
  Every business goes through the following stages in its development:

  1. The idea, that is, the venture-building process. In this stage, there is a founder, a project description and business hypotheses, as well as a business plan and a detailed budget.
  2. Pre-seed. At this stage, there is already an established founding team, a minimum viable product (MVP), a financial model, and a short-term strategy for attracting the first real customers. We can invest up to $200,000.
  3. Seed. At this stage, there is already an established key team, with the product working and generating the first revenue. There is also a financial model, metrics for sales channels, and a medium-term strategy to achieve self-sufficiency and scaling. For such a business, we are ready to allocate an investment of up to $600,000.
  4. Series A and beyond. At this stage, there is already a functioning business with a functional team, growing revenues and a willingness to provide financial statements. The key needs of the company at this stage are: scaling and expansion, entering new markets, and achieving leadership positions. We can invest up to $1.5 million in such a company.

  We are open to cooperation with projects ranging from venture building to series A. We make each decision individually. Our help is not only in providing money, but also expertise: support with knowledge, skills and services (programs).
• At what stage (idea, MVP or product that is already running but not yet breaking even) can you be approached?
  You can apply to our fund for any stage of your business. The most important factor is that the founder has realized that he or she is ready for it.
• What requirements must an expert meet in order to receive investment from the Fund for a project at the Venture Building stage?
  We invest in professionals with an idea and expertise in the field they work in. Ideally, you should have a successful case (e.g. a person established as an employee). In addition, you have the desire to set up your own business and you have all the necessary soft skills.
• What is the best time to start your own project?
  When you already have the following:

  1.   Expertise, soft skills, a business idea, a successful case study.
  2.   A clear vision of the development of the project.
  3.   A researched market.
  4.   A detailed plan with a budget for at least a year.
• How is a Venture Building project estimated and what share will the Fund take as an investor?
  To begin with, there is no one-size-fits-all formula for calculating this. We follow the basic rule that the amount of investment depends on the growth stage of the startup. As a rule, the Fund aims for an equal partnership. When estimating a project, we take into account various factors, including the product, the niche, the project’s stage of growth, and the project’s key financial metrics.
• How does the Fund work with projects in the Venture Building stage?
  We provide assistance in the form of finance, and expertise as well as cover some of the immediate business issues so that the founders can focus on the things they are most competent at, such as the product, the hypothesis and the customers. So, the founders should deal with the product while we provide assistance with everything needed to set up the business. Then, as the startup develops, we find professional staff for some of the issues the funds cover and train the founder to manage the operational areas.
• Why should I attract investment when I can earn capital and do all the tasks myself (longer but with confidence)?
  Firstly, it is time that is the most valuable resource. Expertise helps start-ups grow much faster. Secondly, the smart money concept we use has a much higher value than just invested money. Smart money is strengthening business with expertise in the most important issues that are of strategic importance for further development. Thirdly, IT and digital marketing are areas where new ideas and technologies are born and deployed very rapidly. While you go it alone and slowly, your competitors will leave you years behind by attracting investment.
• How do you decide whether or not to invest in a particular project?
  The first prerequisite for choosing a project is that its founder must be the focus of our investment. Next, we evaluate the project using the following checklist:

  • The expertise and motivation of both the founder and his team, as well as their commitment to leadership.
  • An evidence-based business model and development strategy.
  • Exhaustive market and competitor analyses.

  If you fulfil all these requirements, get in touch with us! We are waiting for you!
• What investment conditions does your Fund offer?
  We are ready to be active investors, share our expertise and build partnerships.
• How exactly does your Fund get involved in project work?
  1) Analysis and completion of the strategy/budget; 2) Expertise assistance, e.g. in the following areas:

  • SEO: analyzing and developing a strategy, performance analysis and bottleneck assessment, competitive analysis, providing the necessary tools and services, connecting to the SEO community, setting up a team and setting up processes, etc.
  • Affiliate: organizing referrals, richouting, building relationships with affiliates, implementing analytics, providing commercial insights, setting up the team and setting up processes, etc.
  • Finance: organizing the financial architecture of the project, budgeting, dealing with debtors, accounting and reporting, etc.
  • Legal: setting up and supporting legal entities, drafting contracts with counterparties, registering intellectual property rights, obtaining licenses, etc.

  3) Run board meetings with founders and analyze the plan-fact of strategy implementation; 4) Analyze bottlenecks and opportunities in project development, and facilitate their solving and implementation.
• Who are you not invested in?
  Our NOs refer to the following: Founders looking to simply attract rounds of investment instead of doing business development. Projects in which we see no real value. Founders seeking to raise money to employ a team to get out of the business. Projects without a clear business model, strategy or plan.
• What are the operating principles of your Fund?
  We have the following approaches and principles of operation:

  • Transparency in partnership, honesty, responsibility and openness.
  • Exceptional quality of expertise. Each expert of our company provides services of the highest quality both to the Fund itself and to partner projects. We have assembled a team of the very best in their fields.
  • We do not divide projects into our own and others’ and therefore build each business as our own, as we are a part of it. We’re always willing to mentor and share our experience and we know how to synchronize our partners’ businesses with our team.
  • Proactive and development-oriented. We are always up to date: testing new services and concepts and introducing the most useful ones.
  • A judicious combination of human resources and technology. We are familiar not only with the strongest experts on the market but also with services and technologies to help set up business processes and develop products.
  • Mutually beneficial cooperation focusing on profits and implementation of effective ideas.

    All our projects are complementary and mutually reinforcing, thus forming a coherent ecosystem.
• What is the geography of your Fund and does the location of the project matter to you?
  In terms of market, our social expertise in digital marketing targets 60+ countries around the world. From the perspective of project location and team, we give priority to those located in Ukraine. However, the Fund also considers projects from other countries, in particular from Europe.
• Does the Fund have business and life values?
  Of course, like any proactive professional community, we have values expressed in the following:

  • We invest in talented experts and founders.
  • We do not engage in behind-the-scenes games and focus as much as possible on mutual benefit.
  • We aim to become a strategic partner for every start-up.
  • We give full trust and support to the businesses we cooperate with.
  • We focus on results, not process.
  • Information is king. Knowing how to manage and govern data is key to success.
  • We are always open to sharing knowledge.
• Which personalities and projects are a priority for your company?
  We are keen to work with:

  •   Talented and reliable founders and their teams who know everything about their start-up and market.
  •   Projects operating in areas we specialize in.

  ·   Professionals with a clear understanding of how to make their start-up the leader.
• What are the conditions for your participation as an investor in a business?
  Our level of participation in each project is determined individually and depends on the specifics of the project itself. Although there are no universal terms, we negotiate all the conditions of participation with the founders before the investment agreement is signed.  In fact, participation in a project is determined by the level of active involvement as partners and investors in a project. We have a general rule that we strictly adhere to: participation in a project depends on the level of its maturity, as well as the level of expertise of the team and the expertise needed to ensure the growth of the project.
• Can I find international investors through your assistance?
  Yes, we provide assistance in attracting both Ukrainian and foreign capital.

What if

• Is there any chance that my business idea will be stolen? How can I protect myself from such cases?
  We offer to sign non-disclosure agreements for each project. It makes sense if the project has an innovative component providing competitive advantages in the market. Also, keep in mind that the Fund has serious intentions and will not risk its reputation.
• Can I read feedback on NetSolid Investments?
  Yes, we can provide references upon request or introduce you to project founders.