In Instanbul, Deniz Tuncalp finds investors and startups and acts as an intermediary between them, connecting them to eliminate the barriers they may face to communicate or work effectively together. Throughout his presentation, he emphasizes the importance of scaling as without it investors will not invest in startups. He starts by noting that Malta is a good starting point for startups, going to Europe. He refers to the unique selling point as essential to show investors that your startup is scalable. They will want to invest when they understand the startups’ potential for growth, but it is more than that. Market size is a big factor because it is irrelevant to scale when operating in a small market, company size will remain small.
Thus, he points out the importance of having a businessperson mindset and qualities as well as being able to reach economies of scale. With previous reference to the unique selling point, if the business can be copied competitors will easily enter the market. By decreasing unit cost, barriers can be built against potential competitors. This goes along with changing key performance indicators along the way to give a better picture of unit economies.
The 3 aspects to focus on for the firm’s value chain to decrease its unit costs:
• Consolidate your size for purchasing advantages as you grow.
• Improve management structure of the firm. Focus on skill and learning.
• Manage your firm’s core technology for achieving lower unit costs.
He moves away from using the traditional business model canvas but expands on the necessity of choosing one out of 14 business models that best fit your company. Popularity of business models change thus they cannot all be adopted by specific companies.
