Antler blog.
Whatever it fucking takes.
Jesper Buch
Reflecting Today is the last day of the first weekend after the final pitch. It is weird being caught between anticipation and uncertainty. It is probably best to proceed as if we've already secured the investment while awaiting the outcome. With little on the agenda today, I decided to go outside and watch the Copenhagen Marathon. It felt like watching the marathon I have been through myself for the past weeks, with the finish line still uncertain. The waiting game is killing me, but there's ...
Previous Days
Day 83 - Resting
Taking a Break The past few days have taken a toll on me. Since last Sunday, I've been battling a slight cold that just won't seem to go away. I attribute it to our intense focus on the pitch, leaving me with no opportunity to take a day off or leave work early. That's why I've deliberately kept m...
Day 82 - Investment Committee
The Moment of Truth Today is the day we've been waiting for - the culmination of 12 weeks of hard work. At 15:30, we'll stand before the Antler Investment Committee, where they'll determine whether we are worthy of their investment. The stakes couldn't be higher. Being the last to pitch meant a l...
Day 81 - Getting Ready
Final Preparations Today is the last day before the final pitch. As we reviewed our presentation, there were some slides that still need polishing, particularly the videos in my section. Fortunately, pitch.app agreed to provide us with a free demo of their premium features, allowing us to integrat...
Day 80 - Security and Economics
Security Insight My day began by visiting the . Although the event spans two full days, given the upcoming final pitch, I opted to attend only this morning. It turned out to be a wise decision; while there were interesting talks and companies present, dedicating two full days would have been too m...
Day 79 - Getting Ready
Tuning the Pitch Deck Today was dedicated to polishing our pitch deck. We did not know when the investment committee would review our slides, so having a polished version online was important. While the overall structure and content had been in place for days, the devil lay in the details. Especia...
Day 78 - Marketing
Strategic Growth Planning Today was all about setting our strategy for initial growth. We discussed our positioning, marketing approach, and the potential role of a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Determining when to onboard this team member, along with the ideal qualifications and terms, is a chal...
Day 77 - Sunday
Sunday As the month comes to its end, it's time to tackle the bookkeeping tasks. However, I also wanted to enjoy the pleasant weather while it lasts. With a demanding week ahead, it's essential to carve out some personal time before the final sprint begins. The past few days remind me of my school...
Day 76 - Weekend
Relaxing weekend I had nothing planned for today. An intense week coming up, culminating in the final investor committee pitch next Friday. It will be a make-or-break moment for our company, underscoring the importance of fine-tuning every aspect. While we have a robust team and pitch, there's alw...
Day 75 - Last Pitch Test
The Pitch The day started off with our final pitch rehearsal for Venato before the upcoming Investment Committee presentation. While the pitch went smoothly, there's always room for improvement. I aim to trim my segment by about 30 seconds to allow Kendal more time to delve into the business aspec...
Day 74 - Getting Ready for IC
Insights from an Expert I began the day with a feedback session led by Aja, a marketplace expert with hands-on experience in building and scaling platforms in Denmark. Her insights into our integrations and unit economics were perfect for refining our approach, both for the upcoming presentation a...
Day 73 - Meetings
Tax Insights Today kicked off with a masterclass on taxation law, hosted by in collaboration with KPMG. The session perfectly matched our needs, covering topics such as Taxation on Exit, Holding Companies, Ownership Agreements, Stock Options & LL7p, Capitalization and Reporting, VAT Essentials, B...
Day 72 - Working
Gathering the Team With Kendal back from Spain, the day started with a team session to review the progress made over the past few days. Kendal shared her work on refining our pitch and key focus areas for the upcoming days. We also discussed strategies for kickstarting our marketing efforts to cap...
Day 71 - New Week
Listing Automation Today was dedicated to exploring our options for automating the listing process on DBA. As mentioned previously, DBA doesn't provide API access for external developers, requiring alternative approaches. The most viable solution appears to be a browser extension, a method used by...
Day 70 - Back to Copenhagen
Wrapping Up Today concluded the festival and my trip back to Copenhagen took most of the day. Before leaving I spent time at the retro gaming area, where I got my hands on an original N64 with Star Wars: Rogue Squadron! The nostalgia hit me hard, and the game proved to be just as challenging as I ...
Day 69 - Gamebox Festival
Recharging Today was a day with no set agenda. I planned to immerse myself in the festival atmosphere and simply enjoy the experience without feeling the need to be productive. Given that this event combines both a festival and a LAN party, there were plenty of activities to engage in. I rediscove...
Day 68 - Happy Friday
Refining Design This morning, Riccardo and I refined the design he's been working on for the past few days. While he's made significant progress, having a second pair of eyes on the task is always beneficial. As our features become more detailed with each iteration, it's crucial for the design to ...
Day 67 - APIs
Exploring APIs Today was dedicated to exploring potential APIs for our company. We aim to facilitate cross-listing among various marketplaces, with eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and DBA being among the most crucial ones. While we already have access to eBay, we decided to investigate integrating ano...
Day 66 - Networking Day
Green Light Today we got early feedback on our pitch, fortunately, most teams have to wait until tomorrow. We received a green light! This means we'll be presenting to the official Investment Committee in two weeks, on Friday, May 3rd. Yes!! While we were hopeful for a green light, certainty is ne...
Day 65 - Pre-IC Pitch
The Pitch Finally, the day has arrived. It's our last pre-Investment Committee pitch before the real deal. While it might sound like a rehearsal, passing this pitch is required to secure our spot in front of the real investors in a few weeks. So, contrary to its name, the stakes are high. Failing ...
Day 64 - Pitch Preparation
Fine-tuning the Pitch Today, our main focus was polishing up the pitch for tomorrow's presentation. I dedicated most of my time to reviewing the prototype, ensuring that the details were in place, and creating necessary videos to complement the presentation. Additionally, I updated the "next steps...
Day 63 - Chill Sunday
Recharging It's the end of the week, and I decided to dedicate Sunday to some much-needed chores like vacuuming, cleaning, shopping, and doing laundry. I also took the opportunity to inspect my broken laptop, but unfortunately, even after disassembling and cleaning it, it still would not stay on f...
Day 62 - Work Saturday
Working Day at BLOX Today, I aimed to make significant progress to free up time for presentation preparation on Monday. I headed to BLOX in the morning, inviting others to join via the Antler Slack channel. To sweeten the deal, I brought pastries along. Unfortunately, no one else showed up, so I h...
Day 61 - End of week 9
Refining our Pitch Today began with pitch training, presenting a challenge as Kendal had to stay home to care for sick children. This meant she had to deliver the presentation remotely, and we couldn't rehearse beforehand. Unfortunately, this lack of preparation showed during the session. We stru...
Day 60 - Focus Thursday
Expanding the Prototype Today was all about putting the finishing touches on the prototype before recording the website for tomorrow's test pitch. Despite some major sections still being incomplete, I managed to wrap everything up just in time. A significant update was the reworking of the dashboa...
Day 59 - Working
A Regular Office Day Today was just another day at the office. We kicked off by reviewing the design work Riccardo has completed, laying the groundwork for him to start working on a high-fidelity prototype for our upcoming pre-IC pitch. It took some time to go through the details, as many decision...
Day 58 - Google Hackathon
Hacking Today was the day of the Google Hackathon, an entire day dedicated to us technical founders. We gathered at Google's office, diving straight into coding. Surrounded by the other CTOs, it struck me how we, as developers, often remain behind the scenes while CEOs are much more visible. Ther...
Day 57 - Expanding the Team
Diving into Investment Terms Today started with a session about the investment terms and conditions of investments from Antler, something we are working so hard towards to. The session reiterated what I had read with prior to joining the program, nonetheless, it made sense to to spend an hour ensu...
Day 56 - Creative Sunday
Finding an Image Service Today, I dedicated time to researching image upload solutions for our app. My goal is to find a solution that's free, at least for now. However, this poses a challenge as most services start charging early on. While Google Cloud or AWS S3 are popular choices, I'm hesitant ...
Day 55 - Walking
Strong Mind in a Strong Body Last year, a good friend of mine challenged me to run a half marathon this year. Considering I've never run more than 10k before, this is quite the challenge. I stumbled upon an event on Facebook some time ago: , the perfect opportunity to try the distance. So, I got u...
Day 54 - Friday
Every Unit Counts Today started off with an Antler-hosted session on Unit Economics. LTV, CAC, AOV, AGM, ALT and more. Since most underlying numbers are not available to us yet, it felt a bit like reverse math: you set a target and work backward to make the numbers align. Given that we're still in...
Day 53 - Reflecting
Persistence My laptop didn't miraculously repair itself overnight, so it's still randomly shutting while using it. Working on it feels incredibly frustrating, but with tasks to complete and no easy replacement in sight, I'm pushing through while I still can. On the bright side, I have rarely been ...
Day 52 - Pre-IC II
The Pitch We kicked off the morning with the pre-IC pitch, as one of the first teams. It went smoothly. We managed to keep the presentation within the given time limit, covering everything we had planned. Moreover, the questions from the panel weren't as tough as we had feared; we managed to respo...
Day 51 - Back for Pitching
Returning to Copenhagen Today I returned to Copenhagen after a relaxing break spent in Flensburg with family and friends. It was a refreshing change to spend time with people outside my Antler cohort, although I found myself explaining Venato repeatedly. However, this practice might prove benefici...
Day 50 - Asset Management
Assets! Today was all about integrating the first basic version of assets into the platform. Now, users can create simple assets after logging in and view them on a dashboard. While it's still a bit rough around the edges, seeing user-generated content on the platform is incredibly motivating. We'...
Day 49 - Easter
Easter Sunday Today marked my second consecutive day off, something I haven't done since New Year's. It felt a bit strange, but it was definitely needed. I started the day by enjoying brunch with good childhood friends and later spent the evening with my dad. While it wasn't the most productive da...
Day 48 - Saturday
Easter Break I've decided to take a break this weekend, so there won't be any Venato-related updates. As a result, my posts will be brief. A Clean Slate Since relocating to Copenhagen, my old room at my dad's house has served as storage for all my belongings. While it's not frequently used, the ...
Day 47 - Website Updates
Progress Today, I pushed many of the changes planned for this week into production. These updates include: - Updated Colors: I started the development of a streamlined color theme. - Updated Name: The new name, Venato, is now used across all pages. - Updated Landing Page: The page features a hero...
Day 46 - Code Struggles
Error Today, I was haunted by coding errors. While I'm well-versed in React, integrating a to me less familiar framework like Next.js can be a challenge. The official documentation is thorough, finding help on other platforms is tricky, especially because I am using the relatively new app router. ...
Day 45 - Getting mobile
Farewell Snappy While researching content for our slides, we stumbled upon numerous products and services named Snappy on the web. Moreover, we've shifted away from the initial idea of developing a cross-listing tool, instead focusing on evaluating the value of users' items from purchase to resale...
Day 44 - New Landing Page
Crafting the Landing Page Today was dedicated to working on the landing page from dawn till dusk. It always surprises me how much time goes into creating even a basic webpage with essential information. Each element, from conception to execution, demands at least 30 minutes, and before you know it...
Day 43 - New Look
Delving into Code A day free from meetings - a coder's dream. I had been looking forward to this opportunity to translate our paper sketches into functioning elements on a website. However, my excitement soon turned into frustration as I encountered a roadblock early on. After reorganizing some fi...
Day 42 - Visiting Family
Family Time Today began with a journey back to Germany to celebrate my dad's birthday. With Easter approaching and the office largely closed, I've planned to spend the entire next week in Germany. Besides celebrating Easter with friends and family, it's an opportunity to unpack all my belongings t...
Day 41 - Networking at a Lan
LAN Today was the big LAN day at . I know the owner well and was fortunate enough to receive an invitation. This wasn't your ordinary LAN party; it was a gathering for entrepreneurs. Networking while playing Counter-Strike? It sounds unconventional, but why not? It's a unique opportunity to observ...
Day 40 - Aarhus
Working Remote Today, I kicked off the day from a different office in preparation for an event in Aarhus tomorrow. It made sense to arrive here early and work remotely. Fortunately, I still have good connections in Aarhus, allowing me to work from a super nice office. While I sometimes wish Antler...
Day 39 - Focus Thursday
Planning Today was dedicated to creating a plan for the upcoming Easter week. I'll be heading to Aarhus for the rest of this week, and next week, I'll spend time at my dad's house in Flensburg, Germany. Additionally, we've begun recruiting interns for our startup. While it may seem early in our jo...
Day 38 - Pitch Practice
Pitch, Pitch, Pitch This morning was dedicated to refining our pitch deck for a second run. Although we had 2 minutes extra for the pitch, we also added more slides, making it challenging to cover everything within the given timeframe. Since our last pitch, we've slightly shifted our focus from a ...
Day 37 - Mapping It Out
Abstract to Concrete A day without meetings? Amazing. We seized the opportunity to align our vision and outline the steps to achieve it. We mapped out various paths and agreed on the best route to the next pre-IC, just two weeks away. We're aiming for a green light this time, so every moment is pr...
Day 36 - Doubling Down
Pitch Training We kicked off the day with a three-hour workshop on crafting and delivering the perfect pitch. I appreciated the approach; we began by defining our unique value proposition, anchoring our pitch around it. Using the SPIN framework: Situation, Problem, Implication, Need -followed by P...
Day 35 - Landing Page
Getting Ready Sunday, another day of uninterrupted work. I decided to head to BLOX this morning to change scenery and get some fresh air. The plan was to prepare a landing page with some dummy text so that by Monday next week, we could start incorporating real content and have a page ready to redir...
Day 34 - eBay API
Hello eBay Today, I had planned to take it slow, enjoying the weekend and the pleasant weather. According to the local forecast, it was the warmest day of the year so far, reaching up to 12 degrees Celsius. Sadly, it's expected to cool down again quickly, with temperatures barely above freezing po...
Day 33 - Friday!
120% Some say starting a business is like running a marathon. Others say it is like running a marathon every single day. While I'm not quite at that level yet, I did manage to complete my first 10k run since pre-corona times. It's incredibly motivating to see how quickly one can progress with a so...
Day 32 - Networking
Focus Thursday Today, my calendar was surprisingly empty. There were no Antler-organized meetings scheduled at all, only a follow-up meeting with Ørsted, which we were invited to after winning their hackathon. The plan was to finally dive into writing some code for the prototype we agreed upon yes...
Day 31 - A Full Month
Time flies It's been 31 days since I joined the Antler program—already a full month. It's incredible how swiftly time flies when your calendar is packed with meetings and events. However, it's also a bit daunting; today marks the first full month without any form of income. While I have savings, I...
Day 30 - The Pitch
Pitching Marathon Seventeen pitches, each with a 5-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. I don't think I've ever seen such an amount of pitches, covering such a diverse array of topics. From curing eye cancer to virtual power plants to AI for mental health—it was a mind-blowing. Provi...
Day 29 - Pitch Prepping
The Product Today was dedicated to preparing for tomorrow's pitch. However, before we could think about the pitch, we needed to define our product. This was quite a challenge considering our product is still in its infancy. Every question we answered spawned three more questions, making it difficu...
Day 28 - Working Sunday
Closed Office, Open Mind This Sunday, I opted for a change of scenery and headed to BLOX to tackle the tasks I've fallen behind on, ensuring a productive start to the upcoming week. To my surprise, BLOX had turned off the lights and heating for the day, creating a less comfortable environment than...
Day 27 - Thinking
Thinking Today was a quiet day, which I dedicated to thinking about how we could create a remarkable company. With so many potential directions to explore, it's easy to feel lost. I recently received a detailed report on future trends, and I seized the opportunity to spend the day reading and refl...
Day 26 - Tracking Out
Go-To-Market We started the day with a presentation on various go-to-market strategies. It was interesting to learn how established companies have applied these strategies to efficiently enter their markets and achieve significant growth. While the strategies themselves were not groundbreaking, ha...
Day 25 - Nordic Gathering
Hello Nordics Today was the big day of the Nordic gathering, where the other cohorts came to Denmark so we could meet and greet the people from Norway, Sweden, and Finland. We kicked off a full day of networking with a founders' breakfast where we all had the chance to chat. It was great to finall...
Day 24 - Focus Wednesday
Cultivating Health and Creativity Yesterday, I took the initiative to join the local gym. Despite resuming my running routine this week after a two-week break, the freezing temperatures made outdoor running unbearable. Given that is conveniently located just across the street, opting for an indoo...
Day 23 - Lunar Case Competition
Reconnecting with Colleagues Today we had the final case competition, held in collaboration with Lunar at their office. Fortunately, I knew one of their employees, providing the perfect opportunity to catch up and gain some insider insights into the company before the official kickoff. One of the ...
Day 22 - Tracking Out
Week 4 Kickoff Today marks the beginning of the fourth week. We started with a session on validation, diving into the crucial task of ensuring that our startup idea truly addresses a market need. While we had talked about the different validation methods before, it was a welcome refresher to get t...
Day 21 - Chill Sunday
Exploring the Neighborhood This morning, I took a stroll around my new neighborhood. It's conveniently located, just a few minutes' walk from the office, supermarkets, and a fitness center. Plus, being close to the canals means I can go for a run whenever I need to clear my head. ABN: Always Be...
Day 20 - No Work Saturday
Farewell, Next House After spending the past few weeks at the , I finally found a room. Today marks the day of my move, bidding farewell to the place that has been my home for the last three weeks. It's been a better experience than I anticipated; the people have been easy to live with, the hostel...
Day 19 - Friday Week 3
Another Week Gone Today kicked off with a "Devil's Advocate" version of pitch your problem. The goal was to critically analyze them, pinpointing potential areas of weakness. My team pitched two ideas to gather input on their shortcomings. It was a valuable session, though I wished people would hav...
Day 18 - Focus Thursday
Prototyping It's Focus Thursday! Finally, a whole day without meetings. I was eager to dive into some productive work today. Since we finalized the overall design of CampSolver yesterday, I decided it was time to translate that design into something interactive. Typically, I'd opt for coding, but ...
Day 17 - CampSolver#2
Refining CampSolver Today, our focus was on figuring out the final conceptual details of CampSolver. As always, the devil is in the details. It took us until noon to achieve some level of alignment on the flow of the potential application. Once we had solidified the flow, we proceeded to sketch ou...
Day 16 - CampSolver
Sprint! Today was dedicated to a deep dive into an idea we coined "CampSolver". This platform aims to simplify the process for families seeking the right summer camp for their children, a task that is currently manual and cumbersome. Over the past few days, I've been immersing reading "[Sprint: Ho...
Day 15 - Week Three
New Week, New Adventure Today was packed with a diverse program. We kicked off the day with a panel discussion featuring startups and VCs, providing insights into the current investment market. Later, we delved deeper into the journey of another startup, hearing firsthand about their evolution fro...
Day 14 - Moving Day
Downsizing Entrepreneurs not only embrace change, they thrive on it. The ability to adapt or pivot concepts is a key feature of young companies, granting them a competitive edge over established players. I aspire to embody the same agility, which is why today I moved all my belongings back to my p...
Day 13 - Back home
The Old Home Office Today marked my final day in my old apartment in Grindsted. With a new tenant lined up, these are truly the closing hours. I've enjoyed my time here, being so close to the LEGO office, but I'm eager to turn my gaze forward and embrace the entrepreneurial journey that lies ahead...
Day 12 - Friday!
More Pitches End of the second week. This week has felt extremely short. I had planned to accomplish a lot by making significant progress in solidifying an idea and a team, but here we are. Admittedly, I've made some headway, but deciding which direction to go remains a challenge. We kicked off t...
Day 11 - If Pitching
Back to Work We had to pitch our ideas to the insurance company If today. Since I was out yesterday, it was challenging to assist my team with finalizing touches. It was surprising to learn that If is interested in various startup ideas, resulting in a very diverse field. My team worked on a plat...
Day 10 - Sick Day
Standby I hardly slept last night. Fever, runny nose, headache. It took me hours to muster enough energy to drag myself out of bed and head to the local pharmacy for a COVID test. Negative – thankfully! Just the classic man flu, lucky me. I'll be back tomorrow! ...
Day 9 - Working across the Nordics
Hello Nordics! Today's focus revolves around collaborating with the entire Nordic cohort through online calls. I would have preferred all founders to gather at a single location, at least for the initial weeks, to make this easier. I get that some have other commitments, but it does raise question...
Day 8 - More Team-building
Greetings! A new week, more team building. Today's focus was on getting to know people I hadn't had the chance to talk to before. We also had a session about super trends to gather inspiration for the ideas we'll eventually start working on. When we form our teams, that is. I really enjoy the oppo...
Day 7 - Recharging
Hello Copenhagen Today marked my day off, so I decided to seize the opportunity to explore the city. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on my side as it rained persistently, obscuring my view through fogged glasses and dampening my excitement. Despite the conditions, occasional breaks in the rain u...
Day 6 - Weekend working
Work, Work Weekend! But who needs a break already? We've only just begun! This morning, I headed to to get some work done. With most of this week's notes and ideas scattered as loose papers in my bag, it was a relief to finally get them organized. I also managed to carve out some time to get thi...
Day 5 - Wrapping up week 1
Good Morning! It's the final day of week one, it's astonishing how quickly it's flown by. I still feel like I've just arrived. I suppose time flies when you're busy into the late hours every day. As usual, I kicked off the morning with a run at the local training facilities. Finally managed to ru...
Day 4 - Team challenge
The Challenge Today marked our first team challenge, following the Ørsted case challenge from earlier this week. This time, we were asked to identify a problem we wanted to tackle ourselves. We began by individually brainstorming problems we believed were worth addressing. Subsequently, we present...
Day 3 - Finding the right co-founder
Trust the Process Today's focus was on finding the right co-founder, which meant a lot of talking and matchmaking. We also had the opportunity to meet with founders from previous cohorts who shared tips on navigating the team-forming process. It's frustrating to repeatedly hear how crucial the tea...
Day 2 - Ørsted
Second day, first win! Today we had our first partner sprint, hosted by Ørsted. We got split up into teams and had to work on 4 different challenges presented by the Ørsted team. Awesome! The perfect environment to get to know people better. It is always best to see how people work when deciding...
Day 1 - Intro time
First Day: Let's Mingle! Today was primarily dedicated to introductions and familiarizing ourselves with the space. While I had the opportunity to chat with some participants before the official kick-off of the cohort, there were still plenty of new faces and stories to absorb. My head is still sp...
Day 0 - A new journey begins
Farewell Grindsted Our time together may have been brief, but it's time for me to bid farewell. I must journey to where I am needed, where challenges await, and where I can continue to grow. Grindsted, you've given me the peacefulness I needed to reflect. Yet, the time has come to forge ahead. And...