There has recently been much talk of European seed-stage investment drying up. Research from Plexal and Beauhurst revealed that first-time funding for UK startups fell by 83% from March to May this year.

Seeing how our fund is currently Europe’s most active VC , I thought I’d give founders some insight into the current fundraising climate, and spread the good news: things are not as dire as they might seem.

Despite the current economic climate, our investment strategy has remained the same. We focus on early-stage startups, and we find that if the business fundamentals are strong — a great team, a strong market, and a viable product — then we have a compelling investment option. This is especially true if teams have shown an ability to shift focus and adapt in order to thrive in the face of changing business conditions.

Given the current caution many entrepreneurs say they are encountering when talking to investors, here are some tips for early-stage founders, based on the experiences of my team here at Speedinvest, on how to nail fundraising during these trying times:

Have a realistic outlook

What I want to see from businesses that approach me is a realistic appraisal of market conditions. When it comes to the current downturn, for example, that means I’d prefer founders coming to me to work with the assumption that the market isn’t necessarily going to recover rapidly.

Right now, I don’t want to see companies planning around the best case scenario, as that can affect your ability to be resilient to economic shocks outside of your control. Instead, I advise companies to act conservatively and prove their business has what it takes to survive the worst the market can throw at them.

This realism goes down to the financials. Businesses need to be showing that they have done everything they can to lengthen their business runway — that is, the time it takes to run out of money, assuming income and expenses stay constant.

Investors want to know that their money is going to last at least 18 months, no matter what. Be realistic and honest when you talk to investors — they will mostly likely abide by the rule of “if it seems too good to be true…”

Focus on fundamentals

We’re still comfortable investing if a company’s fundamentals are strong. If anything, these fundamentals mean more to us now than before the crisis. The easier it is for us to see the business case for a company, and a clear path to profitability, the more inclined we are to invest. To do that, we look at the team and your product.

This should be a call to action. Forget any side projects, or vanity aspects to your business; now is the time to direct and optimize your remaining resources into developing the unique product or service that will be key to attracting VC money.

A better product or service will almost always improve your commercial viability, so investing your time in product development while you won’t have much return on investing in sales and marketing functions is a smart move. If a company approaches us for investment, we like to see that they’re focusing on building the best possible product.

Invest in your team

We want to invest in a team that’s truly passionate about what it does, with the talent and experience to build an idea into an industry-leading business. We judge a lot of this on the intangibles, such as founder chemistry and motivation, but we also look for key indicators that the team works as a well-oiled machine.

Investing in the parts of your team that are going to be the key drivers of your business, motivate them and take away any barriers to excellence.

This may mean giving key team members more control over the various aspects of your business and product, investing in new tools for them, or even giving out equity stakes.

These are all natural parts of growing a business beyond the initial startup and seed phase and should be embraced when necessary. Whatever you can do to cultivate your greatest asset — your people — should be done.

(re)Learn the art of the pitch

While remote deal making is not necessarily a big deal, it does present its own set of unique challenges, such as the need to be extremely precise in your pitch. By now, we all are aware of how tiring endless Zoom calls can be, so coming to the point quickly and not wasting the investor’s time is highly appreciated.

The more founders can refocus their skills and learn the art of the video pitch, the better they will be able to build conviction.

Judging by our own experience over the last couple of months, dealmaking is still very much alive. It may be true that not all VCs are as active as they claim, but the environment isn’t as bad as some suggest.

Founders that focus on the core of their business, product and people, and that plan realistically and responsibly for future growth will still find that there is capital out there. We, and many of our colleagues at other VC firms, are still welcoming pitches from ambitious European founders.

A quick introduction to ‘scrum’ — so you’re not lost when someone says ‘join the daily’

The software development life cycle, also known as SDLC, is a phased process or methodology to develop software. To achieve the required objective, many SDLC methodologies have been developed. Each methodology or model has their own set of rules to achieve a goal. Both models have their conveniences and drawbacks. So, it’s essential to use the right methodology to develop a software product.

There are many software development models, but the following two are the most popular approaches:

Agile

Waterfall

Both methods are suitable for small to medium-sized teams. Each methodology has different approaches to achieve the target. The waterfall is a linear and sequential method, whereas Agile is a more progressive and iterative approach.

So, what is ‘scrum’?

Scrum is a framework that helps to develop a product as a team. It’s a continuous process of learning, improving, and adjusting because of its heuristic approach. A scrum team learns and improves as the project progresses — it’s an agile-based framework. The dissimilarity between scrum and agile is that scrum is a faster and flexible approach. Compared to Agile, scrum accepts and reacts to changes swiftly.

The agile manifesto

The above is an extract from The Agile Manifesto .

Roles in scrum

There are three main roles in the scrum framework which are located in the same place for optimal results and better communication with development teams. These are the following:

Product owner

Scrum team

Scrum master

Product owner

All clients and stakeholders are handled by the product owner. The product owner drives the backlogs and prioritizes the work to maximize the efficiency of the project. It’s the responsibility of the product owner to emphasize the business side of the product and stay in contact with clients and the scrum team.

This role is more about communication, the product owner acts as a proxy between the development team and stakeholders and communicate with each other and conveys messages in technical terms. The following are some tasks a product owner performs:

Communicate and manage stakeholders

Inform stakeholders about RIDA’s

Manage the backlogs

Take input and prioritize/schedule the work

Keep track of the progress

Announce deliveries

The product owner also has to see the interests of the stakeholders, cooperate with the team, and effectively fulfill the requirements.

Scrum team

A development team does not always have to be a team of software developers, but instead, it may consist of researchers, designers, data scientists, and developers. The development team has to be self-organized and handle their own decisions. The team members can also directly interact with stakeholders or clients for a better understanding of the requirement.

Scrum master

Scrum master assists the development team; this role is also termed as servant-leader. A scrum master removes any hindrance in the development process and makes sure that framework rules are being followed. They also lead the scrum and help the product owner in defining objectives. The scrum master has the following main roles:

Assisting development teams

Serving the product owner to define goals

Removing any hindrance that hampers the progress of development

Encouraging self-organizing within the team

A scrum master also assists the organization and team to take on empiricism and quitting predictability.

Scrum artifacts

Artifact means a work of art. So, an artifact is an object that we create, for example a product or device to solve an issue. There three primary artifacts that scrum defines:

Product Backlog

Sprint backlog

Increment

Product backlog

Product backlogs are the requirements of the stakeholders. The product owner supervises and manages product backlogs. It includes a list of tasks for the development team to perform in sprints. Progress on product backlogs is always available for stakeholders to review it. Each backlog has a description, time, and amount. Backlogs keep on changing according to the feedback of the stakeholders.

Sprint backlog

Sprint backlogs come from product backlogs as goals to be completed in the sprint. The scrum team manages the sprint backlogs. Scrum team also plans and schedules the sprint backlogs.

Increment

Multiple increments make a product. Each sprint gives one product output. The product owner decides to demonstrate it or not after each sprint.

Sprint

Sprint is a working period of a scrum team, usually comprise of one to four weeks. A sprint starts with defining objectives and scheduling work. These objectives or tasks are also termed as ‘sprint backlogs.’ Scrum emphasizes to deliver useful output at the end of the sprint. Each sprint is consisting of the following workflow:

Sprint planning

Daily scrum

Sprint review

Sprint retrospective

After each sprint, the product owner decides when to deliver the product. The final product may take more than one sprint.

Sprint planning

Each sprint starts with planning. In the sprint planning, the scrum team defines and lists the backlogs. Backlogs are the objectives that a scrum has to be fulfilled. Scheduling those tasks are also done in sprint planning. Backlogs have to be updated daily by each team member. The team tries its best to complete its sprint backlogs but it’s not rigidly required to fulfill all the planned tasks backlogs can be added in the next sprint.

Daily scrum

Scrum teams daily gather for a 15 minutes meeting where they update their backlogs and plan work for the next day. The development team members also share impediments of the backlog. So, the following are the few things which scrum team do in a daily scrum:

Inspect the progress and contribution of each member

Identify Impediments

Plan the next 24 hours

The scrum master makes sure the development team meets daily but still, it’s entirely up to the development team to hold a meeting.

Each sprint ends with “Sprint Review and “Sprint Retrospective.” Here’s what these are:

Sprint review

In the sprint review, the team reviews the work and identifies the unfinished tasks. The product owner and scrum team also hold a meeting with stakeholders, demonstrate their work, and plan what to work on next. Stakeholders give their feedback and then the product owner presents new objectives to the scrum team for the next sprint. It is important to note that incomplete work must not be presented.

Sprint retrospective

Before the next sprint planning the team inspect its performance and contemplate that what improvements can be made to boost productivity. The Scrum Master ensures the all the members attend the event acknowledge its importance and purpose.

Conclusion

Scrum is a framework designed for teams to produce a product. It’s an iterative and heuristic framework. The project progresses on the bases of facts instead of predictability. Three main roles control the whole process from start to end. The product owner manages the backlog and communicates with the stakeholder. The scrum team has to present the progress after every sprint. After getting feedback from the stakeholders the team and product owner review the sprint and retrospect it. Planning of the next sprint begins after this and the process keeps on going until the stakeholder finalizes the product.

This article was originally published on Live Code Stream by Juan Cruz Martinez (twitter: @bajcmartinez ), founder and publisher of Live Code Stream, entrepreneur, developer, author, speaker, and doer of things.

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We’ve hosted more than 6,000 hackathons — here’s what we learned

Picture a hackathon. Likely you’re imagining images similar to those that come up when you search “hackathon” on Google Images: rows and rows of developers seated at tables in a hotel conference room, head down (ample sodas and snacks at hand), racing to write as much code as possible over 72 hours.

Less than a decade ago, this idea of hackathons was accurate, but in 2021 much about these events has changed.

Hackathons have significantly evolved since the inaugural one in 1999. Today, they are tools used by companies globally to develop innovative new products and discover hidden tech talent — both for companies doing lateral hiring or recruiting from universities.

If your organization is thinking of hosting a hackathon, consider the following best practices that my team and I have acquired running over 6,000 hackathons:

1. Two-phase Hackathons are better than one

Hackathons that include separate ideation and development phases consistently deliver more innovative solutions than those that have a single, combined phase. The first portion of the event is dedicated to ideation and submission. Once approved, the selected entries are invited to move forward with development over the second phase.

At HackerEarth, we usually recommend allotting one month per phase, to give participants as much time as possible without slowing innovation.

Extending the length of your hackathon drives an increase in developer participation. A flexible, self-paced model welcomes involvement from participants juggling multiple priorities.

Further, two-phased hackathons see better engagement over time. Unlike a weekend conference, your hackathon won’t see participation spikes, but entrants will tune in to get updates, collaborate, and see results, thus driving traffic to your page over time.

Simply put, innovative solutions are rarely developed in 72 hours. Opting for a two-phase hackathon could ultimately bring more talent and innovation to your organization.

2. Consider your post-covid goals

Pre-covid, much of the excitement around hackathons was related to networking with other industry professionals, holding a forum to discuss emerging tech trends, and spending a few days immersed in software development.

The shift to virtual hackathon platforms, however, has put a stronger spotlight on innovation and upskilling.

Organizations hope to identify both ground-breaking software solutions and stand-out talent to integrate into their teams amid a shortage of qualified developers. Participants are attending to showcase their skills and ultimately be recognized for their disruptive technologies.

3. Prizes should start at $10,000

The standard compensation for first-place innovations is widely accepted to start at $10,000. With the top prize reaching $1 million or more, it’s expected that even smaller companies strive to reach the ten thousand dollar mark.

Because hackathons can run for months at a time, candidates commit many hours outside of their daily responsibilities to participate. It’s fair to compensate them for both their time and first-class innovation.

Top-dollar prizes attract top-dollar talent, so to ensure you are attracting the innovation your organization needs, prioritize allocating resources to prize money.

If your organization is running a hackathon on a budget, explore corporate partnerships to strengthen the value of your event.

4. Go global

When you’re planning your hackathon, be cautious not to limit your talent pool to the state or country you’re in. Expanding your reach to include participants from all over the world creates greater opportunities for collaboration and discovery.

By integrating a global community, you invite diverse perspectives, schools of thought, and approaches to change. Design your hackathon to be accessible from a host of different countries to bring new perspectives to your competition.

5. Accommodate for a virtual/hybrid future

Because of the flexibility that virtual events offer, hackathons may never be offered exclusively in-person again. Virtual hackathons accommodate a longer timeline and global talent pool, while still connecting corporations with skilled developers. The need for physical space to make a hackathon successful has dissolved.

If you desire to create a live coding experience for your hackathon attendees, plan to host a hybrid-model event. But keep in mind, in-person and virtual attendee experiences should be as similar as possible or you risk losing engagement and participant retention.

The best hackathons foster innovation by creating a community of like-minded developers who are passionate about the challenge at hand. For your next event, consider how you will reach beyond the traditional idea of a hackathon to welcome collaboration and produce disruptive results.