by David Mullings
In September 2018, I did something which I always wanted to do, move to Europe to live, but it was a tough decision because I’m not a 23 year-old founder with limited responsibilities.
As a married father of 3, including a 7 month-old at the time, it was both rewarding and disappointing for RunLive to be offered a spot in the leAD Sports Accelerator 2018 cohort alongside an equity investment.
Rewarding because I committed to help the founder, Mike Thompson, raise money and scale ever since I saw his vision for RunLive.
Disappointing because I knew that I would have to go with him to maximize the benefits of the program but my wife, Kathryn, and children would be unlikely to come for the 3 months starting in September and so I would be leaving here with lots of work, a baby in particular, and have to deal with a 6 hour time difference just to say hello because they are in Orlando, Florida.
The Decision
Entrepreneurs rarely have smooth sailing and being married to one is even more challenging. My decision was made easier because it was only 12 weeks, my wife said that she could manage, our older boys, 6 and 5, are pretty good at waking up, getting ready for school and going to bed, plus I knew that the long-term potential payoff could be worth the sacrifice.
Ultimately, I knew that this was one of those life crossroads where not taking the opportunity would haunt me for the rest of my life and I may even end up resenting the various reasons I did not take advantage of the opportunity. Without my wife, my brother and parents, I would never have taken advantage.
The Program
The program is in English and Week 1 has ended. The guest speakers alone have made the trip worth it. I believe that it is critical to hear from founders who have been down similar paths were are pursuing, raw and truthful, not sugar-coated for mass consumption.
One founder also has an investor who is also an investor in an adjacent app to RunLive and was always on our list to contact so now we have a warm introduction.
The board of leAD met with each startup and from that we now have meetings with founders of other companies they have invested in so that we can learn more about some specific business models they tested, key metrics being used, marketing tactics that worked and did not work; all valuable insight for a startup.
Pitch training is always valuable and preparing for demo day is a core part of the accelerator experience but thankfully that is not all we are focused on. leAD is really taking the time to help us think through our customer segments, characteristics, key performance indicators, identify what talent is needed and then provide resources to search, build a detailed potential strategic partner database to target and tweak our product roadmap.
There are 8 other startups here and we are slowly building camaraderie but it seems that the first week was all about getting settled or finalizing housing, getting used to transportation and timing. I am sure that groups will grow closer.
It is a little awkward to be in the program since I am a mentor at two startup incubators in the Caribbean and have previously raised money from investors, making me more experienced than most of the participants but it has been useful to reinforce my knowledge, gain additional knowledge to share with my future mentees and learn what is different in the European startup ecosystem.
The City
So far Berlin has been very welcoming and easy to get around. leAD assisted with housing options and we opted for a co-living facility near to Berlin Central Station and our roommate is from Aruba, another Caribbean island. The city’s transport system of buses, trams and trains makes it extremely easy to get around, everyone seems to speak English and happy to help us figure out if we are buying crunchy or creamy peanut butter or orange juice with pulp (I bet that you didn’t think about simple things like grocery shopping in a different language!).
David Mullings is the Founder and CEO of Blue Mahoe Partners, a General Partner at Tessera Venture Partners and a cofounder of RunLive, a mobile running app with real-time matchmaking. RunLive was the only US-based startup selected for the 2018 cohort at the leAD Sports Accelerator in Berlin, Germany, founded by the three oldest grandsons of Adi Dassler, founder of Adidas.
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