1. Presentation 4th April 2012
"Connecting Mentors with Startups”
Karl
Johannesson
J’son
&
Partners

2. Topics
Intro: -Global trends Role of Mentors:
-Russian trends - Why mentor
-Kazakhstan status - Ideal mentor
- Mentors for Kazakhstan
Startup Key Factors: Recommendations
-Phases - To develop a VC industry ecosystem
- Create legislation
- Funding mechanism

3.
About Karl Johannesson
About J’son & Partners
Swedish
Na+onality
Speaks
5
languages
fluently
Resident
in
Luxembourg
˜ 30+ years as Management Consultant [since 1981] ˜ Management Consultancy
˜ Founder of J’son & Partners ˜ Offices in Moscow, Almaty, Astana, Brussels,
˜ Worked in Europe, US, Russia and Central Asia ˜ Business Plan, Strategies, Research etc.
˜ Vaste International expertise in ICT ˜ 100+ clients in ICT
˜ Large International Contact Network
˜ Famous “brand” in Russia
˜ Understands Kazakhstan ICT sector:
o Digital Communications 2010 & 2011
o Many client projects for
Kazakhtelecom, GSM Kazakhstan, Zerde, NIF, KazTranscom , MCI
MINT etc etc. Special+es
Sample
big
and
successful
projects
-­‐
J’son
&
Partners
Finance
Strategy Market
Business
Projects Analysis
Plan
M&A
Number 1 Number 3 Number 1
Satellite Operator IT Company Central Asia
ICT Hub ???

4.
¢ Fundraising – < 100 M equity deals in Russia
¢ M&A for clients – internet, mobile, mobile content, portals
¢ Business Plans and Investment Teaser across Russia and Central Asia
Several successful seed- and start-up ventures:
Sample:
¢ Founded Sotovik.ru with $50K and developed to #1 mobile portal
in Russia. Sold to private investor after reaching monthly net profit
of +50K per month
In Kazakhstan
¢ Mentor 3 start-ups in the field of ICT and digital media
¢ Assist in raising financing for 3 start-ups+
¢ Develop plans for “Mobile Applications Center” [web developers]
¢ Platform for start-up fairs at DigitalCom 2011 and 2012

5.
Managing Partner of Almaz Capital Partners
Alexandr Galitsky participated in Press-
conference for startup projects and gave
master-class for startup project managers on
how to create a real business from an idea
Alexey Trusov,
Project manager
Alexandr Galitsky, of iStartUp
Managing Partner of
Almaz Capital
Partners
“As a specialist, who supervised start-up projects I would like
to say that it is great that we were invited, and the necessary
conditions were created and organization of the event, which
can get the best start-up projects.
Today Digital Communications is the most important
event in the field of ICT in Kazakhstan.”

6.
The basics
Profit
Venture Pre-IPO
Seed Venture
Capital & Invest-
Capital Capital Acquisitions ment
Risk
Seed Stage Early Stage Later Stage IPO Stage
In Kazakhstan there is more venture money available than “worthwhile
projects”. In the US the other way around with a factor of X 1000
Venture capital-backed companies are a driver for growth

7.
Venture capital-backed companies produce 21 % of U.S. GDP and 11 % of
employment in the private sector, despite accounting for less than 0.2 % of
all businesses – this shows how critical Venture Capital is ! Kazakhstan <500
times less Venture Capital to GDP ratio in 2011.

8.
¢ Requirements for getting a start-up funded by VCs is increasing.
¢ VCs are now more selective and will focus even more on picking only the
really good deals.
¢ The evaluation of a start-up should add up to a multi-million market
potential before the start-up becomes interesting from a VC perspective.
¢ Also they want to see ideas that present a clear value proposition.
¢ Team behind the start-up is critical. Proven record and experience
with dealing with critical stakeholders to your start-up is regarded as highly
valued.
Also
¢ Show your ideas and get feedback from mentors.
¢ Don’t be afraid of having ideas stolen. Good ideas can get lost
because mentors could not provide feedback.
¢ Your pitch has to be perfect first time

9.
Silicon Valley Magic
“Silicon Valley’s culture can be explained
by its interconnectivity and blurring of
boundaries between contributors to the
ecosystem. The culture has been created
by all stake holders – founders, mentors,
investors, lawyers, bankers, PR people,
journalists, bloggers – supporting the
entire business lifecycle, overseeing
success from idea and inception through
to access to capital, expansion, exit and
even failure”
In effect Silicon Valley is a big
Mentor Park
1/3 of world total venture capital is located in Silicon Valley. Another 1/3 of
the remaining capital is located in the rest of the US, while the remainder is

10.
“Sexy”
Russian
Web
Start-­‐up
Plus
Venture Comment
#1 Russian Online Travel
60 million game downloads in the first year from
initial release without venture money
Best Offer service - Highest revenue growth in
Russia’s internet history: from zero to $15 million
monthly revenues in one and a half years
Browser toolbar creation service
High-performance web server, reverse proxy and
e-mail proxy software provider
Lady Fashion E-commerce
Web recommendation and discovery service to
end-users.
Source:
Forbes
largest internet startup funding in Russia $55M

11.
2015 2025
ew
HIGH
N Digital
Content
Digital
Devices
Industrial
Consumer
Electronics e
ld Environmental
av or
Value
Internet
Technologies
Broadb Br l W Technologies Digital
he gita
Telecommunica+ons Nano
and Brain
T Content
Di Body
Technologies
Informa+on
Technology
Cellular
Communica+ons Space
Technology
Applica+ons
Television Entertainment
Robo+cs
Satellite
Communica+ons Web
5.0
MEDIUM Mobile
Communica+ons Ci+zens Virtual
Technologies
Adver+sing Biotech
Reality
Informa+on
Society
Ar@ficial
Computers Global
Networks
Intelligence
Informa+on
Technology
Media
Cellular
Communica+ons Telecommunica+ons Legend
Segments
Web
2.0
Content
Television Entertainment
Established
Environmental
Technologies Adver+sing Satellite
Communica+ons
Emerging
Mobile
Communica+ons
Disrup+ve
Technologies Informa+on
Society
Big
Time Impact
LOW
2015 Source:
J’son
&
Partners
2010 2025
Transformed
Narrow
@me
Long
@me
Kazakhstan is on halfway towards becoming digital and could focus on

12. You
are
in
the
wrong
part
of
the
World
J
Source:
B&H,
Corpora+ons,
J&P
There is a direct relationship between R&D spend and technological, know-
how and new ICT industrial activity including start-ups and spin-offs.
Kazakhstan is not on the radar screen yet.

14.
A mentor is “a trusted friend, counselor or teacher, usually a
more experienced person.” Source:
Wikipedia
¢ Benjamin Graham acted as a mentor
for Warren Buffet
¢ Plato mentored Socrates
¢ Aristotle mentored Plato
¢ Alexander the Great had Aristotle
¢ Steve Jobs had Larry Ellison
¢ Kivi had professors at KBTU
Mentors are unique because they know about all the mistakes you can possible
make and they have a great network. And they are typically inexpensive. If they
like your idea they can help you tremendously. But you must take the decisions
and execute. The might take a small piece of your equity.

15.
Typical ICT start-up
1 or 2 person typically starts Pomegranate using savings or
other fixed revenues
No hardware is needed as in prototyping phase or making a
mobile application.
Pomegranate is likely to survive for only 6 months. Has 10% chance of
achieving breakeven, another 10% chance to breakeven in the next 3
months.
With the help of mentor-s Pomegranate success chances are
increasing dramatically

16.
MENTOR Scale Up
Investment
MENTOR Start Selling
MENTOR Marketing 4P
Finish Prototype
MENTOR Pitching Modify
2014
Developing Prototype 2013
2012
Minimal Viable Product

17.
Tipping Point in Kazakhstan ?
When will Kazakh Investors [angels, seed-financiers] want to invest their money in Kazakh
start-ups or companies rather than putting money in real estate, stocks taxi business or on
the bank ?
This will happen when ?
¢ Few local success stories that has made it and can be role models
¢ Investing into start-ups is “getting popular”
¢ Tax- and risk taking initiatives are introduced for privates and corporates [too invest
in start-ups]
¢ When ICT and application environment is more mature [compare Russia in 2000-2005
and Russia in 2012]
¢ When broadband and mobile & fixed internet penetration reaches critical mass
in 2014-2015
¢ When targeted start-up Funds start appearing [one announced April 3rd 2012 J]
¢ + When the stock market in Kazakhstan is reformed, including enabling “baby-IPOs”

18.
1 Setting up of a Mentoring Programme in Kazakhstan
sponsored by the government and private businesses
˜ Connect business leaders with entrepreneurs who have achieved success already.
˜ Introduce Mentor Program within universities and networks of SMES.
˜ Create processes supporting this. Review Board and coaching.
˜ Public presence
2 Connect Profitable big businesses with start-ups through seed-finance
mentor projects; Beeline, Samruk-Kazyna, Kcell etc. allocating funds for
mini-projects and/or seed-projects with “guaranteed” success
˜ Attract and allocate small scale project financing $5,000-25,000 with managed pay-out
3 Create a Mobile Innovation Center [ecosystem]
˜ For existing and smaller start-ups can get the first critical know-how, access to hard ware,
application environment and soft skills e.g. a“leg-up” to get the idea off the ground.
4

19.
5 Setting up of a in PPAP (public-private-academic partnership)
Program in Kazakhstan together with public sector players like Zerde and
Alatau IT Park and large and small enterprises, and universities (both local,
e.g., KIMEP, SDU, etc., and foreign, e.g., U. Texas, Austin in the US, Lancaster U. and
Newcastle U in the UK, and Waseda U. in Japan). Quote Ramesh Kini, KBTU
6 Introduce a comprehensive Package of Legislation [after consulting with
SMEs, investors and start-ups and other stakeholders] to unlock the full potential of
Kazakhstan’s entrepreneurial spirit ! U.S. introduced such a scheme recently.
Find and/or create a VC Fund ready to focus on Students – future stars.
7 Give: business planning skills, crucial to young entrepreneurs
Make: shortlist selected by a judging panel made up of active angel investors and
sponsors.
Make: Vetting workshops on pitching, accounting and legal advice, networking and

20.
There will be an internationally
structured “Start-up Fair” with
real investors and real projects.
So get ready !!!!

21. I
am
ready
to
contribute
as
Mentor
to
any
viable
Kazakh
start-­‐up
!
Karl
Johannesson
E-­‐
mail:
kjohannesson@jsonpartners.com
Mobile:
+
7
777
017
1900