“It was more funding than we were originally planning for but we were trying to create a marketplace. The most important thing to do in a market place is generate liquidity, because until you do that you’re in danger of someone surpassing you, but as soon as you do no one can really get a foothold,” says Howard.
“The most important thing for raising money is location. If you’re not in Silicon Valley, it’s really unlikely you’ll raise that kind of money. So step one is get to the Valley, step two is have a good idea, step three is have a good story and step four is sell yourself.”
According to Howard, the capital they raised was about more than the business premise.
“It’s definitely not just the power of the idea. It’s about the story that you tell around the idea,” Howard says. “We worked really hard at the messaging of story, to tell it in a compelling but realistic and honest way.”
The funding has led to the move from Melbourne to Silicon Valley, better competitions, and bigger clients. The Kaggle team has grown to 18 staff.
The rapid growth and success of Kaggle has propelled them into new territory and Howard is wary about setting goals for the future.
“It’s tricky to have milestones in a start-up because you can’t predict the future when you’re doing something no one has ever done before,” says Howard. “Increasingly we’re finding we’re doing things no one else has before, so we need to figure it out ourselves.”
They’ve recently launched an initiative called Kaggle Connect.
“It’s a virtual consulting expert service, and there is no sales model for that. So what kind of marketing collateral do you have? Which businesses do you target? What kind of price point do you charge?” says Howard.
But the doubts are not holding the Kaggle team back. “Everything we’ve done, we had no idea what we were doing,” says Howard. “You need to be tenacious and creative and maintain optimism that you’ll figure things out as you go along.”
This article first appeared on StartupSmart.
Rose is the current head of growth at Rampersand Ventures. She was formerly a reporter at StartupSmart.
