Ep 50: Martin Vares
The hidden side of fundraising, how to succeed as a young founder in an old industry, routines for wellbeing and value of mentorships
Martin Vares is the CEO and Co-Founder of Fractory - a smart marketplace for metal fabrication. Martin is a mechanical engineer by training and has turned his passion for engineering and saving time on admin tasks into a thriving business.
In this episode we talk about Fractory and how hard it is to enter such an old and complicated industry as manufacturing. We also talk about relentless fundraising and more importantly getting your life balance back after intensive periods of work. Finally, we explore the value of mentoring.
CLICK one of the links below to listen to the episode
The topics covered in this episode (with Timestamps)
🔈 [03:10] - INTRODUCTION AND THE ORIGINS OF FRACTORY
Turning a passion for engineering into relevant education
Spending too much time on admin tasks as engineer
Turning this pain point into a business
The business model of Fractory
🔈 [08:30] - LAUNCHING A BUSINESS IN A VERY OLD AND COMPLICATED INDUSTRY
Acknowledging the complexities of the industry
Easier to go from engineering to anything else rather than vice versa
Building a “smart marketplace”
Acquiring customers with digital marketing
🔈 [11:50] - GEOGRAPHICAL ASPECTS OF RUNNING THIS BUSINESS
Challenges to scaling and localisation
Doing business in the UK
Entry barriers
🔈 [13:15] - THE FOUNDER JOURNEY - FUNDRAISING
Fundraising as first-time founders
Raising series A for almost 2 years during the pandemic
Raising with a big emphasis on R&D
Investors with industry experience vs. inexperienced
Resilience with tiny investor conversion
Knowing when/how to say no to investors
Dealing with the self-administered pressure
🔈 [22:10] - THE FOUNDER JOURNEY - GETTING LIFE BACK AFTER INTENSE FUNDRAISING
Project of going back to “normal” life again
Don’t read notifications if you can’t react on them anyway
Company’s role in taking care of team’s health
Specific activities companies can do to promote healthy lifestyle
🔈 [33:15] - ON RAPID TEAM GROWTH
Importance of culture and focusing on it early on
Hiring for scale
Balancing values with hard decisions
🔈 [36:45] - VALUE OF MENTORING OTHER FOUNDERS/TEAMS
Trying to be a better mentor than some encountered
The same as going to a therapist
Build a network before you can find a mentor
What makes a good mentor
To reach out to Martin use: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-vares-69332b86/
Website: https://fractory.com/
Support for this episode comes from Nexpay > https://paynexpay.com/
Support for this episode comes from Venetor > https://www.venetor.co/
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