“Goril­la guys focus on star­tups that build solid busi­nes­ses, not just the tech­no­lo­gy. They have so much expe­rience with B2B industry and are a great match for tech­no­lo­gy com­pa­nies focusing on tra­di­tio­nal industries, like real esta­te in our case. I explicit­ly remem­ber our first call with Ris­to and how great it felt tal­king to an inves­tor who real­ly unders­tood the chal­len­ge but also the oppor­tu­ni­ty in sel­ling ver­tical industry SaaS. The other thing I love about Goril­la is their process – you talk direct­ly to a part­ner, DD process if focused and fast, and they deci­de on their own regard­less of other inves­tors.”

Kris­ti Hak­ka­ja, moderansolutions.com

“At the batt­le­field, not knowing the landsca­pe lying ahead is one of the big disad­van­ta­ges you have as a dis­rup­ti­ve entrepreneur.

It’s inva­luable to have an advi­sor who knows what chal­len­ges lie ahead of you and how to tackle them. An advi­sor and men­tor who knows the lands whe­re your ven­tu­re deter­mi­nes the efforts and outco­me on the batt­le­field.
That advi­sor is Goril­la Capital.

Goril­la Capi­tal dis­tin­guis­hes them­sel­ves by being dead cen­ter focused on how com­pa­nies bring value to their tar­ge­ted cus­to­mer and how it’s get­ting com­mu­nica­ted.
Being for­mer ent­repre­neurs them­sel­ves, they know what they speak of and are a valuable part­ner in get­ting you focused.

They are the per­fect inves­tor for you if you have a rea­lis­tic view on crea­ting value for cus­to­mers and growing a real busi­ness wit­hout having manic ideas of making the next Amazon in two years but rat­her taking one step at the time, reac­hing for the stars but main­tai­ning focus on buil­ding the next part of your roc­ket ship first.”

Jes­per Juel Jen­sen, patentrenewal.com

“If you did your homework the con­ver­sa­tion with Goril­la Capi­tal is straight forward and fast.

Our sto­ry:
1. After the first con­tact with Goril­la, we have sent all the mate­rials (pitch deck, pro­duct pre­sen­ta­tion, plan, etc.);
2. In a few weeks, we got pre­li­mi­na­ry appro­val from the Goril­la to move forward, and also we have recei­ved a list of docu­ments and infor­ma­tion that should be pre­pa­red;
3. The ball was on our side, so we took some time, and we star­ted the pre­pa­ra­tion of the docu­ments and infor­ma­tion;
4. Ones the data was pre­pa­red, we have uploa­ded it into the drop­box and send a noti­fica­tion to Goril­la;
5. In one week we got the answer from Goril­la that in gene­ral, all the docu­ments are ok, but we have mis­sed a few reports, so again the ball was on our side, it was our fault;
6. When we have pas­sed the check, then we star­ted pre­pa­ra­tion of the invest­ment agree­ment. Of cour­se, it took a lot of time to nego­tia­te the terms and con­di­tions, but not because of Goril­la, but because of us and again our fault;

As a conclusion:
Goril­la Capi­tal are pro­fes­sio­nals, and you should be on the same level, it does not mean that you should be ideal and does not make mis­ta­kes, but you need to learn very fast. They are pro­fes­sio­nals that allow you to make a mis­ta­ke and this is one of the most cri­tical sides because in many cases it first time for the star­tup. They are pro­vi­ding to you all nee­ded infor­ma­tion and sup­port, and you will get appro­vals from their side very fast, only one thing you need to do is execute!

What Goril­la expects of you?
You need to mana­ge the process, you need to cont­rol it, you need to link all the inves­tors, you need to send only requi­red infor­ma­tion and docu­ments, you do not need was­te Gorilla‘s time because they do not was­te your time, you need to lis­ten, read, learn, talk to lawyers and do not make stu­pid steps. If you think it is a lot for you, then…”

Andrii Rudc­huk, hala.ai

“Goril­la is a good invest­ment part­ner for foun­ders who have a struc­tu­red and aca­de­mic approach to busi­ness growth. In wor­king with their foun­ders Goril­la encou­ra­ge ana­ly­sis of a mar­ket and cus­to­mers to bet­ter unders­tand why they will, or won’t, buy.

Goril­la favour brainwork over legwork. Somet­hing I think that makes them fair­ly unusual in the mar­ket. This is reflec­ted in their repor­ting requi­re­ments which focus on the mea­su­ring of causes for growth, not sole­ly on the outcomes.

To be a foun­der wor­king with Goril­la you need to be open to ana­ly­sing whe­re your busi­ness may be under­per­for­ming and not too proud to recog­ni­se your own part in things that could be impro­ved upon. Of cour­se this can be pain­ful in the short term, howe­ver, the exerci­se is enti­re­ly intel­lec­tual rat­her than per­so­nal and is car­ried out in a con­struc­ti­ve and encou­ra­ging way.”

Kate Fair­hurst, growthminds.com

“Goril­la Capi­tal met us with a very human, friend­ly and open atti­tu­de. We ins­tant­ly felt being on the same wave length, and it was amazing to be met with a genui­ne unders­tan­ding of the pro­duct, the under­lying problem we are trying to sol­ve and our vision.
The setup Goril­la Capi­tal pro­vi­des feels very flexible. They trust that your team are the experts in the field and that your star­tup is the­re­fo­re the best to run and execu­te your busi­ness. The team at Goril­la are open for spar­ring (which they are actual­ly inc­re­dibly good at - pro­vi­ding mea­ning­ful and valuable inputs), but the day-to-day ope­ra­tion is the star­tup’s res­pon­si­bi­li­ty. The enti­re setup around this inves­tor feels very modern and 2019-ish with remo­te mee­tings and calls being stan­dard ins­tead of spen­ding money and time on onsi­te meetings.

To sum it up Goril­la Capi­tal is for startups
From the Nordics/Baltics
That are capable of run­ning their own business
Which have their first paying customers
Loo­king for an invest­ment around 100k Euro
Most impor­tant­ly: Who feels that the che­mi­stry with the team at Goril­la (as well as the phi­lo­sop­hy and struc­tu­re) is a good match”

Andreas Over­beck, squidhub.com

“Sijoi­tuk­sen hake­mi­nen ja aloit­ta­mi­nen oli mel­ko vai­va­ton­ta ja alku­yh­tey­den­ot­toon ei ollut suur­ta kyn­nys­tä. “Hake­mus” ja vaa­dit­ta­vat doku­men­tit kysyt­tiin meil­tä nopeal­la aika­tau­lul­la ja doku­ment­tien lähe­tyk­sen jäl­keen pää­sim­me suh­teel­li­sen nopeas­ti kes­kus­te­le­maan yri­tyk­ses­tä, foun­de­reis­ta ja bisneksestä.

Aika­tau­lu­tus on Goril­lal­la nope­aa ja ajan­käyt­tö teho­kas­ta. Yleen­sä sijoi­tus­pää­tös teh­dään mel­ko nopeas­ti ja pro­ses­si on pit­käl­ti vakioi­tu. Saim­me asiat sovit­tua mel­ko nopeas­ti, mut­ta sijoi­tus­kier­rok­sen kerää­mi­nen venyi mei­dän itsem­me puolelta.

Goril­lan sijoi­tus sopii mie­les­tä­ni 2-8 hen­gen start-up yri­tyk­sel­le, joil­la on sel­keä visio, “val­mis” tuo­te ja jo näyt­töä sii­tä, että asiak­kaat oikeas­ti osta­vat tuo­tet­ta. Samal­la, vah­va sitou­tu­mi­nen yri­tyk­seen niin foun­de­rei­den kuin hen­ki­lö­kun­nan osal­ta on tär­ke­ää Goril­lal­le. Samal­la, Goril­la ei ole mie­les­täm­me ainoa sijoi­tus­kier­rok­sen sijoit­ta­ja, joten pro­ses­sin nopeut­ta­mi­sek­si, suo­sit­te­len kerää­mään sijoit­ta­ja­ra­haa jo ennen kuin lait­taa hake­muk­sen sisään Gorillalle.

Kehi­tet­tä­vää: Itse toi­voi­sim­me hie­man lisää kon­tak­te­ja, joi­ta voi­sim­me hyö­dyn­tää bis­nek­ses­säm­me (tähän tulos­sa port­fo­lio day). Tie­ten­kin voi olla, että emme itse osaa kysyä oikean­lais­ta infor­maa­tio­ta tai kon­tak­te­ja oikeal­la tavalla.

Goril­la ei ole mie­les­täm­me sel­lai­nen “kädet saves­sa” ole­va sijoi­tus­fir­ma vaan pikem­min­kin tukee jo entuu­des­taan hyväk­si todet­tua stra­te­gi­aa ja pyr­kii omil­la resurs­seil­laan tuke­maan toi­min­taa mah­dol­li­sim­man jämä­käs­ti. He otta­vat kan­taa stra­te­gi­ses­ti tär­kei­siin aihea­luei­siin mut­ta eivät puu­tu joka­päi­väi­seen ope­ra­tii­vi­seen tekemiseen.

Var­mas­ti tär­kein­tä hyväl­le yhteis­työl­le on muis­taa olla aktii­vi­nen itse­kin. Kaik­kea ei aina voi vyö­ryt­tää toi­sen vas­tuul­le (Goril­lan), kos­ka kysei­sel­lä yri­tyk­sel­lä on pal­jon mui­ta­kin asiak­kai­ta hoi­det­ta­va­na. Jos on asi­aa, kysy!”

Erik Tah­va­nai­nen, youpret.com

“I star­ted brow­sing for inves­tors 2 years prior to our invest­ment round, for inves­tors that can see what I see. But when I found Goril­la Capi­tal and Ris­to he ope­ned my eyes and still does!
If you want a smart inves­tor that can see bey­ond the pre­sen­ta­tion, if you dare, you should talk to GC!
Goril­la Capi­tal can take lead, but they dont go in alo­ne. If you have GC that belie­ves in you as a foun­der, then you will start hea­ring “if GC is in, I am in!” from other inves­tors.
What I have apprecia­ted the most is that I’ve been able to be myself from the start. Even if they pro­bably know that I’ve not been 100% cor­rect in all things I’ve pre­sen­ted they have just friend­ly but firm­ly chal­len­ged me to evol­ve. You can see their expe­rience - they have defi­ni­te­ly done their jour­neys and they are hap­py to sha­re their expe­riences and help/coach you, so you don’t need to do the same mis­ta­kes.
I’ve found that the­re is a gap between VCs and Angels. Goril­la fills that gap as an “VC angel”!

What I always expect from an inves­tor and team mem­bers is that they should be dif­fe­rent and comple­ment you, eit­her with expe­rience or point of view, for me Goril­la have both!
Don’t lis­ten to eve­ryt­hing what others say. Assu­me, expe­ri­ment, veri­fy and make your own futu­re. No-one likes a “yes-sayer” and neit­her do GC, stand up for your beliefs!
Goril­la capi­tal would love to see a unicorn, but unicorns need to live on earth and that’s whe­re you have to start! One step at the time, they know the pro­ba­bi­li­ty sta­tis­tics, so make a plan that is down to earth but can make your com­pa­ny grow!”

Daniel Hed­berg, ticketbird.com

“Ris­to Rau­ta­kor­pi’s gene­rous, insight­ful and help­ful spar­ring has inclu­ded fan­tas­tic ana­lo­gies between eve­ry­day life and star­tup’s life cycle. He’ll explain things so that you can real­ly unders­tand what are the crucial points in his advice. You hear him com­bi­ning the most recent lite­ra­tu­re and his own expe­rience in concepts like nai­ling the niché; J-Cur­ve; mea­su­ring the right things; pre­ma­tu­re sca­ling; hull speed; moo­se hun­ting; honing the accu­racy; being rea­dy for the oppor­tu­ni­ties; clo­ning the key roles; long dis­tance recon­nais­sance; rea­ding the map; igno­re the some­ti­mes poi­so­nous advice of cor­po­ra­te sea­gulls for star­tups; using your chips like a pro poker player; cont­rol­ling the ner­ves; Hemingway; inno­va­te by using others; dri­ve lies wit­hin the hig­her cause; etc. If you like to unders­tand the­se concepts and more of his high impact advice, I guess you’ll have to ask him. It’s fun and educa­ting to work with him. I’ve been absor­bing eve­ry word he’s been firing on a rapid fire.”

Mikae­li Lan­gin­vai­nio,  inforglobe.com

“The first con­tact with Goril­la was very straight forward. I imme­dia­te­ly noticed that Goril­la team has seen a lot of start-ups and thus know whe­re to begin. Risto’s to the point ques­tions brigh­ten the thoughts of even an expe­rienced start-up team. And, it seems to me that also other Gorilla’s proces­ses are polis­hed up to reach high efficiency, which bene­fits both par­ties. This no non­sen­se sty­le suits me very well, and I would apprecia­te it from other ven­tu­re capi­ta­lists too.”

Riit­ta Tiu­ra­nie­mi, Skog­gi Oy

“We are just star­ting our co-ope­ra­tion with Goril­la Capi­tal but have alrea­dy been able to see their way of work and core principles in action. The com­mu­nica­tion is straight­forward, honest and pro­fes­sio­nal. I liked how eve­ry part of the invest­ment process was tho­rough­ly thought through. Even though DD and cont­ract process always takes some effort we could see that they were made as lean as possible.

Ris­to has been easi­ly approac­hable, friend­ly and straight­forward. I love the cut the bulls­hit atti­tu­de and have lear­ned somet­hing new from eve­ry pho­ne call with him. Once we got through the ini­tial scree­ning process and back to the busi­ness as usual, we can real­ly feel the trust that Ris­to and Goril­la place for the foun­ders. Goril­la is the­re for us whe­ne­ver nee­ded but also clear about the limi­ta­tions of their help and let the foun­ders do their work.”

Aaku Asu­ja­maa, Buen­no Research Oy