Founders Friday – Stefano Covolan
This Friday, we are excited to feature Stefano Covolan, Co-founder of Korporatio.
About Stefano
Stefano started his entrepreneurship journey with Yourp, a social networking application for travellers. Since then, he has been heavily involved in the tech startup scene in Italy, China and Singapore. Through mentoring, investing and consulting, Stefano has left a footprint in more than 50 startups.
As a startup founder, Stefano often had to deal with costly and time-consuming incorporation and corporate governance processes. To overcome this, he founded Korporatio, a one-stop digital solution that creates legal entities on the Ethereum blockchain.
About Korporatio
Korporatio, which means “corporation” in Esperanto, introduces an entirely new type of organisation – the Smart Company. Smart Companies are blockchain-powered legal entities that are fully incorporated as private limited companies.
Korporatio’s platform helps entrepreneurs save time and money. Its automated processes reduce incorporation costs and the time required for previously lengthy processes (e.g., holding general meetings and passing resolutions). Today, Korporatio operates in multiple jurisdictions: Seychelles, Wyoming, U.S., Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Singapore.
What has been the most satisfying aspect of entrepreneurship for you and why?
S: At Korporatio, we managed to convince governments to accept new legal frameworks in corporate governance. This process involved meetings with countries’ key decision-makers, something I would have never thought about…
How did you acquire your first customers?
S:Google ads, PR events and referrals. Beyond these, I would like to elaborate on client relationships – start by establishing trust, listening intently and sincerely to their needs, then go on to rapid testing and iterating for success.
I onboarded my first client in Singapore by listening, finding pain points and then providing solutions to those pain points.
Drawing on your personal experiences, what traits do you think are essential for startup founders and why?
S:Toughness! As a startup founder, you will make mistakes and you will be held accountable for them. You will be pushed down by team members, customers and even investors who threaten to sue you or pull out … You will have to manage the expectations of others and you will wake up in the night thinking whether the company can survive another month…
In order to be successful, you must be able to withstand these stressors and yet find a way to move on.
What was the biggest challenge you faced in scaling your sales and why?
S: The biggest challenge was to ensure that Korporatio’s workflow and platform could keep up with the needs of a growing client base. To keep up with our clients’ needs, we had to continuously improve our platform through continuous testing and feedback gathering.
The second biggest challenge was to ensure a positive ROI from Korporatio’s sales channel. Given our current cost structure, we have to continuously manage the cost of customer acquisition to avoid losing money.
A screenshot of Korporatio’s demo platform. Retrieved from www.korporatio.com
What aspects were most important when you were first building your team and why?
On hindsight, if you to build your team again, is there anything you would do differently?
What are the top 3 tips you have for investor pitching?
1) Know your numbers. Market, competitors, projections, financials, margins, etc.
2) Don’t be too optimistic and provide totally unrealistic projections.
3) Keep sentences short and clear. Let the investors ask questions.
According to your investors, what sets you apart from other startups?
S: We are the first to introduce the Smart Company model and we have convinced governments to approve it. Our platform also provides a better way to handle corporate governance processes.
Any other words of wisdom that you would like to share?
S: Don’t be afraid to try, but also don’t be ignorant about what you are doing. Dreaming is amazing, but you need to aim to be the best in the space to have a chance in making a difference.
Stay tuned for next week's episode of Founders Friday
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