Stardoll for Little Girls: Mattias Miksche (Part 3)
SM: What stage are you at now? Revenue? Profitability? Traffic? Customers? Users? Advertisers? Any other metrics you track?
MM: We do not comment on our financials. We’re over 7 million uniques a month today and hope to be in the double digits soon. We’re over 2 million uniques in the U.S and over a million in the U.K.
SM: How did you finance the different phases of the company?
MM: We have VC financing – Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
SM: What financing stage are you at right now? Will you be raising more money? What timeframe? What is your ideal investor?
MM: We are not raising another round and we’re fortunate to already have the ideal investors on board. Their insights and networks are invaluable, especially for a Scandinavian company like ourselves, far from the epicenter of Silicon Valley.
SM: Describe some of your team building experiences. Is your management team complete now?
MM: We have been very very product-oriented from the start; hiring female illustrators, female designers and female product & project managers alongside the (male-dominated) development team. We’re never complete and are now looking to expand further on the sales and bizdev side.
SM: What is your growth strategy?
MM: Keep building a product the users love!
SM: What are your thoughts about exit?
MM: As long as we’re meeting the demands of our audience, I think we’re building value in the company. Fortunately, I have investors who are way better than myself in determining if, when, where and how an exit might happen. I focus on building the product and the company.
SM: What are some of your key learnings from this journey so far?
MM: As usual: do not underestimate the user – even if they love pink and are 11 years old.
Stay true to your vision – users appreciate something unique. I’d rather build something smaller and unique than build a me-too product. Succeeding in selling virtual items takes a lot of skill.
SM: Cool story, Mattias!
This segment is part 3 in the series : Stardoll for Little Girls: Mattias Miksche
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Well, right now, with so much success, has taken decisions that are harmful to users, many are thinking about leaving, we understand that businesses are well, but I think that the form of CONVINCED was not correct. This punishing rather than to motivate more girls to subscribe.
Too bad for them, not enough for them with all the money they have earned, this ambition is already bad.