Funding & Disrupting presented by Oura Collective, welcomes our very established guests Dirk Lueth and Stefan Schütze.
Dirk Lueth is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of one of the largest blockchain-based metaverse companies called Upland. And Stefan is the Managing Partner of C3 Venture Capital.
C3 is a venture capital company focused on managing early-stage venture funds which invest in exceptional technology companies worldwide. In the double interview, Keith talks to both our guests to understand the funding and disruption that went on behind these firms.
First Meeting & Working Together
It is a one of a kind Blockchain technology-based application that is growing at an amazingly fast pace. When Keith asks Dirk and Stefan to share their first meeting and how this partnership began, they had a story to share.
Being an investor, Stefan shares how Upland was a very new application to invest in. He shares how they had limited documents and paperwork, making it hard to perform due diligence. However, Stefan tells how he believed in the idea. Stefan was impressed by Upland’s business plan and the skillset of the people behind it.
Stefan also shares how it was all assumptions about how it might develop in the future when they decided to fund the company. Yet, he recalls that Dirk and his partners were great entrepreneurs and C3 was convinced they will bring U to higher levels. Schutze also tells how the process from the first meeting to funding took place in just a couple of weeks.
All You Need to Know About Upland
As Upland is a new concept in the Blockchain metaverse, Keith wanted to know more details about the idea, evolution, and concept behind U. Keith asks Dirk about the idea of where it all started, and Dirk shared what went behind producing Upland.
Dirk shares how he believed in Blockchain and cryptocurrency far before the world was ready to accept it. However, it was hard for him to convince people to understand his ideas. While Dirk was still brainstorming ideas to use Blockchain in the right platform, he built the idea of U.
Dirk candidly tells how Upland is a Blockchain concept of the famous board-game Monopoly. He shares how everyone plays Monopoly, and we buy virtual lands and places using virtual currency. Dirk and his partners used the same concept to build Upland. Dirk also shares how the Netflix series- ‘Stranger Things’ became famous around the year 2018. So, Upland got the idea of a parallel universe from the show.
He shares how they have gamified Monopoly into Upland using Blockchain technology in 2018. Today, there are over 280K landowners on Upland with a peak of 150K daily active users.
Investment Process of Upland
Keith further moved to one of the most crucial segments of the interview, which was to talk about the investment and funding for Upland by C3. First, Keith asks Schutze to share his funding experience with Upland.
Schutze shares how C3 manages early-stage venture funds and especially adopts start-ups that use blockchain technology. He tells how Upland was a C-level company when it came to C3 for funds. He shares that Upland’s business plan looked promising, but they did not have enough paperwork for due diligence.
However, Upland fulfilled many of C3’s funding criteria, like it uses US Blockchain technology, and the idea was unique. Stefan also talks about how Monopoly is known to everyone, and Upland lets you pick properties in the real world. Stefan candidly tells how they just assumed that Upland would have a great future and decided to fund the start-up.
When Keith asked Dirk to share his experience of raising capital, he discusses that Upland had a few angel investors initially. He shares how they built the prototype of Upland with investments from friends and family. Dirk also talks about how big the market is for Blockchain. As predicted, he believes the metaverse market will be $5 trillion by 2030 which is immense.
Advice for Founders & Investors
In the last segment of the interview, Keith asks both his guests to share some pieces of advice for budding entrepreneurs. Dirk shares how the least intelligent thing he did as a new entrepreneur was bad personal time management. Lueth shares how he would try to accomplish every small or big task himself. However, he suggests that budding entrepreneurs should learn to delegate things.
Keith asks Dirk about the biggest challenge he faced while building Upland. Dirk honestly shares how he did not expect Upland to grow so fast. He shares how their team was not prepared to manage the growth at that time. He also says that Blockchain technology has its hurdles which were hard to overcome.
In the end, Dirk also advises start-ups that the first ten hires are crucial for any business. He asks entrepreneurs not to hire someone who is too expensive as they might not bring the desired results. He also suggests not hiring someone too junior who cannot grow with you.
If you wish to connect with Dirk or Stefan, you can hit them up on their LinkedIn accounts.
Upland App Story Notes
• Idea behind Upland
• Blockchain technology and how it works
• How to use Upland
• Funding process of Upland by C3
• Challenges faced and lessons learned
• Advice for young entrepreneurs