Sergei Toporov: start-uppers market is booming

According to Sergei Toporov, a manager of Leta Group Investment & venture fund, the IT market has been actively developing in recent years. It is the most attractive market for investment today. The main motive of venture capital companies is the desire to create new technologies using the latest achievements of science, to develop successful companies that will go ahead of the rest. IT is an area where Russia can compete with Western developers, since a lot of programming and engineering minds are here, and they only need an appropriate business environment to create innovative products.

Many venture capital firms invest in the latest IT-developments with certainty. Trading and real estate are less risky and more understandable businesses, but these markets are of simple rules and you cannot expect innovative breakthroughs from them.

Young entrepreneurs should understand that to build a technology business in the Russian economy is very difficult, but the situation is gradually changing for the better.

Both international and Russian start-upper markets are booming now. The number of projects is increasing with each passing day, but there are still few good projects, so it becomes more difficult to find a good one. In order to attract investors, a start-up should have three main qualities: the team, even crazy enough not to know the word impossible, but already mature enough to know how to do that impossible, a product that provides a real need for the buyer and market potential for the development of this product. If you have all of these qualities, investors themselves will stand in line for a startup.

Most investors are in constant search of teams willing to offer ideas. This usually happens at the events of partner sites for start-ups. They also process a large flow of incoming requests for investment. At the same time startups should not be afraid to turn to investment funds asking for funding, because it means that the first step is made and you are able to do it and are capable of more.

Investors begin thorough work with start-up teams as a partner after selecting the project and the investment process. It is important to make sure that startups are involved in product creation and its promotion and all the problems and concerns related to business administration receded to the background.

To successfully launch an IT startup you need to have a goal-seeking team which knows how to succeed. And there must be a leader in the team who supports the main idea and promotes it. He or she can be both an engineer or a businessman and ideally someone who combines both these qualities.

Young entrepreneurs should understand that to build a technology business is very difficult in Russian economy, but the situation is gradually changing for the better, start-ups environment begins to form, the state is developing a support system for innovation. Projects such as Skolkovo and RVC venture capital partnership also give a positive impetus to the development. Major trends in IT are the market of mobile applications which is growing rapidly together with the number of mobile devices (PDA, tablet PCs); the number of voice and video services also increases and will allow people to save much time for the presentation and transmission of information and will be able to convey emotions more clearly at the same time. New ways of communication are being developed: new interfaces of machine-human interaction, new transparent and flexible displays, manipulators that do not require special equipment, and devices for input and output of information that can enable all human senses.