building a silicon valley technology startup with … · building a silicon valley technology...

BUILDING A SILICON VALLEY TECHNOLOGY STARTUP WITH GREEK R&D AND

GLOBAL BUSINESS MINDSETThe case of Helic and success stories from

Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association

Yorgos Koutsoyannopoulos, CEO, Helic

Tuesday, October 16, 12

STARTING UP• Helic from day one did almost 100% of the common mistakes

you may find in a business textbook

• It’s easier and useful to talk about what went 100% wrong rather than the opposite


•Not an ordinary Greek startup

•Born inside Greek academia

•With Greek heart and talent

•Managed and benchmarked by Silicon Valley standards and values


HELIC BY THE NUMBERS• Money raised > $7M: Andy Bechtolsheim, Synopsys

(Magma DA), Fujitsu, SFS, Alpha Finance, Armada (DB)

• Headcount: ~45 people (15 PhD, 25 MSc)

• Offices: San Jose, CA - Athens, Greece, Yokohama, Japan

• Customers > 60 worldwide: big semiconductor companies

• Presence through reps in Israel, Korea, China, Taiwan

• Product Users > 1500 worldwideTuesday, October 16, 12

FROM THE PRESS


OUR PRODUCTS•EDA tools to capture high-frequency EM effects in high-speed

CMOS designs down to 20nm: Layout to RLCk netlist

VeloceRFVeloceRaptor/X


SI PROCESS EVOLUTION IMPOSES NEW SPECS

prototyping production

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

design prototyping production

design prototyping

28nm

20nm

14nm

Source: Global Foundries, TSMC


WHERE WE ARE HEADING...

Operating frequency (GHz)

Chip

size

& c

ompl

exity

1 5 10 25 100

3D EM SolversRC E

xtra

ctor

s - p

atte

rn b

ased

Helic: High-Frequency & High Capacity


WE PROTECT OUR IP

• We file at least 2 USPTO applications per year


CRITICAL INVESTMENTS: OUR LAB

• Cascade Semi-automatic 200mm wafer probe station

• Infinity 67 GHz probes and cables

• Agilent PNA 8361A 67 GHz

• 30 GHz Spectrum


SELECTIVE MARKETING

• Presence in trade shows 2009-2012:

• 34 trade shows

• 16 cities

• 7 countries

• America, EU, Asia


WHAT IS THE RECIPE TO SUCCEED?

• There is no recipe!

• You’ve got to make mistakes to learn

• A lot of hard work

• Have a vision to change your industry or even the world!

• Set a really big but also pragmatic goal!


EXECUTION: FIND GREAT PEOPLE

•Need to hire a team of great engineers and get out of their way

•Experienced engineering managers know how to deal with sizable problems and solve them smartly


STUDY HOW OTHERS GROW• When organizations grow, things that used to work start failing

quietly

• Challenge the status quo

• What are we doing? Why?

• What is important?

• Don’t reinvent the wheel: try to learn from other companies and collaborate

• Study other startups that do well, interact with executives


FIND CUSTOMERS FAST• Engineers love to design solutions for problems

that don’t exist!

• Find a clear need to fulfill: there is no better testimonial than a paying customer, even one!

• Iterate fast, don’t wait a year to bring a solution to the market

• Study your customers’ needs and interact quickly with them

• A brilliant engineering solution without a customer is worth zero!


REACH OUT TO YOUR CLIENT

•Spend time with potential clients - only then you might understand what they are willing to pay for

•Travel to the centers of gravity of your market: for semiconductors it’s US, China, Israel, Taiwan, Korea, Europe


DOING THINGS RIGHT


LEAN STARTUP WAY


HELLENIC SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

• We set up presence in Silicon Valley

• Support our members to build presence, market their technologies, build relationships

HSIA office in San Jose, CA


WHO IS SUCCESSFUL?

• Success is measured by gauging the valuation of a company - a few metrics are:

• Its product and IP portfolio

• Its revenues

• What the customers think - testimonials

• Its liquidation price in a M&A

• Its market capitalizationTuesday, October 16, 12

HSIA SUCCESS STORIES

• Recent M&As

• Sitel by Dialog

• Nanoradio (ex-Atmel team) by Samsung

• Bytemobile (ex-Atmel team) by Citrix

• Strategic investment by CEVA in Antcor

• More to come....stay tuned!


Thank you!

Yorgos [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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