The Teckle of Rabobank

On the 6th of June, we had a guest lecture from Michel Ziekman and his colleague. They are both employees at the Rabobank, specialised in funding companies. Of course, this lecture was about funding companies, especially about what starters need to do when they need funding.

They mentioned ‘Teckle’. An initiative that was founded by Ziekman and others. Teckle is the innovation service that the Rabobank offers to those who have promising ideas or companies. They will help starters with your finance but also with your network. Their mainly focus lies with start-ups and scale-ups.

We had the chance to ask them questions, and one of them was; what is the biggest turn down aspect for Rabobank when people come ask for a funding?

Their answer to this question contained a few points:

• They did not know who their market was, so who to target to.

• They did nog have a good team with the proper knowledge to produce their idea.

• The concept is not new.

They listed up some tips for us at the end which could help us if needed:

• Make sure you have got a good preparation before a funding meeting

• Your business plan needs to have focus on a target group

• You need to have focus in your plan -> clear way

• Seek for help (a team) if you don’t have the expertise yourself

• Prepare a good elevator pitch

• Make use of your network

• Have a realistic revenue model

• Do research about your possible risks

• Explain what you do as easy as possible, always keep in mind that they do not know everything

• See possibilities international

• Be realistic, all companies start making profit after at least 1 year

• Always make a positive and negative scenario

We wanted to thank Michel ziekman and his colleague for this guest lecture and all the useful tips! You can find more about the Teckle program here.