Sketchfab Co-Founder on Building Relationships as the Key to Business Immortality

<p>Started in France, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/albandenoyel/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alban Denoyel</a> knew that the key to his product, Sketchfab, was its influence in the United States. Now a leading platform for 3D and AR models, Sketchfab got a boost while Alban was part of the <a href="https://www.techstars.com/accelerators" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Techstars Accelerator program</a>. “I think having gone through Techstars really helped us get the credibility we needed to raise money with VCs as first-time entrepreneurs.”</p><br><p>Years later, the key takeaways from Alban’s time in the program still bring success to Sketchfab. Investors won’t just throw money at an idea; it’s about having a rapport, as Alban met some investors two years before they even wrote their checks. “The real key lesson is to build a relationship ahead of when you need some money.”</p><br><p>Listen as David and Alban delve deeper into having resilience and perseverance, switching focuses from building to monetizing a product, the struggles the company faced within the AR market and technology not being ready for their product, and how building relationships helped when Sketchfab was acquired by Epic Games.</p><br><p>Follow Alban Denoyel on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/albn" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@albn</a></p><p>Follow David Cohen on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/davidcohen" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@davidcohen</a></p><br><p>Listen &amp; subscribe to the Give First podcast on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/give-first/id1462357721" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5dA6Pl7MU6C2mygaxc9mCi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, and <a href="https://givefirst.techstars.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more</a>.</p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_bl