BSA Open Session: Building a B2B business

Some say B2B is the way to go for European startup founders, since B2C models need the massive scaling only Silicon Valley capital is able to fund. But building a B2B business offers at least as many challenges: one sale can take months to close, and most industries languish in a jungle of regulation that can be impenetrable to new entrants.

Berlin Startup Academy runs weekly mentoring sessions for its participating founders, each week with a different focus topic. For the session on "B2B business", we're inviting everyone to learn from the lineup of world-class experts we have as mentors.

Stephan Schambach - Founder/ CEO of NewStore. Between 1998 and 2012, Stephan built two billion-dollar B2B companies, Intershop and Demandware.

Gero Decker - CEO of Signavio. Heralded as the next unicorn from Berlin, Signavio has offices in San Francisco and Singapore and a list of B2B clients others would kill for.

Moritz Klussmann - Founder/ CEO of Customer Alliance, Europe's leading SaaS for hotel customer satisfaction.

Agenda:

1. Six short pitches of the participating BSA startups, including their B2B plans and strategies

2. 15-minute keynotes by mentors: "Secrets of getting your B2B business off the ground"

3. Q&A with everyone in the room.