Open Sessions

The How to Web MVP Academy pre-acceleration program provided a great opportunity for the entire tech community in Bucharest and beyond: Ivan Brezak Brkan, entrepreneur, startup mentor and ex-tech journalist, shared his knowledge on how you can reach out to key people in the CEE tech ecosystem in order to grow your startup.

His experience recommends Ivan as one of the most active people in the CEE, with great connections all over the continent and beyond.

Key talking points

1. Increasing your chances to fiind good opportunities for your startup.

2. Missconceptions about the CEE and tech entrepreneurs in the region.

3. Regional champions and learning resources. 4. Getting a head start with building your

network & the „exotism” factor.5. Overcoming the disconnect between

entrepreneurs in neighbouring countries. 6. The benefits of attending regional

conferences.

Beyond the startup lifestyle

When foreign investors and accelerators such as Y Combinator or 500 Startups come to the CEE, they’re always struck by the amount of tech talent in the region.

But the problem is that most entrepreneurs don’t want to build a tech company in the long run; they just want to live the startup lifestyle, and follow the pattern that the tech media reinforces.

Beyond the tech media articles

There are a lot of tech companies in the region that believe the only way to succeed is the American way (found a startup, get into an accelerator, get investment, etc.).

The CEE is not a target market for TechCrunch, but tech entrepreneurs read TechCrunch and see that as the only way to succeed.

We need to look more towards local and regional champions.

Regional champions

There are a lot of tech companies in the region that believe the only way to succeed is the American way (found a startup, get into an accelerator, get investment, etc.).

The CEE is not a target market for TechCrunch, but tech entrepreneurs read TechCrunch and see that as the only way to succeed.

We need to look more towards local champions, such as:

Regional champions

Rimac Automobili (Croatia)

This Croatian startup makes high-performance electric powertrain systems, battery systems and full vehicles, such as Concept_One, the fastestelectrical car on the planet!

Price tag: 1 million EURAnd they already sold 7!

Regional champions

Nordeus (Serbia)

This bootstrapped Serbian startup currently employs a team of 200, who develop Top Eleven, a football game that currently had 5 million daily active users and 12 million monthy active users.

Regional champions

Bellabeat (Croatia)

Bellabeat has created a pregnancy home monitoring system and offers AI solutions in prenatal and neonatal care. Earlier this March they received a $4.5 million seed investment round to grow their product.

The Croation startup was also part of the 2014 winter class of Y Combinator, where it was voted the “most likely to succeed” by others in its cohort.

Regional champions

Telerik (Bulgaria)

Telerik is a huge startup located in Sofia, that does software tools for web, mobile and desktop application development, and tools and subscription services for cross-platform application development.

From 2008 to 2013, Telerik has bought 6 companies, and now employs 800 people in 11 offices. It’s community is made up from 1.2+ community members, they have over 130.000 customers in 94 countries and have won 325 awards for their work so far.

Regional champions

Socialbakers (Czech Republic)

The Czech startup provides social media network statistics and analysis from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube, helping companies monitor the effectiveness of their social media campaigns.

In February 2014, Socialbakers has completed a $26 million Series C financing round, one of the largest funding rounds for a social analytics company outside North America. It’s also good to know that, in 2013, they managed to grow their revenue 3-fold.

Regional champions

Teddy the Guardian (Croatia)

This Croatian startup does a teddy bear that’s full of sensors to track the vital signs of the kid who is playing with him. Teddy the Guardian was named one of the most promising startups from CES 2014 and they already sold 3800 products.

Country specifics

Look at what’s happening in your neighbouring countries, because each country has its specialty:

Slovenia – a Kickstarter nation with dozens of successful Kickstarter projectsSerbia – dozens of bootstrapped startups Czech Republic – a country characterized by data-oriented startupsKrakow, Poland – great on hardware startups (there’s even an agency that specializes on building hardware products!)Bosnia and Herzegovina has a huge expat community, with many people abroad doing tech companies who are now interested in building something in their country of origin as well.

Doers, not speakers

CEE companies rarely value their own expertise. In the region, we don’t train our entrepreneurs to become strong speakers and go to conferences to share their knowledge. Local success stories don’t want to come aut, so you have to go and find them on your own. The only expertise on success does not necessarily come from the US, and that is obvious from the success stories that can be found all around the CEE. Most startups in the region lack someone who’s going be aggressive and open enough to reach out to the right people.

Network like an American

But there are ways to become a better speaker, a better networker, more communicative and open. Here’s what you can do: • Find out who the connectors in your country are and

reach out to them – the top guys in a country usually the top guys on an international level;

• Networking is not natural for most people, but going to more events might reveal about yourself that you like doing this after all;

• You have to try it, observe how others do it, and you’ll discover that it’s not that difficult;

• Travelling abroad and discovering similarities and different ways of doing things helps entrepreneurs grow and evolve;

• Learn the pattern of being open.

Go small

The same people from the CEE go to the same conferences. Too few people from the region are going to regional conferences. People go to very large conferences, where you can’t do any really valuable networking, because there are simply too many people and it’s difficult to get to the most important speakers or investors. Many entrepreneurs are gullible when it comes to the advertising that the biggest tech conferences do.

Go small: At smaller conferences, up to 1000 people, it’s much easier to approach the speakers and meet people. People rarely go to learn from companies in the region who have already done what they want to do. Going to conferences is a great way of doing that as well. Make a list of all the local and regional conferences and go to them! It’s a great investment for your startup and yourself as well.

The „exotic” factor

• Being from a country in the CEE is perceived as exotic by Americans especially, so you have a chance to stand out.

• People respect other people who make extra effort. • Great people appreciate networking among themselves,

especially in the region.

Example: Spark.me organised by .ME domain (in Montenegro) has a competition for startups where you can win a booth at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, with paid accommodation and paid transport to the US and back. With a good application and a good pitch, you can really build your chance to winning this prize!

And there are plenty of opportunities like this one, but you have to keep an eye out for them and go the extra mile to make the most of them.

Common challenges

Entrepreneurs in the region face a set of common challenges, which they can help each other overcome. Some of them are:

• The lack of people with business/financial/marketing expertise in tech companies or startups in the region;

• The slow moving spotlight from west to east in terms of media exposure for CEE tech startups;

• The lack of a common mindset as Europeans that will help startups related more easily to one another;

• The need to reinforce entrepreneurship like a positive thing in order to finally make a change in the mentality that still perceives this professional path as a slightly shady option.

And there are plenty more things that can bring entrepreneurs together, to help and empower each other, to share resources and opportunities.

About How to Web MVP Academy

How to Web MVP Academy is a pre-acceleration program designed to get startups to the MVP stage and their pitches ready to be financed. MVP Academy is already under development, between June 2 and July 22 at TechHub Bucharest, and brought together 15 promising teams from the region. The program provides a top-notch 7 week educational program, enhanced with key connections to amazing mentors and potential further investors.

More details at: http://mvpacademy.co/!

See you at our next event! Bucharest.TechHub.com

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