Mihail Stoychev

Some interesting startups you might like to check: HindSight Modoru Platforum9 And since 5 out of 12 different founders I talked to this week still weren’t sure how to identify and where to find the right investors for themselves- shipshape.vc #scaling #growth #investment #marketexpansion #marketlaunch

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European founders in #GenAI are generally 10 years or more experienced managers who have spent some years at leaders like Apple Amazon Meta Google or xAI, mainly in Silicon Valley. They also are coming from big universities like Stanford University, University of Oxford or École normale supérieure, also with experience. Experience and high level skills in #AI are key to understand business and technical differentiators, best practices and build the necessary network for success. And the most experienced are also the most successful #GenAI companies.

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I'm proud to have signed the petition calling for a unified ‘EU Inc.’ structure for European startups. Europe has the talent, innovation, and drive to build world-leading companies, but our fragmented startup ecosystem is holding us back. By creating a standardized corporate structure across Europe, we can make it easier to scale, attract more investment, and unlock our full potential. With just 6 weeks before the new EU commissioners set their agenda, now is the time to push for real change. Take a moment to read, sign, and share the petition, and let's build a stronger future for European startups together. 👉 https://www.eu-inc.org 🇪🇺 #EUInc #EuropeanStartups #Innovation #PanEuropean #TechEcosystem #Startups

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Use the “connect to collect” method to boost your impact startup! Tom Josczok from wirkungsanteil and how to grow the investor’s mindset. 

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I have been involved in startups since 2012 and am currently working on my revolutionary startup UchGuch. Among consultants, I often meet the opinion that a startup team needs to focus on one idea. But this is contrary to the skills of a startup team, if you meet a cool startup team, they can quickly come up with and validate ideas and this is their main task in the market, that's why they are looking for investments, to create a team that will develop a failed successful idea. But practically none of the available tools on the market allows a startup team to register or apply for all the ideas they have in the pipeline at once. Often startups themselves burn out as the graveyard of hypotheses grows. If a startup team cannot recognize in time that their hypothesis is not promising and honestly tell the investor about it, a lot of money will be spent and there will be a lot of frustration for everyone. The series Billions Season 3 Episode 3: - This box can't be put back together, right? It has to be thought of and acknowledged?

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One of the most important things is to collaborate with people that genuinely inspire you and have expertise and passion in what they do to inspire others to lead. This week, Tatjana Nebel and I had an amazing opportunity to collaborate on a workshop that enables #GPs, #funds, #SMEs and #family businesses to better realize the value of their investments, value-creation initiatives, and how to target the right investments to future-proof their activities from both an innovation and investment perspective. In a market where increasingly #SMEs are seeking to diversify their activities and work alongside innovative younger companies, #family offices that are allocating to #VC and increasingly participating in direct investments, #CVCs that have had varied results in creating value throughout the entire organization and #institutional capital that focus on #valuecreation to spur realized gains- together we see that embedding innovation and investment is critical for success. Tatjana (yes, you get the two Tatjana's) has driven #innovation leadership for some of #DACH most legendary businesses- not only at Ricola, but ETH Zürich Liip and OUTFITTERY and embeds a deep innovation, strategy and growth know-how that can take a current or future innovation and investment portfolio to the next level. We're so excited to deliver complimentary value and a different perspective to our clients together. If this resonates with you, you're seeking a 360 degree perspective on your innovation and investment portfolio and you want your leadership team to realize measurable value from a strategic and financial perspective- feel free to reach out to either one of us!

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Navigating Seed-Stage Fundraising: Key Insights Understanding seed-stage fundraising is crucial for any startup founder. Here’s a concise look at the landscape, based on data from 1,271 priced seed rounds between April 2023 and March 2024. Top Players: - SaaS leads in deal volume, showing strong investor interest. - Healthtech and Fintech are also in the spotlight, with Healthtech now surpassing Fintech. High Valuation and Cash Raised: - HR startups stand out with the highest median pre-money valuation and cash raised. - Transport and Renewable Energy also show high valuations, indicating significant potential. AI’s Impact: - AI influences multiple sectors and would top every chart if tracked separately, highlighting its transformative potential. Benchmarks: - Median pre-money valuation: $13M. - Median cash raised: $3M. Industry Clusters: Analytics, SaaS, and Healthtech form significant clusters around median values. Biotech and Cybersecurity also perform strongly. Lagging Sectors: DTC Retail, Food, and Personal Products lag in both valuation and cash raised, potentially exploring alternative funding methods. Deeper Insights: -Industry Disparities: Significant variations exist, with Healthtech showing increased investor confidence. -AI’s Dominance: AI offers diverse investment opportunities across industries. Decline in Seed Volume: -Most sectors see reduced seed funding, except for AI. -Alternative Funding Strategies: Some founders are exploring revenue-based funding instead of traditional VC routes. Takeaway: Navigating the seed-stage funding landscape requires strategic understanding and adaptability. This evolving environment offers unique opportunities and challenges for both investors and founders. If you're on this journey, let’s connect. I’m here to help you navigate these complexities and improve your chances of securing funding. #startups #entrepreneurship #venturecapital #investing #finance #crossborder #inovexus #startup #VC #earlystage #angleinvestor

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To "navigate" is to guide something over a difficult terrain. Through the programs we've built with MatchPlay over the last year (see Mahesh Narayanan's post for more) we've learned that what we're trying to do doesn't exactly fit into the standard accelerator/incubator bucket. Our goal is to be working with founders throughout their journey, not just within a limited program. So we're building MatchPlay as a "Startup Navigator" - helping guide founders through startup terrains to the clearest and most sustainable route to success. In our opinion, founders require specialized and personalized journeys to achieve this success. That's why we offer free, paid, and application-based resources dedicated to these specific needs. Hit me up if you want to get involved! Mahesh Narayanan Steven Richer Fernando Moreno Aakarsh Malhotra MatchPlay

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If you are focusing on demand generation as an early-stage startup You may be doing it wrong, and here is why 👇 As an early-stage startup, you shouldn't act like an enterprise company. You want to bring your product to people who are ready to buy. These people are already looking for solutions like yours. You need to capture the existing demand before you start doing demand generation. If there is a demand for what you are selling, start investing in channels that will put your product in front of the right audience. Don't start marketing from the top of the funnel; start from the bottom and move up. So, what are some of the channels you can use to bring your product in front of the right audience? I usually work with B2B SaaS PLG companies, so we generally use: Ads ( for capturing demand in short term) Content ( capturing demand in short and long term) Outreach ( short term) If you don't know where to start, ask your customers about how they look for a new product. P.S: You don't need to do 10 channels at the same time you can do one at a time but do it right What do you do when there is no established category and demand for your product? If there is no demand for what you are selling, try to focus on pain points of your ICP or their current solution E.g: If there is no category called "content calendar software" You can still focus on a current solution, "creating a content calendar with sheets" If you focus on the current solution of your ICP, you can educate them about your product. or You can focus on educating people on how they can create content calendar and use your software to educate them. #seo,#saasmarketing, #gtmstrategy, #contentmarketing, #growthmarketing

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💡 "The #Eurosongfestival should become an AI-driven festival where all Europeans can participate and win" 👇 #freeidea #innovation It's time to face the music. The music industry will never be the same again. Generative AI is much more than ChatGPT. New #GenAi tools can write - automagically - complete songs with vocals, harmonies and lyrics, based on your prompts. I explored a few GenAI music tools to understand better their current status Suno www.suno.com Udio www.udio.com The result: it's actually getting pretty good (not perfect) and getting better at lightspeed. A lot of AI attention went to ChatGPT but the impact of GenAI on the music industry deserves more mainstream attention. 🤘 Imagine a new generation of the Eurosongfestival where ..... * Every European can send in his GenAI generated song * Songs can be upvoted (using a suitable digital ID solution) * The top 30 gets into a TV/Youtube competition * Any European can become a Eurovision star Would you participate? Would you organize it? ... Ping me if you are interested to explore the idea 😎 ----------------- 🚀 I love to build the future. Let's have a talk on building the future (of your company) https://lnkd.in/e6kjakzF -------------------------------------------------------

What makes you Exceptional, Remarkable or Extraordinary?? As a pre seed / seed founder, this is what you should be pitching to investors. Well, at least that’s my opinion. What’s your thought on this? Very well described by Sam Marchant in his post ⤵️ #founders #investors
#alwaysbelearning #changethewaywework #thefutureofworkisnow #firstdegree

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What makes a “perfect marriage” between founders and investors? 😳 In this episode of The Recursive podcast we explore investor’s dilemma and founder’s mindset with Pedja Predin, General Partner at Fifth Quarter Ventures, a new early-stage venture capital fund creating global success stories from Southeast Europe. We talked about: 🟣 The importance of the diaspora bringing in new perspectives 🟣 The challenge of cultural and historical attitudes towards feedback 🟣 Chemistry and collaboration between investors and founders Check out the full episode here:

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#ObsessivelyEnthusiasticInvestor #UnreasonablyEnthusiasticInvestor #IrrationallyEnthusiasticInvestor at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund. We look for the people we believe are doing the best work in Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology; Attempting the impossible. Then we go all-in on them. With obsessive and unreasonable enthusiasm. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital #DemandTheImpossible #UnreasonableEnthusiasm #ObsessiveEnthusiasm #IrrationalEnthusiasm 

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It is very easy to develop a pessimistic / negative view of the world these days - in particular when sitting in Europe. And while some developments are undoubtedly far from great, I maintain a positive view - in particular when it comes to entrepreneurship. The slowdown of the tech sector over the last 2.5 years has been sobering, yet continues to create great opportunities for innovation. Three themes emerge in my interactions with founders: Way fewer people are looking to get “this cool startup experience“: While it has never been easy to build and scale a successful venture, the heydays of 2020/21 and media coverage focusing on mega seed rounds / fast successes have made the journey seem straightforward to some. Many people wanted to “get that startup experience”, blinded by the successes that looked like “straight lines”. The struggles of the past 30 months have been a powerful illustration of how hard it is, how much dedication it takes and that success is far from certain. I now see founders thinking more binary - either they feel that it is a great time to start out now or they suddenly feel that times are too risky to start something new. This is a very healthy side effect and separates the tourists from the believers. Opportunity costs of starting something new have dropped: A lot of incredibly strong and experienced people who wouldn’t have thought of building a company 30 months ago suddenly do. We have seen founder application numbers continuously trending up all through 2022 to 2024 and we have had the chance to work with really great people that wouldn’t have started something before. I believe that this is a function of lower opportunity costs (ESOP programs are priced differently, pet projects are gone, focus is on cost not growth). Many people I speak to share the belief that there is an opportunity at their fingertips, since i) markets have been shook up and incumbents / competition have been stirred up, ii) hiring is much easier today - the amount of talent available is amazing and iii) liquidity is there - early stage investors continue to back great companies and unlike other phases there is no liquidity crisis. Founders are pulled towards healthy economics: Capital has a cost - how weird, huh? Therefore, many founders are focusing more diligently on the capital needs and burn rates that their businesses have, knowing that money is expensive. It has also pushed people in ideation stages to focus more on stuff that customers really want - and are willing to pay for. It is very clear that investors take their time to do proper due diligence, that they are more patient when evaluating businesses and that they value (future) financial health over the mere prospect of growth at all cost. All of these effects are healthy - and they will help bring forward a new generation of winning companies! ⛸⛸

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A key to success in entrepreneurship is understanding the needs and goals of your business before building. At Hyperspace Ventures, we prioritize this tried and true approach with our entrepreneurs. By fully comprehending their needs and goals, we can ensure that we are building a product that will meet their unique requirements.

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Out of some 42,000 startups, 288 have been bought so far in 2024.  The old adage that startups are bought, not sold seems to be holding true. I enjoyed speaking with Peter Walker, Head of Insights Carta, on The Lonely Office to talk about the "Startup Gamble: What are Your Odds?" I've been following his posts for a while and I love the way he stitches together startup insights and advice with a data driven perspective using the Carta database. And I believe I'm not the only one who finds his insights valuable. So we thought we'd bring him on to speak about the best cities to raise angel and pre-seed money (it's no longer just SF and NY), the most common exit periods for startups, and why the VC phrase "lifestyle startup" is a term that needs to be phased out. Check in below for more discussion.

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Full time #Investor Egor Romanyuk on 24SIX9 founders community TGIF told the advice about clear pitch delivery importance… Founders, please, check background of person to whom you DM with your pitch and adopt your pitch for person background, add big numbers, where’s network effect, what’s your average client ROI, how you attract partners in order to sell together with them, etc… don’t send tens of messages for just “seeking of money without any return” perspective, you just wasting your and your colleague in venture landscape time 🕰️ the most important resource!

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