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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

8. 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:

9. Regional champions
Rimac Automobili (Croatia)
This Croatian startup makes high-performance electric
powertrain systems, battery systems and full vehicles, such as
Concept_One, the fastest
electrical car on the planet!
Price tag: 1 million EUR
And they already sold 7!

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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
projects
Serbia – dozens of bootstrapped startups
Czech Republic – a country characterized by data-oriented startups
Krakow, 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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/!

23. See you at our next event!
Bucharest.TechHub.com
Facebook.com/TechHubBucharest
Twitter.com/TechHubBuc