work in progress

• Wiring something together. Justinas Badaras –  IBAN360 – a payments platform built for businesses that operate internationally and deal in foreign currencies. Simonas – a system that recommends where to build new charging stations for EVs. Darius – CompetiTracker – track updates from your competitor products, all vibe-coded. Lauri – HeyHiFi – upgrade your sound based on the music you actually listen to.
• Building, schools and universities. MVP stands for Moksleiviu Vienaragiu Paieska – a new TV show to bring school kids into entrepreneurship. Applicants need a business idea and welcome to apply, they will compete alongside tech companies. Also, another cool initiative – Student Vibecoding Hackathon to happen Nov 24–28 at ISM University, Vilnius.
• World Domination – starting from the Baltics. It’s delightful that our biggest hits so far are consumer-facing companies — they generate so much buzz. Vinted launched RE/Style TV show across Europe, including locally in LT. First Tallinn, then Bucharest – Bolt adds DineOut, a way to discover restaurants, pay your bill, and more. Incogni sponsors Tim Ferriss' newsletter (and Nord Security with Hostinger sponsor all the remaining podcasts and newsletters).
• Builders, under a roof. Base Jump Arena – for properly cracked doers. This is a new Lost Astronaut project, backed by Tadas Burgaila, designed to turn ideas into real startups – fast. five builders under 25. One house. 3 months of pure execution. Mentors, budget, space to build. If it clicks, 100–500K EUR from Lost Astronaut. No theory. No slides. Just Shiping.

• Creators and content. European podcast creator with $425M valuation? Not Proto Industrija (yet). It is Steven Bartlett, Diary of a CEO, raising from Slow Ventures and others, and now launches software products. David Booth joins a16z as Head of Ecosystem, bringing a napkin on how to dominate further. After 200+ episodes, Uldis and Janis –  the Pursuit of Scrappiness podcast hosts – are "taking an indefinite break" from new recordings. Thank you for the great talks!
• Search. As LupaSearch releases AI voice search, we are thinking of other startups in "search" domain. Miros, WhiteBridge AI, SAY LESS.
• UK. Motifind is launching UK, see you there. MELP started their journey in London, too. by Founders and meeting Baltic founders in London, Nov 4th.
• Proptech. CityNow launches RELO, the AI assistant that let's homeowners sell their homes themselves. Dextall prefabs wins award for 80% faster installs and 43% lower embodied carbon. Marius is building real estate ROI dashboard.
  Join CityShift largest Baltic PropTech conference and AI workshop in Vilnius  on 11.11 ( – thanks Vilius for helping out)
• Talent moves. Ieva joins FirstPromoter (SpringWater portco) as the new CEO. Simonas Kicas steps into the CEO role at OPTOMAN. Nauris Dorbe joins Evergrowth as CTO. Justina Clemens joins VIVLA as VP for International. Indre Kaikare is moving back to Vilnius. Abigail Martín Maldonado is starting her journey with the Walk15 team. Gabija Gurskaite steps into People&Culture Partner role at Hostinger. Kristijonas Kaikaris joins Wonderful as General Manager, Baltics & CIS.
• Last day – Oct 31 – to register for AI-only Hackathon (event Nov 14-16)

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rounds and capital

• Desktop Commander has raised a €1.1M pre-seed round, led by 42CAP with participation from BADideas.fund.
• Estonian FleetFox raised EUR 800k from Lighthouse Ventures, Gi21, BADideas.fund. Quite a story of perseverance, too

founder's guide

• Your AI product is too horizontal, too broad, can't figure ICP? Not entirely new.
• The AI Wildfire Is Coming. It's Going to Be Very Painful and Incredibly Healthy  (headline tells it all)
• Fix that GTM slide in your fundraise.
• Jensen Huang: “The best career advice I got was from a gardener” (not a joke, he explains why he does not have a watch, too). Huang was first principles before first principles.

further insights

• In Search of Long-Term Thinking: We once thought beyond our lifetimes. We must do so again.
• Media: great fresh interview with Monocle's Tyler Brûlé. Mediatech is looking to add more assets, hiring Market Analyst with M&A direction.

ecosystem

• Spanish and French outlets cover Baltics and Lithuania, and we will make more  reasons to come around.

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