Harder Faster Better Stronger

work in progress

• Cybersecurity. NordVPN brings cyber insurance offering. Cube3 AI is just 5 months old, but with initial $8m funding pushing hard into Web3 transaction security forefront. Nord Security is turning around AtlasVPN. CyberNews now has a podcast, too. Idenfy is showing sustainable growth and profitability. Launched by serial entrepreneurs, CyberUpgrade goes after regulatory change - NIS2 directive.
• Productivity 2024 - who is building some tools?
  • Greatness App is a Kilo Venture - a habit and routine planner
  • HyperDo is an ADHD todo app & distraction blocker by team 🇱🇹 ?
  • Gilia is working on a self-awareness tool
  • Leave Me Alone is unsubscribe Saas built by two digital nomads with Estonian company.
  • Tadas built ProDevtivity to help software teams increase productivity
• AI. Talent on the "wanted" list here - AI Association Award Winners 2023

1. AI Research of the Year - Justas Dauparas, PhD
2. AI Company of the Year - Neurotechnology
3. AI for Social Good - #EdTechCentras
4. AI Application in the Public Sector - Vilnius City Municipality
5. AI Educator of the Year - Jurgita Kapočiūtė-Dzikienė
6. AI Rising Star of the Year - Mantas Lukauskas
7. AI Lifetime Achievement - Antanas Verikas

• Pitching. Among 40 startups pitching in Tartu (sTARTUp Day) - SOLIDU, RedTrack.io, BrachyDOSE.
• CBD. Comes around for various products, and startups/ecommerce brands are emerging: Biotecus (Tesonet investment, now Nordic Nutris), Apresport (Products for athletes), Sanobiotec (Wholesaler of Minor Cannabinoids), Biosyyd (Industrial Hemp), pH7 - Europe's first medical cannabis delivery platform, Fitodenta (Dental Surgery Kit).
• Soonicorns CEE. Sifted lists PVcase (totally), but also Venice Swap (crypto) - are they real deal at all? Let us know.

special: tools for greater 2024

• HBR - Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want

• James Clear - Annual Review
• Sahil Bloom - Goal Setting Guide (based on Atomic Habits)
• Tim Ferris - Conduct Past Year Review instead
• Sam Altman - just do monthly!

Podcasts recently enjoyed: Arthur C.Brooks on Tim Ferriss (life, happiness, and more), Todd Herman on identities (he worked with Kobe Bryant), and one on writing and productivity (Ali with Ryan Holiday, summary is last 7 minutes)

rounds and capital

• Last round 2023 – serious one – medtech Sentante secured €6m seed led by Practica Capital and joined by EIC. Practica's deep-tech portfolio is getting well diversified: Oxipit, Biomatter, Atrandi Biosciences, Aurora propulsion, etc.
• The first round was announced in 2024 – employee benefits platform MELP landed EUR 635k investment from CoInvest Capital and 23 LitBAN angels (NGL syndicate). More about MELP.
• Latvian Aerones, backed by Change Ventures and Mantas Mikuckas, secured also EUR 4m EU grant.
• Vaidas Barakauskas, an entrepreneur and alumnus of the VU MIF, has contributed EUR 100k to the Vilnius University Endowment Fund
• Largest Baltic rounds 2023 (above EUR 30m)
  • Three LT and three EST startups. Three are within climate tech.
  • Currency exchange is playing tricks - both Nord Security and PVcase closed USD 100m rounds.

• 10 most active firms in European VC in terms of dealsmoney - which shows how Europe is dependent on public money, with Enterprise Ireland topping the list

roleplay

Before we rush into jobs: How do you know when to leave a company? And consider to Take Asymmetric Bets.

Pick a startup - find a job

Inspired by the reader’s comment below, a practical framework for how to think, research and find the best jobs in the tech market. A draft -help improve this by sending your suggestions. The early options that matter have already matured and there are just not enough high-growth early stage startu…

Tech PhilomathsEditor

founder's guide

• The halo effect of most famous VCs - how founders get "laundry"
• How to Design a Pretty SaaS If You Don't Have a Designer
• First-time founders don't think about it, but very true - you are likely to need outside advisor/mentor to handle issues.
• Why Predictability matters for executives
• Be the verb, not the noun
• Marc Andreessen Guide to Career PlanningAndreessen

The first rule of career planning: Do not plan your career.

further insights

• Fascinating research and only bad news: "analysis of millions of books published over the centuries suggests western society is shifting away from a culture of progress, and towards one of caution, worry and risk-aversion."

• Almost half of British teens feel addicted to social media
  
• Expat's guide to Asia-Pacific hubs
• Long time to heal from soviet wounds
• Daihatsu has been falsifying safety tests..for three decades
• DHH from Basecamp compares Denmark with US, as social systems. Colourful writing, boils down to choices - both individuals and societies have to make

ecosystem

• Why A Manager Mindset Fails In Startup Community Building

Startup communities and entrepreneurial ecosystems are complex systems. This is in contrast to complicated systems which more of you are used to operating within.

Complicated systems have eventual engineered solutions (no matter how difficult). That is what makes them a complicated system. And the well-known institutional executives who have mastered these types of systems unfortunately view every challenge through the lens of their complicated system experiences.

• Why foreign workers are flocking to this 700-year-old European city (to play curling, apparently)

three questions, previously

• Emmet King, Founding Partner, J12 Ventures
• Sten Tamkivi, Partner, Plural and Partner, Taavet+Sten
• Rytis Lauris, Co-founder and CEO, Omnisend
• Andreas Helbig, Partner, Atomico
• Domas Janickas, Co-founder at edON
• Milda Jasaite, Senior Director of Corporate Development, Vinted
• Darius Zakaitis, Founder & CEO, Tech Zity
• Roman Novacek, Partner, Presto Ventures
• Lina Zakarauskaite, Principal, Stride.VC
• Justinas Pasys, Managing Director, LitBAN
• Magnus Hambleton, Investor, byFounders