One step at a time

work in progress

• Edtech. Turing College - how kids from Lithuania ended up closing a collaboration with Harvard University? Three Cubes have a video game in the making. Moxliukas is an app that helps students prepare for the final exams.
• AI. Coatue has a pretty good AI report published, on why and how it is a revolution. Andrej Karpathy has a 1-hour video to introduce and explain Large Language Models. Dharmesh (Hubspot CTO) on How To Build a Defensible A.I. Startup and some startups trying to follow the logic: Alphanome.AI, Open-Source Infrastructure for AI-based Investing; Ocoya, managing social media with AI; FittyAI is AI-powered virtual trainer for your fitness app.
• Moneys. Further aligning with Estonia - founders start topping lists of the wealthiest. We've got Tesonet founders above 1B here, in Estonia - it is Wise and Bolt that generated a bit of wealth.

• Crypto. Binance (Bifinity UAB) story is a bit of everything. So case-in-point for micapass.

• People. Edvinas Vosylius ir turning his extensive sales career (Deeper, Whatagraph, Favro) into HEMES - a sales headhunting agency. Zilvinas is onto new adventures, leaving Contrarian Ventures.
  
• South. Who escaped and now building startups in Spain, Portugal, or Italy? Who else?
  
  Algori - consumer panel reimagined for FMCG
  Nidô - financial management platform for vacation rentals
  Coho - advanced leadership via curated peer interactions
  pH7 Health - full-service medical cannabis platform

What Are AWS Credits for Startups and How to Get Them? Exploring how early-stage firms can secure up to $100,000 in free AWS credits.

rounds and capital

• Swedish Eliq, home energy efficiency platform – Contrarian Ventures portfolio – closed EUR 10m round to further expand across Europe. Eliq also now have a team in Vilnius, great to see.
• Boop, an app connecting pet owners and pet caregivers, landed EUR 300k round from LitBAN angels, and now expanding to Poland and Finland.
• LILEDU secured EUR 125k round from FIRSTPICK - they are offering educational toys on subscription, and now will test UK market for expansion.

other messengers

founder's guide

• How to ship a great product without any roadmaps
• On creating a community (instead of audience)
• How to fundraise, starting with "The one and only thing you should optimize everything for in your fundraising process is TRUST"
• Power Law in venture - back by data:

There are 10,057 investors active in EMEA. Over half of them invest from the Seed stage onwards. At the Seed stage, only two have 10 or more EMEA unicorn investments: LocalGlobe and Point Nine (99.98th percentile!).

• GP’s View on VC Fund Performance - metrics

further insights

• Won't be able to use nightlights as a proxy for economic growth - satellites are not capturing LED.
• Comparing a cargo bike and a van for deliveries in Brussels: bikes are much faster, much cheaper, and 90% less emissions (and despite that, Estonian Hagen Cargo Bikes files for bankruptcy)

• Impactful and practical ways to make the world better

Express gratitude more
Give more genuine compliments to people you know
Don’t feel awkward about offering to help, even if you can’t solve the problem
Reach out to some old contacts and say “hi”

• The High Stakes of Low Quality - an essay from Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia)

Countless skeptics told me we’d never turn a profit. They thought we were crazy for repairing our own gear and urging our customers to buy less. They said our focus on quality would drive up prices and put our products out of reach. But the naysayers were wrong. Some of our most loyal customers still live out of vans and save up for one of our coats, knowing they won’t need to replace it for a decade or more.

roleplay