Very Fair

work in progress

• Startup Fair has been fun - here's a little piece of reporting (in LT) by Arunas and Martynas. Full event video (including pitches) is actually on the internet web, too. Great work - thank you all for organizing it, and those coming to share and inspire others. (also pleased that VC starter kit started to ship to the Baltics)
• Meantime in Davos Tomas Okmanas meeting fellow founders, and our President meeting Meta... Frankly, we would be better off with Flexport landing in LT instead of FB, or - even better - get all these engineers building unicorns locally, we are more than ready.
• Talent. Unicorns LT say it is key to unlock local startup growth (which is absolutely true). But do your best to play smart - layoffs/freezes continue at scale-ups, and there is many disappointed due to stock crash (options where overpriced, going into down rounds). LT startup founders need to show them traction, market potential, top up with an ESOP - and you have a chance. Guessing this is how Tidio got Vytautas as new CMO (leaving Surfshark), just closed $25m series B.
• Calendar. Berlin Tech Leads - The One with Creating Sustainability with Growth (June 9). GovTech Baltic Leaders 2022 (June 16)
• Media. Podcast with Lukas Paškauskas, CEO and co-founder of Let’s Talk Group (mental health)

rounds and capital

• [hello?] nothing to share so we're talking to Jone about exciting new early stage fund - keep reading. Also Jone's presentation on the first 4 months of 2022 in the Baltics.

roleplay

founder guide

• Investor framework for evaluating early-stage consumer companies
• Couching for equity is not a good idea
• From Meetup, Spotify and Intercom, these people explain how and why they moved into climate tech

insights

• People who think they are best at detecting bullshit  are actually worst at it
• Show me how tech stock valuations little to do with intrinsic value / company performance
• Estonian e-residency brings other benefits - meaningful emotional connections. This is country branding 4.0, which goes beyond Christmas tree on social media - each country needs to find (build) a compelling edge.

ecosystem

• LT tech ecosystem is keeping up impressive pace - consider 7% quarterly increase in people employed (now 16,000), 766 startups, and raising contributions in taxes.

three questions

Jone Vaituleviciute, early stage investor, on Firstpick. Early stage venture capital fund focused on Baltic tech founders.

• Who are your LPs?

Undisclosed yet, will do that after first closing. But stats wise - majority are founders and entrepreneurs from Baltics, plus some C level ppl. See graph.

• Why grants?

Are for the earliest pre product stage. To allow for MVP building. Would not focus on it as it is very small part.

• What will be your edge at Firstpick? Hyperlocal, knowing everyone?

Hyperlocal with strong backing of top founders to advise and co-invest with us.Also, with our targeted fund size we cover early stage (accel) and pre-seed. See graph.

• How much do you run (personal or team) per month?

We are 4 ppl team. If we speak about running as running than 500km/month personally. Add another 300km per team. ~800km/month/team.

thank you, enjoy the weekend!