European VC-Funded Startup Guide

Explore the startup landscape of East European countries and review the differences in the concepts of limited liability companies and company equity in approaching the market. This quick reference guide is structured around the primary author, Ivan Voras, with additional chapters written by guest collaborators. Chapters are concise and focus on ways to overcome the various obstacles start-ups may face. You'll benefit from regionally relevant advice on finding problems worth solving as a startup, how to hire people, how to raise investment rounds, and how to find and communicate with investors. Eastern Europe has become a region of fast growth after years of mismanagement and stagnation, and it has become the origin of promising startups. The last couple of years have also seen the rise in the number of local VCs who are attempting to address this market, as well as local incubators and accelerators. But there’s a problem: the vast majority of educational material available in books and online are written from the perspective of the US market and economy, and are not directly applicable in the complicated nuances of Eastern Europe. The European VC-Funded Startup Guide does not pull punches to highlight the difficulties involved in starting up from this region, but also provides workarounds and advice on how you can overcome them. What You'll LearnCreate and manage an early stage startup in East European countriesRun a young company, hire initial people, and raise investmentsUnderstand venture capitalist funds, which ones to avoid, and what to do with the early investment once you get itWho This Book is ForNovice startup founders in East European countries or more experienced professionals, such as investors and lawyers, interested in the startups in this part of the world.

Ivan Voras has earned his PhD in Computer Engineering from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, and is an entrepreneur with a passion for exotic technologies. As a top-down architect and implementer of big IT systems, he has worked on early blockchain products in 2014, IoT hardware in 2017, and is now a founder of Equinox Vision, a startup which commercializes Augmented Reality. Ivan is also a co-host of the Croatia's biggest business & lifestyle podcast, Surove Strasti, and the startup-oriented Well Founded podcast, and was an associate editor for Croatia's biggest IT magazine, Mreža, from 2005.-2020.