• Am I building something that’s actually compelling?
• Do I have a good user interface, do I have a good product?
• Do I have a good product-market fit? Am I building something that’s actually interesting enough for the customers to use?
• Am I able to charge money for this product/service?
• Am I able to acquire the right amount of cash flow over time in order to become profitable?

These are just some of the questions that early-stage entrepreneurs ask themselves when they are starting a business, according to Husein Kanji. The road to actually building a business is paved with many obstacles, sometimes even with self-doubt and without a recipe for success, as every case is different.

At Techsylvania, we challenged investors and venture capitalists to share their part of the story and how they decide whether or not to invest in a business and we outlined some of the most important lessons we’ve learned so far, so we can lend a hand to entrepreneurs that want to give their business a check before going for funding.

Lesson 1

Brand new industries, brand new markets, brand new companies.

Husein characterized VCs as “momentum investors”. According to his checklist when he’s on the look for businesses to fund, the ones that get his attention are the ones that have the potential to turn into something really interesting. Usually, the disruptive shifts in the tech industry are generating new opportunities and that’s the point where a new company can capture all that value.

“So it’s not about your business plan or how good of a product you have, it’s really about the magnitude of the company: is this going to turn into something super interesting?”

*Apparently the millennial phenomenon of FOMO (the fear of missing out) is actually a thing around VCs also, so make sure that your product/service is so disruptive that you can trigger this around them.

 Lesson 2

Be in the right place.

What is a good place where you can get funding and start your business? When you’re a digital entrepreneur and want to have access to a larger market, you have to have this in mind.

Constantin Von Bergmann-Korn presented us Berlin as a great idea for starting a business. Besides the fact that it has a great startup ecosystem, this place has a friendly environment in general, it provides you with the right context to meet with like-minded peers and is super inclusive.

“As a founder, it’s not necessarily about what you know, but especially about whom you know.”

Berlin is a tech-hearted city and you can build a unique network being there. Of course, there are many other places where you can find the right context for your business, but Constantin put his town in such a good light that you just have to take it into consideration.

Lesson 3

Be interested, passionate, and… not completely sane.

Tim Draper is often on the look for new investments and he has a keen passion for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. He’s a strong believer in taking that first step that transforms your perspective on things and throws you in the business world.

What’s his secret about making his first million? Exactly this

“If you want to advance, you’ve got to be interested and passionate about one thing and then be willing to be interested and passionate about another, and then another, and then another.”

Taking steps is all about advancing, even if many of them are backward. Being willing to fail is the first lesson of entrepreneurship, according to Tim.

“You’ve got Elon Musk that says he’s going to Mars and then you’ve got 96% of the population that will say he’s crazy and the other 4% that will want to work for him. It’s that 4% that we’re looking for: the greatest engineers in the world, the greatest marketers, the greatest business modellers. If you have a goal, a wild mission like that, I think that ends up attracting the best and the brightest people of the world.

[…]

So if you’re starting a business right now and it qualifies in that category that it might not be completely sane, then send me your plan.”

 Lesson 4

Just start that business.

“You have the world on your fingertips now. Your advantage is global distribution soft. You have the app store, you have Google Play, you have a global distribution, no matter where you sit.”

Stefan Glaenzer showed us something that maybe most entrepreneurs have in common: passion & determination. The most helpful confession was that he fails to see any risk in founding either a startup or a company, as the experience that comes with this is the most valuable and he doesn’t know anyone who has regretted doing this.

The times we are living have empowered remote connections and work has acquired a whole new meaning due to its ability to take place wherever. Entrepreneurial wisdom is now founded more on a global comprehension of the market and its needs than on the local overview. Yet, there still are some differences when it comes to businesses in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

During past editions of Techsylvania, we have debated many aspects of investing or growing a business in Eastern Europe and have discovered valuable insights both from entrepreneurs that have come from other parts of the world to invest or grow their business here or from local entrepreneurs that have chosen to take their businesses on foreign lands.

What did we discover?

Narrowing it down to Romania, the region is well-known for its technical talent and many entrepreneurs have put an eye on this scarce resource. Many business-oriented people have discovered this fertile ground for businesses in tech, as high-quality engineers are more visible and even assembling a team can be easier here.

During a panel with 4 worldwide successful entrepreneurs, we got many of our questions answered, regarding how our land may look in the eyes of an outsider and whether they see competitive potential with the tech skills that are found here.

“I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer — it depends a lot on the attitude and the beliefs of that specific person. Personally, with this environment, here, in Romania, I would try to succeed on my own, I would try to be an entrepreneur, maybe to ask for support, to develop my own idea by my own. We always have time to move from our own entrepreneurial initiative into a large corporation, but being young, being capable, having a possibility as it is here, in Romania, to start my own company — I would really do that.” Patrizio Mapelli, CEO at NTT Data

Patrizio is very fond of Romania and states that he has found very capable professionals here, ready to take it to another level. We hope he inspires you in creating or growing a business here.

How can Romanian entrepreneurs catch the eyes of global investors?

The relationship with a potential investors ultimately comes down to the same core aspects, regardless of your region.

“You have to start building bridges from Day 1.”

As Felix Peterson revealed his investor point of view , in order to catch someone’s eye, you have to make yourself visible. Concentrating on places like London or Berlin, where the tech movement happens at the time, going to 2–3 conferences/year, actively following-up with the quality later-stage investors, treating them like they already are your investors, are some of the key ingredients in his successful recipe.

Entrepreneurs have started to consider things differently, and, given our remote nature of interacting, they understand that good companies can come from anywhere nowadays.

“Silicon Valley investors found Facebook in a basement, somewhere in the Valley- so it doesn’t matter.”

But how about working from Romania for American clients?

Another satisfying aspect that comes along with our remote connections is our remote work. Many professionals choose this route, not necessarily for the monetary facet, but for the flexibility it gives you.

The first and most significant guidance Shahar gave us was that:

“It’s all about who knows you — you really need to realise that networking is your job. Your job is not to be the best developer out there, your job is to make sure that everybody knows that you’re the best developer out there.”

From his vast experience as a freelancer and consultant, Shahar has understood that you have to eliminate risks in order to be among the most sought-after experts in the market. Even though this type of contracting comes with many freedom, it also presents more risks, both for the contractor and the contractee. Here are some steps you need to have in mind if you want to present your work as a responsible and risk-free one:

How does your thinking process look like?

What’s your process of work?

What happens at the end of the project?

How are you going to transfer knowledge?

How do you do documentation?

How do you do testing?

*All these matters that people hate to do — these are the things that you need to talk about, because nobody else is talking about them and they represent the aspects that customers really fear.

And finally: How do you build a business in Romania?

“I think it’s the same as it would be anywhere else: just think of who the customer is, what problem you want to solve and go solve it. If that happens to be here, stay here. If that happens to be in New York, go to New York. Wherever you need to be to make the world a better place. I think the location is becoming more and more irrelevant.”