SeedBlink Blog

With the startup investment landscape exponentially improving and the number of deals, and their volume, we wanted to gather the perspective of our community. A community that empowered 50+ crowd investment campaigns in the past two years united forces to share their top recommendations for other fellow investors who are just starting.

SeedBlink's Investors Ebook focuses on the common challenges and factors that investors need to know when looking for startups and building their portfolios. Additionally, 20+ angel investors and 30+ venture capital partners from European VC funds shared real examples and created a list of tips & tricks based on their personal experience. LAUNCHub Ventures, Market One Capital, Vitosha Venture Partners, Eleven Ventures, Next Road Ventures, Flashpoint VC, Volta Ventures are some of the few names you can meet in this ebook alongside well-known angel investors' names, already active in the European ecosystem.

This ebook discusses a wide range of tips and tricks that future investors who want to enter the market should be aware of to ensure success with their portfolios. Various angel investors and partners from leading VC funds have joined the project to share their journey in this thriving industry.

I've started investing as a young entrepreneur after launching my own web design company at the age of 18. Later, it became a software company that now offers a suite of tech services, impacting the global scale.

I chose to become an investor because I believed in the potential of several projects, in their ability to disrupt the future. Also, I wanted to meet like-minded people with a creative vision, be close to them, and learn firsthand what it takes to shape tomorrow by launching, today, game-changing products and services.

Mihai Ivașcu, CEO & Co-Founder Modex, Angel Investor

Eastern Europe is the next hotspot for investors.

Many international investors and VC funds turned their eyes to this part of Europe because tech startups receive funding after funding, increasing their valuation quickly. Beyond this, Romania has been the centre of attention last year, with UiPath becoming the best source of inspiration for startup founders and investors. The country brings a higher number of companies into the spotlight.

Geography is not a key factor in startup funding

Let’s demystify one thing - location is not an essential factor in the investor’s decision-making process.

It's a common belief across our investorsț community that great founders can be found anywhere, and the recent activity across many countries in Europe proves that. Some local VC funds are oriented towards supporting local startups. However, most of the significant funds, angel investor networks, and crowdinvesting platforms, such as SeedBlink, support access to a wide area of countries and regions.

Some challenges might impact the way local investors decide where to place their money abroad, especially when it comes to legal jurisdictions and regulations. But, there are ways to learn and adapt.

Overcoming challenges as an investor

Besides geography and the lack of knowledge, investors face multiple other challenges when establishing their first deals. In this ebook, we explore the difficulties that investors face-first through the lens of angels and then from VCs.

The biggest challenges you face as a lone investor are finding startups that match your interests and add value, where your skills are complementary.

Ciprian Man, Growceanu

Pivoting is one of the most difficult challenges because it’s not always the wisest decision for the startup.

Mălin Ștefănescu, Angel Investor

As we can see, most investors first put their money as angels through crowdinvesting platforms, angel networks, or making the first steps alone.

So, if there is one lesson that we can take home from angel investors is to learn and adapt on the go. This journey looks slightly different when it comes to VC funds, where the main challenges of their partners are to:

• Discover how to build the brand behind their VC fund while gaining trust from founders.
• Figure out how to cover multiple geographical areas. Learn how to adapt to the local regulations.
• Understanding how international syndicated investments work.
• Educate founders and investors about the different aspects of startup funding.
• Managing founder expectations and relationships.
• Face reality, when the honeymoon period is over, and investment is burnt.

And if you are curious, here you can learn more!

Common expectations from startups after funding

It is essential that as an investor, you get to know the founders you’ll be working with, the product and the business in which you are investing the money. Aligned expectations between both sides of the table create a healthy investment relationship.

We’ll explore a summary of the main highlights extracted from our investors' community:

• Follow the activity in the post-investment phase and track the progress.
• Support through the following funding rounds.
• Networking and valuable connections.
• Support the startup in finding the right people.
• Helping founders refine the value proposition.
• Nurturing the proper foundation to attract strategic partners.
• Legal, operational and financial knowledge support through your expertise.
• Receive transparency and honesty from founders.
• Have a good relationship and rapport with founders.

And there are more elements to consider, such as things to avoid or other factors to consider, which can be explored in detail, alongside more investors stories below. Real stories and personal examples from 20+ angel investors and 30+ venture capital partners already active in the European startup ecosystem are taking these topics more in-depth.

**Access and download the ebook!**