FIRSTPICK

💡 Top 5 learnings after mentoring 100 startups. Over the past 10 years, Daniel Rizea mentored over 100 early-stage 🦄 startups, from the 🌱 idea stage to 🌳 scale-ups with thousands of users. He decided to share his learnings with the community, and we say — THANK YOU. We’re thrilled to pass them on to our community. 🫶 P.S. Sharing is caring. 🥰 Find the full 🔗 article in the comments!

We all know THIS: Building the right team 🟰 startups' way to success. But do we know HOW to do it? 🤔 To shed 🔦 light on building successful teams, we had a chat with Raman Ramalingam, Startup Talent & Org Designer at talentX and our mentor at FIRSTPICK. Raman knows what he's talking about, having collaborated with 500 startups to help them build their dream teams. Get your 📝 notebooks out and have a read.👇 🟣 WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE KEY CHALLENGES FOR A STARTUP IN RECRUITING AND BUILDING TEAMS? A key challenge for startups in the Baltics and Nordics is tight funding. With limited capital, it's hard to offer competitive salaries. Founders need to get creative to attract top talent who genuinely understand and believe in what the startup aims to build. This requires candidates to not only have skills but also understand the product and business area to evaluate the potential and be able to bet on it. Therefore, sharing similar contexts like industry, niche, customer segment, technology or another startup is relevant and valuable. 🟣 HOW DOES A STARTUP KNOW WHO IS THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THEIR TEAM IN THE EARLY STAGES? To find the right person, startups should seek "talent investors" rather than "talent traders." This means looking for individuals who align with the startup's mission, vision, and values and see the company as worth investing their time, energy, and skills for long-term gain. 🟣 WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO FOUNDERS LOOKING TO SCALE INTERNATIONALLY? Think globally from the start. Scaling doesn't necessarily mean setting up offices worldwide. Focus on collaborating with partners and customers beyond local markets. Use your 2nd and 3rd-degree networks. Service providers like banks and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and VCs can help with international expansion. Also, seek advice from other startup founders who have entered new markets. 🟣 ARE THERE ANY COOL TOOLS THAT STARTUPS CAN USE TO RECRUIT FASTER? Today, communication and candidate engagement in recruitment are largely automated. At talentX, we use AI-integrated tools like Kula.ai and Teamtailor to streamline candidate engagement. There are many advanced AI-powered tools for candidate assessment and evaluation, continually offering more sophisticated solutions to help startups recruit faster and more efficiently. 🟣 WHO IS BEHIND YOUR COMPANY AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR TALENTX? Our core team at talentX consists of two members: myself and Indrė Kundrotaitė. However, we consider the 20 VCs and 10 startup ecosystems we collaborate with as part of our extended crew. Our network includes referrers, board members, and 100 startups in 8 countries. Next, we’re focused on expanding our capabilities by leveraging AI and automation to reduce the cost of recruitment for startups, and also growing our community to support more startups globally. Feel free to join our inner circle through our website. Thank you, 🫶 @Raman Ramalingam, for sharing your expertise.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ or ⭐? This is what AMLYZE, CTO2B & Softloans have to 💬 say about FIRSTPICK accelerator👇 #FIRSTPICK #vc #startups #testimonials #review

🇱🇻 Latvia's startup scene through the lens of Davis Siksnans, Chief Investment Officer at Draugiem Group and Co-founder & ex-CEO of Printful. He 💬 shared his insights, trends, advice for founders, and much more.👇 🟣 WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT THE LATVIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM? I love that the ecosystem has matured to the point where we see an increasing number of experienced founders giving back to the community by creating co-working spaces, organizing knowledge-sharing events, and forming angel syndicates like BADideas.fund, which are full of operators and founders. We still have a lot to prove, but the investment returns theory suggests that the Latvian ecosystem should see outsized returns in the future, given the room to catch up with our neighbors who set great examples. 🟣 CAN YOU SHARE A SUCCESS STORY FROM THE LATVIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM THAT PARTICULARLY INSPIRES YOU? Any Latvian company that makes a dent in the 🇺🇸 US market is always inspiring. For instance, I applaud the Latvian startup Supliful. They boldly established a physical presence by opening a fulfillment center and targeting the largest and best market – the US. 🟣 WHAT SURPRISES YOU ABOUT THE LATVIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM? There is a surprising number of hardware and deep tech startups in Latvia. It shows that Latvians are not afraid to tackle extremely difficult challenges that require significant time, energy, and capital to see through to fruition. Since, as they say, “hardware is hard” and deep tech takes a lot of time, we should see an explosion of returns in about 10 years. Unfortunately, even though startups and tech bring massive value and are perfectly suited for a relatively small country with limited natural resources like Latvia, I wish the government would devote more resources, focus, and attention to making it easier for startups here. It's not always about the funding but about creating the most unbureaucratic and startup-friendly legal frameworks possible. 🟣 WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHANGE YOU'VE SEEN IN THE LATVIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM? The growth! From small 20-30 people meetups to region-leading events like TechChill. From the first modest exits of under ten million euros to record-breaking funding rounds and unicorn valuations in less than 10 years. 🟣 WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO LATVIAN FOUNDERS? If you want to build a big company, go for a big market like the US as soon as you can. I could have built Printful for the Baltics, but instead of nearly 2,000 employees, it would have had 20. Also, a good product is not enough – you must focus on sales and marketing early on. It is often not the best product that wins but the product with the best distribution and go-to-market strategy. Thank you, 🫶 Davis Siksnans, for sharing your insights. It was a pleasure! 🤟 #FIRSTPICK #vc #startups #Latvia

Guten Tag from Andra Bagdonaite and Jone Vaituleviciute! Fresh off their trip to Berlin for the Burda Principal Investments & Friends BBQ 🤝 networking event. When we asked, ‘How was it?’, both of them, in perfect chorus, said ‘wunderbar.’ 😎😎😎 A big danke to 💜 Julian von Eckartsberg and 💜 Luisa Frank for inviting us and supporting FIRSTPICK’s journey. We’re excited for the future! 🚀 #FIRSTPICK #vc #networking

⏮️ Flashback to a great time with our 🇱🇻 Riga friends. Dmitrij Sosunov 🤝 joined an exclusive session with startup legends Rolands Mesters and Ernest Jenavs, who shared their 💡insights, tips, and vision for the future of Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV. Huge PALDIES to Viktorija Martinsone for the invite. 💜 #FIRSTPICK #VC #networking

🦄 Unicorns breed more 🦄 unicorns? Skype catalyzed a ripple effect in 🇪🇪 Estonia that created the next generation of founders and startups. How about Lithuanian unicorns? 👀 Our own Jokūbas Vaičiulis and Kipras Vaičekauskas 🚀 from Practica Capital are dropping some 🔥 hot research on startups launched by ex-employees of 🇱🇹 Lithuanian unicorns. 🔗 Link to the original post in the comment section.👇 #FIRSTPICK #startups #research

#ourpicks ⭐️ In a world flooded with information, how do you find what truly matters? Meet 👋 a Phone, a Friend co., transforming how we consume 📲 news with their AI assistant, ANA. Inspired by AI and the changing news landscape, they deliver only the news you care about. Dive into their story! 👇 WHAT INSPIRED ✨ YOU TO CREATE YOUR STARTUP? The summer of AI and the winter of news consumption. WHAT GOOD 🙏 DOES YOUR STARTUP BRING TO THE WORLD? ANA – a news assistant that digests all the news daily and reports only what is relevant to you. You can ask it to explain, summarize, and contextualize the news. EXPLAIN YOUR STARTUP LIKE YOU WOULD TO A 5-YEAR-OLD 🧸 Imagine the biggest candy store in the world. ANA goes to that store daily and returns with only the candy you like. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE 💜 FIRSTPICK? Are you kidding?! You are the best bunch of experts who will empower us to become the next unicorn. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST UPCOMING 🪨 MILESTONE? Our first user. We're in building mode, pre-launch, so even one user actually downloading the future app sounds impressive. Of course, our humble goal further down the path is to change how the world consumes the news. But we'll start with that one person. WHO IS BEHIND YOUR 🦸 STARTUP? Two guys named Tomas, who've spent decades succeeding and failing in various businesses and are well-prepared for this one to fly. Tomas Dirvonskas has built apps, grown companies, and angel-invested, while Tomas Ramanauskas has CMO'd the MTV Baltics, co-founded agencies, and marketed & consulted hundreds of businesses. You will see four people in the pic — the other two are tech wizards Edvinas Bartkus and Jonas Lekevičius. Also, Adomas Paltanavičius, ex-Google tech lead, is guiding us through the AI jungle. Rest assured, we are multiplying. WHAT 3 QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN YOUR TEAMMATES 🤜🤛? Above all: being smarter than us. But also: eager to solve hard equations and slightly over-confident. THANK YOU for the chat 💜 Make sure to follow a Phone, a Friend co. and let's meet again for other picks of ours. #FIRSTPICK #vc #funding #newinvestment #startups #portfolio

Investors' picks 👉 17 promising SaaS startups to keep an 👀 eye on: 🟣 Evergrowth 🟣 Spike Technologies 🟣 Trace.Space 🟣 Supersimple 🟣 Workwize 🟣 Shimmr AI 🟣 LEIA Health 🟣 Novogaia 🟣 Airtime 🟣 4149 🟣 GO TO-U 🟣 Revisior 🟣 IP Fabric 🟣 Spacelift 🟣 Treblle 🟣 signageOS 🟣 Resistant AI Chosen by Dayone Capital, N1 investment fund, Airbridge Equity Partners, J&T Ventures, and FIRSTPICK, these startups have the potential to disrupt and innovate within the SaaS landscape. Thank you, 💜 Vestbee, for including us in the article and for highlighting our picks in the SaaS industry. Read the full article in the comment section.👇 #FIRSTPICK #VC #startupstowatch

What’s catching the eye of 🇪🇪 Estonian investor Linda Võeras, Investment Manager at Karma Ventures? We discussed the Estonian startup ecosystem, recent investment trends, and advice for founders. Discover her perspectives below 👇 🟣 WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST THESE DAYS? This might sound boring, but competence is sexy! I'm excited by founders who go above and beyond with a strong pitch and narrative. Those who deeply understand the problem they are solving, the market they are entering, and why their product and business model will succeed. Data and insight-backed discussions build trust and credibility. The more informed you are (even about what you don’t know), the better! 🟣 WHAT SURPRISES YOU ABOUT THE ESTONIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM? The community element here. The way founders, investors, LPs, the public sector, and everyone else can have easy and constant dialogue, and everyone is working towards the same goals. For sure, some interests don’t always align, but there are far more commonalities! The smallness of Estonia is a benefit if you know how to use it! 🟣 WHAT'S THE BIGGEST CHANGE YOU'VE SEEN IN THE ESTONIAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM? I moved back to Estonia in 2021, at the peak of the market. Since then, a lot has changed overall, but perhaps unrelated to Estonia, the difficulty in selling has increased significantly. With both public and private markets rewarding effectiveness, many enterprises and smaller businesses alike have cut costs, making it much harder to fit into existing budgets. The struggle on the B2C side with rising inflation and stagnating salaries is similar. As such, strong growth overall is much harder to come by! 🟣 HOW HAVE INVESTMENT TRENDS IN ESTONIA CHANGED RECENTLY? In 2021-2022, there was a boom in gaming, web3, and overall crypto, with Single.Earth, KOOS.io, SaltoX, ReadyPlayerMe, and NFTPort making headlines. We also saw a lot of Fintech investments then. I’d say in 2023-2024, the trends are more towards deep tech and physical product-based companies. Vertical-wise, energy and sustainability-related themes are very apparent, as well as cybersecurity. 🟣 WHICH TOP 3 ESTONIAN STARTUPS ARE MOST PROMISING FOR 2024? From the growth side, Modash and Tuum are well-positioned to become global players. From the earlier stage, I have high hopes for Featurebase. 🟣 WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR FOUNDERS FUNDRAISING IN ESTONIA? Before fundraising, create a proper data room with all relevant information in an easy-to-use format. This saves time for both you and investors. Also, seek investor recommendations and understand the VC space to target the right firms by stage, technology focus, and ticket size. Build trust from the start by being open about your business's strengths and weaknesses. Thank you 🫶, Linda Võeras, for the 💡 insightful and engaging 💬 chat. #FIRSTPICK #VC #startups #interview #funding #Estonia