Scaling internationally from CEE: first-hand experience from 500 Startups

We will proudly host ENIS HULLI, one of the partners responsible for the CEE investments from the most active global early stage VC firm 500 STARTUPS. Enis is going to share his first-hand experience based on CEE / SEE companies entering the global market and give valuable advice to CEE startups aspiring to become an international / global success story.

Why should you join this meetup?
If you are building a startup / scaleup and you want to become an international or even global player, you need to face a bunch of tough challenges leaving the „comfort zone” of the CEE region. If you'd like to raise capital to support your scaling, you have no other choice than thinking in global outreach and entering international markets to meet your VC’s expectations on massive growth.

At our next Equity Thursday meetup we will cover the main challenges of CEE startup ecosystem in scaling internationally, beyond the region or even in the U.S.

We will cover the following questions:

• Trend / status of early stage investments in CEE in the last 1-2 years
• How international / US VCs look on CEE startups
• Scaling: when is the right time for take-off?
• What are the pressing sales and marketing challenges?
• How to scale yourself, your business, your team? How to make it successfully?
• How and who to hire for quick scaling?
• Major risks of entering new and competitive markets
• What makes a business appealing to international / US investor (for a next round)?

Talks will be moderated by Zoltán Györkő, HunBan member, ex-founder and CEO of BalaBit and Lénárd Horgos, partner of Absolvo.

ABOUT 500 STARTUPS:
500 Startups has a strong technology focus, managing over USD 600M in committed capital across their global and regional funds. HQd in Silicon Valley, invested in 2,400+ companies or 5,000+ entrepreneurs in 75+ countries across 5 continents, made 250+ exits and has brought up several unicorns and centaurs like Udemy, GitLab, Grab, Canva, etc.
They have a dedicated regional fund to support companies in CEE / Turkey to scale globally, and they are actively seeking targets to invest in the region.
Among their portfolio companies from the region you can find e.g. Avatao.com (Hungary), AngelCam (Czech Republic), Buildcon (Serbia), Cenos (Latvia), Claim Compass (Bulgaria), Growbots (Poland), Toshl (Slovenia) and WhoAPI (Croatia).

AGENDA:
Event will run via Zoom. Arrival from 4.45 to 5.00 PM to the waiting room, our host will admit you. Event starts at 5 PM, runs until 6.30 incl. Q&A.

Tecnical info:

• Event is free of charge
• Access link to the event will appear once you confirm your RSVP YES.
• We recommend you to join from desktop for easy access to chat, poll, etc.
• We recommend you to download the free Zoom Meeting App before you join the event to avoid any technical issues: https://zoom.us/download
• Please stay muted and with camera off during the event to contribute to the best event experience for all of us. You may use the chat to submit your questions to the speakers
• Please be informed that the event will be recorded. By joining this event you give us your consent to the recording, processing and publishing with no limitations or restrictions.

RSVP YES, let's meet on 10 June!

The Organizer team