Latvia’s VCs: What we need. Andris K. Berzins, TechHub Riga

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Transcript of Latvia’s VCs: What we need. Andris K. Berzins, TechHub Riga

V E N T U R E C A P I TA L I N L AT V I A : W H AT W E N E E D

S M A R T M O N E Y & S I L I C O N VA L L E Y T E R M S

A N D R I S K . B E R Z I N S T E C H H U B R I G A

S M A R T M O N E Y

• Just two people in Latvian VC industry with any operating experience: Nikolai Adamovitch & Vitaly Rubstein

• Everyone else is a banker or financial analyst

• Little ability to give startups good operating advice

• Startups see when investors have not “walked a mile” in their shoes

S I L I C O N VA L L E Y T E R M S

• Investors in Latvia often propose short-sighted, bad terms for entrepreneurs:

1. Want too much % for their money - Disincentive for entrepreneurs to make it big

2. Large liquidation preferences, milestone-based tranche investments, participating preferred share - force next investors to make terms even worse