Thousands of developers, founders and venture capitalists from Croatia and Central Europe convened at the Infobip Shift conference in Zadar to examine pressing questions confronting the region's startup ecosystem. Among the key topics: when founders should pursue venture backing, the merits of bootstrapping versus external capital, the pitfalls of "building for a flip", and how artificial intelligence should factor into product strategy.
Sizing up investment rounds
A troubling pattern has emerged in Central Europe, according to Jure Mikuž, managing partner at South Central Ventures, which deploys capital across the Balkans and southeast Europe. Founders are increasingly chasing larger funding rounds primarily to gain visibility and prestige—a tendency Mikuž cautioned against. The inverse problem also plagues the region: many startups raise rounds too modest for their actual needs and operate with only a six-month planning horizon.
David Clark, venture partner at Estonia-based Tera Ventures, echoed this concern. He identified a key red flag: founders pursuing venture funding simply to land a spot on national "top ten raises" lists. Clark underscored the necessity for founders to articulate concrete reasons for seeking VC capital—such as recruiting specific talent who will only join if funding is secured.
Bootstrapping versus venture backing
The debate between self-funding and external investment has no universal answer, Mikuž argued, as the optimal path depends on industry dynamics and the startup's maturity stage. Clark countered that Central European founders now enjoy unprecedented conditions for bootstrapping, citing the emergence of tools like AI-powered coding assistants that can reduce reliance on outside funding.
Clark employed a vivid metaphor to describe venture capital: "rocket fuel, which would either take a startup to the moon or blow it up", adding that founders "shouldn't take VC money unless they are going to use it".
Choosing the right capital partner
Réka Hidas, pre-seed and seed investor at Portfolion, emphasized that founders must select venture partners aligned with their specific needs rather than simply chasing the largest cheque. According to Hidas, "it is important to not just take any capital" but to partner with a VC that brings additional value—whether through networks, expertise or other resources.
The problem with "building for a flip"
Hidas questioned the strategy of founding a startup with the explicit goal of selling it to an acquirer. She cautioned: "If you kind of build specifically to be acquired, then you are solving a problem for them, not solving a problem for the market."
Mikuž stressed the importance of candid dialogue between VCs and founders at the outset regarding the startup's true ambitions. Clark shared Hidas's skepticism about exit-focused founding, noting that at the earliest stages, acquisition planning ranks among the least pressing concerns a founder faces.
Regional trends and global ambitions
The gap between Western European and Central European startup ecosystems is narrowing, Mikuž observed. He characterized Croatia's emerging startup scene as comparable to Estonia's position a decade ago, suggesting significant growth potential. Both Mikuž and Clark agreed that most VCs in the region prefer backing founders pursuing global markets rather than those limiting their vision to domestic success.
AI deployment: beyond the chatbot
Florian Binswanger, startup GTM lead for EMEA at Vercel, and Nina Trejos, startups GTM executive at Stripe, addressed how founders are integrating artificial intelligence into their products. Binswanger criticized a superficial approach: "slapping a chatbot in the right-hand corner" of a product to signal AI capabilities to investors. Instead, he advocated for embedding AI as a fundamental business driver and core component of customer value.
Binswanger also warned against vendor lock-in with a single AI model provider, recommending instead that startups employ routing technology to select optimal models for specific tasks. Trejos highlighted another timing issue: many founders delay transitioning to AI credit-based usage models when this shift should be embedded in their product strategy from the outset.
Lessons from a unicorn founder
Izabel Jelenić, co-founder and chief technology officer of Infobip—Croatia's first unicorn, established in 2006—shared insights from his years building alongside co-founders Silvio Kutić (CEO) and Roberto Kutić (COO). On co-founder dynamics, Jelenić reflected: "It was quite important to work with someone who likes something you don't."
Jelenić acknowledged, however, that offering guidance to today's founders proves challenging. The startup landscape has transformed so fundamentally that the lessons from his era may not directly translate to the current generation.
Source: Tech.eu
