Startup founders in Slovakia are still immature, but they should be given a chance

In recent years, being a startup founder in Slovakia has become trendy.

The problem is that many aspiring startupists have a misguided understanding of what a startup actually is. They often see their involvement as an opportunity for quick money and fast access to funding—without delivering any added value to society.

At Wanderer Capital, we frequently encounter founders who want to execute their project completely alone, without any support team. But working on a startup requires collaboration between multiple experts in different fields, along with relentless passion to build and improve the current product or service.

Startup funds, including ours, focus not only on the idea and the project itself when considering an investment—but especially on the founding team and their ability to bring the project to a successful conclusion or to achieve the milestones they set.

Another recurring issue we see is when business models copied from abroad are presented as brand-new, unique ideas. Some investment funds don’t mind supporting such projects—but Wanderer Capital seeks out originality, not copies.

Most often, we’re approached by startupists who only have a business plan written on paper, yet already claim their company is worth hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of euros. It's understandable that when watching the tech bubble in the U.S. and the huge price tags attached to startups there, aspiring entrepreneurs may feel it's fine to overvalue their own projects.

However, it’s crucial to realize that the American tech bubble has already burst, and valuations of startups have been revised significantly downward.

So far, I’ve only described issues we’ve encountered during the selection process. But of course, we also have experience working directly with projects we’ve invested in.

The most common issue post-investment is a loss of focus on the original goal. Founders and their teams often drift away from the core idea that initially convinced investors to commit their capital and energy. We believe this behavior is caused by inexperience—startupists get caught up in irrelevant details and lose sight of the “bigger picture.”

Another major challenge arises when founders have strong egos and are unwilling to take advice from investors—people with more experience, who have no motivation to sabotage the project. Investors are involved to grow their investment and want to see the startup succeed and generate returns.

We’ve also experienced a lack of integrity—such as a case where founders initially valued the company at half a million euros, but just a month later, when an investor wanted to exit due to stagnation and the founders’ stubbornness, they offered to buy back the investor’s share at the original purchase price—less than €30,000! This would have meant the perceived value of the project dropped to one-fifth of its original valuation in a single month.

In another case, after securing investment and creating a new company with the investor, the founders continued running their business through their original firm. This way, they siphoned off a portion of the profits generated with the investor’s support into their own pockets.

It’s important to understand that investment funds talk to each other, and Slovakia’s startup community is small enough that word travels fast. Fraudulent behavior can mark the end of your career, not just in startups—but in business overall.

All of the above doesn’t mean Slovakia lacks talented people with unique ideas capable of turning them into successful ventures. Nor are we implying that there are no honest, hardworking founders who can see their ideas through to a successful exit.

Quite the opposite.

Our time in the Slovak startup scene has shown us that even though "startup" remains a buzzword, truly high-quality, globally competitive projects are still rare. And even though startups may seem to be everywhere, the Slovak market still holds huge potential for launching world-class businesses.

The mission of Wanderer Capital is to identify and support these quality projects.
So if you have a great and original idea that you and your team are ready to execute—and you need capital, networking, and entrepreneurial know-how—fill out our application form and tell us what makes your project truly unique.

Author: Michaela Královičová

Tags: startup , investments , financing , ideas , business, Slovakia