Why More Balkan Founders Are Choosing to Stay Local
The old advice was to leave for Berlin or London. A growing number of founders are betting the opposite.
Latest stories
Hiring Your First Engineer Without Venture Money
The first technical hire sets the ceiling for everything that follows. Here is how bootstrapped founders get it right.
FundingThe Quiet Rise of Regional Angel Investing
A new generation of operators who sold their first companies is putting money back into the ecosystem.
TalentRemote Work Finally Put Balkan Talent on the Map
The region exported engineers for years. Now it exports their work instead, and keeps the people.
Sarajevo · SceneA Field Guide to the Sarajevo Startup Scene
Small, stubborn, and quietly productive. A look at where the city's builders actually gather.
StrategyBootstrapping Versus Venture: The Honest Trade-Off
Neither path is morally superior. They are different machines for different outcomes.
StrategyBuilding in a Small Market Without Staying Small
A small home market is a constraint and a gift. The founders who thrive treat it as a launchpad.
Founder LifeThe Burnout Nobody Warns Early-Stage Founders About
It rarely looks like collapse. More often it looks like a slow loss of judgment.
Founder LifeFrom Freelancer to Founder: Crossing the Hardest Gap
Trading hours for money teaches discipline. It also teaches habits that quietly sabotage a product business.
SalesSelling to Western Europe From the Balkans
The product can be world-class and still stall at the border. Trust, not features, is the real obstacle.
DistributionOpen Source as a Distribution Strategy
For teams with more talent than marketing budget, giving code away can be the cheapest way to be found.
PricingPricing Your First Product: Stop Guessing Low
First-time founders almost always underprice. The fear of charging is more expensive than any number.
Founder LifeWhat Second-Time Founders Do Differently
The gap between a first and second company is rarely the idea. It is everything around it.
StrategyThe Case for Turning Down Revenue
Not all revenue is good revenue. Some of it quietly drags a young company off course.
Founder LifeThe Conversation Every Cofounder Pair Avoids
Equity, roles, and what happens if it falls apart. The talk nobody wants is the one that saves the company.
FundingWhat Accelerators Actually Give You
The money is the least interesting part. The real value is harder to put on a term sheet.
TalentHiring From the Diaspora
The region's biggest untapped talent pool already left. Some of them want a reason to come back.
Founder ProfileAt Seventeen, Mak Banjac Built a MacBook Refurbishment Venture in Sarajevo
How a teenager turned discarded Apple hardware into a funded business under DISTI doo, then handed it off.
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