Inside the rise and near-collapse of CEE’s first venture studio — and the lessons that still guide me today.
Momentum without margins is fragile.
Setting the Scene: 2015
In 2015, we set out to do something nobody in our region had done before: launch the first venture studio in Central and Eastern Europe.
On paper, we looked like a textbook success story.
In our first year, we built 11 different products. Out of those, five quickly found traction in their markets. So we spun them out and they became real companies that raised seed and even Series A funding.
That early momentum was enough to convince local investors that our venture studio model was working. By 2017, we had our own pre-seed fund, and we used it to launch ten more startups.
If you had looked at us back then, you would have said: this studio is unstoppable.
And for a while, it felt like we were.
The Hidden Problem
Behind the glossy headlines, though, a silent problem was brewing.
We were scaling too fast but we were still running everything on extremely lean capital. We believed cost-efficiency was a virtue. And it is… to a point.
But here’s the reality: when you scale a portfolio quickly without ensuring your ventures have enough reserves, you’re not building resilience. Our resources were spread too thin, our portfolio was too fragile.
When COVID hit in 2020, that fragility was exposed.
Almost every one of our twenty startups struggled. They didn’t have the capital to expand internationally. They didn’t have the reserves to survive a global shock.
By 2022, only one portfolio company was still alive.
One. Out of twenty.
What It Felt Like
Looking back now, it’s easy to frame this as a “lesson learned.” At the time, it was devastating.
Imagine the energy it takes to launch twenty companies. The nights, the weekends, the risks, the tough conversations. Multiply that by the teams we brought on, the founders who put their passion into these ventures, the trust we asked from investors.
And then, one by one, watching those ventures fold.
It wasn’t just about money lost. It was about people. About relationships. About what it means to tell a founder: “I’m sorry, we don’t have the reserves to keep this alive.”
That’s the kind of conversation that changes how you think about building venture studios forever.
Lessons We Learned the Hard Way
So, what did we take away from that experience? A few truths that still guide how I work with studios today.
1. Being a pioneer means educating investors takes years
When you’re the first studio in a region, you’re building an entirely new asset class in people’s minds. Investors need to be educated. And education takes time. There’s no shortcut to building personal trust.
2. Early cost-efficiency is good — but don’t starve your winners
Lean operations are critical in the beginning. Kill bad ideas quickly. But once you’ve identified winners, they need real follow-on capital. If you starve them at the moment they need to grow, you’re throwing away your best chances.
3. Investor relations are a marathon, not a sprint
You don’t “switch on” investor relationships when you need money. By then, it’s already too late. You build trust over months and years, by keeping investors close and informed.
4. Studios must plan beyond the first fundraise
Getting that first fund together feels like a victory, but it’s only the start. Studios need to map their entire journey: reserves, exits, and resilience. Otherwise, one crisis — global or local — can wipe out years of progress.
How This Shapes My Work Today
Today, when I advise new venture studios, we take these lessons and make sure the new studio theses and playbooks are prepared for such extreme scenarios. I never want to see another studio go through what we went through if it can be avoided.
Here’s where we begin:
- Map the 3–5-10 year journey. Focus especially on the first 12–18 months, because that’s where most studios stumble. But don’t stop there. Think about years three, five, and ten (from kickoff to portfolio growth to exits) — where will capital come from, how will the portfolio evolve, what exits are realistic?
- Spot the early “studio killers.” Every studio has them. Sometimes it’s a weak thesis, sometimes it’s unclear governance, in a few cases it’s a bad approach to talent. We identify and fix them before they take effect.
- Design the full lifecycle. From zero to spinout to exit. Not just “we’ll launch startups.” What happens after? Who owns what? How will equity be recycled? What’s the playbook for scale and for exit?
- Build investor trust before you need it. This is about constant communication, clarity, and transparency. Investors should feel like they’re part of the journey, not just an ATM when things get tight.
- Craft a narrative & offer investors can’t resist. Fundraising is about numbers and telling the story of why your studio exists, why it will win, and how investors will share in that success.
Why I Share This Story
It’s not fun to write about failure. But I believe founders and studio operators need to hear the full story — not just the glossy highlights.
Yes, we built the first studio in our region. Yes, we raised funds and launched twenty startups. But because we scaled too fast and stayed too lean, almost all of it collapsed in the face of a crisis.
That’s real. And that’s why I’m so passionate about helping other studios avoid the same trap.
If you’re building a studio today, you’re building an entire system — a system that needs capital resilience, investor trust, and a long-term map.
Final Thought
Studios are powerful vehicles. They can de-risk venture creation, multiply founders’ chances of success, and create value at scale. But only if they’re built to last.
If you’re in the early stages of building a studio — or you’re already running one and starting to think about fundraising — I encourage you to take a hard look at your plan.
Do you have reserves? Do you have follow-on capital? Are your investors educated and aligned? Do you have an exit maps?
If the answer to any of those is “not yet,” now is the time to fix it.
💬 I’d love to hear your perspective: what’s been the hardest part of building investor trust for your studio?
📞 And if you want to stress-test your fundraising plan before it’s too late, book a 45-minute Studio Evaluation Call with me. We’ll find your critical gaps — and fix them before they become fatal.
👉 And if you want the full, upgraded, AI-ready playbook for your studio — one that takes a deep dive into every component, from thesis and team to venture production and fundraising — then get Venture Speed.