Ask VC 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗻 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗯𝗶𝗮

A week ago, we hosted a great “Co-Founder Matching” event by Ask VC at Auditoria. I gave a talk on how to find an ideal co-founder, and Peter Fedin ran a workshop on idea generation. Participants chose #Healthcare as the focus area…

Plug and Play Tech Center 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀

Over the next 7 days, startup applications are closing in two countries:
 • Tirana, Albania (Dec. 20):
https://lnkd.in/d_J4_6AV
 • Tbilisi, Georgia (Dec. 26):
https://lnkd.in/dS56Bwxh

It will be interesting…

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮

I’ve been postponing the idea of creating an open database of Armenian startups for a long time. I kept plenty of spreadsheets with participants from events, competitions, and accelerators — but now I want to structure…

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

Looking back, 2025 was a very eventful year for Armenian startup ecosystem. There were major events, international forums, and accelerator programs. And there were also plenty of local meetups, pitch sessions, and casual…

𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁 | 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗩𝗖 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲

Yesterday I came across Gergana Stoichkova post about new VC funds in Europe (https://lnkd.in/duRDKt5f). Gergana consistently shares data-driven VC insights and I definitely recommend following her.

It’s a perfect…

𝟯𝟯𝟬+ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 & 𝟮 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

Since 2020, I’ve been collecting pitch decks from Google for Startups Accelerator Demo Days. It’s my go-to way to spot strong ideas, business models, and learn what great pitching looks like.

Now I’m sharing…

500 Eurasia 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝟴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟵

As you may have already noticed, I watch a lot of different startup Demo Days, and recently it’s become a habit to create sector maps of the startups. In this post, I want to break down the startups from 500 Eurasia, specifically…

𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮 (𝗽𝘁. 𝟮)

I’m continuing to build an open database of Armenian startups. Since the last update, we’ve managed to double the number of startups and we’re keeping the momentum going!

Want to join the database? It takes…

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗩𝗖𝘀?

Finding investor contacts is step 1 on the long fundraising journey. Step 0 is preparing your startup for investment: metrics, valuation, documents, and a data room. But today I want to focus specifically on step 1. You already…

Plug and Play Tech Center's Main Impact: Mentors

I keep sharing behind-the-scenes processes from Plug and Play Central Asia and Caucasus, and once again I want to say this: the best part of joining an incubation program is the mentors. Every week, 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀…

𝗬𝗖 𝗔𝗜 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝗰𝗸

I think everyone has already seen the news that Y Combinator has partnered with more than 20 companies to offer free AI credits for students. This is great news! In addition to $20,000 in Cloud Credits (Amazon Web Services (AWS)…

Plug and Play Tech Center 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝘇𝗯𝗲𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻 (𝗕𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝟰)

Accelerator program with Batch 6 is about to kick off in Uzbekistan very soon, and in the meantime I’m putting together a sectors map for Batch 4 (Batch 3 https://lnkd.in/dCYdXVXJ). And thanks to this time…

January 2026 isn’t even over yet, and there are already plenty of opportunities to start the year in a way that benefits your startup. Sharing three options:

EPIC - Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center Incubation Program | Spring 2026
Deadline:…

𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗲

Lately, a “reach-first” format has become popular: collecting dozens of pitch-deck slides in Figma and asking people in the comments to “rate them.” From what I’m seeing, it often turns into activity theater and gives founders very little…

𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗖 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝘂𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱

On Monday, I attended the EPIC - Entrepreneurship and Product Innovation Center Incubation Fall 2025 Demo Day. It was truly inspiring to hear the pitches from 6 startups that completed the 15-week flagship program supporting early…

𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆

What a productive week it’s been with the Plug and Play Central Asia and Caucasus mentors. As expected, the end of the program is coming, and it’s time to sharpen the story before the final battle. This week I worked on…

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 “𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲”?

It’s a surprisingly non-trivial question, LinkedIn doesn’t really offer advanced analytics for this kind of analysis. Personally, I export my stats day by day, which is quite tedious if you want to look deeper than the…

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘃𝟭 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻!

This is already the third post in my series about an open database of Armenia-related startups. This post needs your support, 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱. Fill out this short form to become part of the startup…

𝗗𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆?

Yes — but only if we first agree on what we actually mean by “nationality.” A startup doesn’t have a single passport. It usually has multiple “anchors,” and depending on the context, a different one becomes the primary.…