𝗣𝗻𝗣 𝗔𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗮 (𝗕𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝟮)

Last week, the 2nd Cohort of the Plug and Play Tech Center Tirana Accelerator Program officially kicked off and for me it 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 to identify all 24 startups joining the cohort. The program will unfold through…

𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗩𝗖𝘀?

In early March, the TAOS team will take part in Mobile World Capital Barcelona 2026, so the first week of March will be as productive as possible.

A quick intro: TAOS is a predictive risk-modeling platform for diabetes complications.…

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀: 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Today I’m making Valentine’s Day cards but for startups.
Not for “perfect couples,” but for those who’ve already pivoted three times, gone through down rounds, are running on coffee and hope, and are still building…

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁?

Continuing my #InsightsHunt series, I looked at the 2025 investment activity of AloqaVentures (source in the comments): 43 deals, $5,255,000 deployed.
Here’s the pattern that jumped out, investments of ≤$50k account for 56%…

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗺 𝗜?

For the past few years, I’ve been struggling with a simple question that comes up again and again: “So… who are you? What do you do?”

It’s difficult to answer because my work doesn’t fit neatly into one title.
𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬.…

𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹: 500 Eurasia 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝟭𝟬 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝟮 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀

The startup application deadline was extended — but there are only hours left before submissions close. Alongside the investment ticket, the program offers a top-tier acceleration program (no participation…

𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘅: 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻, 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁

Why do founders lose the CEO seat so fast? The data is pretty blunt.
Across multiple datasets, the share of startups where the founder is still CEO drops steadily as the company scales: from ~96–100% at founding to ~39–41%…

𝗣𝗹𝘂𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮’𝘀 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝟮 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗱

18 weeks behind us — a lot or a little? Dozens of sessions with Plug and Play Tech Center’s international mentors, hundreds of hypotheses around product, sales, and fundraising, and thousands of hours of…

𝟯𝟬𝟬+ 𝗦𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗱/𝗦𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗩𝗖𝘀

Many of you already know that the TAOS team, led by Gera Avagyan, is heading to Spain for Mobile World Capital Barcelona 2026, and we want to meet as many Spanish VCs as possible. That’s why I’ve been building a detailed database…

𝗣𝗻𝗣 𝗔𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮 𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗻𝗶 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 $𝟴.𝟱𝗠

Yesterday, Plug and Play Central Asia and Caucasus Armenia Expo 2026 took place, where 19 startups showcased their progress during Batch 2 programm. Different sectors, different stages, one pattern: founders…

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲: 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗢𝘂𝘁

Founders often talk about fundraising like it’s a sprint. In reality, it looks much more like an endurance race and the biggest risk isn’t a “no” from investors. It’s dropping out before momentum compounds.

Right now, we’re…

𝗧𝗵𝗲 “𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁” 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗔 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝟱 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀

When people talk about “overnight success,” they usually skip the timeline. Based on Armenian-linked startups I looked at, the average time from founding to what founders often label as the “Series A moment” is: 57.1…

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵 & 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵: 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸

We’ve already discussed the topic of a startup’s “nationality” and the next one. Startup “birth” and “death” sound like simple dates in a database. In reality, they’re two of the hardest things to define…

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗖 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗜𝗻?

I’ve been featured again in Thomas Allgeyer’s “Best of LinkedIn” (CW 07/08: Venture Capital). So let’s dive into the topics other experts have been discussing and highlight a list of key patterns (mini “success secrets”):

• “Focus…

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀

If you strip away the hype, the VC industry is basically a market that VCs create and “glue together” between three sides:
1.
those who need money (founders)
2.
those who want high returns (investors)
3.
those who sell…

𝗢𝗿𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲, 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆

Orbital data centers are being pitched as the “next cloud region”: free solar power, passive cooling, and infinite scale for AI.

But the real question isn’t whether you can put compute in orbit (you can). It’s…

𝗠𝘆 LinkedIn | 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲

Road to 1M impressions: 66,661 of 1,000,000
TOP3 Posts:
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𝗘𝗣𝗜𝗖 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝘂𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
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𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵

A startup pitch is its passport: the very first impression, whether it’s an accelerator demo day or a call with a VC analyst. But a pitch always has two components: what/how you show and what/how you say it. You strengthen…

𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗳 2CarrotsVC 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗲

A few days ago, Ruben Osipyan, CEO of Science & Technology Angels Network (STAN) messaged me asking for help expanding the Armenian startups list. They’re currently preparing a full overview of Armenia’s startup ecosystem:…