Building the Central European Venture Engine: From Founders to Scalable Companies
A conversation with Károly Szántó and Thijmen Meijer, co-founders of Uniprisma
Every venture ecosystem matures the same way. At first, it celebrates ideas. Later, it learns to execute.
In the last decade, Central Europe has moved through both phases. The region is no longer defined by cheap engineering talent or outsourced development. It’s now home to founder-operators who are building durable companies with global reach.
To understand what drives that shift, I sat down with Károly Szántó and Thijmen Meijer, co-founders of Uniprisma, a venture studio based in Budapest. Both are builders. Both have scars. And both are proving that the next frontier of European innovation will be operational, not theoretical.
Founders first, but not founders alone.
Uniprisma does not start with products; it begins with people. The firm co-builds companies from the ground up, helping early-stage founders move from concept to investor readiness.
Károly Szántó spent a decade in venture capital launching funds, accelerators, and early-stage portfolios. Thijmen Meijer built high-performance recruitment and operations teams across Europe before focusing on startups. Together, they bring an unusual combination of capital discipline and talent architecture.
Their shared observation is simple: early-stage failure is rarely technical. It is behavioral.
Most founders underestimate how much of the company’s future depends on their own ability to evolve. The first version of a business is built by a personality. The second must be built by process. Few make that leap.
The founder as both engine and bottleneck.
In research-driven sectors like biotech or medtech, the founder is often a brilliant, visionary scientist and deeply attached to the invention. However, commercialization requires a distinct skill set: decision-making velocity, risk management, and effective market communication.
As Thijmen Meijer put it, “Letting your baby go is the hardest step.”
Some founders learn to share control; others cling to it until the company suffocates. The result is predictable: stalled growth, broken teams, investor fatigue.
Uniprisma intervenes early. The team runs what they call a founder readiness audit, assessing authenticity, adaptability, and resilience before any fundraising begins. Their thesis is clear: you can teach business mechanics, but you cannot outsource character.
Team over technology.
Every startup begins with a hypothesis. Most forget that it takes humans to prove it.
“Sixty percent of success is the personality and character of the founder,” Károly told me. “If that foundation is weak, you can’t build around it.”
That philosophy mirrors what seasoned investors already know. A mediocre product with a disciplined, aligned team will outperform a perfect product led by ego. Execution speed compounds faster than innovation cycles.
This is where Uniprisma’s model diverges from traditional accelerators. They are not coaches or consultants; they are co-builders. They supply the talent infrastructure, interim CEOs, CFOs, and CMOs to complement technical founders who lack go-to-market experience.
The result is a hybrid between venture studio and leadership incubator.
From concept to company: the Uniprisma method.
Their process follows five pragmatic steps:
Selection and stress-testing. Founders are screened for authenticity, grit, and openness to feedback.
Strategic framing. Together, they define the real problem, not just the perceived opportunity.
Talent assembly. Using Thijmen’s recruitment network, they source experienced operators who can translate ideas into motion.
Go-to-market validation. The team engages potential buyers and partners early to confirm demand and refine positioning.
Investment readiness. Only after a solid business case and governance model exist do they introduce capital.
The playbook sounds simple, but its impact is measurable. Startups entering Uniprisma’s orbit shorten their fundraising cycles and attract investors who value structured execution over optimistic forecasts.
Lessons from Central Europe’s venture adolescence.
Central Europe’s innovation story often suffers from comparison. Silicon Valley has capital density; Singapore has alignment; Germany has industrial depth. But the region’s advantage lies elsewhere in its pragmatism.
Founders here build with constraints. They learn efficiency before scale, resilience before visibility. That discipline, once considered a limitation, is now an asset in a world where capital costs more and hype costs credibility.
Károly calls Uniprisma a “creative venture kitchen,” an ecosystem capable of cooking new models, not just funding them. The studio plans to expand beyond Hungary into regional hubs, integrating healthcare, education, and technology domains under a unified growth framework.
Their ambition is not to replicate Silicon Valley but to build a Central European venture engine grounded in transparency, talent, and trust.
The ego factor.
When we spoke about failure, both founders returned to the same theme: ego.
Ego shows up as micromanagement, resistance to delegation, or refusal to replace oneself with a better-qualified CEO. It destroys more startups than lack of funding ever could.
The most successful founders, they observed, are those who know when to step back, not out of weakness, but maturity. They recognize that leadership evolves as organizations grow.
This is a truth many accelerators avoid teaching because it’s uncomfortable. Yet it’s the difference between a lab project and a scalable company.
From headhunting to head-building.
Thijmen’s background in executive search gives Uniprisma a unique advantage. He understands that the right hire is not the one with the best CV but the one who completes the founder’s blind spots.
His mantra is simple: “A good framework attracts good people.”
Authentic leadership acts as a magnet. When founders communicate clearly, talent and investors align faster. Employer branding, often dismissed as a marketing exercise, becomes a strategic asset. As Thijmen explained, “Authenticity attracts authenticity.”
This cultural alignment is crucial in early-stage ventures where compensation often takes the form of equity and belief.
The investor’s perspective.
As an investor, I often see the same disconnect. Founders arrive with impressive prototypes but untested markets. They mistake features for validation.
Uniprisma encourages them to engage with the market early, pick up the phone, face rejection, and refine their offer through real conversations. Market discovery is not a desktop exercise; it’s a discipline.
In my own portfolio, the companies that learn this fastest are the ones that survive regulatory cycles and fundraising winters.
Risk mitigation through partnership.
Uniprisma’s next move is to launch an early-stage fund. The idea is to combine small ticket investments with hands-on support, stabilizing startups before larger capital arrives.
This model de-risks the earliest phase of venture creation, where most capital is lost by embedding operational expertise directly into the company’s foundation.
It aligns perfectly with my own philosophy: capital without competence is noise. True value creation comes when investors and operators share accountability.
Together, our firms are demonstrating that Central Europe can generate global-class startups by professionalizing the pre-seed stage.
Scaling trust.
In a region still maturing its startup culture, trust is the ultimate currency. Founders must trust advisors enough to let go of control; investors must trust operators enough to provide autonomy.
This is why relationship capital, not financial capital, defines long-term success.
Károly and Thijmen invest their reputation before they invest their money. They measure success not only by valuation but by the founders’ ability to stand on their own within eighteen months.
That mindset transforms a venture studio from a service provider into an ecosystem builder.
The human pattern of success.
As our conversation closed, we returned to the fundamental pattern behind every successful company:
A founder who is self-aware.
A team that complements, not clones, that founder.
A governance model that rewards transparency.
A product that solves a real, not imagined, problem.
A capital partner who sees risk as something to manage, not fear.
When those five align, geography becomes irrelevant.
From Central Europe to the world.
Uniprisma and our broader collaboration are already validating this approach through early wins. One of them is YON E Health, a femtech company that moved from introduction to funded execution within weeks, not months. The speed came from clarity: a founder with purpose, a team with range, and investors who understand both.
Such examples prove that venture maturity is not about age; it’s about alignment.
Central Europe’s next chapter will not be written by dreamers. It will be written by doers who systematize growth.
Closing reflection.
Every ecosystem needs its builders of builders.
People who design the scaffolding so that others can climb.
That is what Károly and Thijmen are doing with Uniprisma, turning experience into infrastructure and ambition into process.
As capital tightens and markets demand results, this model of co-creation and competence will separate noise from signal.
The next Silicon Valley won’t be a place.
It will be a network of venture engines run by people who understand that execution is the new innovation.
And Central Europe is already warming up its engines.
Timecode:
00:00 Introduction and Guest Backgrounds
01:14 Overview of Uniprisma Venture Studio
02:45 Founders' Journey and Meeting
04:34 Challenges in Early Stage Startups
05:34 Importance of Founders and Team Building
11:45 Role of Venture Studios in Startup Success
20:29 Investor Insights and Decision-Making
24:17 Case Study: Success Story of Yon E Health
33:03 Future Plans and Vision for Uniprisma
Links:
Peter M. Kovacs LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petermkovacs/
Peter M. Kovacs Personal Website:https://www.petermkovacs.com/
PMK Group Website: https://www.pmk-group.com/
Guests:
Károly Szántó: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolyszanto1/
Thijmen Meijer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thmnmr/
Transcript:
Peter M Kovacs: Hi, nice to meet you guys today here. I'm very happy to introduce both of you. Uh, so very nice to meet you. Uh, and, um, yeah, please can you just tell me a couple of words or a couple of sentences about your background and, and your current position?
Károly Szántó: Okay. Um, thanks for having us. Um, I'm Károly Szántó uh, founder and CEO of Uniprisma Venture Studio. Um, my background, I, I spend the last decade in venture capital, um, I would say in the whole ecosystem. So I. I played a key role in launching three venture capital firms. I, I launched, um, startup Accelerator and now Venture Studio together with Thijmen Meijer my co-founder partner.
Peter M Kovacs: Oh, thank you so much.
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah. So my name is Thijmen Meijer uh, Dutchie, uh, living in Budapest now for 10 years. And the last decade, um, I worked in, uh, talent acquisition, uh, building up, um, high performance teams in, uh, in talent acquisition, um, from, um, corporates to smaller agency. Uh, and currently I'm the CEO, uh, COO and, uh, founder of, uh, Uniprisma.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay. That's really nice. And can you just tell me a couple of words about Uniprisma? What is the, the main role and the goal and the objectives of this company?
Thijmen Meijer: So UniPrisma is a venture studio, um, uh, but actually much more than that. But it's a venture studio that helps, uh, co building, uh, startups, um, helping them to get, uh, investment ready, um, and basically scaling.Um, so we help them to get the right talent. We help them to get the right, um, investors and to help them to get the right, um. Go to market strategy basically so they can focus on the product.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay. So you find these startups and people in the very early stage, if I understand Well,
Károly Szántó: yes. It's, um, it's usually early stage and adding didn't go to what Thijmen said. Uh, and uh, referring to our conversation from earlier today, actually, we are also doing, um, let's see. Um. In our teenage years, uh, trying to find out our identity and I think we can be transparent about that, uh, as a venture studio. So yes, we are a venture studio, co building, uh, startups, but we are also, I would say, um, a creative venture. Um. Kitchen, uh, that, that cooks other things. And I believe, we'll, we'll eventually launch venture capital firms, domain specific, uh, firms. And, um, also some, some other things that, that we, we can discuss later.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay. And just can you tell us a couple of first, how did you met and how did you get this idea?
Thijmen Meijer: Um, well. Uh, as a head hunter and with my own firm, I, uh, basically support, uh, one of the startups in the portfolio of where, uh, Károly Szántó actually worked, um, as a COO. Um, and I basically helped, uh, him to find, um, basically I helped Károly Szántó actually to find for his, one of his startups, a senior sales leader. Um, and this is how we got connected, basically. Yeah.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay.
Károly Szántó: But then, uh, time reached out to me a bit later and, um, he came with, uh, some people and actually, um, pitched me an idea, um, of how he and his team could hands-on, uh, help startups to scale and grow. And, uh, I asked him, uh. Are you aware that you are pitching a venture studio to me?And he said, um, he doesn't use that word, uh, but I said, yes. That's so we are in the same business, so let's see how we can collaborate. And this is how it started.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. Yeah, it's very similar how I, I met with time. So we have also just a personal experience from the past. Exactly. One years ago we met, first time Indeed.Yeah. In, in Budapest in, had a very nice, uh, program and, uh, yeah, yeah, we just met, uh, recently and, uh, yeah, we, we find out when you explained me this Venture studio idea that. I also built something similar a bit later stage. So I, I see that it's a very nice complimenter that you are, uh, finding these startup companies.You are helping from the very beginning, from the very first steps to do, to bring them to the, to the later stage where I, and when my. Companies, they come in and to support them. So I think it's a very good collaboration. But, uh, based on your experience, what is the, the key challenge? Uh, I know from this discussion that the human resource in the people is always a big challenge. Mm-hmm. But what is still the, the other challenges in this very early stage startup companies? It's question to both of you.
Károly Szántó: Yeah. Uh, it's, um, it's hard to prioritize, but, but I would say, uh. The personality and character of the founders. I think that's everything. If, if that's, um, if they have the right values and the right capabilities of execution, then it's like, I don't know, maybe 60% of the success rate and the rest you can build. Around. But if there is, if these foundations are, are weak, then it's not possible to weak. Uh, sorry to, to build around, uh, anything
Peter M Kovacs: a solid, it's not a solid basis. That is, it's difficult. Okay. And then you talk about the peoples, and you are expert in the people, uh, headhunting and management and, uh, the founder is the most important, or the CEO is also important or even more important, or, or how you build up a team because the founder is of course, is the number one person. But I, I saw in my personal experience that, uh, working in the biotech med tech field, so the founder is usually a. University expert, professor or researcher with zero knowledge about the business, the execution. There's a very nice talent in, in, in his, her field. And, uh, the main limitation for this company is what I saw by my personal experience, that, uh, they cannot go to the market. They cannot develop, they cannot find, uh, investors because they cannot change their, their habits, their behavior, their attitude, the researcher, scientist, attitude, and, uh. I saw that the startup companies, they realized that the funder should be a chief medical officer or just a, not just, but, but which is a very key and important person. But, but the management should be handed over to the professional CEO, CFO, CEO. So how do you see, or it is this very early stage, the founder is enough? Or, or, or, or do you need to think already from the, from the entire team and how to develop the team for the company?
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah. Good question. Um. Personally, I think that, uh, a founder is, is the number one of the team, at least in the beginning, uh, to also to set the, uh, the company. Um, and this is also where, uh, basically uniprisma can help with, uh, but at certain points, indeed the per, the, the founder does not need to yeah, uh, step into the, into the trap that he cannot grow or he or she cannot grow the company, uh, due to the fact of the lack of business knowledge. Um, and indeed there's a lot of startups that are failing because of this. Uh, and indeed the first thing is A is a CEO. Um, and there also you will see which founders actually are, uh, authentic and genuine enough that they also see that they need to step down in order to let the company grow. Um. And next to that, of course, uh, it depends on the, the team, but A CFO Indeed, or a CMO. And it depends a bit on the, on the type of company and then which stage and also what industry. Yeah.
Peter M Kovacs: Is it easy based on your experience that the funders, they are stepping back a bit or they just open
Thijmen Meijer: the company? It, it really is per person. It's completely different. It, um, you will see indeed the, the difference, the the, um. The companies that make it, they understand the founders. Yeah. Um. But it's of course, it's, it's letting your baby go, basically. It letting your child go. And, um, so it's, it's a difficult, uh, uh,
Peter M Kovacs: question. Yeah. Because I see many times that the, the funders became sometimes, or, or quite frequently, the limits, if they are not open for these changes now, which are not changes, it is just a natural growing and a natural. Uh, improvement of the company and scaling up the company. And, um, yeah, I, I, I just saw many, many times this, this issue that they, they didn't realize it and they do not want to step back because of course it is, he's her baby. But, but anyway, that, that after a while, it is the limiting factories, the, the baby were
Károly Szántó: also, I think it's about, uh, ego and control and, um. Some of the founders, um, struggle with letting the, partially the control, um, taken over by a new, um, CEO or mid-management even. Um, but it's, it's really necessary. Um, and I think it's no wonder why more and. Universities or accelerator programs are trying to, um, apply, um, entrepreneur in residence approach. But the prob it doesn't solve the, the basic problem. You can, you know, find the best entrepreneur, um, trying to merge it into a team. But if the founder. Doesn't accept that he needs to let go, then it'll not work. There will be conflicts and, um, yeah, micromanagement and, and all that. So, but I think it's, uh, it's easier to do it at the very beginning, at early stage. It's also, um, a stress test. Mm. Like if the founder can live with it and actually grow with it, then that's a very good sign. That's a very good indicator that this company will eventually will be able to execute on the market. And if, uh, if the team is broken, then it, the miracle will not happen.
Thijmen Meijer: Okay. It doesn't mean that, that every company needs to have a different CEO. Yes, of course. I mean, it's not a, um. But if the founder actually knows its own limitations, that's basically the, the key, the success factor. The key, yeah. The key, yes, absolutely.
Károly Szántó: Yeah. But, but the, but the, okay. Just, uh, for fairness, there are some, um, uh, founders that are coming from the academic sector and. Yet they have a, a very good natural talent for business
Peter M Kovacs: or, or they're also learning or,
Károly Szántó: or learning and or have already built some businesses. So even serial entrepreneurs, um. I, I'm, I'm pretty sure you all know, um, people like that. Um, they're the lucky ones. Uh, of course, but it's also easier. So I mean, you can actually sense, um, the culture of a team, if the founder has any experience in business. It's a different vibe. It's a different mood. It's a different energy,
Peter M Kovacs: yes. Definitely. Yeah. I had also, in my, my own company, I get the feedback that that is completely different when I'm talking about my company and or somebody else. Management team member is talking about the company. It's a completely different story. Yeah. And, uh, your venture Studio is able to help these funders to grow as much as possible, to learn and, and, uh, to keep as much as as possible to develop the company. And in case you realize that the fund is not enough, you need access support so you are able to, to support them and provide them some talents or, or how, how it works in their, in their real life.
Károly Szántó: I, I would say it has, you, you basically mentioned two major components. One is more like, um, like, um, methodology that you apply, like a playbook, like how to actually launch a startup and how to grow, how to find your niche and your value proposition, and uh, and then. Uh, additionally prepare, um, a go-to market strategy. Uh, but that of course requires a good team. And I think, uh, on the playbook side, on the method side, uh, I bring in my experience and, and on building the team and finding the right people. That's, uh, that belongs to time. And so I think this is how we complement each other.
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay. Yeah, it's very nice.
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah. Nothing, nothing to add to that actually. Yeah. It's, uh. It's, um, it all comes back to the first, the, the framework, the standards, and then of course the people that actually set that emotion. Yeah.
Károly Szántó: But, but also I think, uh, for me it's very important that, uh. Time has already built several companies, so he's an entrepreneur himself. And I, I find that, um, in a word, uh, full of consultants, uh, it's refreshing to, you know, to team up with people who actually have some skin in the game and, you know, have some scars, um, you know, battling through, uh, building up companies.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. Yeah. It's very important that their own experience and not Yes. Yeah. Not just learn from the ble. Indeed. Indeed. Yeah. And, uh, what do you think that, uh, next to the people, which are a key factors or, or what is the next main burden for the companies? Just to grow and to, to start, uh, and, uh, and then build with, with their own company, uh, to the successful level. So, which is, which is the second main. Main issue.
Károly Szántó: What I see very often, um, and I will try to say it in a balanced way because it's not true for everyone, but Mo most of the startups are overly occupied with their, um, product features, so to say, um, and less occupied, less busy with actually discovering their actual potential buyers. The market.
Now, it can be very different, uh, on a research based startup, right? Because yes, you need to be very occupied with your research, of course, so that's fine. But then spinning off, uh, a research and making it, um, service or a product, uh, or an ip, uh, that already requires some, some of the business sense. So I, I believe, uh, in early stage you need to. Obviously validate your idea, and by validation I mean does this, that this product or service, does it make sense on the market and, and it's, it's not a desktop research. And that's where it goes wrong, because most people, I don't know, they, they create a desktop research, but they never actually go to these, uh, meetings and pick up the phone. And yes, it's difficult because, uh, people will reject you and it will, you know, receive critic that's painful and very painful, and they will criticize and, uh, whatnot. But that, that is the learning curve.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay. Yeah, it's, it's, it's very difficult. Many people, they didn't accept maybe after the second one, hour second, no. That they just gave up. Yes. It's very difficult. You can also help them to teach them how to pitch, how to, to manage this kind of discussions. Talking with partners, with investors, is it also part of your service portfolio or, or it is just coming?
Károly Szántó: I would say no. I would say so, yes. I think, um, like currently, um, we are involved in, I think. For fundraisings, and when you prepare for a fundraising, it actually requires. I mean, yeah, we, we need to be involved in everything because for fundraising, you need to have market validation. You need to have your financial plan ready, you need to have your team, um, ready and strong and ready. So yes, we do a lot of, um, uh, pitch deck, uh, um, let's say fine tuning, but also that requires a, uh, a good brand identity. So, you know, you, you, you start something on the top, but then you end up, uh, digging up the roots and, uh, and trying to, uh, pull the act together. So yes, a lot of, uh, pitch preparation, fundraising, preparation. Um. A lot of business planning.
Peter M Kovacs: Okay. And is it easy to accept by these founders, CEOs, these, these people? It's still people management, uh, they accept your, your advices or, or, or they are reluctant at the beginning and they, they realize that okay, they, they have to accept the, the most, more experienced people, otherwise
Thijmen Meijer: some yes and some no. Um, I would say that, uh, generally I would say yes. Otherwise we would also not be able to help them. Yeah. So if they don't accept help or constructive criticism, then why are we, yeah, why are we there? Um, but yeah, indeed, it's like also what Károly said, it's, um, getting the message across as well to a potential investor that's really difficult to do that in a short amount of time. The idea might be brilliant, but, uh, yeah. Then how do you go to market? Who is your, uh, audience? Who is your, uh, buyer? Uh.
Károly Szántó: Yeah. And, and also I think, uh, the core question that comes up each and every time in early stage is, uh, who you are and who you are talking to. And it sounds very easy, but it's the most difficult question. And. I think collectively we need to put a lot of effort in truly discovering who that startup is. What is the persona, what is the value and who you are talking to? And that requires a lot of, uh, it's not an easy job to, to actually get it right, but it's very, very important. Once you get it right, then you can build upon. That your pitch deck, your financial plan, everything.
Peter M Kovacs: In many cases, I, I, I met with funders. They built very, very, very nice, extraordinary product. And they thought they have very nice publications, but I just made a very simple question, but, but who is willing to buy this? And they couldn't answer because there is really no market need for that. So it's very nice to have it, but there is no market need for that. Is it a common issue or it is just. A few cases.
Károly Szántó: I think it's very, very common issue, especially, uh, academic spinoff university. University spin off. Completely. I don't know. I'm, I'm curious, uh, in your experience, how, how do you find this, uh, is it a common issue in, in your circles, in your experience
Peter M Kovacs: in medical field? It's not so common. Maybe because you, you have, at the, from the very beginning, you, you get the problem, which is mainly a disease or a program, so a diagnostic or a treatment, so. You always have, um, uh, the market for, for that product. Um, so I, I see less cases, but, but still, yeah. Uh, I found out that because of the complexity, because of the safety issues, or even if it's more common maybe in medical devices, that, that it's too complex. It's too complicated, painful or something like that. So, so you, you are, um. It, it works until you, you get the results, but the way, how you get it. So I cannot expect, uh, any patients that they are willing to do that. And even if of course you can prove that you get a very precise measurement, diagnostics, but if nobody is willing to do, there is no market for that. So, but, but fortunately in the medical field, I think it's, uh, it's much easier to find, um, the target audience, let's say. And, uh, and, um. Yeah, it is, it's more difficult that the, the failure rate is very high in, in our business. Yeah.
Károly Szántó: Can I ask another question?
Peter M Kovacs: Sure.
Károly Szántó: Uh, and, and, and I'm not talking to the investor because, uh, you are, you're not only an investor, but I'm addressing the investor, Peter.Um, is it true or, or have you experienced that whenever you meet with, um, a new startup, a new founder team? Um, how much, how much are you. Aware of your gut feeling in the first meeting and how much it, it actually counts for you. In your decision?
Peter M Kovacs: I get the official answer. I should be very precise on the due diligence processes and the, the papers and the numbers should say that it's go, no go. Uh, honestly, I, I'm, I'm. I'm really close to, uh, to the feeling and, uh, to feel that that this, this person is, is really authentic for me, the entire team, not just the founder. Uh, because for me, the team is more important, uh, than the product itself because, uh, if the product is not a complete failure from the beginning, you, you can sell it if you get a good team independently, that is a medication, it is a device, or it is a FinTech, any type of products. So for me, the. People is more important than for any other investors. Uh, but yeah, based on my, my experience I've up to now, yeah. I, I, I like my gut feeling. Definitely.
Károly Szántó: And when you say, um, when you say the people are the most important. And you listen to your gut feeling. So what is it? You already mentioned authenticity. I totally support that. What are the 2, 2, 3 other,
Peter M Kovacs: the dedication, uh, uh. I have, uh, many issues in, uh, in many different field, not just in investments, but in service companies and many other field, uh, the peoples, the attitude of the people, the behavior of the people. So nobody would like to work. Uh, everybody would like to get successful within 24 hours without any extra effort, which is, which is not works or I don't, uh, find this recipe yet. Uh, but, uh, but it's very important that, uh, if. This person is a founder as ceo, is really dedicated. Uh, and um, and I can give that so much plus power into this. Uh. A company that you can survive much more challenges and, uh, and you can really sell your product even if it's not the best in the world. And that is important for, for investor as, as well as for the society as well.
Károly Szántó: Great. So, I mean, your input is crucial for us because, uh, as we start to deal with startups in the early stage, we, we must know how an investor thinks and actually, uh. Um, I think we share the same values and approaches and we are also selective, and I believe a success of an investor and a success of a venture studio is very much, um, dependent on, on the dedication and authenticity of the founder. Is, is, it's almost, yeah, it's almost direct. Correlation between, so if we, if we work with a founder who has, um, mediocre product, but an outstanding team and very motivated, it'll, it'll happen. The miracle will happen.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. I, I can really translate that time. I'm, I'm more invest in the. And than to the product or the company. Uh, of course you have to do a very detailed and very precise due diligence on a professional level and financial part. But, but the people are always on the number one. And I think we can, we can share our, our first success story, which is building very quickly now, this, uh, company called Yoni. It's a fem tech company. Um, you just introduced me, both of you, the, the founder. I think it was two months ago, or two and a half months ago. She was really impressed me. Uh, we get a very good, uh, nice collaboration because since we, we started this collaboration very, very quickly and, uh, I think it's a very good example that the found is so dedicated. She's so dedicated for personal reason and professional reason in this particular case. But, but I, I'm so confident that it'll be successful that, that it was the easiest investment in my life. And that was, it was the fastest, fastest round. Yeah.
Thijmen Meijer: And, and what are actually the don'ts actually, when you're looking at the person it's pitching to you? What is the, the don'ts? Uh, basically that the person should not.
Peter M Kovacs: Uh, I, I do not have general rules because, uh, you know, when um, you meet with somebody in the first few seconds, you get the feeling that it's a sympathetic or non sympathetic person. So it is already a go, no go decision is, is halfway done. Uh. But of course, I, I made my homework before we met, so I, I, I, I, I, uh, read many articles and the posts, uh, um, with Roswitha who is the, the founder of this company, and it was very impressed. Uh, I like, uh, uh, how she managed, uh, uh, her entire life and how dedicated she's and how hard worker she's, which is also important for me. And, uh, yeah, so she just confirmed. So when we met this personal meeting, couple of, uh, weeks ago, it, it was just a confirmation for me that it is, it is a, it should be a very good company. On the other hand, I, I, I would like to also to to show the word and for our smaller and wider environment, uh, that our collaboration, I mean, Uniprisma and uh.My, my venture company and service companies that, that we can, we can be a game changer. We have to speed up, uh, the promising startups, how they can go to the market, how can they get successful? We have to give them any sup, every support. We have to show that with our support, it is more successful than the traditional models. And, uh, and I, I think, uh, we are on a very good path on this, on this way.
Károly Szántó: Mm-hmm. When I, when I first met Roswitha , I heard her pitching Yon E Yon E ha. And uh, in the last decade, I think I have, I must have seen, I don't know, thousands of startup pitches. This was definitely in the top three, I would say. And. Yes, the pitch was perfect, but it's not the perfect pitch. It's actually the way the, the presence,
Peter M Kovacs: yeah, the feeling. I had a
Károly Szántó: feeling that is very strong presence. Like it, it really comes through the, the commitment, the very strong commitment. Like whatever she would have, uh, you know, presented, um, I think I would have thought, uh, yes, she will make it. Yeah. Either way, this person will make it.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah, that's, we talk about the people.
Károly Szántó: Yeah.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. This company was sold by the, by the founder. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I think it's a very good example and I, I, I really hope we can speed up and yeah, you are very successful. I just read the emails that progressing. Everything is progressing much better than expected, so it is also very rare because usually I have that, okay, there is a delay, there is a delay again, they need more money. There is a delay. It is completely the opposite. Yeah. They, they are faster than expected. They, they are better than expected. So,
Károly Szántó: and also I think it's, um, partially like, like we discussed earlier, the fund sets the tone, the culture, and Roswitha , uh, you know, her standards are very, very high in terms of speed and quality, like usually. Startups are either speedy, uh, fast, but then they are not very detail oriented. It's a little bit of, uh, messy, but it, but she's like detail oriented and fast. It's very, very rare, even I would say. Um, she's very demanding even with us, and I like that actually. Like, uh, okay, let's do this. I mean. Yeah.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. I, I felt also a bit, I felt first it's a bit pushy, but, but after I just realized that it is, that's very dedicated.
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah. Very dedicated. Yeah.
Károly Szántó: That's what she needs to be. Yeah. So, and yeah, so these are the, the qualities. But I think it's interesting that you mentioned the, the due diligence. Yes. Um, it has to be. It has to be done and it has to be supportive of the decision. But, but there is this human factor and I think, uh, even though the three of us, uh, have very different backgrounds, but I think we share that, um, aspect or,
Peter M Kovacs: and also the values are, I think it's very, very similar. Yeah, and also I see this, uh, company that rose with to built a very nice international group of, of people around here. So it, it is also. Nice. And, um, I, I, I rarely see, especially Hungarian startup across startups, that they, they're able to attract really, really good names and the completely international from, from us, Europe, and Asia.So, so it, it's, it was really interesting and it was very nice to see because it's not, not a common experience, but I, I saw in the past that they have a really good team and also. I think, uh, it's very supportive and uh, they help to reach these milestones much earlier. And so, so well, uh,
Thijmen Meijer: but that's also why authenticity also attracts authenticity. So it's attracts good talent as well from a headhunting point of view as well. This is, um, the first thing is employer branding. Uh, and then basically that's attracts much better talent, um, than if you don't have anything or you. Or the, a founder is just not authentic enough or is just, uh, uh, phony. But this is very dedicated, uh, uh, rolling up the sleeves.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. You find that the, the founders, they, they should start their branding very early and it's, it's okay. I didn't think about that yet.
Thijmen Meijer: I, we just discussed it as well earlier in the conversation that I think it's, it's key to success. Uh. In, in what ways? Um, from a go to market per perspective. Uh, because a good idea is nice, but if you cannot actually bring it to market, um,
Peter M Kovacs: just take the attention for, for the potential further partners, investors, and also for, for the, yeah, for, for the, the, the first thing. Yeah, the first
Thijmen Meijer: thing you did was looking at her post, uh, looking at her, what she wrote about what she did, what, how she did it. Um, the website that she made, um. And I think that's key as well to, to success of new founders is how you portray yourself on the markets. Um, if you indeed have only 40 followers on LinkedIn and 41, uh, followers, uh, of connections, uh, it, it, it's, it's, um, it doesn't rhyme basically. So it needs to just because you have a nice pitch, but on the backside you are a completely different person. It, it doesn't rhyme. Um, so indeed go to market is, is much stronger back then. Uh, plus, um, eventually it'll also be, uh, a much more, um, affordable, um, journey for the, for the founder as well. So it needs to pay less for service advisors, uh, less for, uh, suppliers. It, it basically comes more, uh,
Peter M Kovacs: attractive for everybody. Yeah.
Thijmen Meijer: And need to be connected to the, to that specific, uh, founder and startup Yeah. Products.
Peter M Kovacs: I was just really surprised. I never think about it before that I, if your personal branding is good, you can find better talents because it's my main challenge also personally in myself, that, that how to find a good talent around you and to build your own team globally.And it is, it is a very nice point. I didn't think about it.
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah. But the key is genuine and authentic, otherwise, it's. And branding is just a, a nice haircut. It doesn't mean anything. Yeah,
Peter M Kovacs: that's true. Uh, and what is your, your, your short term and the midterm and long term plan with Uniprisma? So, so what is your vision mission?
Károly Szántó: Okay. So, um, we have started our partnership with you and I think, uh, there's just so much opportunities, uh, in that domain. Um, and. We, we literally just started, uh, um, two months ago. Um, so I would say first off, we need to, um, you know, accelerate the deal flow and, um, and onboard more startups, uh, into our partnership.Uh, prepare them for, for go to market and for investment. Um, and then. As we, as we move on to next year, I think we can, and we should, um, open up the scope, uh, geographically and see region has a lot to offer. Um, while we, we would still keep, um, the medical domain or the health domain. And, and in that sense, uh, I just wanted to mention that how important, um.Your background is an as an investor, because you are not just an investor. Um, you have very deep domain expertise and you have execution capabilities when it comes to, um, testing, uh, clinical and, and all that. And I think, uh, that's the risking at its best, basically. So I think this is how we connect.Like if, if, if there is this whole journey, like from the spinoff. Preparing them, forming a team, forming a business plan, prepare them for investment, and then actually executing
Peter M Kovacs: fast and quick and chip.
Károly Szántó: But then, yes, but then you, you need so much support. You need the infrastructure, you need processes you need
Peter M Kovacs: and the expertise.
Károly Szántó: And the expertise. So I think this is our joint value proposition, I would say is very, very strong and quite unique in this region. And I think we should, uh, you know, uh, scale it up. Uh, scale it up. So I would say this is our main, one of our main focus for, for nine for next year. Um, but then also of course, um, um.We would like to launch, um, an early stage fund so that we can also, um, support, um, at the very beginning with small ticket sizes so that to stabilize and, and accelerate, uh, the startups. And then later stage investment could follow on. Investment could come, uh, from your, uh. Uh, VC and from potential co-investors because, because I, I think we have a very strong value proposition for co-investors.Mm-hmm. Um, not, not many, um, deal flows are actually vetted and, and, um, stabilized. Like we could probably answer all the questions for a pro, um, co-investor in terms of how we mitigate risk in early stage, and that's very, very rare.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah, that's why it was built also my, my, my own, I started a couple of years ago that is risk mitigation because of the professional expertise and knowledge and, and the, the holistic, uh, support in the overview.And many of the, the investors, uh, based on my experience, they don't really understand the meanings. I think they are the dumb monies coming from different sectors, but they're more and more partners. I see risks Startup companies, they, they understand the, that this risk mitigation is, is very important and how much differences between a.General investors compare compared to our model where, where we are just not investing the money. It's more important we investing our knowledge, expertise, and all the support they have. It's, it's much more valuable than the, the cash itself. And, uh, and I think it's, it's very important. So if I would like to summarize in, in one sentence, you, you are building now the, the Silicon Valley in cee region.
Károly Szántó: Sounds ambitious, but yes, I think we are very ambitious.
Peter M Kovacs: Yeah. Maybe not just this year, next year. Yeah.
Thijmen Meijer: Yeah. And, and, and the ecosystem, of course, uh, that supports that Silicon Valley.
Peter M Kovacs: Yes, definitely. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thijmen Meijer: Cheers to that. Just.