A Bad Pattern Got Passed Down to Our Generation. These CEE Builders Are Doing the Most to Break It.
💡And you can too, read until the end to find out how.
Time to clock the breakthroughs.
Trip Status: 1/3 of CEE ground covered ✅
(Track live where I am here)
One pattern keeps showing up…and it has nothing to do with talent.
Thirty years ago, the parents of this generation were told: if you stand out, you make yourself a target, so stay in your lane.
That was the survival protocol.
Today, if you don’t stand out, you don’t exist.
The pattern is sitting on the shoulders of a generation that's playing by rules that no longer exist.
This tour keeps showing me that many of them are done with walking in the same footprints…
BELGRADE: Showing up is the first act of defiance
People showed up on the second day of Easter.
That alone tells you a lot about their focus and willingness to go the extra mile.
No wonder Eastern Europeans are known for their work ethic and resilience:)
What I loved about these builders:
They didn’t just pitch ideas, they thought them all the way through. Concept, implementation, go-to-market.
That level of depth, in a brainstorming session, was impressive.
Combine that with deep industry knowledge and you get the standout of the evening.
Two girls in cybersecurity.
Pragmatic. Deeply knowledgeable. Aware of who the right people are and where to find them.
“Deep insights into the market show up as a massive advantage.”
SARAJEVO: Where the ceiling started rising
The room was at full capacity. People showed up well-dressed and with their serious attitude on.
I got asked about mistakes I made, what I’m building, what happened to our portfolio companies.
Good thing I had Milan Samardžić and Igor Golub from ExPi there to cover the last part :)
What struck me was how fast they shifted gears once they understood that the world flipped 180 degrees from what used to work to what’s needed now.
A lot of “well... when you put it that way” moments in that room.
Here’s what actually shifted:
From “I need a certificate” to “I just need to start”
A girl asked where she could learn robotics and bio-engineering.
Wanted a place that gives out a certificate.
But..entrepreneurship doesn’t ask what credentials you have. The internet is free.
From “let someone else handle it” to “take the hardest task”
A student told me his team of four had one person doing all the work on a procedural generation project in Godot. The others were just watching.
I told him: split the work in four and take the hardest task. The procedural height map generation. It was the opposite of what he’d planned.
From “I can’t get go to Harvard” to “is it even worth it anymore?”
I asked the room how many had applied to Ivy League Schools. Nobody did, so I asked why.
One student said “finances”.
Another one “I don’t think I’m good enough”.
Then a guy in the front row said “It’s not relevant anymore.”
He’s right. Here is why:
The Debrief after each stop lands right here, so might as well Subscribe.
Every builder needs to understand this 👇
Each industry has its own metric:
In SaaS, it’s your follower count on X and the users you report.
In engineering, it’s your GitHub.
In marketing, it’s your Instagram or the brands you’ve worked with.
Your job is to show up there, consistently.
And at every contract closed, client landed, or feature shipped, you let the world know.
So, if you’re a builder ready to take the next step, or an LP looking to get early access to ReaktorX, DM me on LinkedIn.
