Building Pre-Seed Infrastructure in CEE

Episode 11 – Building Pre-Seed Infrastructure in CEE (with Petr Šíma, DEPO Ventures) Prague, Czechia00:00 – Intro & setupWelcome to Emerging Forward and introduction to Episode 11.Who is Petr Šíma and what DEPO Ventures does at pre‑seed across CEE and Baltics.01:00 – Europe’s fragmented early‑stage marketWhy Europe has “many problems,” but early‑stage financing is the one Petr is trying to fix.Local angels, local funds, and the structural fragmentation across regions.01:35 – Building a pan‑CEE pre‑seed platform60 investments in six years; moving from angel funds to a VC fund while staying at the first round.Why there are still very few groups investing across the region at this stage.02:15 – “Helping founders by helping investors”The problem of occasional angels, family offices and “equational investors.”Why investing is a professional job, and how bad early‑stage investing harms founders.04:00 – Educating angels and emerging investorsPetr’s work in teaching angels and investors to join the right groups, networks and co‑investors.Why talking to startups as a fund manager is often clearer than as a loose group of angels.10:00 – Fund + angel network mechanics (DEPO model)How DEPO combines an institutional fund with an angel network.Decision‑making, co‑investment rules and why co‑investors’ specific knowledge matters.26:50 – Co‑investors and going beyond your home marketWhy “early‑stage investments are always cooperative.”Using co‑investors to invest in countries where DEPO is not fully present, and what each party brings beyond money.28:00 – US PowerPoint vs European deep techPetr’s comparison of the typical US deal (“everything looks amazing… just PowerPoint”) vs. deep‑tech in Europe (“terrible presentation, amazing substance”).Why pre‑seed investors in European deep tech can’t be superficial and must be willing to go deep.28:45 – Where the next generation of investors will come fromOperators and exited founders as Europe’s future “real business angels.”Nordics/Baltics vs traditional economies like Germany and Czechia; who believes in startups as an asset class.29:30 – LP risk appetite and resilient EuropeTraditional European LPs’ risk aversion vs American LPs’ appetite for European resilience plays.Why it’s “crazy” to see a huge European resilience opportunity where ~70% of LPs are American.30:30 – Light closing: food & global tastesA quick detour into Italian and Thai food as Petr’s comfort go‑tos.31:10 – Closing thoughts: a once‑in‑a‑generation opportunityPetr’s message that European resilience is a huge, time‑bound opportunity.Final encouragement to listeners to engage with this moment.About Petr Sima:Partner of DEPO Ventures, pre‑seed fund investing in European tech startups building resilient Europe. Board member of European Business Angel Network.Links:DEPO Ventures website - https://depoventures.cz/Petr’s LinkedIn profile - https://cz.linkedin.com/in/petr-sima-a294681EBAN (European Business Angels Network) - https://www.eban.org/Episode 10 (last week’s exits‑focused episode) - https://emergingforward.substack.com/p/cee-liquidity-lab-viktor-manev-ipo-beginning This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit emergingforward.substack.com