Venture capital in Latvia needs investors with startup operating experience who can provide good advice to entrepreneurs ("smart money"), rather than just bankers and analysts. It also needs investment terms that incentivize entrepreneurs and are fair to future investors, rather than short-sighted terms that disproportionately benefit current investors. Only two people in the Latvian VC industry have relevant operating experience, and local startups often feel investors don't understand their perspective since they haven't "walked a mile in their shoes."

1. V E N T U R E C A P I TA L I N
L AT V I A : W H AT W E N E E D
S M A R T M O N E Y &
S I L I C O N VA L L E Y T E R M S
A N D R I S K . B E R Z I N S
T E C H H U B R I G A

2. S M A R T M O N E Y
• Just two people in Latvian VC industry with any
operating experience: Nikolai Adamovitch & Vitaly
Rubstein
• Everyone else is a banker or financial analyst
• Little ability to give startups good operating advice
• Startups see when investors have not “walked a mile”
in their shoes

3. S I L I C O N VA L L E Y T E R M S
• Investors in Latvia often propose short-sighted, bad
terms for entrepreneurs:
1. Want too much % for their money - Disincentive for
entrepreneurs to make it big
2. Large liquidation preferences, milestone-based
tranche investments, participating preferred share -
force next investors to make terms even worse