http://idcee.org/p/ilja-laurs-getjar/ Ilja Laurs is the Founder and Chairman of GetJar, world’s largest independent mobile application store. “European Manager of the Year 2011” by European Business Press Association, “25 European Tech Leaders” by Wall Street Journal, “Top 40 most influential people in mobile communications” by Informa Telecoms and Media, “10 Start-ups That Will Change Your Life” by TIME magazine and “Technology Pioneer 2011” by World Economic Forum are only a few of his numerous industry achievements. As a recognized thought leader, Ilja speaks on all major telecommunication conferences and is regularly quoted in Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CNN, CNBC, BBC, Bloomberg and many other news sources. In February 2010, Ilja made the cover of the America's leading entrepreneurship magazine "Entrepreneur". Pic's are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idcee/sets/ More @ http://idcee.org Follow us on: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialIDCEEChannel Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDCEE Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/IDCEE-3940138 Twitter: https://twitter.com/idcee_eu Google+: http://gplus.to/idcee Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idcee/collections/

1. Eastern Europe to Silicon Valley
Bridging the gap in entrepreneurship

2. Modern Startup Philosophy
The
Goal
• Build value not profit
• Realize value via IPO / M&A / Secondary market, not
dividends
The
Execution
The
Resources
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• Superfocused – do 1 thing but do it best
• Superfast – burn money but go fast
• The best – only the frontrunner wins
• Get Angel/VC money
• Use the money to buy the best
people/technology/visibility

3. What’s great about Eastern Europe
The
People
• Educated
• Technically savvy
• “Hungry” and willing to take the risk
• Developed internet and supporting infrastructure
• High mobile penetration and usage
The
Infrastructure • Unique areas of excellence, such as banking in Lithuania, gaming in Russia/Ukraine, etc.
The
Environment
• Convenient geographical location
• Strong ties with East/West, access to Western and Eastern funding
Great for
experimentation, prototype, proof of concept
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4. What’s great about Eastern Europe
The
People
The
Environment
• Education, specialization, skills, experience
• Hard work and powerful motivation through option schemes
• Large pool of professionals in all areas
• Skill set that doesn’t exist in EE and even WU, in areas like sales, marketing, business
development, etc.
• Liberal business/work environment, key ingredient for building a successful startup
• World’s best IT infrastructure
• Mature and widely available startup funding
• Key market for going global and world domination
• IPO / M&A opportunities
Great for building the
best product, scaling, going global, successful IPO
or M&A
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5. Thank You!
Questions?
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