There are at least 70 cities in Europe which have at least one unicorn in them – a very different pattern from the US/UK ecosystems. Over 20 of these cities are in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). There is thus far more to CEE than a place to near-offshore your tech or dev team. In this episode Adam gives us both a tour de force et tour d’horizon of the vast region that is CEE –  – I was certainly impressed with my lack of knowledge of the tech landscape in the region which has developed super-fast. 

Adam is a rara avis having been a multiple-times founder, bank CEO and now long-term regional VC so has a super-good 360 degree perspective on the area which he leads us through.

Five years ago Adam co-founded OTB Ventures, an early-stage CEE VC based in Warsaw, who invest $1-15m in their CEE portfolio companies,

Topics discussed include:

• is tech concentrated in Warsaw or is it spread around Poland?

• Poland – 15-20yrs ago gaming industry was the early market leader with global reach; other sectors increasing over past 5yrs.

• price – pre-pandemic techies 1/3-1/4-ish of London rates, now ~1/2 London rate

• less about offshoring and more about putting the whole tech team in the region

And much much more