Blank canvas, again

The software startup game was sorted – until it isn't anymore. If one could walk down that path, now running became the only option. Hopefully, founders and investors align on the following questions. Did our pace of experimentation change with AI? How market is inevitably changing, not today, but in the next 24 months? Are we playing defence – or offense – given the technology at hand? How are we building with AI – have we accelerated our output and outcomes?

work in progress

• Building and builders. Skarbe founders are closing the chapter – and we are keen to see what is next? Thank you. Evaldas ran Guideless on Product Hunt. Vytautas launches polar night - chargeback defense & payments intelligence platform. Supernaut goes live. Eva presented MyFaceGuard tat NGL Ventures Riga. _basedspace wrapped up their first batch, with strong demos (listed here) and slicer.dev winning like this!
• Fintech. Vialet unveils fresh brand and identity – built with Synthesis CG. Another one: UAB Micar Assets officially licensed under MiCA.
• People. Few weeks ago, we shared Povilas was in the market, now he joins Pando Moto to lead DTC and Brand. And this bring me to pattern I love to see. Gradually built, customer-obsessed, product-led companies become so good in their niches, and start to break out into broader markets and scalable business models. Pineca Group could be in this basket, Optoman, OBDeleven, and others.
• P.S. Pando Moto just brought their gear for the winning Olympic bobsleigh team – German.
• FT1000: Europe’s Fastest-Growing 2026 ranking is out, with tops from each Baltic country: #38 Wellster (EST), #138 Mediatech (LT) and #266 Jeff (LV).
• Moats. We've been talking marketplaces, brands for years now: it seems they are most durable in AI era, alongside with full context. Before that, System of Action is interesting:  if your software touches money, customers, or real-world outcomes (think Gusto or Shopify), ripping it out is genuinely painful.

• Related on marketplaces: too often people think the hardest part is building an app.. it's not.
• Fame. Many celebrities have promoted Walk15, but did not expect Christine Lagarde, President of European Central Bank, to join, too! Popular 60 minutes show in the US talks about Incogni – how it helps judges maintain privacy. 20VC list what are the top 10 European microfunds: #5 is Creator Ventures (have Elevenlabs in portfolio), but look – their GP Caspar is using Surfshark when travels!
• People moves. Key Carbon hires Audinga Besuspare as President; last year she was Executive in Residence at InSoil. Ainius (ex-Vinted) joins Ace Waves for product / engineering role. Nomeda joins Tesonet as Portfolio Account Manager. Darius (ex-InSoil) joined Sigvi to lead growth. Gijs joins Copla as Interim Head of Sales. Viktorija is now Head of Brand Communications at Nord Security. Eidmanas (ex Oxylabs, infra engineering) is up for new role.

sponsors

Cloudvisor [AWS partner, launches now affiliate program – more here]
Hostinger [online presence accessible to everyone worldwide, hiring]
Google For Startups [cloud credits up to $350K, faster growth]
Oxylabs [Step into the world of web data gathering]
VIALET [Business accounts for growth, hiring]
Ace Waves [Enterprise ready AI agents for CS, hiring]
Surfshark [Top 50 among fastest growing in EU, hiring]
15MIN Group [all the news you need to know]
Eldorado.gg [world’s largest in-game trading marketplace, hiring]
Saily [eSIM data for international travel, hiring]

rounds and capital

• FIRSTPICK partners with Lost Astronaut, aiming to invest in 100 early-stage startups over three years. Targeting €100K for each team (case by case), full journey support through the All-stars platform.
• Celebrating Estonian Independence Day, Plural lead €30m Series A into Frankenburg Technologies, alongside SmartCap.
• New exit in Coinvest Capital portfolio. But who could that be, out of 45 portcos? There is a voting pattern in our poll.
• Defence Angels European Network (DAEN) officially launched its operations – with Viktorija Trimbel representing Lithuania. 1000 angels, awesome.
• Google DeepMind Accelerator for Physical AI – calling robotics' startups.
• Superhero Capital are actively deploying into startups.

roleplay

founder's guide

Blank canvas is back –

How to launch – great tips by Monaco which apparently now has demos booked for two months ahead, including weekends.

Eoghan on how they saved Intercom – and how to save your SaaS

The tech is moving so fast, but customer adoption in many places will remain slow. Many large software companies will die and be bought for parts, but many will survive. As someone who’s been grinding alongside you for decades in this industry, I know how scary this time is. I want you to survive it and win. All it will take is destroying everything you love. Good luck.

How actually running agents looks like – train and calibrate all the time

brand + design

w/ rokas from achoo

The Bull Market for the Human Voice. Netflix posted a comms director role at $775K. OpenAI is listing comms jobs above $400K. Anthropic tripled the size of its communications team. The job description isn't PR - it’s narrative strategy, investor positioning, and AI discoverability. In the sea of synthetic text, a distinctive human voice is a strategic moat - driving valuation, and trust.

The A24 of Venture Capital. a16z launched an in-house media studio and is embedding storytellers directly into portfolio companies. Providing “Launch-as-a-Service" built around legitimacy, taste, and brand-building. Proving that narrative is becoming core product at the venture level.

The most overlooked design hire has zero experience. Jenny Wen (head of design at Claude, ex-Figma Director of Design) says the cracked new grad is the most undervalued person in the market. No rituals to unlearn. No legacy process to defend.

History of Software Design. Software is the most impactful medium on earth, yet we’ve ignored its heritage. Rauno Freiberg (Estonian designer, Vercel) is fixing this by rebuilding lost software interfaces as an interactive exhibit.

further insights

Magnitude problems. If / when SpaceX, OpenAI and Antrophic goes public, public won't have enough capital to offer.

These three companies would need to raise $432-576b from public markets in a single quarter. From 2016 to 2025, the entire US IPO market raised $469b.\

Fork in the road. Kristjan, Airbonics founder, anticipates a substantial job market correction to come soon.

Footprints. Court in Lithuania confirms that screenshot if Whatsapp message classifies as evidence.

Media – tech. StarterStory gets acquired by Hubspot. Mario (the Generalist) joins Hummingbird as a partner. Nicolas Colin (Drift Signal newsletter) joined Vsquared Ventures as Head of Research.

Before OpenClaw: Man accidentally gains control of 7,000 robot vacuums

ecosystem

Europe's labour laws are not helping today's economy: Americans are ten times more likely to be fired than Germans

Eimantas wrote a book – on how to lead change within public sector and make stuff happen.

Talking about government: as noted many times before, failure to hire top people to lead most important organizations remain an issue.