Bogdan Iordache, Underline Ventures: "There were no angel investors. There were obviously no venture funds. There were no startups"

The documentary "Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe", made by the start-up.ro team, spans across 33 years of history, from the first entrepreneurs in the transitional years to the initial technology company transactions that brought Romania into the international spotlight.

Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe - The Extended Series will present the people who built the Romanian ecosystem and who discussed with the VideoCorp and start-up.ro team for this documentary. In this series you will find the extensive interviews and find out the stories of those who built entrepreneurship in Romania.

Best known as the founder of How to Web, one of Europe’s top 10 startup conferences, started in 2010, Bogdan Iordache has also been the founder of Conectoo (exited in 2013) and a former investor for Gecad Ventures, 3TS Capital Partners, and MVP Academy. He is still involved with HTW even today, but his day to day job nowadays is to invest in startups as the General Partner of Underline Ventures, a solo GP venture fund targeting early-stage high-growth Eastern European startups with global ambitions.

One of the people whose name became synonymous with the Romanian tech and startup ecosystem is Bogdan Iordache, now the general partner of Underline Ventures.

ROG Challenge 2024: Zece liceeni au fost premiați pentru crearea de jocuri

Bogdan was one of the first people that created an event that put Romania on the global tech map, one that has today more than 2,000 attendees: How to Web. The Startup Spotlight competition, known today as just Spotlight, was also a stepping stone for the development and funding of new startups.

It was early 2000 when Bogdan first heard about the concept of startups.

“I think it became clear in my head what it means when I started reading Paul Graham's blog, 2006, 2007, something like that, because that was very much 100% oriented towards the concept of a startup as a high-growth company”.

“Back then, there were no angel investors. There were obviously no venture funds. There were no startups. If you do something like that, that is called a company or maybe a small company. The idea of a startup did not exist in anyone's mind”.

Romanian cofounded Databricks, 10 billion $ investment at $62B valuation

It took almost a decade for Bogdan to think about starting an event dedicated to the few startups that did exist in Romania at that point. His inspiration for this was again Paul Graham.

“I was reading Paul Graham, and I thought, "YCombinator is a great idea. We should do something similar in Romania"”.

In 2009 How to Web was born with the mission to bring together a network of people with the same interests and, later on, to do a startups program.

“In 2009, we had no partners. The room was free. I think we had like three or four or five maximum speakers from Romania. But what happened is that we got some people coming over from Cluj, from Iasi, from Timișoara. […] The one in 2010, that was the first proper conference. That was really, really, really tough because none of us knew how to do an event. It was the first startup event, an international startup event in Central Eastern Europe back then. And it was expensive as hell. It was difficult to get partners aboard. It was difficult to sell tickets. We somehow survived it”.

In our in depth discussion for the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe documentary, Bogdan told us more on how he sees and he contributed to the development of the Romanian startup ecosystem, about the launch of How to Web, the TechHub community, that played a key role in bringing together the tech startup founders, the first programs designed for them and how he makes his investments now.

What is a startup

• Bogdan shared with us his entrepreneurial journey, mentioning the launch of his first company, Interactive People, in 2004, which focused on HR software but was ahead of its time for the local market and eventually closed.
• Bogdan reflects on the lack of an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the early 2000s and the novelty of the 'startup' concept at that time.
• He shared his experience from his first job at Vodanet Media, an early attempt to mimic Amazon locally, and how it eventually got acquired.
• Alongside Bogdan we explored the evolution of understanding what a 'startup' means, influenced significantly by reading Paul Graham’s blog, and how this understanding helped shape his entrepreneurial journey.

The birth of How to Web

• Moving on to How To Web, Bogdan recounts the origin and development of this event, initially sparked by the need to establish a network for mentoring and startup support in Romania.
• The first small-scale event laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the first international startup conference in Central Eastern Europe in 2010.
• The early editions of How To Web involved a lot of learning experiences, from handling logistics and securing speakers and partnerships to facing financial challenges.
• Despite the difficulties, the event gathered momentum and became a crucial gathering for startup communities across Romania and neighboring countries, even facilitating unexpected connections and opportunities for participants.
• The discussion shifts to TechHub Bucharest, a coworking space launched in 2013. Bogdan discussed the challenges and considerations of creating a sustainable coworking model, emphasizing the focus on technical entrepreneurs and fostering a conducive environment for builders.

• During the pandemic, Bogdan says that he chose not to pivot How to Web to an online format.
• Instead, alongside his team, they launched several initiatives targeting the core values of the conference, such as online workshops and startup competitions, maintaining a connection with the community.

The first investors

• Bogdan also delves into his journey into venture capital, beginning with efforts to establish the TechAngels network, followed by roles at Springboard and 3TS Capital Partners.
• Sharing insights into setting up the fund for Gecad Ventures and later Underline Ventures, Bogdan highlights the importance of aligning personal passions with commercial objectives.
• Looking into the future, Bogdan Iordache is optimistic about the potential of the Eastern European tech landscape.
• He notes the increased knowledge and skills available among founders and developers, as well as improved access to capital, positioning the region for substantial growth.
• However, he emphasizes the importance of timing and adaptability in achieving success in the technology sector.
• The discussion covers the evolution of the Romanian startup ecosystem, highlighting increased access to capital, growing expertise in enterprise startups, and a robust drive for success among Eastern European entrepreneurs.
• Factors like more experienced mentors, accessible capital, and established startup patterns were pivotal in the remarkable progress seen within 10-15 years compared to the previous decade in Romania.

Roaring Tigers of Europe is a production by start-up.ro and Videocorp, part of the Romanian publishing company InternetCorp, active for almost 20 years on the market. The documentary was made with the support of partners BCR, Orange, and 2Performant. Community partners included Guran Consulting Global, How to Web, Launch, Impact Hub Bucharest, Flaviu Simihaian, Rubik Hub, SoftServe, and the Romanian-American University.

Watch the entire documentary in the video below: