Alexandru Bogdan, ROCA X: "Romanian founders must learn to digest feedback"

Find out more about ROCA X and how venture capital firms and investors help Romanian startup founders grow the ecosystem from the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe - The Extended Series, following the documentary launched at the end of 2023.

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.

Alexandru Bogdan was named CEO of ROCA X in the summer of 2020. He started hands-on in IT, transitioned to designing products focused on customer experience, and moved into growth hacking and venture investment.

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ROCA X is a €12 million venture capital, entirely privately funded, investing in early-stage disruptive technology startups in the Pre-Seed and Seed stages. In December 2021, the ROCA X management team became the first EuVECA Alternative Investment Fund Manager in Romania, a registration that will allow it to manage venture capital fund portfolios across the European Union, operating under the European Union regulation on European venture capital funds.

ROCA X is a brand launched by Impetum Group, the Romanian group dedicated to the mission of maximizing business value at any stage of a company's life.

Alexandru shared with us his journey from choosing university majors, defying family expectations of pursuing architecture or engineering, to studying AI and macroeconomics. Initially working hands-on with IT, he found satisfaction in coding but became frustrated with the lack of real customer-centric product development. This frustration led him to focus on designing products that prioritized customer experience and subconscious triggers.

In our in depth discussion for the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe documentary, Alexandru told us more on the way in which he got in touch with the world of startups and about how can venture capital help the startup ecosystem in Romania, as well as the challenges founders have while growing their businesses.

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ROCA X, switch from distress and insolvency to venture investments

• His career evolved through various roles and businesses, leading them to a growth hacking practice and venture investing.
• Alexandru emphasizes the importance of having a strategic approach and a global vision while reminding entrepreneurs of their original motivations.
• This approach helps him support startup founders effectively.
• A significant part of his work involves optimizing business efforts in the challenging Romanian market, advocating for innovation and strategic collaborations with private equity companies.
• This led him to work with ROCA, a private equity firm within the Impetum Group, which shifted its focus from distress and insolvency to venture investments under the banner of ROCA X, fostering innovation.

The startup world is collaborative, corporate shares less

• ROCA X's journey began with a startup mindset, conducting market tests and engaging with founders in a friendly manner, which helped build strong industry relationships.
• Alexandru highlights the collaborative nature of the startup ecosystem, contrasting it with the corporate world where sharing is less common.
• Impetum's mission is to support an entrepreneurial ecosystem, from insolvency to growth.

• Challenges facing Romanian startups include the shallow depth of the local ecosystem, the lack of a sales culture, and the tendency to focus on the domestic market due to its seeming scale.
• This can be a pitfall as the true growth potential lies beyond the local market. He stresses the need for a transparent approach and realistic expectations within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The challenge in the Romanian market: investors are often risk-averse

• A significant challenge in the Romanian market is capital availability, as local investors are often risk-averse. The group strives to attract and manage capital effectively across different company stages.
• ROCA X primarily invests in early-stage tech companies, emphasizing innovation. The fund is open to various domains due to the limited depth of Romania’s startup ecosystem, aiming to support promising startups that provide returns.
• The group leverages its network for expert evaluations and fostering early-stage traction.
• The ROCA X CEO notes the strong technical skills in the region but highlights challenges in sales culture and public speaking.
• Romanian founders, often technical, need to focus on expanding beyond the local market to attract international investors. Global thinking is crucial for scaling and obtaining necessary financing.
• Investor education and setting realistic expectations are key, given that most early-stage investments won’t yield high returns.
• ROCA X aims to provide balanced support across its portfolio, nurturing potential high-growth startups while writing off less promising ones to avoid stagnation.
• Alexandru Bogdan discusses the challenges of the Romanian startup ecosystem, including market size and external investment support.
• He is optimistic about future growth, driven by talent and success stories, though more diversification in investment focus is needed.
• Looking forward, Alexandru is hopeful for further exits and expansion in 2024-2025 as he and his team at ROCA X aim to build on past successes and continue contributing to the development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

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: