Cristian Negruțiu, Sparking Capital: “If you want to make money, go get a job. If you want to follow your dream, become an entrepreneur”

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.

Starting with no background into the startup ecosystem, Cristian Negruțiu built his career from finance and corporate roles into supply chain operations and eventually co-founded, alongside Vlad Panait and Vlad Sarca, Sparking Capital, a venture fund aimed at supporting Romanian startups.

During our interview for the Romanian Startups: Roaring Tigers of Europe documentary, Cristian Negruțiu highlighted the challenges of raising capital, managing a fund, and investing in early-stage ventures while emphasizing the importance of trust, active involvement, and mentoring founders.

Cum arată ecosistemul de startups din Republica Moldova

His philosophy stresses the value of hands-on investor-founder relationships, the normalization of failure as a learning process, and the importance of building a mature ecosystem with more specialized funds and entrepreneurs.

"Our role as investors is to be dedicated partners for startups, having weekly meetings and being actively involved to avoid surprises and unannounced problems. Founders should understand that they don’t just receive money but also real support to grow their business", says Cristian, underlining the importance of close collaboration between investors and startups, showing that active involvement adds significant value beyond mere financial investment.

Highlights from our conversation

• From corporate finance to founding a venture fund: a transformative career journey.
• Sparking Capital’s foundation: funding startups with active investor involvement.
• The critical role of trust and mentorship in early-stage investing.
• Romanian startup ecosystem: growing but still facing challenges in scaling and specialization.
• Entrepreneurial education and societal attitude shifts toward failure and innovation.
• Fundraising difficulties: balancing investor expectations and nurturing startup pipelines.
• Collaborative ecosystem culture fueling growth and future potential.

Key Insights about the Romanian startup ecosystem from Cristian Negruțiu, partner Sparking Capital

• Career pivot and learning by doing: Cristian’s career trajectory exemplifies how adaptability and willingness to learn on the job can lead to success. Transitioning from finance to logistics and finally to venture capital without prior experience shows that entrepreneurial capabilities often stem from curiosity, persistence, and proactive problem-solving, not just formal education or initial expertise. This adaptability is essential in startup environments where roles and challenges rapidly evolve.
• Trust is a cornerstone in investment relationships: Early fundraising efforts for Sparking Capital were hindered by skepticism, as investors viewed startup funding as risky or akin to gambling. Building trust—both in personal credibility and in the business model—was crucial. This highlights that in nascent ecosystems, personal relationships and reputation often outweigh pure financial metrics when attracting capital. The analogy of needing 100 contacts to close one investor deal illustrates the high effort and relational nature of early-stage fundraising.
• Hands-on involvement creates value beyond just offering capital: Sparking Capital’s approach emphasizes active, structured engagement with portfolio startups through weekly meetings and ongoing support rather than passive funding. This hands-on involvement helps avoid surprises, facilitates early problem-solving, and strengthens founder-investor collaboration. It also distinguishes professional venture funds from casual angel investors and underscores the importance of operational support in early-stage success.

• Ecosystem maturity and challenges in Romania: In Cristian Negruțiu’s view, the Romanian startup ecosystem is described as progressing rapidly, compressing 20-25 years of development into roughly five. While this accelerated growth is positive, it also means the ecosystem lacks the depth and sophistication of more mature markets. Challenges include limited specialization of funds, a small pool of high-quality startups, and regulatory burdens that disproportionately affect small funds. He anticipates more specialization and maturity in the near future but cautions against expecting rapid, Silicon Valley–style breakthroughs.
• Entrepreneurship as a career choice: Cristian notes that there is a notable shift in younger generations who increasingly aspire to entrepreneurship or working in startups rather than traditional corporate roles. However, many still lack direct entrepreneurial experience or parental role models, which creates a “utopian” view of entrepreneurship that needs grounding through education and mentorship. The normalization and positive valuation of failure as a learning process is critical for fostering serial entrepreneurship and innovation.

"If you want to make good money, go get a job. If you want to follow your dream, become an entrepreneur, but be aware that money will come later. The portrayal you see in the media of rich entrepreneurs is just a picture; you won’t find that in real life, at least not in the beginning."

• The culture of a collaborative ecosystem can be a driver for growth: Despite competition among funds and startups, the Romanian ecosystem is characterized by a collaborative spirit, with investors and stakeholders working together to develop the market. This organic, decentralized cooperation contrasts with more controlled environments but has facilitated rapid ecosystem building. Cristian sees this as a strength and calls for continued collective efforts to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs and investors.

"We should not necessarily try to become the Silicon Valley of Europe if it’s not possible. It’s important to be realistic, work together, and build a healthy ecosystem where everyone takes responsibility and does their job".

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.

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Watch the full documentary in the video below: