First 90 days reflections ...

As summer draws to a sudden end, it's time to reflect on the first three months of establishing JetVentures together with Jet Investment as we had the pleasure of exchanging with founders and co-investors. As I am also a passionate UltraTrail runner, I’ll compare this at the end to my latest race experience, CCC by UTMB? in Chamonix, as the parallels just strike me:

??Broaden your horizon: It's incredible how much things have changed since we overcame the Cold War and the division of Europe. Still, there's plenty of East <> West thinking in (too) many minds in my opinion. I was stunned when I had to explain that a fund from Prague considers Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechia and Slovakia as Central Europe (CE), i.e. the geographic center. Or as we in Jet Investment like to call it: the "industrial heartland of Europe". Many I spoke to, equated CE to Eastern Europe. To establish a more adept understanding is one of the motivations driving us in JetVentures as we believe that there is a strong, common heritage of industrial&technical expertise in the center of Europe that startups should leverage and can benefit from.

??? Know your landscape: I was surprised to learn that founders often knew well about their "larger, corporate" competition but didn't know well enough the StartUp competition "next door" from neighboring Austria, Czechia, or Poland. Though studying your direct competition I’d argue is a fantastic opportunity to learn how other teams approach the same problem and customers.

??? Plan your "journey": I've been impressed by the quality, high-level planning and reflection that founders/teams had done. The market shakeout might also have played a role in bringing out more realistic assumptions about time, cost and resources needed, so it felt like we are looking at more realistic plans than maybe in the past.

?? Team, team, team: I was really impressed by the many teams we met. Broadly speaking they were strong in different ways, had had clear roles splits, matching and complementary skills, and were able to explain clearly what they do and how they plan to achieve their goals.

Looking at these insights in the context of my latest UltraTrail ??♂? experience at CCC in Chamonix, there are parallels, that struck me, since I am passionate about both topics. At CCC, I didn't know the ???landscape well enough ahead honestly and learned on-the-run, that alpine terrain is completely different to the woods around my home in Prague??. The gradients and the complexity of roots & stones make it an entirely different world. Next time I'll need to train more in similarly challenging terrain??. ??? Planning my journey I did well this time as I learned my lessons from previous Ultras about not having enough liquids/food??. I made sure I had plenty of both and chose the right kind of food/drink, so I wouldn't get tired/dehydrated. Comparing on the aspect of ?? team, you’ll be tempted to think that an UltraTrail runner is a lone achiever. But that's not true and it is not obvious. I couldn't have done CCC or any other Ultra without my team (=my family). Not just supporting on the ground during the race, but especially during the time you spend training (basically the entire year). That support is crucial. And every time my boys "pick me up" way before an aid station in the race to guide me in, I break into tears of joy to see the family and the support I get and feel. This race was special, as I ran with Tomas Jaros and we agreed that we would not have completed CCC alone. ??

?∑ In a nutshell it's been an incredible journey so far to establish JetVentures and there's more exciting news on the way soon as we just get started, ??stay tuned!

From an UltraTrail perspective, CCC, was my toughest yet, and/but certainly wasn't the end of my ambitions! I'm already looking forward to the 100M ??, again, ?? stay tuned!?

?? And please reach out anytime if you want to talk about (your) startups or the next UltraTrail challenge – I am passionate about both topics as you know and you'll have open doors on these with me anytime!