“If you expect investment – ask for a piece of advice, if you expect a piece of advice – ask for investment” – this is the main rule learned by Lithuanian startups, during their visit to Silicon Valley (USA). Seven selected most promising Lithuanian startups went to San Francisco in December which was the final stop of the project Startup Lithuania Roadshow 2014, organized by Enterprise Lithuania for the second year in a row.

Check out the photo gallery here.

“Silicon Valley is the centre of startups from all over the world, the land of unlimited opportunities yet also of intense competition. Before this trip, the participants of Startup Lithuania Roadshow 2014 took part in technology conferences and met with tens of venture capital funds in Tel Aviv, London, Helsinki and Dublin; therefore, it was easier for them in Silicon Valley – startups already had enough experience and knowledge to take advantage of opportunities within a short period of time. We hope that the experience gained and contacts established in the US will help them successfully finish all negotiations started at other points – we expect the results in spring,” says Mantas Nocius, Managing Director of Enterprise Lithuania.

In San Francisco Lithuanian startups met with representatives of various venture capital funds and accelerators, editors of TechCrunch, took part in the Keiretsu Forum as well as were introduced to the programmes for entrepreneurs at Google.

During the meetings, startups not only talked about their businesses, the Lithuanian startup ecosystem, but could also learn from the experienced “wolves” of Silicon Valley. They found out the rules of reaching out the right people at Silicon Valley, learned how to quickly and clearly introduce themselves to a potential business partner, and how to attract investments. An event for building up contacts was held in the startup incubator StartupHouse in San Francisco.

Below you can find San Francisco visit impressions and comments from Lithuanian startups:

Mindaugas Zagorskis, CEO of Pipelinepharma:

You have to be incorporated or be ready to be incorporated in the US in case you wish to raise Venture Capital in this country. Bill Reichert, managing director of Garage Technologies, explained how to make a perfect 30 seconds elevator pitch. It is really important to say just the main things in order to attract more attention and inspire discussion. In order to be a part of great accelerators, a startup has to generate annual revenue between 100 K – 200 K USD in most cases, as there is an intense competition between good startups. In my personal opinion, seed round is the most probable with conversion note which is quite usual in US. 

Domas Sabockis, CEO of Dragdis:

Once again I learned that competition in Silicon Valley is fierce. Investors are overwhelmed. Your pitch is like an ad on TV for them. You have seconds, not minutes, to capture their interest.
Connections and network is a force stronger than most think. Everybody knows that, but keep forgetting. Me included. I stick to my notion that you have to come to Silicon Valley every year at least for a week. It calibrates your thinking. 

Simona Andrijauskaitė, CMO of Cloud Mic:

In a week we managed to get much inspiration, insights and very specific feedback from VC‘s, marketing professionals and entrepreneurs.

Lithuanian community seems to be flourishing in Silicon Valley!

Artūras Jonkus, CEO of Rotten Wifi:

Visit to Silicon Valley was really eye opening visit with meetings of main players of the ecosystem. Also it was a good opportunity to present Lithuanian startup ecosystem to main players of Silicon Valley.

Reda Štarė, CEO of PlateCulture:

After the intensive week of meeting VC’s, accelerators and connectors/influencers of Silicon Valley I have got a great picture how everything works here. A place where one can expect a lot from serendipity, connect with talents and biggest venture funds. On the other hand, I keep in mind one startuper saying "I was coming here dreaming about land of opportunities and what I have found was land of competition". 

Laima Kačinskienė, B2B client support of InsideWarehouse

I've learned that the whole Bay Area is were the real magic happens – it's were virtually all startup's and huge tech-corporate's life is going on. I found it to be much larger (in area), livelier and impactable than I could ever imagine. Everyone is talking business on the streets! I mean – this can only appear in Silicon Valley!