A few years back, Romania wasn’t the primary destination for impact investors looking for interesting projects so far, but it’s changing now.

Water is one of the Earth’s priceless resources and, being involved in almost every aspect of our lives, it’s the foundation of the world’s economy.

The most common sources of funding for startups are venture capital and private investors.

There is, however, one more very interesting alternative source. It’s the public sector.

On average, investors review dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of pitch decks in a year.

Investors consider many factors when making an investment decision.

One of them is the team - they expect it to be solid, hands-on, and motivated to deliver what the startup promises.

That is not always the case.

One of the common problems impact-driven founders face is finding the right investor. It means someone who cares both about the profit and impact.

Getting a referral to an investor is one of the best ways to speed up your fundraising process.

But you need to follow a couple of rules when asking for a referral.

There is a common problem that we’ve seen in many pitch decks of impact-driven startups.

It’s the lack of balance between emphasizing financial returns and the purpose behind ideas and companies.

Some startups focus too much on the financial side...

It took us 6 years and a lot of trial and error to transform Ragnarson into a self-managed company where people get to even set their own salaries. This series of blog posts is a step-by-step guide to changing your organisation into a self-managed one.

In 2016, a crisis was at our doorstep at Ragnarson. We just lost two major clients, needed to lay off our people, and struggled to get new projects. There were more and more software agencies appearing around us, and we felt like we were “just like everyone else,” with the same, undifferentiated offering.