Wise startup meetup (June 13, 2026)
Yesterday, I attended a startup meetup hosted by Wise. The event featured an insightful panel discussion with Kristel Kruustuk, Stenver Jerkku, Kaarel Kuddu moderating, and Gerri Kodres.
Here are my key takeaways from the panel:
- Leverage your network for early customers. Most startups get their initial traction through their existing networks (like startup accelerators and Techstars). After that, they hire local sales representatives in key countries who rely on personal contacts and warm introductions rather than cold calling.
- Expansion strategy - it depends. Some founders expand physically to nearby countries, iteratively building and improving their product to physically be present. Others prioritize best markets, like the US first, to capture capital as fast as possible. Same with investments - some advice is to avoid investments and grow organically as much as possible, some suggest securing capital as fast as they can.
- Sales through personal networks. Coming out of an accelerator, startups often already have an initial customer base. Hiring sales teams that can sell through personal connections lowers customer acquisition costs and speeds up growth.
- Localization is crucial for entering new markets. When expanding to a market like Germany, it's not enough to just translate your website. You need to show certificates and prove you have native German-language support. This builds trust and significantly boosts conversion rates.
Even if you raise accelerator capital, you may find that you need to spend $$ to establish a Delaware corp. Or if you are expanding to China, you may find long bureaucratic processes in place. Estonia in that sense is a great place to get a company started fast.
- AI-supported translation. Dynamic elements like item quantities or points require AI to correctly handle numerals and context.
- Localization goes beyond literal translation. It requires adapting date formats, currencies, and specialized terminology. This reminded me of my bee monitoring project, where precise, context-aware phrasing in different languages was critical.
- Be emotional. Even if you had a bad day, do not be afraid of your emotions. Emotions are something people remember more - at times it is better than being logical and right but dry.
I also had the chance to meet some fantastic people:
- Natalia Pervjakova, PhD - a brilliant PhD from the University of Tartu with a biotech background, who shared how she applies AI in day-to-day life (compliance doc checks, email drafts).
- Oliver - a kind man, whose vision for a network of AI agents built for hardware efficiency is very similar to what I'm building at a2gent.net.
- Umesh A. Bhat - an incredibly optimistic and dynamic startup founder who "jumps without a rope." He emphasized that I should call the "projects" I have "businesses" to change the mindset, hire other people to expand the skill set, and think through who the true customers are - private people, hosting providers, or datacenters.
Also, I saw a hedgehog.
