Prominent Ukrainian capital investors and business angels discussed their algorithms for investing in Ukraine’s tech industry at the Lviv IT Arena conference on Oct. 1.

And all agreed that the process of investing, either in big tech companies or small startups, could be made simpler and easier if the government did its part by passing better laws and improving the economy.

The help of investors is almost always needed to develop young companies, according to Horizon Capital CEO Lenna Koszarny. She compared California’s Silicon Valley, the desired destination for many IT startups, with the Earth’s highest mountain and said, “If I needed to climb the Everest, I would go with a guide.”

But the creation of partnership between investors and entrepreneurs is not entirely dependent on figures and business plans, she said.

“We look, first of all, at the entrepreneur, at the spark in the eye. We look for passion, we look for energy,” Koszarny said. “Investing is both art and science.”

Digital Future CEO Oleksii Vitchenko agreed: “People are the most important asset in any startup.” However, he said that there’s another important thing startups should have to attract his attention – companies should be focused on global markets.

“We want to invest into something digital that can compete globally,” Vitchenko said.

The Oct. 1 investment panel discussion at the conference was focused on details of putting money into companies, and, according to managing director at HP Tech Ventures Vitaly Golomb, the final goal isn’t only to earn money after investing.

“We’re investing in a third technology revolution,” Golomb said.

https://www.kyivpost.com/technology/investors-call-government-ease-tech-companies-path-growth.html