The “friendly elephant in the jungle”. The journey of the second cohort of the Scale Up by Endeavor program

Six months passed in the blink of an eye and the founders from our second cohort of the Scale Up by Endeavor program: Questo, Licenseware, Rayscape, Profluo, Symphopay, Fagura, Lendox, and MeetGeek had their graduation ceremony on March 19th.

We were joined at the celebration by alumni of the program, founders, partners, mentors, investors, and members of the Romanian startup ecosystem.

As Mihnea Craciun, the Managing Director of Endeavor Romania, mentioned, with the program, our goal is to understand what are the challenges of scaleups in Romania and to help them better prepare to conquer new markets.

Because the program was built around 1-on-1 mentorship, an intensive bootcamp, and sessions with world-class operators, founders gained practical, actionable insights to help them grow their companies.

“A takeaway from one of the workshops we’ve had was to find our <<elephant in a big jungle>>. And I think that this is exactly what Endeavor does: it’s the big partner that helps you scale the company in a very friendly way. It’s the right partner that facilitates the progress and makes it faster”, points out Andreea Purcaru, Head of Operations at Rayscape. 

Throughout the 6 months of the Scale Up by Endeavor program, each founder received  and worked on a personalized support plan, rooted in their context, ambition, and current stage of growth. Because each business had different challenges and vision for future development, this couldn’t be a one-size-fits-all program.

Over the course of the program, we’ve delivered:

• 1:1 mentorship and strategic expertise with top entrepreneurs and investors from Endeavor’s global network including some of the hotest unicorns;
• Peer-to-peer sessions, fostering a strong community where founders openly share scaling challenges, perspectives, and solutions;
• Tailored workshops, addressing common challenges identified within the cohort;
• A 3-day Founders’ Bootcamp, bringing together the entrepreneurs, international speakers, partners, and members of Endeavor Romania’s Board;
• Extensive networking opportunities, both in Romania and internationally.

“From this program, I will take with me the fact that there is always a pathway to growth, and that you’re never alone. We were surrounded by a cohort of like-minded founders, we bonded and we even started to do business together, so I’m very excited about this outcome”, was the insight from Bogdan Naforniță, cofounder and CEO of Profluo.

And that’s one of the most important things the founders in our cohort walked with at the end of the program, besides practical knowledge: a deeply connected, generous, and unfiltered community of founders.

New unicorns, already among us

A special moment of the graduation ceremony for the second cohort of our program was hearing from Mariana Gheorghe, Endeavor mentor and board member at UniCredit Bank, partner of the Scale Up by Endeavor program.

She spoke about the importance of supporting startups in Romania and shared a powerful reminder: unicorns are already among us, they just need a bit more momentum from all of us.

“Scale Up is a program about entrepreneurs, who are the engine of the new society, and about tech entrepreneurs, something that every country needs to develop, and thirdly, these scaleups and these entrepreneurs need partnerships. They can’t have access to financing if they don’t succeed in setting up access to clients who believe in them, and that can be supplied through products and services which are the essence of their growth. I’m a strong believer that the competences are out there, I still want to see the ambition in these entrepreneurs to become unicorns sooner than later. I do believe that with the right products, the right services, but also with the right attitude regarding potential partners and clients, that could be possible.”

Some much needed clarity

The process for the second cohort of the Scale up by Endeavor program kicked off with over 100 applications started, out of which 22 entrepreneurs were shortlisted and invited to interviews.

The selection criteria targeted companies that have already proven their potential, showing rapid growth, annual revenues exceeding half a million euros, and a clear vision for global expansion, by having at least one international partner or client. 

But there’s also nothing wrong with pivoting, with refining your roadmap. Too many founders at the growth stage are expected to have all the answers, when in reality, that’s exactly when the questions get harder.

“We did identify some things that we could improve. Luckily for us, we’ve joined the program just as we reached product market fit, so this was a really good enabler for us to validate what we thought we knew was right and that was really helpful, but we found that there were also a lot of areas where we could improve the product market fit strategy that we had”, said Alex Cojocaru, cofounder and CEO of Licenseware. 

We are proud to contribute to that journey and to support founders as they grow and scale. 

We are also grateful for the continued support of Mastercard and UiPath, who stand alongside us in supporting founders on their journey.

A huge congratulations to all our alumni: we are here to support you every step of the way.

The path forward

And to the founders out there: we can’t wait to welcome you into the next cohort. 

“My advice and request for people that are interested in the program is to come talk to us early. We don’t need to be very tight about the rules that we have about this program, which are that you need to have a certain amount of revenue to qualify and that you need to be in at least one other market than Romania, but if you have a good idea, if you have the drive, if you want to learn and if you’re curious to see how we can help you, come talk to us early, even if you don’t have the right metrics. It’s a very good chance that we have a good matchmaking proposition for you at a certain point”, says Mihnea Crăciun.

The application process starts on May 1st. If you’re building something bold and want to scale with clarity, stay tuned. You can find more information –here-.