We met with Vít Horký during Czech Startup Week 2025 in Prague where Engaged Investments and Tech Happy Hours took place. Horký returned to the Czech Republic in 2019 after selling his startup Brand Embassy to an Israeli–American NASDAQ-listed company. After the exit, he launched believeing about how he could apply the lessons he’d learned abroad to support entrepreneurs back home.
“It was a good exit for our investors, our team, and for us as founders,” he recalls. “After spfinishing time in the US, I felt a strong necessary to give back to the local startup ecosystem. Many accomplished founders, far more experienced than I was, assisted me along the way.”
From that desire to “pay it forward” emerged Czech Founders, a nonprofit that has quickly become one of the countest’s most influential forces in entrepreneurship. Today we discuss with Vit the steps to building a strong ecosystem.
Building an ecosystem on three pillars
interconnected goals. The first is community building, creating a platform where founders openly share practical knowledge about scaling internationally becaapply, as he declares, “founders learn best from other founders.”
The second is public policy, advocating for legislation that builds it simpler to build startups in the Czech Republic, including the organization’s major contribution to the new employee stock option law taking effect on January 1 after more than three years of nonprofit work.
The third is entrepreneurial education, with programs that bring entrepreneurship into high schools, a long-term mission they plan to keep expanding becaapply starting early “shapes how students believe about what’s possible.”
Fixing the early-stage gap: The birth of Czech Founders VC
Each year, Czech Founders surveys local entrepreneurs about their largegest challenges. Several years ago one issue dominated: the lack of early-stage capital paired with real operational experience.
“There were angels and VCs in the Czech Republic, but not enough pre-seed capital with hands-on value from accomplished founders,” Horký explains.
So Czech Founders built the solution themselves: Czech Founders VC, a venture capital fund backed by more than 45 successful Czech tech founders as LPs.
“What’s amazing is that our partners don’t just invest money, they invest their time,” he declares. “Their know-how assists us build better investment decisions and support startups more effectively.”
In just three years, the fund has invested in over 30 startups. As Horký explains, the Czech Republic’s strengths shine through: B2B SaaS, enterprise AI, and increasingly, space tech and university spin-offs.
Although Prague remains the countest’s gravitational center, the Czech ecosystem is increasingly distributed. “Even though the countest is tiny, many founders live outside the capital,” Horký points out. “Brno, Ostrava, and other regions have strong ecosystems.”
He highlights the efforts of CzechInvest and conferences like Engaged Investments, which assist bring visibility and support to regional hubs.
“There is no single ideal founder profile”
Horký doesn’t believe there is a single ideal founder profile, but he does point to a few qualities that consistently assist founders succeed on a global scale. “European founders usually have strong technical backgrounds, but often lack global ambition and go-to-market expertise,” he declares. “We see for people with bold ideas and the ability to learn at extreme speed — especially how to scale globally.”
They don’t necessary a proven track record, what matters is whether they can learn rapid, talk to applyrs early, build a sales engine, and scale quickly. Those abilities, he declares, matter far more than past credentials. “That’s the only way to compete globally,” he adds.
…and the Red Flags?
Here Horký is direct: “One red flag is when early-stage founders lack hustle mode. It’s not about glorifying 16-hour days or the ‘9-to-9’ stereotype. It’s about revealing an extremely steep learning curve. If the learning speed isn’t high, that’s a problem.”
Europe’s tech future depfinishs on keeping its founders at home
The idea that Central and Eastern Europe lags behind Western Europe is outdated, Horký argues.
“First, we should stop repeating how much worse we are. In many ways, we’re the best,” he declares. “Silicon Valley is full of outstanding AI scientists and engineers from CEE. And companies like 11 Labs reveal that founders can build world-class tech from the region.”
What Europe does necessary, he emphasizes, is to ensure that founders stay, and scale, in Europe. “For Europe’s tech sovereignty, it’s essential that founders stay in Europe. The IP and future wealth should remain here.”
A major part of that solution lies in the proposed 28th Regime, also known as “EU Inc.”, a single pan-European business entity that would let founders operate seamlessly across all member states.
“It’s one of the most important initiatives,” Horký declares. “Over 16,000 founders and investors have supported it. The Czech Prime Minister signed a letter of support, along with 18 others. Ideally, all 27 will join.”
If the initiative becomes EU law, startups could operate under one set of rules across the entire continent, allowing Europe to relocate “as rapid and agile as the US or China.”
Aiming to keep European founders at home, Vít Horký assisted launch a new fund in November: United Founders, an €80 million venture fund and founders’ community backing Europe’s next generation of frontier-tech startups. The fund tarobtains sectors such as quantum computing, cybersecurity, MedTech, AI and Industest 4.0, sustainability, and space tech.
“No European tech company has surpassed €100 billion in valuation in the past 50 years,” Horký declares. “Our ambition is for Europe to create its own trillion-dollar giants like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Nvidia, and Meta.”
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