The Naked Truth: There Are Too Many Ideas
Let’s start with the unpleasant part.
Your startup, your project, or your “innovative idea” is not unique. I’ve seen hundreds like it. They all had the same traits: shining eyes, ambitions to “disrupt the market,” and an unshakable belief that “we are different.”
A year later, 80% of them were gone. Not because the idea was bad, but because they tried to play professional sports without a coach, without tactics, and without even a uniform.
The Illusion of “We’ll Manage on Our Own”
Every entrepreneur goes through the phase: “We don’t need anyone, we’ll do it ourselves.”
It sounds romantic. In reality, it’s economic suicide.
Over 20 years I’ve seen the same patterns repeat:
Startups with products “for the whole world” that couldn’t even close their first round.
- Investors who “know how to choose” putting millions into flashy presentations—and getting zero back.
- Corporations launching innovation committees that produce reports instead of results.
Why Professionals Matter
Business is war. And in war, survival is not about who has the prettiest flag, but who has:
intelligence (analytics),
- weapons (capital and tools),
allies (partners and networks),
- strategy (experience of survivors).
That’s what iVenturer provides. We’re not “just another fund.” We are a system that shortens the path from idea to outcome.
Three Types of Mistakes We Fix
- Naïve founders. They think money solves everything. But capital without a strategy is fuel in a car without a driver.
Overconfident investors. They believe they can “see through people.” In reality, they lose millions to charismatic empty suits.
- Bureaucratic corporations. They love to say “innovation,” but launch endless committees. The result: slides, not solutions.
Case Studies That Speak Louder Than Words
Fintech, 2012: rejected by everyone. We built a consortium, reshaped the strategy, and launched in the EU. Three years later—exit ×9.
AgriTech, 2018: no connections, no chance. We introduced European partners. Result: exports to three countries, ×7 revenue growth in 18 months.
Corporation, 2021: 14 startups tested in an accelerator. Four implemented. 12% cost savings in year one. Millions saved—without layoffs.
E-commerce, 2020: started with $200K turnover. Two years later with iVenturer—$4.5M and a strategic investor from Asia.
Conclusion: The Harsh Comfort of Reality
Let’s stop pretending. The startup cemetery is already overcrowded with “world-changing ideas” that never made it past a pitch deck. Investors have a drawer full of worthless equity certificates. Corporations are still hosting “innovation weeks” that generate more hashtags than revenue. And entrepreneurs keep proudly wearing the badge of “learning from mistakes,” while in reality they’ve just wasted three years of their life and someone else’s money.
Here’s the truth no one likes to hear: business is not a fairy tale about hustle and passion. It’s a brutal filtering system that rewards only those who are smart enough to prepare, strategic enough to adapt, and humble enough to admit they need help.
Five Laws of Survival (Yes, with Sarcasm)
Your idea is worthless. What matters: product, customers, model.
Investors aren’t ATMs. They expect returns, not tears.
Corporations aren’t innovation paradises. They’re machines that stall without external fuel.
Mistakes aren’t always experience. Sometimes they’re just mistakes.
The market is brutal. It won’t give you a second chance just because “you tried hard.”
The market doesn’t care how hard you tried. It doesn’t care that you worked 100-hour weeks, or that your pitch deck had beautiful gradients. It doesn’t even care if you “changed lives” for six months. The market is a ruthless filter. It rewards discipline, execution, networks, and results. Everything else goes in the bin.
That’s where professionals like iVenturer come in. We’re not your cheerleaders. We’re the team that drags you off the cliff before you jump, rebuilds the bridge you didn’t see, and introduces you to the people who can actually get you across.
We give you the structure you hate, the discipline you resist, and the reality check you desperately need.
So the choice is yours. You can keep being a heroic statistic in the 90% who vanish. Or you can work with professionals and finally build something that survives long enough to matter.
Because dreams don’t pay dividends. Results do. And that’s exactly what we deliver.
Written by Aleksei Olin, Managing partner @ iVenturer Foundation
