«We’re not here to showcase polished success stories, but to have honest conversations about why some startups secure investment, while others remain stuck at the starting line,» said Ivan Petrenko, Managing Partner at Angel One Fund and CEO of the Ideas Center at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU).
On September 18, the first episode of the video podcast series «Don’t Waste My Time» premiered. In a format of candid conversations, prominent investors—including Adrian Slywotzky (angel investor, business futurist, consultant, and partner at Oliver Wyman), Nataliya Anon (angel investor, CEO and founder of Svitla Systems), and entrepreneur Ivan Petrenko—share advice on how startup founders can pitch effectively and why speed is crucial.
Speed Is Everything
In the first episode, titled «You’re Way Too Slow», Ivan Petrenko emphasizes that top-performing startups move at least three times faster than the rest. So why is speed so critical when it comes to mindset, decision-making, and action?
Adrian Slywotzky shared a story from 1996 when Amazon was just starting out. There was an ad in which Jeff Bezos was looking for smart developers who could work with complex systems and develop three times faster than others. Adrian admitted that at first, this seemed overly ambitious. But after studying what people accomplished during World War II—and what top startups are doing today—he realized that this level of speed is the standard, not the exception.
«The first advantage of speed is the ability to outpace your competitors. The second is that markets change, and you have to be ready at the very moment you can beat the market,» said Slywotzky.
«If you ask a leader like Steve Jobs about the iPod, which was supposed to be built in 18 months, and he said, ‘Let’s do it in nine,’—he joked, ‘If you do something in nine months, you have less time to waste money.’ And it’s true».
«But perhaps the most paradoxical—and most important—idea came from Donna Shirley, who led the Mars Rover project in 1997. She said: Fast and expensive is not speed; it’s just expensive. Fast and low quality is not speed; it’s a disaster. Our goal is to be fast, high quality, and low cost».
Ivan Petrenko also pointed out that adding too many features slows down progress—and that Ukrainian startup founders are often intimidated by speed.
Nataliya Anon added that she always advises Ukrainian entrepreneurs to move quickly, especially when it comes to startups in the defense sector.
This video project will include 10 more episodes offering tips on how to successfully pitch to investors, attract funding, and scale your business. A bonus episode will feature a keynote by Steve Blank—the «Godfather of Silicon Valley» creator of the Customer Development methodology, and one of the most influential voices in global entrepreneurship.
Don’t Waste My Time is an initiative of the Ideas Center at the Ukrainian Catholic University (Ideas Center UCU) and the venture capital fund Angel One Fund. The project is supported by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and Vilni Media. Information partners include the Ukrainian Startup Fund, UCU Business School, and UCU Online.
