European Business Summit in Alicante 2025:

In late May 2025, the European Business Summit took place in Alicante, bringing together over 500 participants from 17 countries. Key topics included investment strategies, startup development, real estate, marketing, and PR.

Vladislav Panchenko, Founder of Finetic Consulting, took part in one of the summit’s key panel discussions, addressing several practical questions posed by entrepreneurs and investors during the forum held as part of the event.

This publication presents his answers to the most relevant questions in their original form and his own first-person voice, as delivered during the discussion.

1. What is an investment strategy for a project founder?

Investment strategy: the language investors understand

Most founders believe their main challenge is finding an investor. In reality, it’s not about finding — it’s about convincing, not through words, but through the structure of the project and the founder’s position on key deal terms.

Investors aren’t looking for a monologue about dreams. They need a partner to discuss money, risk, and control.

An investment strategy is not a declaration — it’s a practical tool. A way to be heard. It answers specific questions that no serious deal can ignore:

• Founder’s Financial Commitment: How much has the founder already invested? How much are they willing to invest, and in what form? No skin in the game — no deal.
• Minimum Equity Stake the Founder Intends to Retain: And why the proposed structure is fair. Equity isn’t about greed — it’s about risk and contribution. If the investor is taking on 70% of the risk, no issue. If only 30%, justify it — as if you were the investor.
• Control and Governance: How are decisions made? Who signs, approves, or holds veto rights? Investors need clearly defined governance boundaries.
• Type of Investor and Strategic Fit: Fund, strategic player, angel, government entity — and why this type makes sense for the project. Vague targeting wastes time.
• Investment Instrument: Equity? SAFE? Convertible note? Loan? Hybrid? Form matters — each instrument has its own logic in terms of control, return, and exit.
• Team and Non-Financial Resources: Is there anyone beyond the founder who can execute the project? A one-person startup means high dependency — and high risk.
• Deal Economics for the Investor: Expected return? Risk exposure? What’s the value proposition — dividends, capital gain, strategic exit? Where’s the upside?
• Exit Plan: How, when, and to whom can the investor exit? IPO, M&A, buyback — or is there no viable scenario?
• Matching Share: Will the founder participate in future funding rounds or freeze their equity? Investors need clarity on whether they’re the only capital provider.

2. Why can the cost of preparing a project for investment vary 5 to 10 times?

Because 90% of the market offers packaging, not consulting. Clients want to pay less and receive what costs less.

Packaging means templated presentations, a polished landing page, and a generic “business plan.” Minimal effort, minimal price — hence the popularity.

Consulting means:

• Building a financial model with sensitivity analysis and unit economics
• Legal and corporate structuring
• Investment strategy and deal logic
• Market, exit, risk, and scenario modeling

This isn’t design or copywriting. It’s the architecture of an investment product capable of surviving negotiation and due diligence.

Our work requires at least 120 hours of effort. That’s why a serious investment product costs significantly more.

Advanced preparation — aligned with M&A or institutional fundraising standards — requires hundreds of hours by top-tier professionals. That level of work comes at a higher price.

We build projects to international standards, most often using the UNIDO methodology, which includes structural, financial, and risk models that meet professional investor requirements.

Don’t confuse packaging (wrapping) with consulting (substance). You’re not paying for text — you’re paying for an investment-grade product.

3. Why don’t consulting firms work for a success fee?

Let me explain by analogy. A real estate developer builds a residential complex. He hires a contractor to construct the building based on plans, deadlines, and budget. But he doesn’t ask the contractor to sell apartments, nor does he offer payment only after sales.

Investment consulting is no different. We are contractors. Our job is to build the investment product: strategy, financial model, investment logic, and structure — not to sell it.

Moreover, legally speaking, working for a percentage of raised funds qualifies as an intermediary activity. In most countries, that requires a license.

And finally, we don’t control the founder, the investor, or their interactions. Nor do we control the market or macro conditions. We are responsible for preparing the project, not for third-party behavior.

That’s why serious consulting firms work on a project-fee basis. At Finetic Consulting, we occasionally apply a success fee, but only in hybrid models where a base fee covers project preparation and managed process execution.

4. Why are there so many offers to “package a startup” but so few actual funding cases?

There are two key reasons:

First, most “packagers” skip the essentials: finance, strategy, and deal structure. They produce presentations, not investment products. That’s marketing, not investment architecture.

An investor doesn’t need makeup — they read the ECG. They look at capital structure, risks, monetization model, and exit scenarios. Instead, they’re handed polished slides and vague statements.

Second, most projects simply aren’t ready for investor dialogue. Founders overestimate the stage, the team, and the market. They fail the basic test of realism and competitiveness. Not every project is investable. Not every founder is a negotiator.

At Finetic Consulting, we don’t do packaging. We engineer. We don’t sell illusions of easy capital. We build products that can withstand investment negotiations and meet professional investor standards.

5. What should be the founder’s first steps in startup execution?

The first step isn’t motivating the team or drafting a presentation. It’s verifying whether the project, in its current form, deserves to exist.

• Validate the idea with the market. Not via friends or Telegram, but through real data: funnel, target audience, behavioral signals, and willingness to pay.
• Build unit economics. Without it, scalability is impossible to assess. If the model loses money as it grows, it’s not a business — it’s a self-liquidating scheme.
• Assemble a team. Who’s core, who’s outsourced, who’s temporary? A startup without a team is just a one-person show.
• Prepare a financial plan for at least 18 months. Burn rate, CAPEX, breakeven point, investment delta. The plan must show when and why money is needed, and what happens if it doesn’t come.
• Define the investment strategy. How much is needed, for what purpose, in what form, what equity is the founder ready to offer, and how is the structure justified?

Only after that, prepare the investment materials. Financial model, teaser, pitch deck. These are tools, not the essence. They only work if the project is investment-ready.

If steps 1–5 are skipped, packaging is pointless. You don’t need a designer. You need a CFO — or a partner who can structure the project into an investment-grade product.