Innovantage Podcast

67:26

What makes VCs trust you? | Innovantage Podcast #58

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/10/01

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗩𝗖 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀? 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 #𝟱𝟴 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗶𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗷𝗮 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗹.Viktorija Trimbel is a VC investor, strategic advisor, and Managing Director at Coinvest Capital, an evergreen sovereign venture capital

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50:30

What Actually Makes a Brand Memorable? | Innovantage...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/09/17

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲? 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗸𝗮𝗶𝘁ė 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀.Justina Saikauskaitė is a Fractional CMO and Brand

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69:25

AI Is Blurring the Line Between Business and Tech |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/09/04

How is AI changing the relationship between business and technology — and what happens when even great tech fails to deliver business value? On the Innovantage Podcast, Gediminas Zalys from Accenture UK & Ireland unpacks what digital transformation actually looks like inside large enterprises.Gediminas Zalys is an engineering leader focused on AI, machine learning, and business transformation. With experience spanning engineering, consulting, entrepreneurship, and enterprise technology at

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64:23

What Recruiters Actually Look for in Salespeople |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/08/21

Sales and recruiting rarely get discussed together, even though they shape each other constantly. This episode, Max sits with Edvin Vosylius, founder of European Sales Headhunting Agency, a Vilnius-based recruitment agency focused specifically on sales talent, to unpack how those two functions collide in practice.Edvin brings 19 years of hands-on sales experience to the table, having worked as a rep, a head of sales, and a chief sales officer before building a business around placing salespeople

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58:30

How to Build a Defense Tech Startup & Raise €1.1M |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/08/07

What does it take to build a defense tech startup, raise €1.1 million, and manufacture drone technology in Europe? In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, Elvinas Kukys, CEO and Co-Founder of Luna Robotics, shares how the Lithuanian hardware startup is building advanced vision systems for unmanned platforms without relying on Chinese supply chains or unnecessary AI.Drawing on his military background and startup journey, Elvinas explains how Luna Robotics grew from an idea into one of

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58:33

Why 70% of Mergers & Acquisitions Fail (And How to...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/07/24

Why do 70% of mergers and acquisitions fail after closing? In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, integration strategist Sabine Janssens shares what separates successful M&A integration from value destruction, why the first 100 days are critical, and how companies can turn acquisitions into long-term growth. Sabine Janssens has led more than 40 M&A integration projects over the past four years and developed a pragmatic 100-day integration model used in buy-and-build environments

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59:00

We Let a Pimple Go Viral and It Worked | Innovantage...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/06/29

Can AI actually fix your skin or just feed your insecurities? On this episode, the founder of System Akvile breaks down how a skincare app reached 900K+ users by letting data, not assumptions, drive the product. Akvile Ignotaite is a PhD data scientist who moved from corporate finance and M&A into founding System Akvile, an AI-powered skin-health platform now used by more than 900,000 people across Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Her path ran through economics in Lithuania, an MBA in

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64:19

Nobody Climbs the Career Ladder Now | Innovantage...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/06/11

Can AI transformation actually make a company faster, or is it just hype? In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, we go inside Wix to find out what real AI transformation looks like when you're running engineering sites across Europe.This is the latest episode in our ongoing series with BMI Executive Institute, spotlighting leaders who put business theory into practice. Joining Max is Monika Laukaitė, a senior operations and site leadership executive at Wix and a current EMBA participant at BMI

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64:53

Can AI Replace CEOs? | Innovantage Podcast #50 |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/05/28

What does real innovation look like in 2026 — inside a 160-year-old state railway and a modern AI-first startup? We continue our series with BMI Executive Institute, sitting down with two guests from two different worlds to explore how innovation, AI adoption, and the future of work actually play out on the ground.We cover the startup vs enterprise mindset, the project management triangle of speed, cost and quality, the EU AI Act, AI anxiety, and whether humans are still relevant when AI can do

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63:38

AI vs Human Traders in 2026 | Innovantage Podcast #49...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/05/14

This episode marks the beginning of our special series in collaboration with BMI Executive Institute, where we explore the intersection of business, leadership, and technology with standout entrepreneurs connected to the BMI network.We kick off the series with Bas Kooijman, tech-to-finance entrepreneur, CEO/co-founder of DHF Capital, and participant of the EMBA programme at BMI Executive Institute AI is no longer a future concept in finance — it’s already trading real money. Bas built and sold

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66:39

The World’s First Industrial LEGO Sorting Machine...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/04/30

What if mixed, unused LEGO bricks could become complete sets again — at industrial scale?Ilya Malkin, founder of Sort A Brick, is building an AI-first automation company that does exactly that. Using computer vision, machine learning, and custom-built hardware, his team identifies, cleans, and sorts over 100,000 unique LEGO elements by shape, color, and print, turning chaotic brick bins into rebuildable sets. After nearly 20 years in consulting, Ilya pivoted into hard-tech to solve a problem most

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60:22

Your Startup Isn’t Failing for the Reason You Think |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/04/16

What does it really take to go from founder to venture capitalist, and why are most startup ideas actually “bad ideas” at first?In this episode, Raimonds Kulbergs shares the real story behind BADideas Fund, what founders consistently get wrong about fundraising, why most VCs will struggle in the AI era, and what separates ambitious startups from small ideas that never scale. If you’re building a startup, raising funding, thinking about Y Combinator, or wondering whether AI is now mandatory for

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63:50

China Vs Silicon Valley: Who Leads Innovation? |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/04/02

China tech and innovation | Chinese economy | Silicon valley vs China | AI strategyIn our new episode, Pascal Coppens — sinologist, author, and tech entrepreneur with decades of experience working between China and Silicon Valley breaks down how the Chinese economy actually works and why Western perceptions of China are outdated. We cover how Chinese innovation differs from Silicon Valley, the role of competition and survival in Chinese business, the truth about Chinese electric vehicles and

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56:33

Why AI Won't Replace Top Lawyers (But Will Destroy...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/03/19

Are law firms using AI all wrong? The answer might cost you millions.Aku Sorainen, Founder & Senior Partner at Sorainen and Chairman at Crespect, reveals why most legal tech investments fail and what actually works after 25 years of building his own systems. In this episode, we explore the dangerous gap between AI hype and real-world legal practice. • Why Sorainen spent €2M building software after discovering global solutions were "years behind" • The "chaos in, chaos out" problem: Why 25M

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67:09

Why Women Leave Tech And How Leadership Can Fix It |...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/03/05

What does it really take to succeed as a woman in tech leadership today?In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, we’re joined by Diana Gold — CTO | Head of Digitalization and Technology at Gijos, Partnership Associate Professor at Vilnius University, and PhD candidate at ISM University of Management and Economics. In this conversation, Diana shares: ➡️Her journey from IT and consulting roles to becoming a CTO in the energy sector ➡️What women in tech leadership still struggle with — and what

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62:20

How to Win Startup Grants in Europe Without Wasting...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/02/19

Most founders think grants are about paperwork. In reality, they are about positioning, clarity, and execution.In this episode, we speak with Jonathan Spruytte, Grants & Incentives Senior Manager at KPMG Belgium, with prior EY Subsidia experience and a Ghent University research/PhD background, helping organizations secure Belgian and EU funding through structured grant strategy and writing. In this episode we talk about: • How the grant process actually works • What makes a company truly

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64:17

Why Hiring With AI Alone Is Failing and What Works...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/02/05

Is AI fixing hiring or breaking human connection?Why do the best candidates never apply to job ads? And what really happens inside a startup during its first 9 months? Juris Zalāns — Co-founder at Talenme, HR Tech strategist, and digital transformation expert shares unfiltered insights from building a referral-driven hiring platform and navigating the fast-changing world of talent acquisition. From startup realities and fundraising to the future of HR tech, this episode explores how technology,

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63:43

How United Wardrobe Sold to Vinted (and What Came...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/01/22

If you are building a startup, this episode might save you from expensive mistakes. In this new Innovantage Podcast episode, we talk with Thijs Verheul, Co-founder of United Wardrobe, acquired by Vinted. Thijs is now an Angel Investor and author of Thrift to Triumph. We focus on execution: how to build the right team, launch fast, find distribution, manage burn, and make decisions when the runway is shrinking.What you will learn: ➡️How to structure a founding team with complementary strengths ➡️Why

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65:40

From Startups to Scaling Global Innovation in...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2026/01/08

Building a startup is a series of tests you don’t see coming until you fail one. In this episode, Max sits down with Povilas Žinys, Director of Plug and Play tech center in the Baltics, working with startups from Pre-Seed to Series B and helping founders prepare for the realities of venture-scale growth. They unpack what separates scalable companies from “busy” startups that never break through — the 2026 landscape founders are walking into, how investors filter opportunities, and what it really

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66:23

Rethink Creativity in the Age of AI | Innovantage...

Innovantage Podcast ·

2025/12/18

What if creativity isn’t about “expressing yourself”, but about understanding yourself?In this episode, Max sits down with Fredrik Härén, the Creativity Explorer who has spent decades traveling the world to understand how humans create — and the truth he’s uncovered will challenge everything you assume about creativity. This episode goes straight into the uncomfortable, the surprising, and the transformative parts of creativity most people never talk about. Prepare to rethink everything: ➡️ Why

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