Bulgarian startups, like those in many other European countries, continually face a problem: growing beyond our local markets.

I find too many of my friends in hustling hard for potentially Zombie startups.

All that hard work, but not a lot of progress in the numbers that truly move them forward. On the other hand, there are clear strengths here in Bugaria; companies that have grown globally, and investors building broad networks.

So I asked them.

Vessy Tesheva from Telerik shared her approach with me: “Partnerships mean each company can act proactively on the others’ behalf. This takes trust, which comes from thinking about relationships, not deals or connections.”

Max Gurvits from Teres and Eleven explains to me how, for any networking goal, he makes a list of 100 potential people, since that research means he’s more likely to make contact sooner.

At Leancamp, I’ll be digging in with a few more local founders who’ve built their businesses through international partnerships. Join me!

Originally posted at betahaus.bg