Roberta Rudokienė is managing “Startup Lithuania”—the national startup ecosystem facilitator in Lithuania. Roberta is highly experienced in business development and this year was nominated as one of the most influential women in the startup space in Europe.
Startup Lithuania is the facilitator of Lithuania’s startup ecosystem, building a globally recognized startup-friendly environment. Startup Lithuania is a governmental initiative and operates under the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation as a part of Enterprise Lithuania.
Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Fortunes Time and Roberta Rudokienė:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
I am an energetic person inside and outside of the workplace. I’m trying to enjoy life and everything that I do. Therefore, I put a lot of energy in doing my work and motivating my team to do their work in order to help Lithuanian startups grow and create the most favorable conditions for startups in Lithuania.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
I have a master’s degree in business management and vast experience in sales and marketing. Before I started my journey as the Head of Startup Lithuania, I worked in very different sectors and workplaces: telecommunications company, furniture manufacturer, universal indoor arena. I like challenges and trying new things.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
Startup Lithuania started as a part of Enterprise Lithuania, which this year joined a new governmental organization, Innovation Agency Lithuania (a few different agencies were merged into one to create a one-stop-shop for Lithuanian businesses). It started in 2012-2013 when we saw that startups are different from traditional businesses and need a different approach. To this day, Startup Lithuania is the national startup ecosystem facilitator between fast growing businesses, venture capital funds, accelerators, startup-friendly enterprises, and the government.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
I believe that the team and its’ enthusiasm, together with close collaboration with Lithuanian startups and other ecosystem players and full governmental support made it successful.
What are the major services of the company and how do they allow it to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
Startup Lithuania is a national startup ecosystem facilitator. Our main goals are to have more startups in Lithuania and to help them grow. Therefore, we organize different events (as well as the main international startup event – Startup Fair) and workshops, and give individual consultations for startup founders. We also administer the “Startup Visa Lithuania” program, which is a streamlined migration procedure for non-European startups to relocate to Lithuania and scale to Europe. After the creation of Innovation Agency Lithuania, we hope that the scope of our services will grow and we’ll be able to offer different support mechanisms as well as financial help for Lithuanian startups and will become a real one-stop-shop for them.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
Our main values are professionalism, cooperation, and the success of Lithuania. By doing our daily work, we really want to make an impact on the wealth of the country and its economy. I believe in teamwork and cooperation. Cooperation not only between the team members, but also with our clients and other ecosystem players. We try to actively involve the whole Lithuanian startup ecosystem in our activities, and we are very happy when we create joint projects—for example, the whole ecosystem is actively involved in organizing our main startup event, “Startup Fair,” and this year we had an extremely successful investor event, “Investor Camp”, which we organized together with Lithuanian Business Angel Network (LitBAN) and Lithuanian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (VCA).
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
As we strive to always do the best we can, all the new and innovative ideas are very important. In fact, in this fast-moving world, no company could succeed without innovative ideas and changes. Because innovation fosters growth, and this is universal for all businesses.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
I believe in the power of a team and not an individual hero. Individuals can only empower the team.
What are your responsibilities as the Head of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
My main responsibility is to ensure that all the plans and all the activities will be implemented on time and within the assigned budgets. As I tell my team, my main tasks are to motivate them, help them do their job and solve the problems. The happiest part, of course, is achievements – when we organize a great event, implement new projects, attract new startups or investors to Lithuania, etc.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
I would advise you to build a team of people that you can rely on.
