The panelists discussed the main obstacles that stand in the way of developing a company and the effectiveness of development projects in the current innovation ecosystem. Some startuppers lamented over the challenges of getting investments. The innovators convinced them that it’s not so bad and they need to become more independent and active.

Pavel Burak, the CEO of InNavi, he shared about the challenges of applying for tenders and grants.

Contrary to the thoughts of the CEO of the VentureClub in St. Petersburg, Evgeny Turvinenko, Mr. Burak said that "You want all the work done for you, even applying for tenders. There are such possibilities but usually they take 95% of the profits. Welcome to the market, kickbacks, bank guarantees etc. No one will come to you to do the business for you."

Problem of deadlines

Alexander Atrashenko, the advisor to the vice rector of science at ITMO University and participant in high-tech projects, believes that the problem of investors and startuppers is, in one word, money.

"As a technological entrepreneur, I try to stay away from Russian unincorporated business venturers. For a lot of projects I need financing for much longer than the usual three years"

Until the implementation stage, most projects only make about 1−3% profit. "It's only in the 2nd or 3rd year of work on a project that the fund needs to sell, but not all high-tech projects are able to get to that stage", explains Alexander Atrashenko. Some Russian companies, after receiving their grant from the Innovation Fund simply sell the products themselves. So if you are confident in your idea, then it’s better to take out a loan in the second year, and not depend on funds."

Another problem that Alexander Atrashenko indicated is the high administrative costs for grants. "Several times I received a grant from the Start Program on projects that I was working on." He says, "For a grant that is valued at about 2 million rubles, at least 20−50% of the amount is spent on administrative costs"

"State venture capital funds are usually not involved in projects at the beginning stages and they need to see a five year plan and future sales" - explained the General Director of Innovation and Development", Michael Mastin. "In Russia there are no laws related to venture, so there is always a danger of having problems with prosecuting due to inefficient expenditure of means in the case of a startup’s failure. Therefore, it is understandable that those responsible for government money want to protect themselves and carry out a rigorous project selection."

"Business ventures are difficult and a very thankless job. It’s better to first get money for the prototype from family friends and fools (FFF). When you are looking for investors, you need to at least show something small but at least already prepared and key to your development. There are startuppers who say they want a million for a prototype, a million for personnel, and another million for marketing. They need to come back to earth! Startups are also a business." explains Evgeny Turvinenko.

Unnecessary Activity

Nadezhda Abdulina, creator of the silicon stand project for cooking, explained that there is a large number of meetings and accelerators which take up a lot of time.

"Many events create unnecessary work, and we need to be doing real work", explains the head of St. Petersburg’s Venture Club. "After you do something, you can come to the investors and say "You have five minutes to buy my product, otherwise I will go to someone else". In two years of work at Venture Club, the members have brought in 718 million rubles into the company’s portfolio".

Anna Bystrova, director of iDealMachine, the accelerator program in St. Petersburg believes that it’s not work sitting in a lab forever, sometimes you have to get out and learn to sell your product. "Accelerators need to work with products at the idea stage. If it is interesting and worthwhile then they will work with you." She added.

"ITMO University’s accelerator "Future Technologies" really helped us, explained Mikhail Kozlov, the cofounder of the grocery delivery project "Good Product". "Thanks to this accelerator we met with investors, mentors and interesting experts"

All the panelists agreed that there is an overabundance of events and misleading opportunities, which don’t bring any results and just take up time. At the same time, quality events can also be lost in the sea of information.

"Remember, those people who want to help you, expect you to make money. Nothing is for free" -summed up Evgeny Turvinenko.