We launched DragonMaker Slovenia — and before you even think this is just another event, stop.
By Francesco Cracolici - Nomadic Minds
Last week, on the 7th and 8th of November, we launched DragonMaker Slovenia — and before you even think this is just another event, stop.
You need to understand why this matters.
Every country wants to create a startup ecosystem.
But very few actually understand what that means.
A real ecosystem is when any sharp, hungry individual can start a company, get clients, attract capital, and grow.
Once that happens, investors reinvest, skills rise, innovation spreads, and jobs are created. That’s how a country becomes competitive — and how 80% of new jobs are born today.
Slovenia is a small country — barely two million people, and maybe 200,000 involved in anything remotely tech-related.
Yet it’s done an impressive job building an ecosystem.
There’s around €400 million ready to be deployed in startups.
That’s huge. It means founders with solid ideas can get funded.
But here’s the twist — having 100 good startups isn’t enough.
An ecosystem doesn’t grow from being “good.” It grows when you have one startup so exceptional that it pulls the whole country up with it.
The kind of startup that brings back 20x, 30x, even 50x returns.
That’s what investors call a dragon.
And to build dragons, you need dragon makers — the people with the experience, networks, and capital to make it happen.
That’s why the investors who came to DragonMaker Slovenia weren’t randoms. They were some of the highest-level investors you can imagine.
We had people from Insight Partners, managing over $100 billion, and YXS Capital, widely considered one of the most successful venture funds on the planet — pulling a 14x return across their portfolio.
The startups? Surprisingly strong.
One of them — a YC alumni building smart toothbrushes with $6 million ARR — ended up winning. But what shocked me most wasn’t the competition.
It was the investors. I thought they’d show up for the wine and the mountains of Slovenia — but they didn’t.
They were fully locked in. They had real meetings, real conversations, and genuine interest.
That proved something I’ve always known but never experienced so directly:
It’s not where you are, it’s where you pitch.
You can have the same idea, the same product — but if you pitch it in Silicon Valley, you’ll raise more, faster, and easier than if you pitch it in your small local market.
The same startup in the wrong room dies. In the right room, it becomes a dragon.
Another big part of DragonMaker was the policy dialogue.
We had the Minister of Economy, his team, and government agencies all sitting with the investors, trying to understand what’s missing and what needs to be fixed.
Of course, the room was loud — everyone had complaints, everyone wanted to be heard.
And that’s another lesson: everyone blames the government, but they forget one thing — most of these people are genuinely trying their best.
The system is slow, but attacking it doesn’t make it faster.
The more you complain, the less you get. Patience and empathy might not sound sexy, but they get you further than aggression and noise.
At the end of the day, Slovenia has real potential. It’s a strong base for hardware, deep tech, and science-driven innovation.
So far, I think there’s a 70-30 split.
Building valuable startups and talent is 70% of the job; 30% is connecting them with the right people.
But without this part, they will never succeed.
All it needs now is a platform — a stage where its brightest minds can stand tall and be seen by the world.
See you at the next one.
