Which channels do CEE B2B startups use?
Direct sales and partnerships. Of the CEE founders selling to businesses who applied to BADideas in 2026 so far, 84% plan to sell directly and 70% through partners. Every other channel, from content and SEO to events and paid ads, is named by one founder in five or fewer.
The figures
| CEE founders selling to businesses who name | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Direct sales | 78% | 84% |
| Partnerships | 74% | 70% |
| Product-led sign-up | 16% | 20% |
| Content and SEO | 27% | 18% |
| Events | 17% | 12% |
| Paid ads | 17% | 11% |
| Community | 16% | 8% |
| App stores | 2% | 2% |
| Resellers | 1% | 1% |
| Public tenders | 2% | 1% |
In BADideas application data, most B2B founders name two channels, and 59% name both direct sales and partnerships. 20% name only one, up from 12% in 2025.
What is changing
| Quarter | Direct sales | Partnerships |
|---|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 80% | 69% |
| Q3 2025 | 73% | 76% |
| Q4 2025 | 78% | 79% |
| Q1 2026 | 84% | 67% |
| Q2 2026 | 79% | 70% |
| Q3 2026 | 88% | 74% |
Direct sales has edged up and the marketing channels have fallen: content and SEO is down to 18% from 27% in 2025, and community to 8% from 16%.
Across CEE
CEE founders selling to businesses who applied in 2025 and 2026 so far. We show each country with enough applicants; smaller countries count only in the CEE row.
| Where the founder is based | Direct sales | Partnerships |
|---|---|---|
| All of CEE | 81% | 72% |
| Baltics | 82% | 74% |
| Latvia | 79% | 75% |
| Estonia | 82% | 71% |
| Poland | 81% | 63% |
| Lithuania | 87% | 75% |
| Romania | 80% | 73% |
| Ukraine | 76% | 68% |
Direct sales: highest in Lithuania (87%), lowest in Ukraine (76%).
What it means for you
- Direct sales plus one partner channel is the common plan. It is what investors will see most often, so say what makes yours work: who sells, and which partner brings which customers.
- Name the partners. A partnership channel is believable when the deck says which partner, what they get and how many customers they have brought so far.
- Keep the list short. A long list of channels without numbers is hard for an investor to judge; two, with what each has brought so far, is clearer.
- Resellers and tenders are rare at this stage. They take longer to set up; most founders add them after the first customers.
Related questions
How many sales channels should an early B2B startup have?
Most CEE founders selling to businesses name two: usually direct sales and partnerships. 20% of those who applied in 2026 so far named only one.
Do B2B startups in CEE sell through resellers?
Rarely at this stage: 1% of the CEE founders selling to businesses who applied in 2026 so far named resellers, and 1% public tenders.
How we measured it
- On this page: Channels are those the deck says the company sells through or plans to; a deck can name several, so the shares add up to more than 100%. Partnerships are partners that sell or refer for the company; resellers are counted separately. Selling to businesses means the deck names small, mid-sized or large companies or government as customers, and not consumers. Shares are of those founders whose deck names at least one channel.
- Updated: 14 October 2026.
BADideas.fund, "Which channels do CEE B2B startups use?", updated 14 October 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/b2b-sales-channels-cee
Read next
- Which sales motion do CEE B2B startups use?
- Should CEE startups sell at home or abroad?
- What do early CEE startups charge per month?
Who we are
We are a pre-seed and seed fund for founders in Central and Eastern Europe. We have built and sold companies ourselves, and since 2022 we have backed more than 40.
We back founders who see something about their market that others do not see yet. They want to change how a whole industry works, and they start small.
Good founders rarely fail on the idea or the product. They fail on selling it. We give your company hands-on help from go-to-market operators who grew Zendesk, Square and Scale AI.