How many competitors do CEE decks name?
Four is typical. CEE founders who applied to BADideas in 2026 so far named a median of 4 competitors in their pitch deck, with half naming between 3 and 7. Almost none claimed to have no competition.
The figures
| What CEE founders named as competition | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Other startups | 72% | 75% |
| Established companies | 67% | 75% |
| Customers building it themselves | 10% | 9% |
| Spreadsheets or manual work | 8% | 8% |
| "No competitors" | 2% | 3% |
In BADideas application data, most founders name both startups and established companies, and about one in ten names the customer's own spreadsheets or in-house tools.
What is changing
| Quarter | CEE applicants, median competitors named |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 4 |
| Q3 2025 | 4 |
| Q4 2025 | 4 |
| Q1 2026 | 4 |
| Q2 2026 | 5 |
| Q3 2026 | 4 |
Across CEE
CEE founders 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 | Median competitors named |
|---|---|
| All of CEE | 4 |
| Baltics | 4 |
| Latvia | 4 |
| Estonia | 5 |
| Lithuania | 4 |
| Poland | 4 |
| Ukraine | 5 |
| Romania | 4 |
| Czechia | 6 |
Median competitors named: highest in Czechia (6), lowest in Latvia (4).
What it means for you
- Name three to six real competitors. Fewer looks like you have not looked; many more hides who you actually compete with.
- Include the status quo. Spreadsheets, manual work and in-house tools are what most customers use before they buy you.
- Never claim no competition. Investors read it as not knowing the market.
- Show why customers switch. A comparison table matters less than the reason a customer would leave the alternative for you.
Related questions
Is it bad to say a startup has no competitors?
It is rare and reads badly: only 3% of CEE founders in 2026 so far claimed none.
What do founders in CEE list as competition?
Other startups and established companies, each named by 75% of CEE founders in 2026 so far. The customer's own workaround comes next.
How we measured it
- On this page: Competitors are the companies or alternatives the founder names as competition. A deck with no competition slide counts only if it names competitors elsewhere.
- Updated: 27 September 2026.
BADideas.fund, "How many competitors do CEE decks name?", updated 27 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/competitors-in-pitch-deck-cee
Read next
- Which regulations do CEE startups face?
- What slides go in a CEE pre-seed deck?
- How many slides and words in a CEE deck?
- Do CEE pre-seed decks show CAC and margins?
- How big a market do CEE founders claim?
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.