Do CEE founders study abroad first?
Two in three teams that say where they studied have a founder who studied abroad. Most CEE founders who applied to BADideas in 2025 and 2026 so far did not say where they studied. Of the teams that did, 66% included a founder who studied outside the company's country, most often in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany or the Netherlands.
The figures
| CEE founding teams, 2025 to 2026 (to date) | Share |
|---|---|
| With a founder who studied abroad, of teams naming where they studied | 66% |
| With a founder now based outside their country of origin | 2% |
In BADideas application data, founders who studied abroad mostly build at home: few teams include a founder based outside the country they come from. Founders who studied abroad are also more likely to mention it, so treat the share as an upper bound.
What is changing
Few founders say where they studied, so the figures pool 2025 and 2026 and are not shown by quarter.
What it means for you
- Use your time abroad as evidence. Customers, networks or expertise from another market answer the question investors ask about expansion.
- Say where you studied only if it matters. What investors weigh is what you learned and who you know.
- Name the employers, not only the schools. Where a founder worked says more about what they can build and sell than where they studied.
- If you moved back, say why. A founder who chose to build in CEE after working abroad has a reason investors want to hear: cost, talent or a first market.
Related questions
Where do founders from CEE most often study abroad?
The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, in that order.
How we measured it
- On this page: Studied abroad means a founder names a university outside the company's country. Few founders say where they studied, so the figures pool two years.
- Updated: 27 September 2026.
BADideas.fund, "Do CEE founders study abroad first?", updated 27 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/founders-studied-abroad-cee
Read next
- How much do CEE startups based abroad raise?
- How many CEE teams have a technical founder?
- How many CEE startups have a woman founder?
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.