Am I too early to pitch a VC in CEE with just an MVP and no revenue?
No, but you are earlier than most. In 2026 so far, 31% of the CEE founders who applied to BADideas were still building their first version or earlier, against 38% in 2025. Most now arrive with users.
The figures
| Company stage when applying, CEE | 2025 | 2026 (to date) |
|---|---|---|
| Idea | 7% | 3% |
| Building the first version (MVP) | 31% | 28% |
| Early users or revenue | 48% | 54% |
| Scaling | 14% | 15% |
In BADideas application data, most founders raising pre-seed still have no revenue (70% in 2026 so far), but they increasingly have a product with users.
What is changing
| Quarter | CEE applicants at MVP stage or earlier |
|---|---|
| Q2 2025 | 40% |
| Q3 2025 | 42% |
| Q4 2025 | 36% |
| Q1 2026 | 38% |
| Q2 2026 | 26% |
| Q3 2026 | 28% |
Founders apply later. The share at MVP stage or earlier is down from 38% in 2025.
What it means for you
- An MVP is enough to start conversations. About a third of the founders applying are there.
- Get first users before you pitch if you can. Half the founders applying next to you already have users or revenue.
- Show what the MVP has proved. Tests run, users who came back, what you changed because of them.
- Be clear about what the round unlocks. At MVP stage investors fund learning. Say which questions the money answers and by when.
- Line up evidence you can show. Letters of intent, pilots and a waitlist carry weight when revenue is still zero.
Also answers
Are founders pitching earlier or later than before?
Later: MVP stage or earlier was 38% of CEE applicants in 2025 and 31% in 2026 so far.
How we measured it
- Source: applications founders sent to BADideas in 2025 and 2026 to date. CEE means the company is in a Central or Eastern European country. The stage is the founder's answer on the application form, else what the application says.
- Limits: these are founders who applied to one CEE pre-seed fund, so the sample leans towards companies that see themselves as a fit for it. A single quarter can swing, so read the change between years first. Company stage is the founder's own description.
- Read: 26 September 2026. Updated every quarter.
BADideas.fund, "Am I too early to pitch a VC in CEE with just an MVP and no revenue?", founder application data read 26 September 2026. https://badideas.fund/answers/too-early-mvp-no-revenue-cee
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, start with something small, and learn fast.
Good founders rarely fail on the idea or the product. They fail on selling it. So that is where we help: operators who grew Zendesk, Square and Scale AI work on your go-to-market.
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