Runway

What is VC marketing? And how what is the 'Karma Method'? Sten Õitspuu once recorded two fully-produced podcast episodes for Karma Ventures, then decided not to release a single one. That instinct, knowing when to walk away from your own work, sits at the heart of how he thinks about marketing for venture capital. Sten is Head of Marketing at Karma Ventures , the Tallinn-based fund backi...

Sam Marchant builds AI companies designed to exit at $20 to $100 million, and thinks the industry has been chasing the wrong animal. Sam is a partner at Inaugural, an AI venture studio that has built eight revenue-generating companies in 24 months, and the founder of Forward Pursuit, a Dubai-based family office. He also hosts the Now We Build podcast and runs Scaling MENA, the weekly newsletter fo...

Arthur Renard is a freelance football journalist who built his career hustling interviews as a teenager. Today, you can read him in publications in 20+ countries and languages, and see him on TV. We sat down to hear his story. Arthur Renard moved from the Netherlands to London at 18 with a few bags and no detailed plan. Within nine months he was in the Chelsea canteen interviewing José Mourinho. T...

Raitis Puriņš built Latvia's biggest marketing team almost from scratch and helped make Printful a unicorn. Now he's Chief Growth Officer, a new role with some overlaps, over in B2B fleet management. Raitis spent seven years as Head of Marketing at Printful, scaling the team from 5 to over 100 people and helping the company reach a $1B valuation, making it Latvia's first unicorn. Be...

If news is becoming data, what's left for journalists to do? How is AI changing media and journalism? We sat down with Andrii Degeler, one of the journalists in startup and VC media looking at this most closely. Andrii has been covering the European tech ecosystem for 19 years. He started in Ukraine reviewing smartphones, hustled his way into The Next Web, spent years at Tech.eu, and now serv...

After hosting 200+ (scrappy and not so scrappy) startup and business founders and operators on The Pursuit of Scrappiness Podcast, Uldis developed the ultimate Baltic business-building knowledge base. On this episode of Runway, we unpack it together with him, and get to know his latest venture, OkoRide. Uldis Tēraudkalns co-created The Pursuit of Scrappiness , the most popular English-language bus...

Tarmo Virki has spent decades on both sides of the media divide. He covered technology at Reuters for more than a decade, crossed over into startup communications, and most recently co-founded FOMO.Observer , a newsletter-led publication covering the Estonian startup ecosystem from the inside. In this episode, Mauro sits down with Tarmo to talk about what journalists actually want from a pitch, wh...

Is it possible to cover fintech from every angle? Writer, editor, event programmer, author, and now newsletter founder, Ian Horne has done it all. In this episode, Mauro sits down with Ian Horne, former Head of Content at Money 20/20 Europe, author of Why DeFi Matters , and founder of the FinTech newsletter Let Fintech Grow (LFG). Ian shares his journey from sociology graduate to one of FinTech&ap...

EU Startups Summit 2026: We got a special 25% discount code for you with the code BlackUnicorn25 - valid until end of March! About the episode: What does it look like to be the person shaping the narrative of the European startup ecosystem, one story at a time? In this episode of The Runway Podcast, JJ and Mauro sit down with David Cendón Garcia , Head of Editorial at EU Startups , one of Europe&a...

Welcome back to Runway!  Today, Cate Lawrence, senior writer at Tech.eu, joins JJ and Mauro for a wide-ranging and candid conversation about what it takes to get covered, the realities of a journalist's inbox, and where European tech is headed. With over a decade covering startups across publications like The Next Web, DZone, ReadWrite and now Tech.eu, Cate has a unique perspective on the Eur...

How Community and Communications Are Reshaping Venture Capital — with Hege Tollerud of BrightEye Ventures In this episode of The Runway, we sit down with Hege Tollerud, Head of Community and Events at Brighteye Ventures — Europe’s leading edtech VC fund.  With a rich background in journalism, media, and ecosystem building from Oslo to China to London, Hege shares how VC is evolving beyond just cap...

Parker Olson on the Real ROI of Podcast Guesting Parker Olson is co-founder of PodPitch , an AI-powered platform reshaping how startups and PR pros land podcast interviews. The platform has seen enormous growth and is quickly becoming the number one AI-powered tool for PR agencies. In this episode, Mauro sits down with Parker, who shares his unconventional journey and offers a masterclass in how s...

From Journalism to VC Comms: Frederik Barsøe on Telling Startup Stories That Stick What happens when a journalist turns PR pro and dives headfirst into the startup and VC ecosystem? In this episode, we sit down with Frederik Barsøe , PR & Comms Lead at Scale Capital , who shares his journey from Denmark’s top newsrooms to the heart of Europe’s tech scene. Still with a foot in both the media an...

What does it take to build a B2B marketing function from the ground up, and make it work? What is B2B marketing, and how does effective B2B marketing look like, in 2025? In this episode, we’re joined by Julieta Varsano, a seasoned B2B marketing leader with 10+ years of experience scaling brands across startups, scaleups, and global corporates.  Now heading the marketing function at Upvest, Europe’...

What’s it like reporting on tech and startups from one of Europe’s most overlooked corners? In this episode, we sit down with Bojan Stojkovski , Editor-in-Chief of IT Logs and veteran journalist, to explore the Southeast European startup ecosystem—from its hidden potential to the challenges of funding, visibility, and cross-border collaboration. Bojan shares his journey from covering foreign polic...

Veteran journalist and content consultant Nick Huber joins JJ and Mauro to demystify how startup founders should think about comms. Drawing on 25+ years writing for outlets like the Financial Times, BBC, and The Guardian, Nick shares: Why founders should relax about PR and also stop treating it as a black box The biggest mistakes companies make when trying to get media coverage How journalists act...

🎙️ From Music Festivals to Startup Exhibitions: Ben Costantini on Building the Future of Events In this episode of the Runway Podcast, JJ and Mauro sit down with Ben Costantini , founder and CEO of Sesamers , a platform connecting various tech players around events to drive real-world traction. Ben truly is the GOAT of events, having studied them, collaborated and worked with them, as well as even...

How does a tiny country with no natural resources, a legacy of Soviet occupation, and just 1.3 million people become one of the most digitally advanced nations on Earth? In this episode, Mauro sits down with Joel Burke, author of Rebooting a Nation: The Incredible Rise of Estonia, E-Government and the Startup Revolution , to unpack Estonia’s remarkable transformation. Drawing from his own experien...

In this Baltic special, we sit down with Anda Asere, journalist at Labs of Latvia and co-founder of business newsletter Finday.lv . Often referred to as the “godmother of Latvian startups.” Anda has been covering the Latvian startup scene since the very beginning... before “startups” was even a  thing in Latvia! We dive into: How Anda’s journey from business journalism led her to startups The orig...

David Johnson, Country Manager and Editor at Maddyness UK (part of Maddyness , of French origin), joins the show to share his winding journey from running a bookshop to shaping one of the UK’s most influential startup media platforms. We talk about: How David’s background in literature, architecture publishing, and Libya (!) led him to startups The real state of the UK tech ecosystem in 2025, and...

Vlad Andriescu, Editor-in-Chief of start-up.ro , joins Mauro in this Runway episode to unpack the evolution of Romania’s startup ecosystem, from the early days of €10K investments and hackathons... to the post-UiPath reality and the country’s cybersecurity edge. This is the perfect episode to get up to date with the Romanian startup ecosystem and learn about its history! We explore: 💡 Romania’s s...

The State of Climate Tech in 2025  With Nick van Osdol In this episode, we’re joined by Nick van Osdol, writer, analyst, and founder of Keep Cool , the go-to newsletter for nearly 20,000 readers tracking what’s happening in climate tech. From mining and energy to early-stage startups, it's got you covered! Nick is also a Venture Partner at Climate Capital . We dig into what “climate tech” rea...

AI Regulation & Startups: Breaking Down the EU AI Act with Philip Mohr The EU AI Act. Innovation killer or necessary safeguard? In this episode, we sit down with Philip Mohr , founder of AddTrust , to break down the realities of AI compliance for startups. Philip, a seasoned entrepreneur turned AI compliance expert, explains what the EU AI Act really means for founders, who actually needs to w...

🎙️ How do you build a media powerhouse and investment platform at the same time? In this episode of The Runway Podcast , we sit down with David Cruz e Silva , co-founder of EUVC , a one-of-a-kind business that combines podcasts, newsletters, events, and investments to shape the future of European venture capital. David shares the untold story of how EUVC started, from an industry insider’s frustra...

In this episode of The Runway Podcast , we sit down with Sigvards Krongorns , Associate at Verge HealthTech Fund and former co-founder of CastPrint . From building a startup that Forbes called “the future of casts” to investing in early-stage HealthTech companies, Sigvards shares his journey from founder to VC. We dive into: 🔹 Sigvards’ and CastPrint’s story 🔹 Categories and ways of looking at H...