End of Year has a special part in my heart - I hate it and I love it. It’s the point of inflated expectations meeting reality, rushing to finish everything, spend time with friends and family, expecting some miracles, and feeling of completeness. It’s like having a 17 hours flight to Singapore without wi-fi, while urgent tasks pending to be completed asap on the ground. You have two options: accept to not complete it on time or get drunk, maybe something in the middle.

8 years ago I was checking my bank account 1.5 years after leaving Microsoft for a startup life. I had money for less than a month - not a great new year vibe. After looking through open jobs online and couple of interviews, I decided to do something I’ve never done before - reach out for an advise to people that I perceived below me (founder’s crown that blocked me from growth). But what if?

I ended up taking an advise from a young ex co-worker, who said - apply for an accelerator they’ll give you money to pursue your idea. I did and got my first VC check a month after. That changed a trajectory of my life. There would be 8 years of ups and downs in different startups and roles: getting rejected for a position of a country manager at Yandex for US market on the final stage, getting fired by a mini-oligarch after not reaching a revenue target. December is simply depressing.

Best memories - receiving a news of becoming a father 7 years ago on my birthday, telling my family that I have two CEO’s roles at different companies 4 years ago. My new year’s wish for many years was - I have to be a CEO next year, I want to be a CEO… It would always come true, but didn’t give me true happiness. Then I started to wish for a happy family. That’s when I’d had even more challenges to face and overcome, but get moments of infinite happiness in life.

What I want different in 2026 - not to rush for the business results but focus on the change of something that holds me back: taking too much time to fire an ineffective employee? trying to hallucinate with the founder on their ideas? trying to work with a toxic or a weak partner? I am putting a ban on it in 2026.

How? By setting clear expectations, recognizing early on warning signs, and following through immediately.

My 3 goals for Q1 2026 are already formed - find an anchor LP for our Fund I, help 6 portfolio companies to finish their current rounds, teach 160 french master students at SKEMA the essentials of entrepreneurship. Q1 prepares me to put my A-game for the rest of the year.

Now I am giving 10 founders a New Year’s gift of joining me on the learning & fundraising journey - aka “gain fundraising accelerator 1.0”:

What do you get? A clear path to accelerate your fundraising or understand the gaps in your process to pivot to the right trajectory.

Submit your application now.

stay safe and warm!
Sergey