May’s First Monday had the kind of energy you only get when someone who’s “seen the movie” decides to step back into the lead role. We hosted Jared Schrieber—a Silicon Valley unicorn founder turned one of Hungary’s most active angel investors—for an open conversation that was equal parts reflection, reality check, and fresh beginnings… including a first look at his new stealth startup.

Jared hardly needed an introduction. He previously co-founded InfoScout, the consumer data company that later became Numerator, reached unicorn status, and was acquired by Bain Capital’s Kantar in 2021. After relocating to Hungary, he became a key ecosystem builder—backing two dozen+ local startups and co-founding STEAM Academy, a venture rethinking robotics education for kids (which he’d since put on auto-pilot).

But the night wasn’t about résumés—it was about the decision to return to the founder seat, and what changes when you’ve been on both sides of the table. Together, we went behind the scenes on Jared’s path from founder to investor—and back again, his perspective on the opportunities and friction points in the Hungarian startup landscape, and the practical mechanics of pivoting: how to know when it’s time, what to keep, what to cut, and how to move without losing your team—or your nerve.

We dug into the nuances founders argue about: product–market fit vs. go-to-market fit, what founder–market fit looks like when it’s real, and why the best pivots rarely feel tidy in the moment. The evening closed with exactly what was promised: candid stories, sharp takeaways, and a rare glimpse into what comes after the pivot—when a founder starts building again from scratch, but not from zero.