Mentors
Marcin SzelągBio: executive manager @ Innovation Nest; Deeply in Love with the Internet. Passionate about creating new products and business models on the web. A creator, mentor and a friendly soul for startup teams. Since 2004 crafting his skills managing various projects (including a few of his own). Last four years @ Pixelate Ventures (social networks and games). Now on board Innovation Nest helping startups increase their chance for global success.
I can help you with: business models, monetization, UX & UI, gamification, user acquisition.
Agnieszka Skala-PoźniakBio: PhD in economics graduated from Warsaw School of Economics (SGH); co-founder & CEO at Innovation Nest School for Entrepreneurship (SPIN); Entrepreneurship Educator at Warsaw University of Technology (WUT); member of the Academic Network of Entrepreneurship Educators (SEIPA)
Monika KoniecznyBio: I work as a Project Manager/Scrum Master at iLoop Mobile , where I coordinate the work of the teams (distributed and on-site) creating tools necessary to run mobile adds campaigns.I’m also a PhD student, researching broad aspects of software project management. I’m especially interested in effective motivation and the use of gamification and simulation games to make teams happier and more productive.
I can help you with improving communication (with customer, within your team), introducing agile methodologies (scrum, kanban, etc.) and techniques like GTD, pomodoro, adding gamification/simulation games elements to your application, designing mobile ad campaigns to promote your project.
Paweł SołygaBio: Paweł Sołyga, computer science graduate from Wrocław University of Technology, Natural User Interface Group co-founder, where he works on NUI technologies and NUI Group open source projects. Long-term Google Summer of Code participant first as a student then mentor and organization administrator for NUI Group. Worked for NUITeq where he developed multitouch hardware and software applications, Google Open Source Programs Office as a software engineer then project lead on Melange, Gadu-Gadu where he worked on first version of Gadu-Gadu client for iOS. Recently managed development of social and 2nd screen TV solutions at San Francisco-based startup - Numote, where he now holds an advisory role. Currently leads iOS applications development for Allegro Group. Loves simplicity, great design and building awesome products.
I can help you with: mobile UX & UI, usability in mobile, natural user interfaces, mobile apps development, interaction design, product development.
Agnieszka Lewandowska-DziewięckaBio: A graduate of Education Studies at Univercity of Warsaw turned marketer and project manager, CEO at Startup School Foundation. After hours, a reportage buff, a photographer and a traveller. Loves working with people. Combines her skills to help young entrepreneurs develop their startups.
I can help you with marketing plan, creating canvas & defining your startup.
Agata MazurBio: A young entrepreneur with technical background. Chief Services Officer at Applicake - one of the biggest European Ruby on Rails Software Houses. Co-founder of Future Simple - US-based company creating revolutionary business software. At the very moment co-organizing Railsberry; she’s also among TEDxKraków main organizers. Being a Rails developer herself, she strongly encourages women to enter the tech scene. Bringing ideas to life is her passion!
I can help you with shaping up your idea and making it ’real’ technical aspects of the product, project management & planning.
Jakub KrzychBio: Creator and Co-Founder of AdTaily, a self-service advertising platform acquired by Agora SA. In 2009 the prestigious magazine CNBC Business considered AdTaily one of the 25 most innovative European companies. Jakub is currently holding position of the Board Member of AdTaily, leading 12 people product team in Krakow. Prior to founding AdTaily, he was a strategy and technology consultant in a Norwegian agency based in Oslo, working on design and technology projects for the Norwegian Government, airlines companies and large corps. Jakub graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Applied Computer Science and Computational Physics. He is passionate about meeting new people sharing startup visions and entrepreneurship experiences.
I can help you with: User Experience, Business Model Generation, Product Presentations.
Maciej MaciejowskiBio: Maciej Maciejowski director of product innovation in Grupa Onet.pl SA. Graduate Management at University of Science and Technology in Kraków. Since 1993, heavily involved in the development of the Internet. Since 1996 he is constantly linked with a company that is now called Grupa Onet.pl SA. He was first webdeveloper in Onet.pl. He Managed teams which create most of the currently active sites in Onet. Today, engaged in product development and give assistance to Onet product departments. Privately he writes a blog moonopol.pl
He can help SWKRAKOW teams with customer needs and in choosing proper MVP. He can check your idea with patience & humor. He will spread his knowledge about user expectations (mainly in Polish market but also worldwide)
Marcin KurekBio: Active in e-business since 2004. At the begging at a startup Spreadshirt.de in Leipzig/Berlin. Since 2008 a co-founder and CMO at Pomocni.pl - a group of recruitment services for families and households including: Niania.pl, Pomocedomowe.pl, Opiekaseniora.pl, Remontuj.pl, Opiekazwierzat.pl, Korepetycje.edu.pl and Hiresitters.com. Shareholder in Pomocni.pl, Zadane.pl and Bao.pl
I can help you with: e-marketing, business models and strategy.
Marcin JaśkiewiczBio: Co-founder and CEO of Webshake.tv - the internet television about new technologies and gadgets. Started as a freelance web developer, then worked as a project manager and head of interactive in advertising agency. Creator and first organizer of barcamp KrakSpot - meetings for internet professionals and hobbyists with the strong startup\'s background. Big fan of TV series and Apple’s products.
I can help you with: video online, media stuff, business development, sales, creating presentations and pitches
Arkadiusz HajdukBio: Arkadiusz has an extensive experience in concept and product development, project management, human resources management, customer support, business development, operations management and any other aspect of running a business. Currently, Arkadiusz is working as an investment manager at Speed Up Venture Capital Group where he works with potential investments and portfolio startups. Previously Arkadiusz spent in few web startups, including one of the leading European social lending platforms smava, where he was serving a number of different roles, also co-founder. Arkadiusz was blessed with opportunity to work within multinational teams of great people, while living in Denmark, Hungary, Sweden, Canada and Poland. Arkadiusz earned his M.Sc. degree at Technical University of Denmark (DTU).
Arkadiusz can help you with concept and product development, business model validation and challenging your comfort zone.
Mateusz TułeckiBio: Sociologist focused on the internet, new technologies and marketing. Teacher, mentor, (as someone once said) evangelist. Organizer of the InternetBeta conference, XRAII meetings, Web2 Project, Posprzatajmy.pl. He\'s helping young people in their future careers mostly at University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow and Tischner European University in Cracow, cooperator inInnovation Nest School for Entrepreneurship (SPIN).
I can help you in: brainstorming ;), building marketing strategy, business model, creating values to exact target audiences, networking, preparing presentations
Łukasz JaworskiBio: Business Developer at ciufcia. Responsible for development strategies and micropayments optimization. Co-owner of a high altitude company. He conducts workshops on WSE in Kraków and WSiZ. Occasionally tries to do something good.
I can help you with: sem, business models, monetization, project management.
Dawid SzczepaniakBio: Co-founder and creative director at Pride&Glory Interactive. A proud mother of Interactive Day event. He created ideas and strategies for brands and companies such as Philips, Heineken Group, Procter&Gamble, Unilever, Johnnie Walker, Tesco, Budweiser Budvar, Intel, MTV, Danone, GreenPeace, ING and many others.
I can help you to find marketing ideas that stir up emotions.
Ela MadejBio: I am currently working on a new consumer startup. In 2006 I co-founded Applicake, a boutique Ruby and Android development house. More recently, I was in the founding team of Future Simple that makes great online software for SMEs.
Simultaneously, I have been leading the team behind European Rails Conference - Railsberry and organizing local startup community around Hive meetups.
I can help with global B2B and B2C startup ideas, strategy & vision, fund raising, marketing/PR and product development.
Łukasz TyrałaBio: I think, draw and code. In loops. Currently a senior interaction designer at Pride&Glory Interactive, previously a front-end developer, designer and illustrator.
I worked for big and small, corporations and individuals. I always pay attention to details, user needs and business goals.
I can help you with design (typography, grids, html/css, etc.), user experience (people and interfaces, emotions, lean ux, usability) and team communication.
Aleksandra KubickaBio: Working in PR for the past 6 years. Currently - as Brand PR Manager at Allegro Group QXL Poland, responsible for media relations of group’s polish and international classifieds portals and PR communication of mobile applications of Allegro Group. I’ve started my professional career in tobacco industry public relation’s sector. Soon after moved on to work for a position at PR agency where I’ve been working for a range of clients from telecommunication, fmcg and e-commerce sectors. As a PR Coordinator in Samsung Electronics Poland I acquired vast experience in new technologies communication. Fan of tumblr and android apps.
Richard LucasBio: Richard Lucas is British entrepreneur, and angel investor who has lived in Poland for more than 20 years. He has shareholdings in 5 companies with about 400 employees. He has been on the Polish Global Entrepreneurship Week Honorary Committee, and been a organiser/sponsor/judge/juror in enterprise competitions in the UK and Poland, He has been a speaker at TEDxKrakow, Ignite, Pecha Kucha and many other entrepreneurship workshops and events.. He is a coach and minority investor in start ups. Experienced in B2B marketing, sales, recruitment, team building, competitive intelligence, business strategy, and bootstrapping.
richardlucas.com
Maciej MrózBio: Chief Technology Officer at Ganymede. Computer science graduate of AGH University of Science and Technology, a geek and visionary. Loves everything related to science, gadgets and of course games. Over the years designed, managed and implemented multiple products, working on both client and server side projects. Thinks all the time about technology trends and opportunities they bring. Lives somewhere between business, marketing and engineering helping them to understand each other.
I can help with: Server architectures and guidelines for implementing them, development processes and tools, data analytics, business models, product development, technology assesment.
Marek WylonBio: Founder and owner of Ganymede and GameLab as well as co-owner of Can’t Stop Games, CEO of Ganymede, computer science graduate at Akademia Górniczo–Hutnicza in Cracow, programmer, enthusiast of games, successful entrepreneur, excellent understander of entertainment industry and how to satisfy and monetize users, passionate about game design and servers architecture but forced to pay salaries, sign countless documents and do administrative job that isn’t fun, has the ability to see market opportunities and to make things happen.
I can help with: programming, technology, market understanding, management, foundrising
Lidia JanoszkaBio: Marketing Manager at Ganymede, master of political science and bachelor of management and marketing at Jagiellon University with couple of years of experience in B2B and B2C marketing, professionally and personally interested in casual, social and mobile games and in how to deliver them to the market, exploring players needs and behaviors to make products fitting them and market requirements, trying to see things from as many perspectives as possible.
I can help you with: understanding users, business models, monetization, user acquisition, localisation, marketing and PR.
Paweł ChudzińskiBio: Before co-founding Point Nine Capital in 2011, Pawel was a co-founder and partner at Team Europe where he led Team Europe’s investment activities. Prior to that, Pawel worked as an Associate for the US investment banking firm Greenhill & Co. in Frankfurt and London. Previously, he graduated from the Leipzig Graduate School of Management (HHL). He is fluent in English, German and Polish and has a basic command of Russian.
Michał KrausBio: Michał Kraus – educated journalist, works as a PR&Marketing Manager with nearly eight years of experience. He was related with IT distribution industry, where he was engaged in building PR and Marketing Department for a company with Polish and German capital. He had climbed all of possible levels from a Specialist to Marketing Director. He is a co-author (in terms of strategy, creation and brand marketing) of many well-known brands in the IT industry. He was also responsible for designing and implementing advanced B2B and B2C platforms in the area of distribution and marketing. Many times served as external marketing consultant for publishing and logistics companies. Recently works as PR&Marketing Manager at Empathy Internet Software House. His biggest passion is travelling and trekking.
Krzysztof KowalczykBio: Entrepreneur, strategy consultant and early stage investor Founder and Managing Partner of UBIK Business Consulting (Polish management consultancy with the focus on TMT companies and technology startups). Partner at an early stage VC fund HardGamma Ventures. Co-founded or invested in Macoscope.net, Codility.com (Seedcamp\'09 winner), AIBotTeam, ORIAQ.com and Cuberoot.pl. Mentor at Seedcamp (WAW\'09, SCWeek\'09, Prague\'10, Berlin\'11), IPO48 (Prague 11), Labstar and Springboard accelerators,referrer with HackFwd.com. Currently: - Board Advisor Codility.com - Chairman of the Supervisory Board Macoscope.net - Advisor Motivapps - Advisor Filmaster Before starting his own company he worked for Procter&Gamble,Lycos Europe / Lycos Poland and McKinsey&Co.
Sebastian BłaszkiewiczBio: Sebastian and Empathy (Internet Software House) has a dual history with each other. He started in 2002 as an Internet Marketing Specialist, later developed his career in radio group Agora to come back again in 2008 and became Commercial Director. In the area of his responsibilities, there are also conducting pre-implementing stage studies, where he uses his great knowledge from the areas such as sales, marketing or business administration. He is an expert both in the analysis of business processes and in modern sales methodologies. Passionate about good music and sports. He appeared at many business and Internet conferences, his text were published in various newspapers, including the Proseed magazine, Bankier.pl portal and many others. He is respected figure in the Internet industry, which results in numerous calls for participation in trainings, barcamps and other business and technology meetings.
Jaromir DziałoBio: Built and successfully exited a company in Silicon Valley: Topicmarks.com, as a winner of e.g. Seedcamp, Founder Showcase, covered by TechCrunch, Mashable got funding from Aaron Patzer (mint.com) and recently was acquired by one of the largest social networks in US (350+ mln of users). Jaromir is in the Internet business since 1994: founder of 3 successful startups, content distribution for 95% cinemas in Switzerland, IT for Swiss banking domain, 100+ web services, worked with companies from US, UE for over 12 years. UI/UX evangelist, frontend maestro, with passion for ergonomy, usability and clear communication. Co-author of a semantic analysis patent, but also an open-source committer. Co-organized a social action that changed a law in Poland. Jaromir willingly takes on ambitious challenges, with global scope. Always open to new ideas. Privately, traveler, photographer and Monty Python fan. Twitter: @jaromirdzialo
I can help you with: global product vision, User Experience, algorithms, customer development.
Michał ŚliwińskiBio: Michael is a web-entrepreneur who is running Nozbe, editing the bi-monthly Productive! Magazine, showing off his tips and tricks in bi-weekly Productive! Show, blogging on his personal blog and sometimes speaking at conferences or advising other startups. He\'s constantly building new, exciting and often secret things. He\'s a product guy.
I can help you with: bootstrapping, freemium models, product building and entering a global market.
Radosław KuckoBio: Member of the Management Board of INTERIA.PL. Graduated from the University of Szczecin, where he studied statistics and econometrics. Additionally, he completed postgraduate studies in the field of market research at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Throughout his career, he has been involved in the analyses market. For three years, he managed a team of analytics professionals at PBS Sopot, a market research agency. His responsibilities there included developing and managing one of the first telephone-based market research agencies on the Polish market (CATI). Over the past nine years, he worked for Onet.pl S.A., where he was in position of Research and Analysis Officer. Prior to that, he was responsible for managing such units as the Promotional Product Department and Hosting Department, as well as the Customer Service Department and the Transaction Processing Department. He was also a member of Onet.pl’s Program Committee, and one of the Strategy Directors of ITI Group. Since 2001, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board of an Internet research company Polskie Badania Internetu, and, since 2004, a member of the Council for the Megapanel PBI/Gemius Study.
Maciej BudzichBio: The author of a blog about media, marketing and the Internet - blog.mediafun.pl, editor-in-chief of \"MediaFun magazine\". He is a passionate observer and commentator on social media, advertising and whatever is related to new technologies, business and entrepreneurship. He has been a speaker at many conferences (e.g. IAB Forum, InternetBeta), lecturer, among others, at The School of Advertising Masters, Collegium Civitas, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Academy of Communication Art. He is a initiator of many events connected with media, Internet and information society: TUBA conferences, MediafunLABs, a debate with Polish Prime Minister (AskThePrimeMinster) ZapytajPremiera. He is a big fan of barcamps ideas and business networking, a coorganizer of Aula Poland (the bigest Polish barcamp). He has been a Juror in advertising competitions (MediaTrendy, Blog of the Year, StartupFest). The Internet Standard plebiscite declared him The Man of the Year on the Polish internet 2009. He was also The Winner of a special award for popularizing blog
Artur KurasińskiBio: Serial entrepreneur and seed investor in the field of internet, mobile & entertainment. Artur is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, Faculty of Applied Social Studies.
He created and developed a number of successful startups, e.g. Nuta.pl, Naturalniej.pl, Revolver.pl. Co-author of a start-up meeting Aula Polska. Mentor at DemoCamp, Seedcamp, StartupFest, LabStar and Intel Challenge. Active blogger.
I can help you with: contacts, PR, improving communication netoworking, mobile apps development, idea assetment, defining roots of your startup, creating presentations and pitches, monetization, strategy & vision, and fund raising.
Marek PrzystaśBio: He is trying to abolish Pole’s stereotype and he is a happy man. One of the pillar of HanBright company, in which - as a Project Director - he actively works in order to increase productivity. He pursues ideas that matter and believes in people who passionately create them. He thinks that sharing one’s knowledge and experience can help others. Constantly searches new ways and solutions. Typical thinking and common paths disgusts him. He naively believes that the projects, which he has been sacrificing most of his life for, change the world for better. He likes plain situations and concrete people and dislikes sweet pancakes.
Marek KapturkiewiczBio: executive, marketeer, investor and engineer – co-founder and COO of Innovation Nest (seed/VC fund & entrepreneurship school); previously i.a. long-term executive board member, COO and senior vice president of the Onet.pl Group and director of Promotion and Product Development Department in Tymbark SA; having rich experience in internet, marketing, media, technology and investment; engineer - constructor with long experience (electronics, IT) at the Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology in Cracow; a graduate of the University of Science and Technology (AGH) in Cracow (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Automatics, Computer Science and Electronics), and of business studies at the School of Business – National Louis University in Nowy Sacz;
Grzegorz ŚwięchBio: Leadership & strategy consultant. Coowner & CEO in Kompany - created new coworking network. Lecturer (strategic management) at ICAN Institute. In the past - CEO - Academic Incubators of Enterpreneurship , Managing Director - Eurobank (creating one of the largest distribution network of financial products in Poland) . A graduate of the University of Science & Technology in Cracow and managements programs (Management and Academy of Strategic Leadership) organized by Harvard Business School & ICAN Institute, I can help you: managing processes, business models, monetization, distibution, standardization of processes and activities, a little in marketing.
