MENTORS
Łukasz Czernicki is a Polish and European Patent Attorney specializing in intellectual property strategies, taxation and valuation. He has practised at the European Patent Office, European Union Intellectual Property Office and Polish Patent Office. He took part in many complex advisory projects, which required combination of expertise in different aspects of intellectual property law. Łukasz is a graduate of Technical University of Wrocław (M.Sc. in Biooptics) and Queen Mary University of London (M.Sc. in Management of Intellectual Property Law). He also studied at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and Max-Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich. During his professional career Łukasz worked at Arthur Andersen, Philips Intellectual Property and Standards (Eindhoven), law firms and consulting advisory. Mateusz Zreda- legal counsel in the Warsaw Bar Association (legal councils), a member of the Bar Association in Warsaw (barristers). A lawyer with five years of legal experience from Warsaw law firms, including two years in his own law firm- Destrier. Law Firm. Mateusz’ professional expertise focus in the areas of corporate law, new tech, investment funds VC and start-up. Support for start-up relates primarily to the investment process (preparing the term sheet, the investment agreement, agreements for finance acquisition) and in the implementation of R&D projects (including leagl due diligence, preparation and execution of contracts and agreements relating to companies’s capital). Destrier Law Firm cooperates with the Clients from the region of Central Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia) as well as with other countries.
Aleksandra Przegalińska earned a PhD in Philosophy of artificial intelligence at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Warsaw. Currently she is an adjunct professor at the Center for Research on Organizations and Workplaces of Kozminski University. Alumna of The New School for Social Research in New York, where she participated in research of identity in virtual reality, particularly Second Life. She worked as well as the Chairman of Audiovisual Working Party at the Council of European Union as a representative of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. She is interested in new technologies, especially if they are green and sustainable, humanoid artificial intelligence, social robots and wearables.
MENTORS
Konrad Pabiańczyk - Entrepreneur. Currently Global Head of Artificial Intelligence at Technologies Capital, a spin off of ITACO Trading. Previously co founder and COO at Craftinity, an AI startup. Founded other startups previously and was a part of building products, marketing, sales, account management, legal and looking for investors and raising rounds. Experience in astrophysics research. Consulted on many other startup and corporate projects. Currently working between startups, corporate and VC on an international scale.
Greg Banas - Greg is CEO and partner at Ad Ventures, consulting company and micro-venture. He is connecting startups with investors and corporate partners, helping in negotations of investment conditions so they are fair for both sides. Ad Ventures is official partner for CEE of Chinese fund Hyperspace Capital. Greg has been Head of Investments for Hubraum, corporate Seed Fund of Deutsche Telekom / T-Mobile group. He has also been a consultant at Ernst&Young, worked for Seed and Venture Capital funds and has been conducting business on his own as entrepreneur in various companies. He has been a member of a number of Supervisory Boards and was involved in IPO for NewConnect market. Olga Kozierowska - Businesswoman, journalist, business coach and expert on life changes. Created “Success Written with Lipstick” – the first Polish organization and the Internet portal, which comprehensively support women’s entrepreneurship. Conducts own radio show “Success Written with lipstick” on Radio ZET CHILLI. She is the author of numerous publications and a book “Success Written with Lipstick”. Previously associated with TVN24 and TVP 2, where she developed programs dedicated to women. The winner of many prestigious awards, including international: ,, 2013 Women of Consequence “,” Pozitivist of the Year 2013 “,” Journalist of the Year 2011 ” for supporting the development of entrepreneurship. She got on the list of “50 Polish Women of CSR 2013” and in 2014 one of the 25 Polish leaders on the future 25 years!
Lidia Adamska - Doctor of economic sciences. Her great experience with high-tech investments and pro-export actions she gained in the Industry Development Agency and the State Agency for Foreign Investment. Former Member of the Management Board of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. She is a startupper as well: CEO of technology company Cavinnova SA
MENTORS
Robert Dziubłowski - Entrepreneur and investor in number of high-tech start-up companies. Robert has over 20 years of experience in investment consulting (USA, Russia, Poland, Vietnam, Ukraine) In the early 1990 (nineties) was one of the first Polish stock brokers and investment consultants on Wall Street in New York. Worked as consultant and advisor to many multinational companies investing in Poland. Graduated from Warsaw University and University of Hawaii in Honolulu. Founder of Mibiltek, President of supervisory boards in numerous of companies, head of Top-Consulting – leading polish consulting team for start-ups.
Mark Donvil studied Slavonic Philology and Economics in Belgium. After spending 3 years in Poland as a grant student, he established his first company in Poland in 1989. From 2008 to 2012 he managed as CEO a green field project in Czosnów (aluminum systems for construction), where he obtained 18,5 mio PLN of EU subsidies from the „Innovative Economy” program. He is partner and managing director in ABBEYS EDF SP. z o.o. Sp. k., specialist in EU funding for companies involved in innovation. He likes to run and to play rock guitar as well
Dariusz Kołoda- Expert in commercialization of R&D projects in the fields of life science, engineering and technology. Experienced in R&D projects, technology transfer from academia to business, establishing effective collaboration between polish universities and industry. Consultant and trainer in soft skills, project management, design thinking, business model canvas, commercialization etc. Alumnus of University of California Berkeley (innovation management), Warsaw University of Technology (chemistry) and University of Warsaw (intellectual property rights). Scholar and visitor at top universities worldwide (US, UK, Germany, Israeli etc.). Active player in NGO sector in the fields of innovations and education.
Magdalena A. Olczak is a researcher focusing on the role of new technologies in the economic growth. She is currently working on her PhD thesis at Warsaw School of Economics in the startup ecosystem in Poland. She has authored and co-authored several publications about startups in Poland, including Polish Startups 2015, a report published by Startup Poland. Currently she is developing Female Founders Poland – a group promoting women on startup & VC scene. Earlier in her career, Magdalena was a business journalist in Gazeta Wyborcza and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna and worked as a PR and IR expert at one of the leading Polish investor relations agency.
MENTORS
Trevor Longino is an American marketer with 15 years of experience in the industry, focused mostly on strategic, digital and event marketing, and has been a consultant at Disney's Yellowshoes Interactive, Universal Studios, Stratosphere Casino, Cox Communications, CD Projekt, and many more companies. He has taken 5 different startups from newly launched to #1 in their market.
Paweł Przybyszewski carries out consultancy projects with the scope of technology transfer. His main tasks are: Searching for technological projects for individual and institutional investors; Evaluation of technological projects for investment attractiveness; Implementation of projects for large corporations, scientific research and business institutions; Promoting skills development related to the commercialization of knowledge; Popularizing of Polish science.
Marek Kotelnicki - Graduate of Warsaw School of Economics (International Economic Relations and Management), scholarship at Ryukoku University in Japan, where he completed Japanese and Asian Studies (JAS). Specialist and enthusiast of Japanese culture, management and innovation, cooperating with scientists and inventors on daily basis. Since 2012 Co-founder and Managing Director of Internest (international B2B platform connecting top notch tech&science projects with potential clients and partners from all over the world.) , organizer of Investor Intro meetings, co-host of the “Inventors of the future” series on Canal + Discovery. One of the Founders and President of the Center for Innovation and Technology Commercialization. Business and technology matchmaker. Tomasz Dalach- Entrepreneur, manager and consultant with over 20 years' experience in building companies and managing fast-growing businesses from startups to mature organizations. For 10 years active in Venture Capital and Business Angel high-tech investements. Founder and leader of several businesses with over PLN 100 million in revenue and teams up to 300 people. In 2013, named one of the 50 most creative people in business by the BRIEF magazine. A graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (MBA with honors), University of Warsaw (Management) and the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology at Warsaw University of Technology (Telecommunication).
MENTORS
Jacek Łubiński is an Investment Director at Experior Venture Fund. He supervises investment process and manages work of the analytical team at the Fund. He has over 10 years of experience in projects related to technology, ICT, medical services and financial services. Jacek is a Supervisory Board Member at Comperia, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. He is also Supervisory Board Chairman at Fuero Games and Supervisory Board Member at Inex System. Previously he was involved in numerous M&A advisory projects for the top Polish companies and private equity funds. Before moving to investment banking Jacek had worked in the Technology Division of Deloitte Business Consulting. Claudio Limacher is COO at YieldPlanet - a hotel technology provider that helps hotels to maximize their revenue, simply. Claudio is responsible for the Revenue Management System development and overall company operations at YieldPlanet. Prior to YieldPlanet, he has worked as a senior management consultant on projects across Europe, North America and the Middle East. As a consultant he has led a number of projects in the area of organizational performance improvement, restructuring, cultural change and leadership process design and implementation. Claudio has a background in information management and international management. He holds an M.A. from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and a M.Sc. from ESADE University in Barcelona, Spain. He is Swiss, lives in Poland and speaks fluently German and English as well as intermediary French, Spanish and Polish.
Jacek Frankowski- Innovation & R&D Expert. Projects & Program Management Professional (certificated in PMP®, CSM, CSPO) , Agile coach. Programme Consultant, Project Management in IT postgraduate programme - Higher Banking School in Poznań Deputy Director, Education & Professional Development Project Management Institute - Poland Chapter.
Katarzyna Dworzyńska - In a business for 10 years. Until 2014 associated with telecommunications market, where she was responsible for marketing operations and communications first for Orange and next for Play. Originator and organizer of workshops about mobile marketing Warsaw Speaks Mobile. Author of a blog dworzynska.com where she writes about new technologies and mobile marketing. Founder of PR Calling! – agency, which centers on marketing and promotion of new tech companies. She believes impossible is nothing.
MENTORS
Anna Hejka- After a successful career on Wall Street, Anna went back to Poland to support its economic growth. Serial entrepreneur, Business Angel, Founder and Managing Partner of several VC and PE funds, investment and corporate banker, mentor, board member, advisor, lecturer, speaker, and writer in USA, Poland and Spain. Global Leader for Tomorrow by World Economic Forum in Davos, Business Angel of 2009 by European Business Angel Association, One of 25 Best Managers in Finance by Home&Market. Passionate about innovation and growth capitalizing on deep, core trends. Poland Growth Fund & Unicorn Nest's global ecosystem of mentors, advisors & partners from Warsaw through Israel to Silicon Valley is there to support such ideas. Interested in brain capabilities and message diffusion.
Jacek Adamski is and advisor of the Management Board in Lewiatan Business Angels and experienced expert in the field of investments. For many years has been dealing with the selection process of innovative projects from the investor point of view. In the past three years, he pre-analyzed approx. 600 projects, using criteria used by individual investors (business angels) and funds seed or early-stage
Zygmunt Grajkowski - 25 years of experience in corporate finance and new technology investments. From 1996 to 2002, Partner at Enterprise Investors – a company managing the largest VC/PE funds in the CEE region. Zygmunt was previously a director of the M&A department at Price Waterhouse Poland. Since 2003, as part of his company Value Based Management Consulting, he has completed more than 70 capital and strategic consulting transactions in Poland and Central Europe. Zygmunt graduated from the Faculty of Electronics at Wrocław University of Technology and holds a postgraduate diploma in Capital Investments and Financial Management from the Wrocław University of Economics.
Ewa Abel - Junior Partner at Giza Polish Ventures. Ewa holds a BS in Business and International Finance from Oxford Brookes in Great Britain as well as a MS in Finance from EDHEC Business School in France. She has previously worked as an analyst in the investment banking sales department of Diamond Capital in Nigeria. At Giza Polish Ventures, Ewa is responsible for initial analysis of the investment prospects and—in the further stages of the investment process—for business and intellectual capital due diligence.
MENTORS
Karolina Studniarek - Expert with several years of experience in capital market institutions: in the equity capital market division and on the side of the supervision authority. Have a sound knowledge in the field of public offerings, at the stage of their acquisition, as well as in their placement. The co-operation with private and public companies, as well as with other institutions involved in preparing and conducting the process of IPO / SPO, allowed her to gain professional experience in the field of equity capital markets. She gradueted from Warsaw Scholl of Economics, Finance and Banking faculty. She worked for Polish Financial Supervision Authority, private brokerage house: mBank Securities and currently she is working for Warsaw Stock Exchange, Client Relations Division. Izabela Olszewska- Managing Director, responsible for Market Development at the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Graduate of the Faculty of Finance and Statistics, Warsaw School of Economics, and Doctoral studies at the Faculty of Economic Science, University of Warsaw. Active in the capital markets since 1992, initially as an analyst with the Capital Operations department of Bank Handlowy. In 1999, Izabela joined the Warsaw Stock Exchange, where she worked in a number of managerial positions, co-operated with investors and issuers, both domestic and foreign across many sectors. Her responsibilities have included expanding the Exchange’s product range across both regulated and alternative markets. Additionally, she serves as a Member of the Advisory Committee, of the Central Securities Depository (KDPW) of Poland. Norbert Bąk graduated from Montclair State University with Bachelor degree in Finance and Warsaw School of Economics with Master’s degree in International Business. Currently member of PhD studies “Economic analysis of financial markets” at Warsaw Stock Exchange. Norbert started his career in 2009 as a FX dealer at Bank Millennium, later moved to Citibank where he worked with corporate clients helping them hedge their FX exposure. Norbert has also gained experience working for Citibank in Czech Republic and went through extensive 2month treasury trading program in London. In 2013 started working in Citibank Brokerage House as head of retail sales. Since February 2016 works at Warsaw Stock Exchange as Relationship Manager. Aleksander Mokrecki - Head Business Analyst of Startup Hub Poland. Aleksander is responsible for digging deeply into business model of every innovative project. Graduated from the Warsaw School of Economics in Management and International Relations, he gained his business experience as entrepreneur running number of innovative projects, and also as an employee of international auditing company Ernst&Young. He built his experience in business investments working as a financial analyst in Black Lion. Aleksander was born in Ukraine and he penetrates Polish as well as Ukrainian network of entrepreneurs. He speaks Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and English.
MENTORS
Kuba Dudek is an investment manager. He joined SpeedUp Group in 2012, initially handling matters of project preliminary verification. He's currently responsible for business analysis of selected projects and manages investment processes. Particularly project evaluation, budget development and creating business models. Kuba also supports the fund's portfolio companies in building their value. He mostly works with enterprises from the information management sector, gaming and medicine. Prior to joining SpeedUp Group, Kuba had worked, among others, for Fortis Lease and BNP Paribas. He's a co-organizer of Hive61.
Tomasz Ciach - Nanotechnology expert. Professor at the Faculty of Chemical and Processing Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, head of the Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Division. Author of 12 granted patents and over 50 publications. Founder of BioMedLab research group, consultant in numerous companies (AstraZeneca, Procter and Gamble, Reckit, Adamed, Balton, Galmed). Successfully commercialized his nano-delivery-system within NanoVelos. Co-author of two technologies that are already in production stage: biodegradable drug eluting coating for coronary stents and biocompatible, low friction and anti-infection coating for urological catheters. He gives rare, but already brilliant example of how brave ideas become socially and financially valuable.
Jakub Urbański - CTO & co-founder of HiProMine - startup which provides innovative technology for industrial scale insect rearing and processing, recently invested by UBER. PhD in Molecular Biologyand co-author of 5 patents applications (UPRP/PCT) in field of animal feed technology and industrial insect breeding. A researcher, innovator and explorer with strong scientific background and experience as a freelance science journalist.
Piotr Zakrzewski - PhD in social sciences, graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science (specialization in public administration). Lecturer at the Institute of Political Science of the University of Warsaw and the Institute of Political Science of the Cardinal Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Since March 2016 Deputy Director of the Promotion and Innovation Support Department of the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland. Author of numerous publications on the Polish political system and on the protection of intellectual property. Conducts training courses on intangible goods management in organization.
MENTORS Maciej Sadowski - Co-founder/ President of the Board of Startup Hub Poland. Manager in innovative ICT projects in early and mature stage of development. Seed and startup investment manager. Member of the Committee on New Technologies and Innovations to the Polish Chamber of Commerce. Member of the National Development Council to the President of the Republic of Poland. Maciek holds two MA Degrees of the University of Warsaw (Philosophy, Political Sciences/European Studies). Scholar exhibitioner at the Universität Salzburg. Academic teacher at the University of Warsaw (Department of Journalism and Political Sciences; Department of Philosophy and Sociology), where he lectured logics, analytical philosophy, Eastern-Europe regional policy.
Piotr Pietrzak - Member of the board of Startup Hub Poland. Piotr is an investment professional with proven experience in VC, PE and M&A environment: executive officer at seed capital funds, with robust skills in management and investments evaluation, combined with developed communication skills. He has an in-depth understanding of several sectors (e.g. pharmaceuticals & biotech, Internet Communication Tech, real estate, retail & distribution, financial services). He graduated from Warsaw School of Economics (master degree). Within SHP Group Piotr holds the possition of the investment vehicule Board Member since 05.2015.
Yaroslav Krempovych - Business Analyst of Startup Hub Poland. MSc in strategic management from Kozminski International Business School and Bradford University’s School of Management. As well, he took exchange semester focused on «Entrepreneurship and Innovations» in SKEMA International Business School located in technological park of Sophia Antipolice, France. Core areas of interest for him is emerging business models, startups, AI, disruptive technologies, space travels and equity crowdfunding which was also topic of his master thesis. Ukrainian born in Lviv, lived, studied and worked in Warsaw, London and Nice, always hungry for traveling and new experiences.
Admir Berbiu - Business Analyst of Startup Hub Poland. Admir’s vision is focused on connection between technology, innovation and business. A young engineer who can answer all your questions and needs, starting from Automation, IOT, AI, Web development, Telecommunication and much more beyond those. His goal is to reach the impossible, as challenging as it might seem. His responsibility in SHP is to analyze the technology and business model in innovative projects. Founder & co-Founder in various startups in IT & entertainment. Admir was born in Albania and has healthy connections with the Albanian & Balkan network of entrepreneurs. Currently, he is working towards a MSc in Electronic Engineering from Warsaw University of Technology.
