Published Drafts #2 - The Family Affairs

Quick update on a new event format

Hey,

It’s been a long time since I last wrote here. I promise my writing will pick up again soon (I know you miss me!) but in the meantime I wanted to share a new format I’ll be trying out, it’s called The Family Affairs.

Twice a week, for 45 minutes, we’ll convene a guest founder, often from “non-obvious” startup hubs, a host (usually me) & a handful founders we selected among people who apply.

I want to recreate the intimacy of the diners we used to host around Europe, whilst benefiting from the “sort of new normal” of Zoom calls to extend the opportunity to founders everywhere. If you’re not selected this time around no worries, we will share some of the highlights with everyone!

I’m very excited by the first three guests we will be hosting: Kirill from Preply, Wojciech from Packhelp & Nikola from EmbedSocial.

Kirill, CEO at Preply - Oct 29th, 6.30pm CET

Preply is one of the leaders in the market for online language learning. Kirill started the business in Kyiv, and Preply now has a team of 200 in Kyiv, Barcelona & Berlin, empowering tens of thousands of tutors and hundreds of thousands of students worldwide.

Our conversation will center around building a two-sided marketplace, the future of the Preply product, the challenges of raising from some of the world's best funds in a "non-obvious" hub & more.

You can apply to join the conversation here.

Wojciech, CEO at Packhelp - Nov 3nd, 5.30pm CET

Packhelp allows companies to design and order their own custom-branded packaging. Through its online marketplace and intuitive web app, anyone can design and order their own packaging in just a few clicks. They have tens of thousands of customers in over 30 countries.

Wojciech will discuss what it takes to start with small independent e-commerce brands to H&M, Uber & L'Oréal, launching dozens of countries per year & leveraging the best Warsaw has to offer.

You can apply to join the conversation here.

Nikola, CEO at EmbedSocial - Nov 5th, 4.30pm CET

User-generated content, in the form of reviews, stories or pictures is a huge and still growing part of online commerce. It influences where you shop & what bars you go out to drinks for.

He cofounded EmbedSocial from Skopje, Macedonia, for businesses to make the most of all the great things customers are saying about them, and they already count tens of thousands of clients.

Nikola will discuss the growing importance of reviews in building trust online, growth techniques for SMB-focused SaaS and the benefits of bootstrapping.

You can apply to join the conversation here.

I’m very much looking forward to these events & would love to hear your recommendations for whom I should be inviting next!