“Are there synergies between multinationals and start ups”

Moderator:

Ramon Tancinco, Senior Manager, Cisco Global Support Center

Panellists:

Richard Lucas, Serial Entrepreneur
Jaromir Dzialo, CEO and Founder of Topicmarks (Acquired by Tagged, a Silicon Valley tech company)
Wojciech Burkot, Director, Google
Piotr Wilam, Venture Capitalist, Innovation Nest
Anne Marie Neatham, General Manager, Ocado
Rafal Styczen, Venture Capitalist, IIF

Objective

For the audience to discover that Krakow has a vibrant start-up ecosystem, from entrepreneurs and angel investors to VCs and incubators. The panel will explore first of all, what are the dynamics of this start-up scene and secondly, what are the challenges and opportunities as result of start-ups and multinationals operating in the same city and are there any synergies to be found?

What are the dynamics of the start-up scene in Krakow?

Few folks in the multinationals are aware that there is a very dynamic and rapidly growing start-up ecosystem in Krakow. This includes not only the entrepreneurs but also Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, Incubators and also a constant stream of networking events, such as Hive53, Startup Stage, TedX Krakow and others. This portion of the panel discussion will seek to illuminate just what is going on and where are things going with the start-up scene in Krakow.

What are the challenges and opportunities of having both start-ups and multinationals in the same city?

For those multinationals aware of start-ups in Krakow, there are usually two clear perspectives. In the case of some high-tech giants, it is a massive opportunity as in the case for example of Google and Cisco, who are perennially acquisitive companies always on the search for the next great idea. However, for many other companies, start-ups may only exist to poach their most innovative and talented people. Then consider that many Fortune 500 companies are now adding “Digitization Officers”, often drawn from the ranks of start-up executives to help this engender more agility and innovation in their firms. This portion of the panel discussion will seek to frankly explore both the challenges as well as the opportunities of having both start-ups and multinationals in the same city and will perhaps open a dialogue which will be the first of its kind in Krakow.