Data Ventures - Venture Partner (may18-present)

Wedding.pl - Interim VP Operations (mar17-jan18)

I have spent the last 10 months as Interim VP Operations (or as I refer to it Mr-Fix-It-All /
Special Forces) @ Wedding.pl - a portfolio company of Protos & a leading Polish wedding
marketplace with USD 2M funding. During my time, the company has increased the number
of paying vendors 5x, raised USD 1M and grew headcount from 10-47 people. I reported
directly to the CEO and acted as his sparring partner in all strategy & operations related
matters. I was offered to become the COO of the company.

Strategy:

● actively participated in shaping all aspects of strategy - from business model through
product offering to sales and marketing strategy
● identified and evaluated potential acquisition targets, presented and recommended
them to the board
● analyzed historical sales data to identify best performing segments leading to a major
refinement of sales strategy

Operations:
● KPI - identified most important metrics, designed reporting template, worked
alongside IT to ensure maximum level of automation
● worked as an intermediary between IT and other departments heads during the
process of creating analytical framework
● created template for monthly investors update
● implemented project management software (Asana) in the organization

Finance:

● created fundraising pitch deck resulting in PLN 3,5M raise by the company
● spearheaded end-of-the-year controlling exercise and based on it recommended
steps to cut operating costs by more than 15%
● built revenue projection model from scratch
● developed short-term and long-term budget and financial forecast

HR:
● conducted 50+ job interviews across a wide range of business functions and levels of
seniority - ranging from heads of departments (Head of Marketing, Head of Product,
Director of Sales, Head of New Business), through specialists (performance
marketing specialist, social media specialist, product owner, business analyst,
graphic designer) to low-level employees (salespeople, copywriters, office staff)
● headhunted Head of Product from personal network
● run weekly team meetings in absence of CEO
● orchestrated development of a dedicated careers page
Product:
● collaborated with CEO, CPO and CTO on product roadmap to improve market
adoption
● designed and commissioned comprehensive benchmarking report on product
features / UX / UI / marketing activity of world’s leading wedding marketplaces
● executed detailed customer journey mapping exercise in order to revamp company’s
analytics setup to make collected data more granular and actionable
● conceptualized and supervised implementation of a landing page of crucial
importance

Marketing:
● single-handedly planned and executed three PR campaigns resulting in publications
in most major business and lifestyle & gossip media outlets, such as:
● business: Forbes (both print & digital); PulsBiznesu (print & digital)
Bankier, InnPoland, Mam Startup, Wirtualne Media, Marketing i
Biznes, Spidersweb, Antyweb, Superbiz.SE
● lifestyle & gossip: Onet, WP, Jastrzabpost, Pudelek, Party, Gala, Viva,
Polki, Plotek, Kobieta.pl, Chillizet, Fakt, Kozaczek,
● guided newly hired Head of Marketing through the onboarding period, helped to
define initial tasks and set up performance indicators
● played a pivotal role in averting a major sales lead generation crisis - recommended
solution led to an almost immediate 4x boost in number of daily leads generated and
2x rise in conversion

Market One Capital - part of the founding team

I was a part of the founding team of Market One Capital - second Polish fund to successfully
fundraise with European Investment Fund.

● Laid the groundwork for shaping strategy of the fund by conducting an in-depth
research of the european venture capital ecosystem, including identification of key
market drivers, market sizing, mapping competition and evaluating attractiveness of
selected regions as expansion targets.
● Single-handedly built fully interactive fund model (number of investments, round
sizes, valuations, targeted ownership positions, etc)
● Co-authored materials for due diligence with EIF, took part in the examination and
was positively evaluated
● Identified 250+ High Net Worth Individuals and companies with potential to become
Limited Partners of the new fund
● Contributed to building fund’s initial pipeline by sourcing 10+ projects within the
investment scope
● Compiled a detailed overview of the fund’s investment track record
● Co-authored materials (onepager, teaser, presentations) for fundraising efforts
Protos Venture Capital (dec14 - jan18)
I joined the fund in December 2014 as the first employee after a short gig in strategy
consulting at Big4 company. During my time in Protos, I have been promoted twice - first to
Analyst after 6mo, then to Associate after 1y3mo.

Deal Sourcing

● Sourced dealflow based on personal network, start-up related events, ecosystem of

entrepreneurs, and portfolio companies
● Worked on continuously growing and maintaining network of both domestic and
international VCs to exchange deal-flow
● Led “outgoing” dealflow efforts by analysing markets (deep dives) and monitoring
various channels and reaching out to entrepreneurs

Deal Assessment

● Managed the incoming dealflow of the company, assessed incoming leads to help
identify the most promising ones for in-depth analysis and was a key point of contact
with entrepreneurs
● Short-screened over 1200 investment projects, analyzed 400+
● Led the evaluation of potential investments in doing detailed analyses of the
companies (team, product, traction, unit economics, financials etc.) as well as
research on market, competition, technology landscape to quantitatively and
qualitatively assess the strength of potential opportunities

Deal Making

● Co-led due diligence, negotiations of deal terms, preparations of investments and

assured efficient investments closings
● Worked with legal partners to prepare and coordinate the execution of NDAs, PoAs,
term sheets, investment agreements and other legal documentation
● Participated in execution of the first successful exit - Allani.pl (​500% ROI​) - created
exit proceeds distribution model, coordinated PoAs, reviewed SPA
● Coordinated record-quick series A funding round for Shoplo.pl (<2 weeks from first
contact to close)

Portfolio Support

● Provided support to the management of portfolio companies by acting as their

sparring partner and helping them with e.g. recruitment, follow-on funding, research,
product, marketing, networking with other founders or VCs, sharing best practices
etc.
● KPI - identified most important metrics and designed reporting template for 3 portfolio
companies

Operations

● Produced both internal and external materials - investment memorandums, teasers,

presentations, performance reports, return forecasts, financial models, etc.