In the opening workshop, early-stage startup founders will learn what it really takes to be a successful CEO including the mentality, leadership skills, and approach to the company’s mission, market, and culture. In addition, an experienced entrepreneur will share what mistakes and pitfalls should be avoided.
Teams that are interested in pursuing venture capital will hear what the growth expectations are from the V.C. perspective for projects to be viable and realistically considered for investment.
Agenda
17:45-18:00 Soft Opening
18:00-18:15 Welcoming And Workshop Introduction By Paweł Kulon
18:15-18:30 Presentation “The Tech Entrepreneur Mind: Best Practices & Mistakes To Avoid” By Anna Ryś
18:30-18:45 Presentation “What It Takes To Be VC Fundable” By Grzegorz Banaś Investment Manager BLDG Venture
18:45-19:15 Interactive Question Time In Digital Breakout Groups
19:15-19:30 Wrap Up & Calls To Action
Get Started
Begin Reading Y Combinator Essential Advice
English: https://blog.ycombinator.com/ycs-essential-startup-advice/
Polish: https://www.omgkrk.com/start/
And Watch Y Combinator Video
Startup Mistakes To Avoid by Anna Ryś – Serial Startuper
How To Be VC Fundable by Grzegorz Banaś – Investment Manager at BLDG Venture
How To Run And Manage A Startup by Szymon Janicki – CEO at HCM Deck
How To Fundraise by Maciej Gnutek – Senior Investment Associate at Innovation Nest
The Dragons Cave Pre-Accelerator is realized with the financial support of Małopolska.
Recommended Reading
Leadership
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink – This isn’t a self-help book from some “gurus”, nor does it provide an ideology or set of steps for how to approach specific problems. Extreme Ownership is a mindset which applies to everything you do.
The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni – Patrick Lencioni is the founder of The Table Group leading authority on how to build high performing teams and healthy organisations. We run regular leadership programmes with The Table Group. Very actionable but straightforward. 8/10
On start ups
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz – Ben Horowitz is one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and influential tech entrepreneur, turned investor. This book summarises beautifully the tech entrepreneurial journey. Could read this 2-3 times and learn more every time. 10/10
Play Bigger, by Dave Peterson. So simple yet so compelling. I’m a big fan of Play Bigger and their approach to helping tech companies create, define and dominate their category. 9/10.
The Sales Acceleration Formula, by Mark Roberge. Mark was the CRO at Hubspot and created predictable and scalable techniques for hiring, training, coaching and managing sales people. Compelling, insightful, so practical. 9/10
Inspired – How to create tech products customers love, by Marty Cagan. Marty is one of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners on product management and this book summarises the gulf that exists between the very best tech product led organisations and the rest. Great read and very compelling. 9/10
Predictable Revenue, by Aaron Ross. How to turn your business into a $100m sales machine, based on Aaron’s experiences at Salesforce. Very powerful, perhaps a little dated? 8/10
Customer Success, by Nick Mehta. Nick the CEO of Hubspot, together with Dan Steinman (who now runs Europe for Gainsight), invented the Customer Success category as defined by this book. Perhaps a bit basic and needs a re-write. 7/10.
The Messy Middle, by Scott Bellsky. This is a good compendium of anecdotes based on Scott’s start up experiences, but wish he’d dive into some topics in more details. Feels lightweight and unsatisfying. 7/10.
Straight Talk for Startups by Randy Komisar. (9) This book distills down 100 tips and tricks from an exceedingly well qualified author with the insider angles on all things Silicon Valley.
High Growth HandBook by Elad Gil (8) In this book Elad offers great advice for growth stage startups. His experience accross Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, OpenDoor, Wish and others is invaluable.
The Upstarts, How Uber Airbnb by Brad Stone (10) A great read about the creation of Air B&B and Uber and the Silicon Valley startup culture. Stone does an excellent job weaving between the two upstarts and subtly comparing and contrasting the approaches of both companies and their CEOs, while being committed to telling each story
Get a Grip by Gino Wickman (10) read this in conjunction with Traction. A great combo for a business.
Traction by Gino Wickman (10) “The concepts and tools that have been masterfully captured in the pages of this book will give you a great framework to grow your business.
On business, leadership, potential
The Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler. A fascinating and compelling analysis of how “flow” transformed extreme sports n 80’s, 90’s and now. Combines amazing stories with accessible neuroscience and practical insights. Loved it. 10/10.
Mindset by Carol Dweck Dweck explains why it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success-but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. Will change the way you think about intelligence and potential. 9/10.
Principles, by Ray Dalio. Brilliant dissection of how to build a business from one of the world’s most successful investors. 8/10
Simple Habits for Complex Times by Jennifer Garvey Berger. Simple lessons in better habits for life and work: ask better questions, take different perspectives, think in systems. 8/10.
Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed. How to foster growth mindsets. Now having read Carol Dweck, this is somewhat limited. 7/10