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Recently I had the unique opportunity to sit down with the co-founder of Devinity, Zuzanna Przybyła, who is also a graduate from the Founder Institute Warsaw. Zuzanna was visiting Silicon Valley as a delegate for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit that took place at Stanford University this summer. We thought her visit to Silicon Valley would be a great opportunity to talk about the progress of her company and the benefits to starting a company in Warsaw. This is what I learned:

Since completing the Founder Institute program, Zuzanna and her team have focused on solidifying their Minimum Viable Product, or MVP. As they approach their final steps and are preparing to launch a Beta version of their product, Zuzanna felt it was time to leave her full-time job and focus completely on making Devinity a successful product. For Zuzanna, the opportunity to keep the security of her full-time job while attending the Founder Institute was very important. As she phrased it, “self transition was key.”

The Warsaw Founder Institute is currently accepting applications, click here to apply!

Devinity is a peer-to-peer learning infrastructure for organizations. We empower employees to proactively and collectively work on their personal development at the workplace.
- Zuzana Przybyła, via Medium

At the Founder Institute, we emphasize that the key to a successful company relies heavily upon the potential founder’s background and interests. Zuzanna’s background in management provided her with the inspiration to start Devinity.

She noticed that Millennials were beginning to trade higher salaries and financial benefits for opportunities to grow and improve their skills. While some of the world’s most prominent companies have proven that you can recruit the best talent by creating a culture of innovation and growth (I’m looking at you, Facebook & Google), where does that leave larger companies who didn’t grow with the same culture? That’s where Devinity comes in. Devinity’s platform allows organizations to unlock the potential within their workforce and bring forth a culture of intrapraneurship.

While Zuzanna had clearly identified a problem within her industry and believed she had the right idea for a solution, she needed a platform to start the company. The Founder Institute met her part-time criteria and provided her with the connections she needed post-graduation in order to continue to grow Devinity after the 14 week program ended.

I am 100% sure I wouldn’t have the contacts I have in Warsaw without the Founder Institute

While it was clear that the Founder Institute was the right fit to help Zuzanna start her company, I was also interested to see what Warsaw and Poland had to offer an entrepreneur.

Zuzanna shared with me a bit about her experiences in Warsaw and what makes it a great place to build a startup. Primarily, she felt the reasonable cost of living and the growing amount of disposable income in Poland made Warsaw a cost-effective place to build a startup. Additionally, because the market in Poland is semi-mature, it provides entrepreneurs with expansive opportunity. Not only can you start companies that are on the cutting edge of technology, but you can also bring technology and ideas from other existing markets to Poland.

So what’s next for Devinity?

Funding. Which is the answer for most growing companies. As Zuzanna & Devinity continue to grow, she will be working with our graduate team to explore funding opportunities and make the right connections to grow her company.

We can’t wait to see what’s next.

 

Learn more about the Female Founder Fellowship program or click here to apply for the fellowship

The Warsaw Founder Institute is currently accepting applications, click here to apply!

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