The Ones Who Bend the Rules Are Usually the Ones Worth Betting On
From Wrocław to Warsaw: what happens when CEE's top 1% decides to show up
You’re almost all caught up with the notes from the CEE Tour.
Today, we cover stops 10/15 and 11/15 ✅
Until now, the narrative has been consistent: there’s an application filter to select the participants, and once they’re in, I set the scene and watch how they operate.
Poland didn’t follow the script:)
The most memorable people in the room aren’t the most compliant. They’re the ones who show the world why the rules don’t apply to them.
Here are the most important lesson:
1. If the door is closed, break in
One applicant submitted her entire application in Polish, instead of English.
So, naturally, I rejected it.
She turned to the person who recommended her and showed up anyway.
Glad she did, because she was the best profile in the room: creative, collaborative, and full of energy.
After the event, she stayed behind and asked all the right questions:
“I have this concept, you’ve worked in this industry, what do you think, how should I approach it, who should I be talking to?”
She treated the rejection as irrelevant information and acted on what she actually wanted.
If she hadn’t, I would have accidentally skipped exactly the type of person we’re looking for.
In the context of building a company, this behavior is what gets you ahead.
If you’re an LP looking to plug in early, DM me on LinkedIn.
2. Make the context adapt around you, not the other way around
Then there was the girl who arrived late.
She was building a smart posture patch: you put it on your back and it vibrates every time you slouch.
During the brainstorming session, I heard her say:
“I don’t care about any of these problems. I’m here because I need feedback on my startup.”
At first, it bothered me, but then I realized:
The best founders don’t adapt to the context, they make the context adapt around them.
So she went ahead and pitched her startup.
P.S. To the top performers from all 15 countries: you’re not going unnoticed. I’m building a private community for you. Stay tuned to find out how you get in.
The Tale of Two Cities
Both rooms were filled with extraordinary profiles:
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A 25-year-old PhD student leading Poland’s international AI olympiad team
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Two founders of six-figure agencies
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Engineers from a YC-backed startup
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Multiple hackathon winners
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A triple olympiad medalist
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Ex-Meta, ex-Google
Most participants came straight at me with one agenda: find out who I actually am and whether I’m worth listening to:
“You say you invest, you say you do things, but what startup are YOU building?”
I walked them through my track record: what startups I’ve built, how they evolved and which ones I sold.
Yet…that wasn’t enough. They wanted a list of the investors who backed me as well:)
There was no space in that room for blind trust or performative politeness. And I didn’t just tolerate that energy, I came here looking for it.
Because a founder who doesn’t question the investor in the room won’t question the assumptions killing their business either.
The founders who build something real are the ones who do their due diligence on everyone, including the person running the event.
Shoutout to InQube, Emerging Founders , This Is The World, SMOK Ventures and Kolektyw3 for making Poland happen!
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