#MeetTheTeam Monday
Marcin Kurek is the co-founder and Managing Partner at Market One Capital. Before that, however, he went through almost all steps in the tech industry: he worked at startups and then founded his own marketplace business. Apart from general support to companies, Marcin likes to be close to strategic, marketing, and product matters — all that thanks to his entrepreneurial experience, part of which he decided to share with us. Let’s see!
Of all the impactful moments in your career, which would you say was the most exciting for you?
Definitely the foundation of my startup in 2008. I left a well-paid job to jump into the pool not being sure whether there is water in it. Thirteen years ago, the startup ecosystem in Poland practically didn’t exist and the word ‘startup’ was totally unknown to the public. It was hard to get any advice or know-how since there were only a bunch of people in the area. It was almost impossible to fundraise back then. So it really seemed crazy, like a mission impossible. But it worked greatly and we were one of the first VC-backed notable tech exits in Poland. This experience completely shaped my character and personality, and made me continue my career in tech later as an angel investor and finally as a GP.
So now, as an investor and having this experience, what do you pay attention to first when evaluating a startup?
When I moved from being an entrepreneur to start investing, I always looked first at the idea. I was able to fall in love with great business concepts and imagined myself developing such a startup. That was a big mistake which led me to few investment mistakes. Right now, at first I only look at people. The idea is the last thing I am interested in. I want to know what is the background of the founders, their values, life achievements, goals, and finally what problem on which market they want to solve. So right now I try to fall in love with founders☺
Any piece of advice you would have for new founders, so that you would more easily fall in love with them?
It’s hard to give just one piece of advice, but I will try. So I would recommend each founder to go mentally ‘all-in’. I don’t mean to overwork yourself because keeping a healthy work life-balance is crucial. I mean to get in love with your business and start to treat it as a lifestyle — not a job. Most of the value created for the business does not happen in the office — there we only execute those things and ideas that we spend time thinking about in any other place. If you don’t fall in love with your business and don’t start to treat it as your universum, the others will. And at some point, they will overtake you.
You mentioned attitude. What kind of people do you like to surround yourself with at work?
I am a big fan of the quotation ‘You are the average of the five people you mostly spend time with’. I totally believe it works this way and applies to everyone’s business and private life. That’s why it is so important to surround yourself with people sharing the same values and looking in the same direction. There shouldn’t be any compromises here☺
So I love working with people who are ‘truth seekers’. Their goal is to find an ultimate best solution and not to be just ‘right’. That’s why I cannot work with people having some ego issues since very often being ‘right’ for them is the main goal.
Personality, character… What do you believe is your strength?
I am a good strategic thinker which enables me often to have a good big picture of the situation and thus make best decisions. It’s probably related to my obsession with playing chess and RTS games when I was a teenager☺
I am also known for my built-in empathy which helps me to look at someone’s problems, challenges, and plans from their own perspective.
