Borys MusielakHottest Polish Startups in 2024This is a fully biased, personal list of my favorite Polish 🇵🇱 startups that I also believe have a chance to become some of the hottest…7 min read·Mar 5, 2024--1--1
Borys MusielakCEE Founders on the Rise: SMOK’s 10 Investments in 2023In 2023 SMOK Ventures made a splash in the Central and Eastern European pre-seed investment scene. We backed 10 startups from Poland…5 min read·Jan 3, 2024----
Borys MusielakinStartup StashFounders Have To Be Cockroach SuperheroesStartup founders should be visionary, powerful, but also resilient and never die. They should be cockroach superheroes. Especially in 2023!3 min read·Sep 21, 2023----
Borys MusielakFour Years of SMOK Ventures: Key Metrics and Lessons LearnedIn May 2019 together with Paul Bragiel and Diana Koziarska we announced the launch of SMOK Ventures. Our goal was to help top founders from…9 min read·Aug 1, 2023--1--1
Borys MusielakWhy We Invested In Masthead DataSometimes things just click. The moment I met Yuliia I knew she’s an exceptional founder who figured out a niche in a huge data…4 min read·Jun 20, 2023----
Borys Musielak2022 in Venture Capital. Year in ReviewHow was year 2022 in VC investing? Was it better or worse than expected?1 min read·Jan 3, 2023--2--2
Borys MusielakHow to stop being a jerk as a VC in 10 simple steps?Startup fundraising sucks, especially in late 2022. Venture capitalists are taking advantage of the bad economy. Delayed processes, not…7 min read·Dec 5, 2022----
Borys Musielak10 Things Founders Say That Make Venture Capital Investors PassI listen to 100+ pitches a month and invest in 1 startup on average. There are some things that founders say that make me instantly lose…4 min read·Oct 10, 2022--10--10
Borys Musielak8 Slides That Will Land Venture Funding For Your Pre-Seed StartupDo you want to impress investors with your pitch deck? Make it short! The longer the deck, the weaker and less focused you seem to the VCs!3 min read·Sep 26, 2022--2--2
Borys MusielakSMOK in 2021. Year in Review2021 was a pivotal year for SMOK Ventures. 90% of our portfolio founders raised follow-on funding, we invested in 10 new startups, and…7 min read·Dec 27, 2021--2--2