Seems Impossible? Hold my tea and watch!
Huge Thing’s 2023 in Review.
Yes… we can proudly say that 2023 was a fantastic ride for us! We did more than we had planned, we achieved more than we had expected, and we’ve never been more ready for the next 12 months than now! So, Ladies and Gentlemen, let us take you on a brief time-travel adventure with a quick recap of 2023 at Huge Thing! Of course, we’ll also share a sneak peek of our plans for the next year, big and small!
First, we want to thank you all for another great year together! 2023 was truly special for us. Let’s just say it was a bit nostalgic! Not sure if you realize, but that was the year Huge Thing celebrated its 11th birthday! In 2012, we were just a small company, a team of bright-eyed enthusiasts who dared to launch one of Poland’s first accelerator programs. Fast forward to 2023, and we’re running international programs for startups, collaborating with Polish and global corporations, assisting local governments in embracing innovation, and continuously sharing our experience and knowledge on an ever larger scale. If you’re thinking it sounds impossible, well, that’s just what we deliver.
We’re always by your side! 🙌
Nothing’s changed here. Being close to you and the innovations ecosystem has always been, and continues to be, our utmost priority. That’s exactly why we hit over 30 events last year, including international ones like Tech Open Air in Berlin and must-attend Polish conferences like InfoShare! And, of course, we’re constantly working to integrate our local ecosystem more and more, seizing every opportunity… Who among you at ImpactCEE can forget our dinner gathering? 🥂 Looks like it’s becoming a tradition, so gear up for May!
Knowledge sharing is caring! …so give it back to the community! 📚
Every member of our team is on a constant journey of growth, pushing the limits of their knowledge and acquiring new skills. A sure way to get ahead in this regard is to participate in our ecosystem, where various friends and experts share their insights and experiences. That’s why, at Huge Thing, ‘giving back to the community’ is not just an empty slogan. We share our knowledge and expertise in many ways, too numerous to list all at once… so let us highlight just a few selected ones. ⤵️
🗣 Mentoring, Workshops, Speeches…
Undoubtedly and with great pride, we can say that every team member led at least three workshops for the community in 2023! Some recent highlights include the workshops Natalia and Mateusz put together for Econverse and the workshop series ‘PlusJeden for Development’ we co-organized, where Zuza and Monika shared their expertise in Service Design. Moreover, we were right there with you as judges and mentors. Maryla participated in the last edition of the Mother and Child Startup Challenge Demo Day, while Damian served as a mentor during the 1991 Hackathon. We also actively contributed to discussions, as Monika did, for instance, at the Poznan Economic Congress. Of course, 2023 also saw our ‘Innovation Breakfasts’ ☕ for corporate partners, not only in Warsaw but also, for the first time, in Poznań.
🎙️…or maybe you had the chance to hear us in one of the podcasts?
Together with Mam Startup and with the support of Google for Startups Warsaw, we recorded two series of our podcasts! Our amazing hosts, Maryla and Zuza, delved into the world of innovations together with our fantastic guests. We enjoyed hosting experts like Kasia Wszoła, Paulina Skrzypińska, Tamara Bińczak, Marcin Kurczab, Jan van der Saar and many other inspiring game-changers in our studio But that’s not all, as we also loved participating in other market podcasts! Monika took part in the Startup Poland, My Startup Story by InnPoland, and PolandVC podcasts. Damian was featured in a conversation for the InQube Podcast, and recently, a conversation with Maryla was published in ‘StartUp with Poland’ by Poland Weekly.
🗺️ We served as your guide through the world of startup and corporate collaboration
Collaborating between startups and corporations is a lot like searching for a hidden treasure. Every founder has heard the legends; everyone wants to strike gold with their collaborations, and it always seems to come easier to somebody else. But…being a startup founder doesn’t mean you’re the Indiana Jones in a perpetual treasure hunt. 🕵️ To forge successful collaboration between a startup and a large organization, proper preparation is key, and it starts with a thorough understanding of the company’s needs. That’s exactly why we prepared the second, updated version of our Huge Innovators’ Map. In this resource, you’ll find 27 large organizations telling you upfront about the areas and development stages they seek innovation in. Why not reach out and ask us about it? It’s literally gold.
📕 We created PlayBook for local governments eager to collaborate with innovations
Responding to the needs for implementing innovations in local governments, we’ve crafted Poland’s first-ever innovation handbook dedicated to them. TThis publication offers a comprehensive guide to the innovation process, including need identification, solution acquisition, testing, and implementation. It also includes a wealth of practical tips and essential tools. Additionally, the handbook outlines the key challenges local governments face in innovation management and features profiles of selected innovators from local government units who actively engage in new technologies.
📝 We wrote a lot…quite a bit of writing indeed
We regularly speak, engage in discussions, and feature in podcasts… but we also write! Besides the PlayBook mentioned above, we actively contribute to various market reports and media publications. A highlight to remember from last year is Maryla’s extensive article for the ‘Positive Impact Startups’ report by Kozminski University, where she shared her insights on the three horizons methodology and proposed how it can be applied to driving innovation. We can’t overlook Mateusz’s expert articles, like his recent piece for ReBiznes, where he explored the topic of smart cities. What’s more, in 2024, we decided to increase our presence on Medium, so be sure to keep an eye out for more frequent updates there!
Projects, projects… we’ve successfully done a lot of really cool projects!
Well, what can we say… we just love projects! 💙 In the past year, 2023, we developed and upgraded our previous initiatives and launched several new ones! All this thanks to our rockstar team and the collaboration with top-notch partners! Below, you’ll find some highlights from our most significant projects. ⤵️
🚀 Collabor8
Sounds mysterious, right? Collabor8 is a market-driven, two-month training program designed for startups from Central and Eastern Europe. Its goal is to spread knowledge about effective collaboration between startups, corporations, and venture capital funds. This initiative is a brainchild of collaboration with our partners Google for Startups, PZU, Saint Gobain Glass, Let’s Fintech with PKO Bank Polski, and SpeedUp Venture Capital Group.
🏙️ Govtech InnoLab
In 2023 we finalized our unique program dedicated to local government units in Poland which was implemented in partnership with PARP and GovTech. The goal was to develop modern competencies among public administration employees and show them how to effectively search for, test, and implement innovative technological solutions.
💡Poland Prize
We completed the implementation of the Poland Prize program, which aimed to support foreign startups looking to enter the Polish market. Selected startups were offered comprehensive business and administrative support, as well as access to investors and technology recipients. Moreover, each participant received from us an equity-free grant of EUR 65K to realize innovation development and test implementation.
🤝 Żabka Future Lab 2.0
This is the flagship acceleration program of the Żabka Group, the ultimate convenience ecosystem in Poland, serving over 3 million consumers daily. We partnered with Żabka Group to organize the second edition of this program focused on scouting and testing technological solutions relevant to the company’s needs.
💼 Speeddating with International VC Funds
In collaboration with PFR Ventures, we organized two editions of Speeddating, where Polish startups had the chance for 1–1 conversations with international investors such as Contrarian Ventures and Montis Capital.
💰 Poland’s First CVC Academy
Leveraging our knowledge and experience, and with support from experts at SpeedUp Group Leveraging our knowledge and experience, and with support from experts at SpeedUp Group and PFR Ventures, we created and launched Poland’s first-ever educational program for corporation representatives and large companies that contemplate investing in the corporate venture capital model. The Academy kicked off on December 18th, and across seven modules, we covered aspects like developing investment strategies, calculating the size of investment ‘tickets,’ and decision-making processes in investments.
📈 PlusJeden for Development
This marks yet another edition of the Poznań workshop series that we organized in collaboration with Plus Jeden (a special place for meetings, work and exchange of knowledge and experiences created by the City of Poznań). The program was designed for individuals looking to create businesses based on knowledge and new tech solutions.
🌐 Huge Thing Alumni Club
We are continuously developing our alumni club open to everybody who graduates from our programs. The club organizes regular workshops by invited experts, and we also provide additional benefits through special offers and proposals from our partners. And, of course, the greatest value of our club is networking!
👩💼 Female Founders Fundraising Academy
In December, we launched the recruitment for the first edition of the FFFA, part of our two-year collaboration with Visa Foundation. The first batch in the series focuses on supporting entrepreneurial women. We want to offer them the knowledge and tools necessary for effective fundraising and further global development of their startups.
Let us tell you words about our 2024 plans
You probably won’t be surprised to hear that we have some crazy and highly ambitious plans for 2024. We want to continue what we do best, so we’ll be expanding our offer and collaborations with corporate innovators as well as organizing more programs for startups. But we’re also planning a bold move towards international expansion, so soon, we hope you’ll be reading about our new initiatives in foreign markets. Additionally, we’re preparing a small but valuable surprise for our Polish community — stay tuned for a fantastic networking opportunity! If you’re wondering how on earth we’ve achieved all this, well, we have an amazing team that keeps on growing. Recently, Maria and Marta joined us, and soon, we’ll be opening more roles and starting new recruitments.
That’s all for now!
Thank you!
💙
