Talk by Hubert Palan, ProductBoard (Prague CZ), at Stanford Engineering on January 7 2019, in our Session #1: 'Startups & Tech Ecosystems in the Czech Republic & Central Europe'. Website: http://www.StanfordEuropreneurs.org YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordEuropreneurs Twitter: @Europreneurs

1. Hubert Palan
FOUNDER & CEO
Growing Enterprise Software
Startups in the Czech Republic
& Silicon Valley

2. Hi, I am Hubert 👋
and I am from Prague

4. Czech Republic "#
10.6M
Population
vs US 325M
$33k
GDP PPP
vs US $55k
4.3%
GDP Growth
vs US 2.3%
2.5%
Unemployment
vs US 4%

7. How I got here?
MSc in CS 2002
CTU
Prague
Management
Consultant
Central Europe
MBA 2009
UC Berkeley
Berkeley
VP Product
Management
San Francisco &
Prague
Founder &
CEO
San Francisco &
Prague

9. We have a big ambition
to be the product brain of every
company

10. productboard introduces a Product Management System
Shared inbox for insights
Tight integrations
Product Portal
Structured product hierarchy
Strategic prioritization criteria
Flexible visualizations
Shared roadmaps
Engineering integrations
Company-wide collaboration
All customer
insights
in one place
Powerful
product
workflows
Collaborative
roadmap
planning

12. Strong traction
$10M
Funding
1,600
Customers
50
Employees
10 in US 40 in CZ

14. Why we have a team in Prague ? 👍
🏠
Strong personal
network
Co-founder
&🙍
Great technical talent
Loyalty
Low competition
☀
Amazing quality of
life, expats
Low crime,
‘free’ healthcare &
education
💰
Lower cost
Low corporate &
property taxes,
Zero long-term
capital gain tax

15. There are downsides 👎
People are more risk-
averse
People don’t relocate
9-hour time
difference, no direct
flights from west coast
Lack of leadership &
business talent
Weaker personal
networks
Less “drive”
Lack of ‘think big’
Lack of big startup
successes, mostly
clones & agencies
Bureaucratic
government
European
regulations

16. Czech startup successes and VC ecosystem
Innovation Business model clones Venture Capital

17. …but Czechia still has a long way to go

18. Entrepreneur’s perspective
Don’t be concerned about the health of a startup ecosystem in a specific country.
Most important is to put yourself as close to the problem you are solving. If you are solving a
local problem, move to that location. If you are solving a global problem move as close as
you can to people who understand the problem most.
Second most important is to optimize for speed i.e. talent x budget.

19. We are hiring!
Full-time & Internships
www.productboard.com/careers

20. Thank you 🙏
Hubert Palan
@hpalan