As a co-founder of one of the first interactive agencies in Poland in 1990s, I openly admit to many errors, some of which almost cost us our business. But since all failures should be treated as learning experiences, here are my lessons learnt when developing our own company - now one of top software houses in Poland. I hope you find our story inspiring to make your own mistakes and learn from them. Slides from the Startup Wrocław meetup held in Nov 2017

1. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM MY FAILURES
Grzegorz Rudno-Rudziński |

2. –Adapted From Someone Important
“There is no such a thing as a mistake,
there’s only a learning experience!”

3. A FEW WORDS ABOUT ME…
Graduate of Technical University of Wroclaw
Co-founder of Internet Designers –
one of the first interactive agencies in Poland
Managing partner at Unity Group –
IT provider employing over 200 specialists
Member of IT Corner Community
Family guy, very much into sports and travelling
Grzegorz Rudno-Rudziński

4. … ANDTHE UNITY GROUP
With over 20 years of
e-commerce & e-business
experience, we’ve successfully
delivered hundreds of projects
for top brands in Poland and
other EU countries.
CHECK OUR CASE STUDIES

5. MISTAKE #1: HOSTILETAKEOVER ATTEMPT

6. YEAR 2000:THE DOT.COM BUBBLE
It’s year 2000 and we
decide to go to the
stock exchange as
many others do.

7. A BITE OFTHE REALITY SANDWICH...
Debt of 1 million PLN.
Losses hitting the roof.
Team we can’t afford to keep.

8. SAY HELLOTOTHETAKEOVER ATTEMPT!
And when you think things just
can’t go any worse, a random
lawyer calls us to present an offer
from a mysterious investor.

10. GET UP, STAND
UP, DON'T GIVE
UPTHE FIGHT!
Informing the team, clients, banks
and partners about our situation.
Surviving on the family and
friends’ loans.
Reported the incident to the
police.

11. 3YEARS OF CLEARING OUR DEBTS

12. SPOILER ALERT:WE MADE IT!
And since then, we’ve also grown
our technology stack, so we’re
now able respond to a very
broad range of business needs.
SEE OUR CURRENT OFFER

13. MISTAKE #1: LESSONS LEARNT
Never assume everyone
shares your values.
Always have a Plan B!
Trust your team and treat
them as partners.
Be transparent and honest.
Resilience is the key.

14. MISTAKE#2: MERGER WITH A COMPETITOR

15. WHY MERGE WITH A COMPETITOR?
Pick the best of each organisation
to achieve synergy.
Gain momentum and expand into
European markets.

16. THE NEW ORGANISM DOESN’T
WORK AS EXPECTED…
Sales and projects slow down.
We get quality complaints.
Technical debt incurs higher
service costs.
Loss of confidence among team,
partners and clients.

17. NO SHAREDVISION RESULTS IN
AN UNMANAGEABLE OFFER...

18. REACHINGTHETIPPING POINT
We have great people.
Our team does a good job.
Somehow we can’t deliver value
to our clients.

20. REASONSTHIS MARRIAGE COULDN’T WORK
Differences in interpretation.
Communication styles:
transparency vs. knowledge is
power.
Culture of feedback vs. of hiding
errors.
Diverging visions.

21. MISTAKE #2: LESSONS LEARNT
Merger isn’t a piece of cake.
The trap of authority vs. listening to your
team.
Observe, ask questions, listen attentively.
Accept the fact that building a common
culture is a process.
Embrace the real benefits of the merger.

22. THE REALVALUES OF OUR MERGER
Valuable people.
Some synergy indeed took place!
Revitalised teamwork and new
ideas.
Delivery of value to new clients.

24. THE REAL GAME-CHANGER WERE OUR PEOPLE
We wouldn’t get through this
moment without the energy and
support from the team – people
from both organisations that
helped us to tackle this issue.

25. – Jim Collins, Good to Great
“Start by getting the right people on the bus,
the wrong people off the bus,
and the right people in the right seats”

26. CHECK OUR POSTS ON
BUSINESS &TECHNOLOGY
We’re lucky to have some really
talented folks on our team.
They’re not only great at what
they do, but also keen to share
their knowledge.
READ OUR BLOG

27. Grzegorz Rudno-Rudziński | | en.unity.pl
grzegorz.rudno-rudzinski@unity.pl