A significant number of companies in Poland have evolved into major players with a global reach in highly competitive fields. The country is slowly, but with resolve, finding its place on the global tech map.
A few months ago I had a chance to inspect the country’s burgeoning tech scene and its vibrant startup community. In a world where many businesses see their destiny in finding elite buyers such as Apple, Google and IBM, Polish companies have a different story to tell. They are set apart from larger and more powerful competitors on both sides of the Atlantic as they continue to emphasize their initial stance of remaining bootstrapped.
One very obvious example can be found in GetResponse, a company specializing in email marketing and marketing automation software specifically designed for small and medium businesses. This company is gaining wide-range attention as it continues to set itself apart from other marketing tech companies traditionally based in the tech hubs of Silicon Valley, Berlin and beyond.
The company, based in the city of Gdansk, is entirely self-funded, and CEO and founder Simon Grabowski projects an enviably optimistic logic and reasoning behind his decision to rely on local funding - all the while enjoying a global reach.
I had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with Simon to discuss what the future holds for his growing company.
How do you plan to scale?
We think very strategically about our U.S. presence. Very soon we’re opening an office here featuring a Head of GetResponse U.S., a business development team and a strategic partnerships team. We are planning a bigger expansion with more exposure on the local market. With that in mind we’ve also created a very detailed partnerships program which is going to help gain new market, especially in the agency sector. Changes will also come to the product itself. Our product roadmap is constructed in a way to help us step-by-step to develop and offer the best complex online marketing support for SMBs.
What are your specific long/short term goals?
Short term, we’re focusing on setting up the U.S. office for the next couple of months. Long-term, we want to make sure clients get to know GetResponse capabilities beyond email marketing: marketing automation, landing pages, web forms, webinars. We want to make sure people know our company as an advanced online marketing toolkit.
Why have you decided to stay in Poland?
The heart of the company is in Poland and we plan to leave it that way. It’s like in football – you don’t change the winning team. Polish programmers are regularly mentioned in or winning top rankings. We have the best people in the business. Besides that, the fact that we are based in Europe and opening new offices as we go gives us a unique point of view on how to do business and what we can offer. We’re not just another startup created the Silicon Valley way. We took the road less travelled. We’re here to stay and our focus is on the best product quality, not on being acquired.
How can Polish companies challenge big global players in the Valley and in other major hubs?
The quality of the technology and our people, that’s for sure. We built GetResponse locally using a vision of creating a global business, and there are many successful Polish companies that use the same approach. Cost optimization is also important. Combining that with the quality of our people, we can offer product that is technologically advanced at a very good price. Besides that, as a European company, we create our own, unique style of doing things that somewhat differs from how the US companies do business. It’s all about subtle things that make all the difference. For example, English is not a first language in Poland, so we are very focused on delivering top-notch localization quality with product available in 21 languages: anything from English, German, Polish, or Italian to Vietnamese.
What advice would you give to companies faced with a choice of raising external capital or staying bootstrapped?
Don’t think about the money -- think about the development and growth. This question is really a question about your entrepreneurial strategy and business ethic. I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with someone that wants to build a business and sell it, no. I’m saying that both ways have their advantages and disadvantages, both ways can teach you a lot and sometimes when the vision of money kicks in, these things are not clear enough. For anyone who has this choice in front of them, I would say stay bootstrapped for as long as you can. Get to know the customers and get to know the market. Learn as much as you can about how to plan and budget, how to hire the best people, and how to build something from the ground up. Develop a clear vision of your product and push, with everything you can, to make it happen. I did it, it can be done. The satisfaction and joy from running this business is tremendous.
