Tuesday Talks : "Ecosystem Giants" with Jan Miczaika

An 'Ecosystem' event by Tzvete Doncheva

The 'Ecosystem Giants' Talks highlight the ecosystem members who redefine the tech investment and startup landscape. They are sessions of practical, actionable advice to entrepreneurs and operators. The ‘Ecosystem Giants' Talks speakers will share their ‘secrets’ to success, offer insights and commentary on the market. Join for an opportunity to meet and get to know (albeit virtually) some of the most seasoned VC investors and high-growth founders.

Timings

17:00 GMT Start; in conversation with Jan Miczaika

17:20 Market commentary and Q&A

17:40 Pitching for feedback

*A founder will give a 3' pitch for the chance to get direct feedback from Jan

17:50 End

Supported by :

Kaiku, an early-stage investment preparation and fundraising platform

ParlayMe, an interactive tech news and networking platform for Startups, Entrepreneurs, Investors and Business Leaders

Startups Magazine, a digital and print magazine helping tech startups connect the dots on their entrepreneurial journeys

About

Jan Miczaika is a partner at HV Capital, formerly HV Holtzbrinck Ventures, one of the most successful and financially strongest early-stage and growth venture capitalist in Europe. The firm has backed Internet and technology companies through various generations of funds. Jan caught the entrepreneurship bug early, setting up his first “real” company at 15. Jan never really worked in a major company. During a PhD at WHU (which remains uncompleted), Jan started an e-commerce marketplace, Hitmeister, which was later sold to the METRO group. Today Hitmeister is one of the leading German marketplaces, with over €600m in GMV.

Jan became active as an angel investor, supporting fellow entrepreneurs. A couple of years later Jan joined one of his investments, Wooga, as COO. During his seven years at Wooga the company grew from 30 to over 300 people; and he ran various teams at the company, with a strong focus on Marketing and Growth, and also HR. At Wooga Jan was (among other things) responsible for a €20m+ annual, platform partnerships with Apple, Facebook and Google, building the ad monetization business, opening an office in Tokyo etc. One of Jan's career highlights was launching a game called Jelly Splash at Wooga. In 2013, the game received over 1 million downloads in its first week, and more than 10 million in the first two months. It reached the #1 spot in the download charts in nine countries, including the US. This success made Jan fall in love with the power of software products and instant global distribution.

Tzvete Doncheva is the founder of 'Ecosystem', a project aiming to democratise access to the VC industry for less networked founders and junior VCs. She also works in venture. Previously she led the platform efforts at the London-based VC spin out of multinational real estate investment manager Round Hill Capital. Tzvete is a mentor to female founders (a non-exec trustee at Girls in Charge) and part of Shaper Impact Capital, a community-led volunteer project connecting purpose-driven companies with impact investors.

*Spaces are limited.