Lukasz Jakubowski

FDE Guy | ex-Palantir

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

What my work at bigger companies did not teach me is (even as FDE) how to get your foot in the door in enterprise companies.

This is so much relationship-, recommendation-, and trust-driven.

It feels like a whole new universe to me, but it also gives me hope that the longer you play the game, this compounds. We're doing a great job.

Because oftentimes budget decisions are not only with technical stakeholders.

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

Being new to X it's super cool that people just speak and comment and disagree.

Previously, I was way more active on LinkedIn, and the energy needed to post there was a much higher barrier than here.

Obviously, there is a lot more hate and fake stuff, but it's also much easier to filter it out because people are talking way more. In general, I find X folk much more supportive and find to talk to!

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

YC application number 5 - staying strong. Love the game. Why I apply to YC every quarter?

* Strategic reset: It makes me step back and reassess the business, and whether my current direction still makes sense.

* Team check: It’s a chance to confirm I’m building with the right people and that our visions line up.

* Zooming out: In the daily grind of growing a company, it makes me check whether I’m going about it the best way.

* Sharper storytelling: It pushes me to make videos, materials and demos that turn the excitement in my head into something others can see.

This time around:

* I feel strongly about this application.

* I believe there’s tremendous potential in what I’m building now.

* Even if I don’t get in, the process alone is worth it. I cannot unhear the phrase, "Each no takes you closer to the yes."

cc @ycombinator

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@MrAurelian @lacikiszely I honestly think Warsaw is another level, Krakow is rather stagnant, and it is very important to build in-personal connections for conferences, especially if you can get to speak at them and present yourself as an expert. It will depend on your sector, though.

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

I find it sad that in Poland, many super strong people will just go to corporations, instead of trying to set up great business. I think it relates to the culture of success and risk aversion.

What is more surprising, and my totally biased observation, is that this also spans into people in their late 20s, 30s, and up to their 40s.

In the UK/US, my sense is that only young people look up to prestigious corporations, and the percentage of entrepreneurship effectively increases among people in their late 20s and 30s.

It is a bit of my mission to change that.

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@wiksien it also does not have to be 0-1, you can always have a part time and have freedom to experiment, sometimes its more of a mental than real barrier

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@krachtopoulos I think this is a very individualistic view. I will definitely keep on changing, that is the fun in live!

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@lacikiszely I get it, but on the free market in PL you can easily get the same money as salary just doing contract as Sole Trader, its just not really portrayed to people as sexy option

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@Fenrir56970278 *are usually pretty much dehumanizing

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

I get it, man, and definitely it's not always that clear-cut. I think, more system-wise, it's so much easier to get a job when you have a country with a lot of businesses, because you just talk directly to people (while founders are close to them), instead of going through mundane HR pipelines that are usually pretty much the human thing.

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

I am not actually sure about education being such a key component over here. Especially education in the current shape. I think a more practical approach and getting people active entrepreneurially at earlier ages is actually way better (instead of incubating them until they're 23 and then releasing them to the world that functions totally differently than academic performance).

@SzymonRybczak trajectory is a great example here (he started @callstackio when he was like 16 bro), it requires a lot of courage and people believing in potential

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@sensei_prek Bro let's cook together!

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

Bracing all my social energy, talking about industry problems and opportunities

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@Allivista Hah I treat is more as quarterly reflection :)

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

YC application number 5 - staying strong. Love the game. Why I apply to YC every quarter?

* Strategic reset: It makes me step back and reassess the business, and whether my current direction still makes sense.

* Team check: It’s a chance to confirm I’m building with the right people and that our visions line up.

* Zooming out: In the daily grind of growing a company, it makes me check whether I’m going about it the best way.

* Sharper storytelling: It pushes me to make videos, materials and demos that turn the excitement in my head into something others can see.

This time around:

* I feel strongly about this application.

* I believe there’s tremendous potential in what I’m building now.

* Even if I don’t get in, the process alone is worth it. I cannot unhear the phrase, "Each no takes you closer to the yes."

cc @ycombinator

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@tomhuntio That would be too easy

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@Markiian_B Bro the 50 chars description

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@PatrykLDev We need to do hackathon together!

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

250 sign-ups, there is 10 people with this job in Poland. Can feel the 1000% growth.

Emerging themes from our FDE panel:

+ Empathetic hyper-optimizers
+ Excitement engines (hackathons, high agency champions)
+ Strategic selection of meaningful features
+ Pulling aces all the time (marketplacing, modularity)
+ Customer-lingual (like really speaking their vocab)
+ Read to pull 20hr in one go to the the thing done

From training Apex to custom deployments in NFZ, we want through it all.

Made me much more confident that we will be a country of stoked FDEs.

cc @callstackio @ElevenLabs @OpenMercato @thymikee @PatrykLDev

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@PatrykLDev The goat!

[Lukasz Jakubowski @woocash_j]

@thymikee Thanks brother!