[11/01/2021, Michael Chaffe, Wolves Summit CEO]
I recall being quizzed back in 2019 just prior to the 10th Wolves Summit edition (our first as the new owners) on how we were going to draw overseas VCs to the region. My response was:
"First of all Maciej, I'm going to approach Andrzej <senior director at a prominent Polish multinational> and persuade them to provide us with one of their corporate jets for a London to Warsaw round-trip. Then I'm going to knock on all the right doors in London, until I have every spot on that Learjet filled."
At Wolves Summit's upcoming 13th edition, we're excited to welcome a lineup of investors from the world's most distinguished VCs who will sit as judges of our Great Pitch Contest.
Notable investors so far include Olivia de La Rivière - Bpifrance, Emily Zhen - New Enterprise Associates, Jakob Kleihues - APX, Greta Anderson - Balderton Capital, Oscar Ramos - SOSV, Chantal Ambord - Accel, Maxime Paradis - Genius Global, Nate Sztrum - Deutsche Telekom VC, Kevin Monserrat - Consilience Ventures, David Citron - Global Founders Capital, Christian Boas - Keiretsu Forum, and Oran Bambrick - Enterprise Ireland. We will be announcing more judges and investors over the next few weeks leading up to our event.
Alongside our international judges will sit their regional counterparts from the CEE VC community, whose unwavering support over the last five years has allowed Wolves Summit to become what it is today - sincere thanks to all of you!
Now poor Maciej probably walked away from our 2019 conversation wondering if I'd taken my medication that morning, but I had been deadly serious. As things panned out on that occasion, I didn't manage to secure the jet; we achieved something more valuable - stirring the European and International VC community to pay more attention to the CEE region, particularly Poland. As every entrepreneur knows - “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” - Norman Vincent Peale.