The Next Web

Nasza-klasa: Polish example of the copy-cat approach

Written on June 11, 2008 – 3:25 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Although the Germans have a patent on the copy-cat approach - Freundefeed, anyone? -, Spanish entrepreneurs recently proved to master this unique skill as well. And now there’s 24-year-old computing student Maciej Popowicz from Poland who also seems to get that the best business plan is to import a brilliant idea from abroad. He built Nasza-klasa, a Polish version of Britain’s Friends Reunited, France’s Copains d’avant, and Holland’s Schoolbank eighteen months ago. What came next, is well described by IOL Technology:

It has taken Poland’s Internet world by storm, and claims 11 million users, giving it widest coverage and penetration in this country of 38 million people, well ahead of YouTube’s 6,4 million Polish-based users.

To complete this entrepreneurial fairy-tale, TechCrunch reported earlier today that Estonia’s Forticom has acquired a majority stake in nasza-klasa for 200 million PLN, or 60 million Euros. From now on, Forticom will reach 7.5 million monthly users.

Although it isn’t the classiest way of making money, copying a successful service from abroad does make sense. People generally have the same needs - in this case: connecting with old classmates -, so why not offering them a localized version?

I hope you like that post!

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acquire, copy cat approach, nasza-klasa.pl, Poland

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Pinpoint your travel adventures on Mapness

Written on March 16, 2008 – 8:14 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Every week we publish an interview with a start-up. We ask five questions, hoping the answers will give you inspiration and new views. Well, actually six questions, since we also ask the start-up to who he or she is passing the mic to.

This week we’re interviewing Wojciech Kosinski. He’s a developer at Polish start-up Mapness. Our UK WebTipr David Petherick met him during start-upcamp in London. Mapness is a Google Maps-based service that allows you to share your travel experience. You can pinpoint on the map where you’ve been and what you saw - videos and photos are easy to add.

How did you come up with the idea of Mapness?

Question number “Founder Mike is a keen biker and travels a lot. He has a map of Poland hanging on the wall in his house. He used to put little pins in the places he has visited, connecting them with a thread thus creating a kind of a route taken on a journey. One day he found out that there is no good place on the web to do something like that. That’s how the idea of Mapness came to live.” (more…)