History
Startup Poland Foundation was established in 2015 on the initiative of technology entrepreneurs, investors, lawyers and scientists who saw one thing: Polish innovations need strong representation. They need an organisation that speaks for them, understands their real challenges and can translate them into concrete actions.
It all started in 2014, when Borys Musielak, Michał Juda and Jan Stasz brought together representatives of regional ecosystems, local governments, VC funds, business angels and founders in one place. The all-day workshop ended with a list of the ten most important barriers blocking the development of young technology companies. Over 150 founders supported these proposals, and the Foundation's Board included Piotr Wilam and Konrad Latkowski, while the Programme Board included Rafał Brzoska and Michał Brański.
In the following years, Startup Poland was led by Eliza Kruczkowska, then Julia Krysztofiak-Szopa, and then Tomasz Snażyk. From February 2026, the Foundation is entering a new phase under the leadership of Anna Mazurek.
This is a moment when Startup Poland is returning to its roots – to direct contact with founders, listening to their needs and acting where the voice of tech entrepreneurs really matters.
Objectives
Startup Poland promotes regulations and recommends those activities that best stimulate technological entrepreneurship.
This strong technology hub has set itself the goal of identifying and then eliminating systemic barriers in Polish law and administration that limit rapid growth and development
young companies.
The Foundation works for the development of technological entrepreneurship and the development of startup financing infrastructure. He also represents the interests of technology entrepreneurs in dialogue with the Polish public administration, European Union institutions, as well as corporations and the academic community.
Program postulates
The main barriers and challenges facing Polish startups were presented by the Foundation in the program declaration during the European Economic Congress on April 22, 2015.
Postulates of the Startup Poland Foundation:- promoting the culture of investing in startups by creating conditions conducive to the emergence of strong market ventures;
- consulting with the public sector on legal changes supporting the development of the startup ecosystem, which will result in the selection of the most useful and scalable projects;
- providing citizens with more data collected in public offices;
- creating the position of Chief Technology Officer in the Polish administration, i.e. a plenipotentiary for technological innovations at the government and local government level, a person deciding on the direction of applying modern technologies;
- increasing the attractiveness of the Polish economy for entrepreneurs and specialists from outside the European Union by creating a simple and transparent system for granting visas;
- introducing entrepreneurship lessons in schools, conducted by trained teachers, with the support of practitioners;
- introducing effective incentives to create programs educating technological entrepreneurs, conducted by venture capital funds and local communities.
- developing simple procedures for transferring public funds and a better mechanism for distributing funds from the European Union for investors who offer not only financial but also substantive support.
- introducing favorable tax mechanisms - changes in the regulations of a joint-stock company and a limited joint-stock partnership, similar to convertible debt, and enabling the use of option pool in a limited liability company and in a joint-stock company - legal forms adapted to the sale of their shares under equity crowdfunding - which would significantly increase the interest of business angels in investing in young, innovative enterprises in Poland.
- creating a support system and procedures for investing in startups - in the form of a catalog of services made available via API, used in all offices, at every level of administration.