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Greg (Grzegorz) Banas 🔜 Gamescom
Managing Partner at Game Dev VC Fund
Greg Banas is a highly experienced investment professional with over 10 years of background in high-risk, high-potential targets for both financial and corporate VCs. He has made investments across Central and Eastern Europe, with a personal interest in Game Development and IoT projects. Banas has a wide range of educational qualifications, including a PhD in Economy, Venture Capital, and Private Equity from Cracow University of Economics. He has also studied CCNA, Network and System Administration, Business Management, International Relations, and International Commerce at various universities, including Edinburgh Napier University and Uniwersytet Ekonomiczny w Krakowie.
Banas currently serves as a Managing Partner at Erebor Capital, and he has held several other positions in the past, including Venture Partner at BLDG Venture, CEO at Ad Ventures, and Head of Investment Management at hub
Banas's professional expertise is focused on investments, venture capital, private equity, and international commerce. His interests range from Game Dev and IoT to international relations and management. Banas's extensive work experience, combined with his education in various fields and his personal interests, has made him a valuable asset to any organization related to investment, venture capital, startups, or technology.
Highlights
Gamescom to największe targi branży gier na świecie. Oprócz hal pełnych stoisk z najnowszymi grami, to przede wszystkim mnóstwo spotkań, czy to w trakcie dnia, biegając po Messe i okolicznych hotelach (najgorzej jak trafi się taki po drugiej stronie rzeki), czy na wieczornych eventach. Na Gamescom nie przyjmuję prezentacji projektów. Mój focus to rozmowy z innymi inwestorami. Tak aby w swobodnej atmosferze pogadać i powymieniać się historiami - co działało, co nie, jakie inwestycje miały sens, a jakie odbiły się czkawką, z kim warto robić biznes, a kogo unikać, jakie zespoły znajdują finansowanie czy o zmianach na Steam. Wbrew temu, co może się wydawać founderom to inwestorzy dużo ze sobą rozmawiają, bo są dla siebie naturalnymi sojusznikami - dealem można się podzielić przecież.
Rynek jest zdecydowanie bardziej rozsądny i ostrożny niż w trakcie Covidowego szaleństwa. Wiele funduszy czekało (a czasem i wciąż czeka) aż wyceny i budżety wrócą do normy. Gry nie mogą być droższe w produkcji niż zarobek z ich sprzedaży. Model zarabiania na produkcji za drogich gier za środki inwestorów, których sprzedaż nie zwróci nawet budżetu, umiera w sposób bolesny dla wielu osób.
Kluczowym hasłem, które często słyszałem, stało się “transition from employee to founder” - czy prezentowany projekt pokazuje, że ktoś ma podejście przedsiębiorcy, czy jednak dalej jest mentalnie pracownikiem, który po prostu chce mieć quasi etat.
W rozmowach z zagranicznymi podmiotami często pojawia się pytanie o to, jak wygląda rynek inwestycji w Game Dev w Polsce. I takie rozmowy uświadamiają jak różny jest on od innych. Powszechne zdziwienie budzi duży udział w transakcjach indywidualnych osób nie mających doświadczenia branżowego. Padało więc pytanie skąd się Ci ludzie w ogóle w tych transakcjach biorą? Odpowiedź była prosta - pośrednicy. To ile za taką usługę pobierają opłaty? W czasach Covidu bywało to nawet 25% pozyskanego kapitału. Taki model dziwi. Nie wiem czy zawsze Ci inwestujący w ten sposób są tego świadomi, czy nie (szczególnie, że często argumentowali chęć indywidualnego inwestowania unikaniem opłat).
Na Zachodzie inwestycje realizowane są poprzez fundusze, nawet doświadczeni w branży gier weterani inwestują wspólnie przez podmioty, bo nawet jeśli uważają, że są w stanie ocenić projekt, to nie mają czasu i chęci zajmować się DD, nadzorem, exitami i innymi czynnościami koniecznymi przy inwestycji. Standardem jest model 2&20, gdzie 2% kapitału idzie na obsługę podmiotu i wszystkie koszty operacyjne, a 20% to success fee od wyjścia - czyli inwestorzy muszą zarobić. Pośrednicy natomiast zarabiają niezależnie od tego, czy spółka osiągnęła sukces, czy zawinęła się po kilku miesiącach.
Nie umiałem odpowiedzieć skąd bierze się wybieranie w Polsce tego modelu. Najbardziej zabawnym podsumowaniem od jednego rozmówcy było: “Wy to Polacy jesteście dziwni czasami, dobrze, że gry robicie normalnie, a nie kombinujecie jak przy inwestowaniu”. W sumie trudno się nie zgodzić.
My cat looks like I feel after another Gamescom and my batteries need recharging. And probably quite a lot of you does too, especially the ones whose way back home has been longer than expected thanks to courtesy of airline and train companies. 😼
For me it has been a great one but a very focused one at the same time. Some superb meetings and insightful discussions about where Game Dev is and where it’s heading. It’s hard but there is a way. But you need to stick to it.
As every year there was unsolvable dilemma of the Wednesday evening - and I would love if next year most of the events would not want to be on Wednesday. Roll of dice or straws maybe for next one? 😹 Four events for me has been a challenge and that’s not a half of what I would love to attend to meet the people.
Now it’s time to chill for me for a day with my cats and get on those Gamescom follow ups. I’ll try to post something about my takeaways soon, but I’m curious what are yours?
See you next time one the way 😺
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.