The first recruitment is absolutely crucial. You need to recruit someone who isn't afraid to bust down doors and over time you start to build a strong team.
and sharing among experienced startup founders.
with potential clients, partners and investors in the Czech Republic and abroad.
tailored to each startup for a period of 6 months.
with experts from various fields.
































































Two successful exits worth hundreds of millions of crowns over the past five years. Martin Ďuriš (Macaly, Avocode) knows how to build a product that global players want to buy—Avocode was acquired by a U.S. company
AI is reshaping how products are built—but what does that actually mean for startups with small tech teams? Our guest Jake Dluhy-Smith, CEO and founder of OAK’S LAB,
“Almost everyone in the startup world has heard of ”ESOP,” but few know how to implement it properly. That’s why, in this episode, we’ll explain it from the ground up. Štefan Šurina, the founder, will walk us through it
Imagine that your best salesperson works at another company—yet still sells on your behalf. 👀 Does “partnership sales” sound like a growth hack, or is it just a Band-Aid solution?
How does one go from Sokolov to leading the international expansion of one of the fastest-growing startups in Central Europe? 🚀 Matěj Trubač, one of the first members of the ADAM startup team, is now driving its global growth
In this episode, we looked at how to approach hiring with regard to a company’s maturity, setting up processes, and building teams. With Matěj Matolín, an experienced HR leader with 20
In this episode, we spoke with Tomáš Záruba, former Chief Product and Technology Officer at Pilulka, and Vladimír Staňek, who not only has years of experience with startups but is now building
In this episode of GrowCast, we take an in-depth look at the art of crafting the perfect pitch for investors. Our guest shares invaluable insights on fundraising strategies, emphasizing the importance of
Guillermo Alda
To be honest, we didn’t have any expectations at first, but we were very pleasantly surprised. From where we were in December when we applied, to now as we’re wrapping things up, it’s been a huge change. We’ve been everywhere, raised a significant round of funding, found amazing pilot projects, and connected with great investors. What was most valuable to me was the hands-on mentorship and practical work. As founders, we don’t need theory—we need practical help, and Ment2Grow really delivered on that. It’s been an investment that has truly paid off for us, and we’ve made fantastic connections. If you ask me in two or three years, I’m sure we’ll have even more success stories that originated here. I would
I absolutely recommend it.
Marián Tomko
Ment2Grow completely changed my way of thinking. I signed up to find out how our project could actually work—and it did. I see the greatest value in the people involved and in the fact that we’ve clarified our ideas and now know exactly what to do and how to do it. Thanks to the program, we’ve adapted our tool to fit into the bigger picture, which has unlocked the next phase of our development. I definitely recommend Ment2Grow to other startups.
Tomáš Tuček
For us, Ment2Grow was a series of great workshops that helped me realize what we were doing wrong—in our case, it was mainly lead generation and customer acquisition. Now we’re working on it intensively, overhauling the whole process and building new ones. But the program’s greatest value lies in the people. Connecting with mentors and investors gives you plenty of ideas to mull over at night. As a founder, you simply can’t understand everything. Our investment in the program has definitely paid off; the Sales Bootcamp helped me the most, because sales is personally the biggest challenge for me.
Jakub Krchák
Thanks to Ment2Grow, we probably made the most changes in sales, because that’s where the most interesting tips and tricks on what to do were—how to recruit people, how to approach customer acquisition, how to approach salesperson compensation —these were the things we took to heart and where we made changes.
Matěj Ballo
At Ment2Grow, we appreciated the opportunity to connect with other founders, but we also gained a mentor with whom we continue to work to this day—and that mentor showed us new ways to approach our business and sales. We also made valuable connections during the workshops that will help us continue to grow.
David Suslík and Petr Jaroš
At Ment2Grow, we most value the opportunity to meet new and interesting people from both the startup and business environments. The setting in which the networking takes place is also very pleasant, and the organization of the entire program was at a very high level.
Tadeáš Marek
Thanks to the program, we had access to interesting people, mentors, and workshops that helped us explore and think about our business from different perspectives. It wasn't just about new strategies, but about taking a step back, looking at things differently, and figuring out where we can go next. To anyone leading a startup or thinking about how to grow, I can recommend M2G. It's a great opportunity to get feedback and meet people who are dealing with similar challenges as you.
Lukáš Loun
M2G brought me inspiration from seasoned veterans in the field, whether it was experts from Simon Says, who are partners of the program, the excellent marketer Miloš Formánek, or market insights regarding the DACH region. The network that the well-coordinated duo Riva & Pavel can connect you to is also very valuable.
Jan Kučera
Ment2Grow helped me understand where to direct my energy for successful company scaling and determine what my first steps should be. The discussion of specific issues with the speakers during the workshops was also beneficial. I see great value in having access to the M2G alumni network, which I can utilize in the future to solve problems.
Jiří Nováček
Amazing mentors, useful and very practically oriented workshops, plus great networking opportunities. All of this in the beautiful setting of the Opero space. There's hardly anything to criticize about the Ment2Grow program. We would sign up again in a heartbeat!
Michal Čížek
I like the intention that Ment2Grow has. It's a platform for sharing experiences that brings valuable know-how thanks to the mentors and activities it organises.
Lenka Michalská
My expectations from Ment2Grow were met more than one hundred percent. We are still in contact with the three investors I met at Ment2Grow. We also gained a new business partner at the networking event. The networking gave me the most, I found out what path to take when looking for international contacts.
Vladislav Severa
Ment2Grow has brought us many interesting contacts, either through Pitch Night or from the contact pool. Thanks to the program, I had the opportunity to meet some very interesting people face to face. For example, from companies with tens of thousands of employees around the world and also investors, and it was really beneficial for us.
Vojtěch Dlouhý
The biggest benefit for me has been the regular meetings with my mentor. In these meetings, after just a few weeks we were able to implement a new sales process and also set up a new affiliate sale. The business trip to the UK was great.
Juraj Atlas
The individually arranged meetings during our two-day trip to London helped us open doors to UK customers and partners.
Patrik Babinec
Our mentor helped us adjust our growth strategy and focus on the right segment of potential clients. We are now doubling our size every year.
Gabriela Takáčová
Together with our mentor we managed to successfully set up our CRM and sales processes.
Richard Malovič
Thanks to Ment2Grow I discovered the power of networking.
Veronika is the manager of the Ment2Grow accelerator. She believes in innovation and technology that have a long-term impact on society, and in founders who focus on customers rather than buzzwords. In addition to her work at M2G, she has long served as the COO of the nonprofit organization Beat Sexism and is a co-founder of the biotech spin-off BLURRED.
Co-founder of Opero, Managing Partner of Fazole Ventures and Managing Director of GROWTHGARAGE. Previously led large corporate projects, launched new ventures and startups, as well as, for example, a development program of a humanitarian organization in Afghanistan.
Vít Horký
Vítek is a Czech serial founder and investor with more than 20 years of experience building technology companies, best known as the co-founder of the Brand Embassy platform, which he successfully sold. Throughout his career to date, he has founded five companies—two of which he led to an exit, while one was unsuccessful. Today, as part of the United Founders platform, he helps early-stage founders across the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. His main mission is to strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty and build a connected pan-European ecosystem that combines capital, expertise, and community to ensure the global competitiveness of promising startups.
Václav Pavlečka
Co-founder and Managing Partner of Czech Founders VC, a fund „by founders, for founders“ that brings together the majority of the startup elite in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Václav has straddled the intersection of technology and innovation throughout his career. In New York, he co-founded Kliché Killers; he brought the Farmhouse Leo Burnett concept from Chicago to Prague; and since 2016, he has been investing in bold entrepreneurs. He is currently a managing partner at United Founders.
Riva Karo
Riva is a former program manager at M2G and head of partnerships at Opera. She holds a degree in Nutrition and Food Science, has conducted research on the gut microbiome, and has worked, among other roles, as an event manager at DoToho! and in the pharmaceutical industry. She currently serves as Head of Real Estate at CDN77.
Pavol Čobirka
Pavol is the CEO and founder of KobiVentures, where he helps companies grow and scale globally. He has more than 10 years of experience in international sales and strategy, and has served as CCO at Whalebone and CSO and co-founder of PEKAT VISION. He is known as a „process geek“ and an „improvement addict“ who can turn chaos into order. Outside of business, he is a passionate freediver and an amateur “Ice Man.”.
Pavel Fara
Pavel is the executive director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Prague.
Ondřej Bočkay
Ondřej is the executive director of the Czech-Israeli Joint Chamber of Commerce.
Miroslav Lukeš
Miroslav Lukeš is a top executive and strategist with more than 20 years of experience in global business, finance, and technology. He led Mastercard in Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and served as President of LASVIT and CMO of J&T Banka. As Chairman of the Czech Fintech Association, he supports the development of the digital economy. He focuses on growth strategies, international sales, and organizational development.
Lukáš Foglar
Co-founder and Chief Product & Marketing Officer at LutherOne—a platform for effective collaboration and performance management. With a passion for creating exceptional experiences for customers, users, and employees, Lukáš specializes in designing and implementing digital and forward-looking strategies and products that drive success.
Lenka Kučerová
She manages community and partnership relations at prg.ai—an association whose vision is to fully harness the Czech Republic’s potential and transform Prague into a European hub for artificial intelligence. Lenka informs, connects, advises, organizes, challenges, encourages, and generally strives to help individuals and organizations that have a positive impact on the world.
Karel Obluk
Karel is a partner at Evolution Equity Partners and an angel investor.
Jan Přerovský
Jan is an experienced CRO and board member at Brand Embassy, YOUR PASS, and Yieldigo. Among other things, he is also an angel investor and a long-time mentor in the Ment2Grow program and Sales Bootcamp by Ment2Grow.
Jake Dluhy-Smith
Jake is the founder and CEO of OAK’S LAB, a product development company he built from the ground up without investor funding, growing it into a business that generates hundreds of millions of CZK in annual revenue. Previously, he served as a director of the Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator, where he helped lead multiple venture-backed startups from the initial idea stage through product-market fit and growth. As an advisor and angel investor, Jake works closely with founders in the U.S. startup ecosystem, drawing on his deep expertise in software development, company building, and business strategy.
Eva Shaw
Partner at The Good Board—a firm that identifies and develops leaders who are the driving force for good within your company and in the world. Eva shares her experience as a mentor in the DoToho!, Equilibrium, and Youth Mentor programs. She has more than 25 years of experience in global senior leadership search across various industries, including FinTech, software technology, and private equity firms, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.