What Can We Learn From Each Other? - The AI Baltic Tales
A Backpacker’s Networking Journey Through Innovation and Cultures
Well, it’s on.
As I’m looking around my emptied apartment in Warsaw, the sound of my friend’s voice rings in my ears. „You just couldn’t sit tight and have a normal life.” Yup, I wouldn’t. No, seriously, at least for now. As it’s some kind of addiction, coping mechanism, and a mission combined into one. There’s that tingling feeling of fixing the rails right in front of the running train. Buster Keaton style.
It’s happening again, folks. The backpack is ready, the mindset is set, and all the details are vague and uncertain. The adventure is near. And this time, I’d like to invite you to join me. At least in a way.
I’d like to invite you to explore local tech ecosystems around the Baltic Sea with me. Learn from our close European neighbors and discover a bit of the World through my eyes. Through posts and highlights posted here. Through interviews with people I will encounter on my way (and I have no bloody idea who it will be! If you‘ve got any friends along the way, let me know!)
Discover different points of view, mindsets, hubs, and ideas about AI and tech in general. It’s going to be a wild, unplanned journey. I’ve got no idea whom I will encounter or where I’ll finally land.
I know the timeline. Mid-July - August.
Roughly, starting from Warsaw, it’s going to be Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, and Wrocław. 8 countries, 10 cities, about a month of a journey. With a backpack and the train ticket.
As I wrote some time ago:
Where Does It Even Come From?
No business happens in summer. Like a mantra, one can hear it everywhere all around. The conference season is dead, contracts are put on hold. Everyone waits for everyone to come back from their holidays to be available in a bit more reasonable manner.
No business happens in summer. There’s that prep & rest season for the rejuvenation of Q3 and the budget rush of Q4. For now, have a breather.
No business happens in summer. Folks are on vacation, mindlessly scrolling Social Media (or not scrolling them at all). There’s no one to talk to or do projects with.
No business happens in summer for me.
So here I am, a sitting duck, pondering what to do with myself. The holiday season in my beloved Warsaw is wonderful. One cannot get bored whatsoever. It’s a win - I can have more free time to work on myself, enjoy culture, and read. (Yeah, as there’s always not enough time for reading). Just grab a bike, and refresh all the connections and friendships. Enjoy lazy times and people all around you.
One can experience scenic routes all around the city, riverside cinemas, concerts, and theaters in countless parks and venues. Lay on the grass, smelling the burning charcoal. Listening to the squeaks of fire and burning fat, dripping from the grill.
Or I can go on the adventure.
Challenge oneself. Enter the world of uncertainties that we tend to omit. Play my privilege card of being a single freelancer. With no obligations to stay in one place other than my willingness to develop a domestic tech ecosystem.
And come on - the one thing you should know about me is my passion for connecting the dots. For learning and growing personally. For being crazy about building communities and actively participating in them.
Through building bridges, we all grow as a whole. Through those tiny nudges, we create ripples that impact the entire ecosystem. Through my experience, you may discover something new. Something that shifts your thinking by a little bit. You may learn and somehow contribute down the stream. Or we can just cross our paths for a second and never meet again. Exciting, isn’t it?
The Journey
As you might guess, today we’re talking about the latter. The idea emerged from so many thought processes happening simultaneously but in the end is dead simple.
Move out of the apartment to save cash.
Use that cash to travel around the Baltic Sea with my trusted backpack.
Try to meet local tech players - startuppers, communities, innovation hubs.
Try to couchsurf and use that time to have deep conversations about technology, business, and life in general. Record and upload it.
Gather insights on how tech ecosystems look like in there. Share those insights, and promote folks I encounter on my way.
Bring all that goodness back to Poland.
Because how much do we know about Latvian AI Hubs in Poland? Is there a potential synergy between Helsinki and Hamburg? What can we learn from the Danish cultural circle?
My gripe with the World is we’re not learning enough from people beyond our bubbles. That we don’t have the mental capacity to do so. Or even the platform (LinkedIn/X is not such a place. Let’s be honest, we’re stewing in our own juice - whether we like it or not).
Everything’s been discovered and thought over. But most probably somewhere else we don’t know about. Your issues were solved elsewhere. Other people are thinking about the same stuff as you do - but in a different way.
There are those different perspectives we all could benefit from.
I want to learn about those different worlds that are so close to us. Those we don’t explore too often, preoccupied with our own nest.
Why the Baltic Sea?
“If you’re into AI/Tech, why won’t you travel towards Paris, through current main tech hubs? Or through emerging markets of CEE?” You may ask. Got some warm recommendations towards this region and thought “Why the hell not?”. If this trip turns out to be successful, I’d love to continue such an initiative with different routes and hubs.
Right now, let’s focus on the Northern Europe. The region we in Poland tend not to think too much about. Sure - we know something is brewing up there. That there are vibrant startup hubs in Lithuania or Estonia. FinTech, maybe? But not much beyond - it’s all vague and blurry.
What You Can Expect In Here
Posts about my trip. Travel journal of sorts.
Interviews with people I encounter on my way. And insights I learned from them.
Highlights of hubs, startups, or initiatives.
But I Need YOU
Have I mentioned I don’t have many friends/connections in the Baltics/Nordics? Thus, any help would be appreciated. If you happen to know folks who would like to invite me for a night, for an interview, or host an event together - connect me with them!
I’m looking for intros to:
Startup hubs/communities - preferably from the AI/Tech scene,
Local founders, startups, and companies
I can talk to, conduct interviews, and highlight,
Would like to let me sleep on their couch,
Or would simply like to host an event together
Municipal offices/universities - On behalf of the Digital Poland Foundation, I’ll be researching smart city solutions being implemented in visited countries
Contact me:
Email: michal@comenetworkwith.us
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-domanski/
