Linda started her career with Ernst&Young and continued with Telefónica, where she worked for the board director of Strategy and Business development and got involved with the Wayra project. She immediately fell in love with it and joined.
esi: Who are you, what do you do and what makes you an expert on your start-upcountry?
Linda: I’m Linda and I would not say I am an expert, not even on the start-up scene. Although, I am honored to work for Wayra, a initiative of Telefónica, supporting the talent, which may not have an access to every channel they might need to drive their business to success. We at Wayra look for the best digital talents, provide them with physical space for six months, (pre) seed investment, we plug them into our global Wayra network operating within twelve countries as well as to our global Wayra Friends network. And we do everything we can to make them go big.
esi: What is cool about your start-upcountry, what inspires you and keeps you thriving?
Linda: I think it genuinely should have only one answer, not depending on a country where you might state this question. Passion. If you speak to a person that can’t (even in their wildest dreams) imagine doing anything else then developing their idea to a product and eventually a successful business, you may feel sort of happy and inspired. Eventually, it is not whether you get knocked down it’s what you do when you get back up. And that is also what keeps Wayra thriving, we just do everything we can to ensure the entrepreneurs entering the Wayra family succeed. Period.
esi: What makes you shake your head about your start-upcountry, what needs to be improved?
Linda: Well, we (as Wayra) have been through a various selection of bureaucratic hurdles when setting up a company here in Czech Republic and, safe to say, I’d wish it were easier for a person to set up a company. As a part of our plug in to the local (and CEE) network, we’re always trying to be supportive about entrepreneurial ideas. I personally don’t think there is a lack of ideas, I think people are not Always open to share them as they might be afraid of the failure. That’s why we are also hosting open houses, workshops open to the local start-up community, and various events. Also, as part of our programme, when applying with your idea and you get shortlisted, if are unsuccessful we’d provide you with feedback and comments from our seasoned panel of judges – which eventually can help you as well, if you are open to refine your pitch/business plan.
esi: What’s some cool fact we are likely not to know about your start-upcountry?
Linda: Did you know that Czech Republic is the number 1 when it comes to drinking beer? We even beat Ireland! Now, in seriousness, that is a tough one! I hope everyone knows CEE region has the best talent when it comes to coders, developers, programmers and other tech-guys. Not only, of course!
esi: Thank you for the interview.
About the interviewpartner:
Linda Kajzarová works at Wayra and is browsing the start-up world (both offline and online) trying to help.
