At first, there was zero
In July 2025, I started posting on social media. I did not have a grand plan. Biznes po Sąsiedzku was simply a project I worked on after hours, and I set myself a modest goal: reach 500 followers by the end of the year.
For the first two months, I posted every day. At first, almost nobody watched. Some of the posts I prepared received exactly zero views.
Still, I posted again the next day. Not because I already saw a business in it or felt certain the project would succeed. I kept going because finding interesting material, creating posts and publishing online was genuinely enjoyable.
Only after about two months did something begin to change. The first viewers appeared, and then more followed.
The biggest surprise was waiting for me on Facebook. I did not post there separately and hardly ever checked what was happening on the page I had created. When I finally looked after three or four months, a community of more than ten thousand people had gathered there.
By the end of the year, the follower count had passed 10,000 on every major platform. My original goal had been 500.
More than anything, I took it as a signal: people might genuinely care about what is happening between Poland and Germany.
Giving our neighbours a human face
At first, I was more of a curator than a creator. I had produced only a few videos of my own. Most of the time, I selected and shared material by other people that I found interesting, entertaining or worth discussing.
I particularly wanted to give the stereotypical image of “the German” a real face. For me, those faces included Steffen Möller, Vincent Helbig, known online as “Wasz Niemiec”, and Philipp Fritz.
A stereotype has no story, no character and no sense of humour. A person does.
Over time, I began to wonder whether Biznes po Sąsiedzku should also show my own perspective. Not because I know all the answers. Quite the opposite: because I have more and more questions.
A relationship that also makes economic sense
I do not want to idealise Germany or claim that one culture is better than another. I simply really like this country. Since moving here, I have met many Germans who treated me with remarkable kindness and generosity. Some friendships took time to develop, but I discovered warm people whose support I remain grateful for today.
I want Germans to see Poles more often as ambitious, capable and reliable partners. It matters just as much to me that we in Poland get to know our western neighbours better.
That is worthwhile not only out of curiosity or sympathy. It also makes straightforward economic sense.
Behind numbers like these are companies, jobs, investments and everyday relationships between people. If our countries are doing more and more business together, we should understand each other's language, culture and way of thinking more deeply.
Not so that we always agree. So that we know who we are talking to and why we sometimes see the same situation completely differently.
Why does the world look the way it does?
I attended school in Poland through lower secondary level. I later finished secondary school in Germany and earned the Abitur, the German qualification used for university admission. Today I live in Germany, speak Polish, German and English, and spend my everyday life in a multicultural environment.
History has fascinated me since my school days. I have never been interested only in what happened. I have always wanted to understand why it happened and how the past continues to shape people today.
I often ask myself one question: why does the world look this way?
Where do the differences between Poland and Germany come from? Why does a solution work well in one country but fail to take root in the other? What can we learn from each other, and what should we avoid copying?
Dresden is a particularly interesting place from which to observe these questions. The city lies in a part of Germany that belonged to the German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany, until 1990. The experience of political and economic transformation, attitudes towards entrepreneurship and differences from western Germany create a context that in some ways resembles the Polish experience.
Where do those similarities end? I am still trying to find out.
Entrepreneurship can be learned
During my studies, I completed an entrepreneurship programme in Dresden that lasted three semesters. We worked on real problems, developed our own ideas and learned from mentors who had built companies themselves.
The programme drew on the Munich model of Manage and More at UnternehmerTUM. The organisation was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Susanne Klatten to promote innovation and help young people turn ideas into solutions for real needs.
That experience showed me that entrepreneurship does not have to be a mysterious talent that someone either possesses or lacks. It can be learned through practice, mentoring and contact with people who have already travelled that road.
I began to wonder what a similar approach might look like in Poland.
I do not intend to copy this programme on my own. I do not yet have the experience or resources required to build such an ecosystem. I can, however, provide a spark: show models that work, start conversations and inspire entrepreneurs and organisations capable of taking on such a task.
I see many excellent engineers in Poland. I would like more of them to think not only about creating technology for other companies, but also about solving real problems through ventures of their own.
What would need to change for more of them to build companies able to compete internationally? Do we need better education, mentors, capital, courage, or simply different role models?
I do not know the answer yet.
It is worth finding out where this leads
In 2026, I began to look at this project differently. I still do not know where it will take me or whether it can grow on a larger scale. I did, however, see that it could become the starting point for something more.
I want to speak in my own voice more often, talk to interesting people and document what I learn. There will be economics, history, language, entrepreneurship and cultural differences. From time to time, I will also share selected moments from my everyday and personal life.
I am not an expert on relations between Poland and Germany, nor on building great companies. I do, however, want to ask better questions, listen to people who are wiser and more experienced than I am, and share what I discover.
I do not promise to change the relationship between our countries. Still, it would be meaningful if, a few years from now, I could honestly say that I had contributed in some small way to better mutual understanding. That I had highlighted a few valuable ideas or connected people who were able to turn them into something real.
That would be enough for me.
Will this project become something bigger? I do not know yet.
But if it all began with posts that nobody watched, it is probably worth finding out.