Every new environment is yet another chance, but also test for your networking skills. After coming to San Francisco, I soon realized that this was not yet just another city, but rather, a magic, layered place that unfolds like an onion — ugly on the outside, but beautiful on the inside. In this article, I list 22 networking lessons learned in the past two months spent in San Francisco. Overall, my personal strategy could be described in short as: everything, everywhere, all at once. An award-winning approach.

During the pandemic, I used to think about my ideal future life a lot and I developed a vision of living in a communal setting away from the big city life. Now, I started wondering: is that what’s best for me? Perhaps what I would need is the exact opposite: a peaceful place in the middle of a big city? And then, my thoughts circled back to Amsterdam. I could list tons of reasons why Amsterdam is THE place to place my center of life. In this article, I name just a few of them.

Admission to the Y Combinator acceleration program is the dream for thousands of founders of Software-as-a-Service platforms worldwide. And for a good reason: this iconic accelerator not only offers attractive seed investment for your company, but also secures top-notch mentoring. But how to successfully apply? to approach this question, I analyzed a repo of 32 successful YC applications openly available online. Here, I introduce my conclusions.

In the Netherlands, one of the most popular types of coffee is “coffee verkeerd,” which translates to “coffee the wrong way.” Whenever I order it, I smile as it reminds me how I do business. Namely, turning many of the rules I was taught upside down and inside out, and doing things my own way. In this article, I will list some of my personal rules and outlook on the business that might be viewed as nonorthodox. If you share any of them, or just disagree, please let me know!

I am soon departing for my next trip toward the Bay Area. Which is clearly not the most comfortable place to find yourself in as a consultant. For a long time, I wondered why this is so, and finally came to some (perhaps interesting) conclusions.

It is essential for any little bootstrapping business to get the best people for your project and keep them around. I believe that now after the corona crisis, project-based work with subcontractors will become much more common than before. And, I don’t hold my recipe for dealing with subcontractors a secret at all. In this article, I list my 10 golden rules working with subcontractors.

I have always worked hard since I was 6 or 7 years old, and I can tell you: life of a person who genuinely enjoys working is much harder than you might think.It always bugs me how people tend to judge you depending on how you spend your time. There are so many stereotypes floating around! In this article, I talk about my love for hard work and why I believe people should be more tolerant toward others when it comes to working patterns.

Here is my definition of a talent:  When you are happy, you feel compelled to do it. When you are sad, you feel compelled to do it. That’s what writing is to me. 
It’s like playing piano. 
You can play energico — with energy, enthusiasm, and zest. Or, you can play grave — solemn and contemplative.
 Both beautiful. Today, I will play it grave.

This year was intensive so far. The other day, I had a terrible day. All of a sudden, it came to my mind to text my friend, Nicole. When we talked on the phone on that memorable day, all of a sudden she asked if I would… go to Burning Man with her. And so we went.

This year, I invested in myself A LOT. Firstly, I finally took care of my mental health. Secondly, I took risks and invested a lot in my company. I first spent a month with my parents in Poland. Then, I went to Amsterdam for three months. Lastly, I traveled all the way to California for another two months. I was putting myself to the limits, learning about new cultures, testing new directions and target groups for my company, making new contacts, working hard and reinvesting everything I was making. And what’s the overall impact of all these actions on my life and well-being? Pretty weird.

Despite the NFT boom of 2021-2022, most of these historical NFT projects stay under the radar by the crowd until this day. Perhaps, their times of greatness will come in the future, when the public becomes more educated about the history of digital assets on the blockchain. This article is dedicated to one of the most iconic NFT projects of the early days, known as Plasma Bears: from the unique origin, through its historical significance, to their value and as a collectible.

I spent the last few weeks in the Bay Area, also known as Silicon Valley. Despite being here for such a short time, I already discovered numerous fundamental (and often shocking!) differences between the startup culture in Amsterdam, where I spent three months earlier this year, and the Bay Area. In this article, I list the main 10 differences I’ve noticed so far – but I am quite convinced that there are dozens of others! Now, what is done differently here?

Everyone who has anything to do with entrepreneurship or investing, must have seen Gary Vaynerchuk’s face at least once. It is everywhere in the media. People are so polarized on Gary! At some point, I figured that “What do you think of Gary Vee?” Is the chat-up line that tells me almost everything about the mentality of the person I am talking to. For a long time, I was on the fence trying to answer “the Gary Vee question” for myself. In the end, I decided to write this article — for education, and for my own peace of mind.

A few days ago, I took an evening hike to Hunter's Point at the end of the Rainbow Road in Cupertino, California. It was a beautiful evening. I sat down on the bench at the top of the hill and observed the whole Silicon Valley falling asleep in the distance. And yet, something didn’t let me fully enjoy the moment. It was a Sunday evening and something on my stomach was making me feel anxious and insecure about the upcoming week. What’s up, Nat? — I was asking myself. — You are a free person, so what’s your problem?

How do people find their soulmates now in 2022? The vast majority of people you meet today are online. We work online, we socialize online. Even if you are sociable in real life (or, as they like to call it on social media, IRL), how many meetings can you effectively visit every month? A couple of them? How many people can you effectively talk to during every meetup? Five or ten? I decided to write this article because I painfully observe that lots of people — including many of my friends — don’t respect themselves at all when it comes to looking for a partner online. They lower their standards way too much and waste their precious time interacting with all the wrong people. Guys, it doesn’t need to be this way!

This Wednesday, I woke up with a twisted stomach and a fast heartbeat, and I asked myself, “Why doesn't this monster finally leave me alone and let me go?” I went through cognitive therapy, hypnotherapy, SSRIs, meditation, sauna, vacations, socializing, self-care… Nothing works. Just nothing. It’s only getting worse and worse. And then, I found out why.

I recently had a few conversations with friends who couldn’t understand some of my investment decisions. They thought of me as a degen who either has way too much free time, or completely lost her marbles. Well, they might be right… But nevertheless, I decided to invest some time in thinking about my current personal investment strategy more in detail, and putting down my thoughts on paper. It is a rather unorthodox approach, so who knows — perhaps this read is also useful to you, whoever you are.

I recently had a few conversations with friends who couldn’t understand some of my investment decisions. They thought of me as a degen who either has way too much free time, or completely lost her marbles. Well, they might be right… But nevertheless, I decided to invest some time in thinking about my current personal investment strategy more in detail, and putting down my thoughts on paper. It is a rather unorthodox approach, so who knows — perhaps this read is also useful to you, whoever you are.

This is quite an exhibitionistic post… but I’ve learned that more often than not, there are many people out there who feel exactly like me — but just don’t say it aloud. Or, they don’t even grasp their own feelings, until someone pokes them and wakes them up. So, I decided to write this article anyway.

I actually first learned about NFTs in December of 2017, when the Crypto Kitties came about and famously congested the Ethereum network right off the bat. I must admit that I ignored the topic back then. I guess I didn’t spot the potential, quite like the majority. But well, now that the field progressed and developed, I had all the reasons to take a closer look at it. And, in November 2021, I finally found courage to step into this jungle. Here is what I learned so far!

How many types of money do we have in the world? It is not a discussion about the right and the wrong currencies! It is all about value. I just had a conversation with my Dad, a professional chess player, about what money is and what it is not. His attitude is so much different than mine!