This December, the AdTonos team were lucky enough to be able to host a three-day meet-up for all staff in beautiful Sopot, Poland. It was fantastic to be able to get nearly everyone together, face-to-face, as many new team members had been working remotely and had not yet met in person. It was the perfect opportunity to introduce our new team members to the company and collaborate on the business plan for the next year as well. Throughout the Winter Meet-Up, there was an electric and inspiring atmosphere, it was clear that everyone was passionate about the company and this positive environment led to some great discussion. We developed our ideas further and successfully finalised our plans for next year.
As our new Digital Marketing Manager, I joined the meet-up straight from my flight from London and I am so thrilled that I did. It was my first visit to Poland and after a short 2-hour flight, and a short Uber trip from the airport, I was in a great company meeting the team and being introduced to the history of AdTonos and how it started in 2017. Upon arrival, we all did lateral flow tests to ensure everyone’s safety from Covid-19 and thankfully, everyone tested negative and we were able to carry on with our plans. It was a very exciting onboarding, meeting the wider team and brainstorming for our plan for the new year really helped me to learn more about the company and to also see how the team collaborated and worked together. Everyone was fantastic, willing to answer any questions and happy to contribute their ideas in a space where everyone’s voice was heard.
We were also joined by another new member of the team Jakub Andrzejewski, a Junior JS/TS Developer remotely via Google Meet. Unfortunately, much of our development team could not join in person with the exception of our CTO Wojciech Lichota due to various circumstances. However, many joined us remotely and as a team, we were brainstorming in groups and then sharing our ideas to finalise our plan for next year from key perspectives, such as development, marketing and sales.
In one group, our Founder and CEO Michał Marcinik, CTO Wojciech Lichota, SVP Paul Smith, VP Sales Poland Magdalena Kita and Board Assistant Oliwia Bukala worked on the strategy for next year, prioritising product development, such as which should be developed first. They also discussed the key advantages of AdTonos products and how to introduce them to the market and also to international markets as we continue to expand the company. The discussion was focused on how our products can contribute to securing a higher company valuation.
I believe it was a very exciting experience for everyone, as most of us met for the very first time in person. It was not just about the brainstorming and workshop but a really thrilling opportunity of sensing that real team spirit. Regardless of the pandemic, we will still be working remotely or on a hybrid mode so we decided to have these team meetings twice a year to sustain that and keep us all well integrated and connected. – CEO and Founder Michał Marcinik
I was on a team with Co-Founder and CMO Katarzyna Kargielska (Kasia), VP of Strategic Partnerships Paul Cranwell and Customer Support Specialist Ela Grzesiak. Together we worked to provide insight from a sales, marketing and customer care perspective in relation to our wider business goals as well. This enabled us to think about our products from each other’s perspectives and it helped us to develop our understanding further and also to add more ideas we can incorporate into our marketing strategy. Afterwards, each team shared their key takeaways and it was wonderful to see that most of us had come up with similar answers, and so our understanding of our products across the company are consistently in alignment.
Our development team made up of Robert Kawecki, Jakub Andrzejewski, Piotr Śmiałkowski and Michał Siemienowicz also participated in prioritising our products and providing their feedback on the contributions from the other teams.
It was great to see (almost) all of the team together, and tackling issues such as prioritisation and product roadmaps was as challenging as it was fun. I’m glad that us remote stragglers could have an impact on the whole thing and I feel everyone did their part. – Robert Kawecki
We also had Hossein Houssaini, an expert in the advertising industry, join us as our board adviser and he contributed some valuable insight into our plans which was very interesting as well. On the second day of the meet-up, we had some special guests joining us, such as Johannes Heinen from Heinen Verlag as well our investors who contributed their perspective on our ideas as well, advising us to ensure that we are focusing our efforts on our key products which will help us scale up as a company. Our investors Maciej Kowalczyk of Corvus VC, and Tomasz Głowacki of Shape VC were very helpful in giving us their opinions on our plans, and we are so glad they could join us.
It’s fantastic to work in a supportive and inclusive team where everyone has a voice and their perspectives are welcome and respected. I cannot stress enough how genuinely wonderful this entire team is, and if you’re considering looking for a new opportunity, you can join our team too! We’re hiring for some exciting roles, such as Programmatic Specialist in the UK, Advertising Sales Manager in New York City, and Vice President of Product Development in the UK among others. You can learn more here and apply directly on our LinkedIn here. You can also read about our recruitment principles here.
