She aims to utilize technology for enhancing people’s everyday lives through friendship, communication, and in-person gatherings.
Only 21-years-old, she has already visited thirty countries around the world and lived in three, worked for organizations, such as Coca-Cola and Embassy of the Republic of Poland, earned her Master's degree from Business School and founded her own, $3mln startup.
Karolina Demianczuk is not a typical 21-year-old student. With her new startup and Master’s degree around the corner, she aspires to move Millennials out of the digital world. Her mobile application, "Spontime," aims to encourage people to spend more time together in real life.
Although hatched only six months ago, the idea has garnered a $3.3 million investor valuation and widespread attention from major European news sites, on TV shows, and in radio stations.
What inspired Karolina to pursue her entrepreneurial career, found Spontime, and bring in-person enjoyment back to people her age were her broad experiences abroad. Her first trip abroad, a trip to Greece, Karolina took at the age of six.
To this day she remembers how exciting was every new place she visited, every temple she entered, or every meal she tried. What engraved in her memory the most, however, were not beautiful sighs or views, but the orange trees. She could not believe she could pick oranges from the trees in the same way as she picks apples or pears.
That was the time when she grasped how exciting and surprising the world is. She become interested in anything unusual, different and exotic. She filled her room with cacti, petted a turtle, and spent all her free time learning foreign languages, watching Animal Planet, reading travel magazines, and dreaming about visiting all the places she read about.
Since that time Karolina has visited more than 30 countries around the world, each impacting her perception and attitude towards life. The real breakthrough, however, was her time in the U.S. At the age of 16 she left her native country, Poland, and moved to Melrose, MA, where, as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, she attended American High School and lived her "American Dream" for a year.
Karolina says, “Nothing has opened my eyes so much as the year spent in the United States. American individualism, creativity, self-reliance, courage to take risks and readiness to challenge the impossible are what made this nation the greatest success in history. I left Poland as a shy, modest girl and came back as a confident woman, who knows what she wants.”
After graduating from Melrose High School with distinction, and despite getting into top American colleges, Karolina came back to Poland where education is free. She enrolled into Warsaw School of Economics, and, wanting to gather practical experience, worked for organizations such as Coca-Cola, Goodyear, or Embassy of the Republic of Poland.
Feeling the need to further discover the world, she spent a semester on a scholarship at National University of Singapore Business School, where she fell in love with Asian culture and discovered her passion for innovations and high technologies.
Karolina’s broad international experiences developed her personality and allowed her to observe lifestyle and behaviors of her peers around the world.
Karolina says, "It does not matter if we are in America, Europe, Africa or Asia. With today’s speed on life, inevitable digitalization, and globalization, it is harder to maintain real, in-person relationships. People are spending more time on their devices, forgetting about what matters the most. The essence and the quality of human to human relationship, however, cannot be fully substituted by any form of technology; technology should rather boost it."
Founding Spontime, Karolina aims to encourage young people to spend more time together in real, instead of digital world and enhancing people’s everyday lives through friendship, communication, and in-person gatherings.
She is still in disbelief that an idea hatched only six months ago has already garnered $3.3 million from investors. Since then, a powerful domino effect has taken off, with media coverage, publication coverage, and word of mouth getting Karolina’s name out there across continents. When asked about what advice she would give to other aspiring entrepreneurs, she responds:
"You are the soul and heart of your business. No one will ever have the drive and passion for your business like you will. Never forget those countless nights you missed out on sleep to ensure your idea flourished. The success depends on you and your ability to assimilate people who share in your dream. Stay persistent, demand the very best from people, harness your determination, and ignore the haters. You’re going to want to give up – do not."
Download the Spontime app here:
iTunes
https://appsto.re/us/Aqbicb.i
Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.spontime
Look out for Karolina's interview on Women Entrepreneurs Radio coming on June 1st!
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