Meet Merix: Kamil - Head of Business Development

Kamil is a highly colorful person. But let's start from the beginning, and everything starts of course with... BREAKFAST. Without food Kamil simply can’t start his day. He will sit on meetings quite agitated when (beautifully-looking) sandwiches are waiting for him at his desk. In fact, it’s hard for Kamil to sit still in full concentration during long meetings - you can usually see him doodling in his calendar (you might be able to spot it in our photos!). But when you catch Kamil’s attention (usually after calling his name a few times), and he likes your ideas, he will work really hard toward your goals and the final effect will be electrifying. It’s not surprising because, as you will learn from the interview, he is a one-man-band who is interested in many areas. You can talk to him not only about new technologies, design, and methods of sale but also about great places to eat, yesterday's football match or the latest episode of your favorite tv-show.

• Tell us something about yourself.
  Kamil, born in ‘83. I don’t like to focus attention on me and am terribly stressed by public speaking. I avoid them like the plague.

• What are your main responsibilities at Merxistudio?
  I regularly fill out the refrigerator. I put yellow sticky notes on my desktop, to which I add at least three new ideas a day (of which 2.5 will never be realized because of the lack of time). Between meetings, I test the call quality on Skype. I'm writing a lot of e-mails and the whole sum could be transformed into the new scenario for "The Bold and the Beautiful."

• How do you work? What is important to you while working?
  For eight years I'm trying to come to work before 8.00 and surprise my colleagues. Twice I succeeded. My day starts with carefully prepared breakfast, without which I am not able to focus on my tasks. I don’t like staring at my monitor for too long, so I am quickly looking for alternative ways to spend eight hours working day.

• Tell us something about your beginnings in the company
  I started as Project Manager. My initial responsibilities were a bit different than the current ones (if you have not guessed, now I lead the Business Development department :-))
  At that time the company may have had little more than ten people, so I dealt with many things at once: PM, sales, marketing, application testing, recruiting new employees, social media, content, etc. Currently, these duties are divided among a lot of people.

• You are working in our company for quite some time. How much has Merixstudio and your work changed since the beginnings?
  A lot of things changed, such as the already mentioned specialization. We evolved (but this process never stopped, and we are still making changes) from the company that is creating corporate websites to a well-organized software house with an enormous creative potential and remarkable skills in creating games and HTML5 applications.

• What have you learned while working in Merixstudio?
  I’m self-taught. When I started working in Merixstudio, I had some experience in the field of online marketing, but most of the skills I acquired here. Ability to work with new technologies and customers from all over the world is very inspiring - not a day goes without learning something new.

• What do you like most about working at Merixstudio?
  The distance from my home and the fact that the route from home to work takes no more than 15 minutes by bike. Besides, I appreciate the independence and the opportunity to realize my ideas. I think the climate of the corporation based on stress and excessive rivalry is not for me.

• You also created few MerixStudio’s brands, such as GoDealla. What is Godella and where the idea for it came from?
  GoDealla is a search service that helps you find local discounts and coupons in restaurants, cinemas, spas, hotels and many other attractions. The project is an example of a successful startup - but it does not mean that it is only the result of luck and the right moment to enter the market. The success of our Godealla is based on hard work of many people. You can check out the broader story in the case study on our website.

• What was the biggest challenge you faced while working at the Merixstudio?
  The startup mentioned above. Once you started, you have to do everything to make the project work. The conceptual work, acquisition of the first users, developing the functionality of the service, creating the brand... there was a lot to do. To this day, I remember weeks of difficult negotiations with business partners, who at some point had to hear: "From today our service is not free." This startup was a great business lesson.

• Which project do you like the most from the ones you worked on in Merixstudio?
  It still has to be GoDealla, the project that I had full control over and which was the biggest challenge for me (not only regarding technologies). I am very glad that it is now managed by Ania, Jadzia and Monika because I’m certain that they will take care of GoDealla’s further development :). I have equally fond memories of an interactive guide to the Polish Christmas Guide, which went viral and earned more than 200k unique users.

• What was your first contact with web technologies? When did you make a decision that you want to work in IT?
  It was between the elementary and high school. At first, I was messing with cassettes on C64, formatting floppy disks on the Amiga 600 and reading "Bajtek" and "Secret Service". As PC fan I stumbled upon the HTML course of Paweł Wimmer. I went through Pajączek (the Polish HTML editor;-)), Microsoft FrontPage, Adobe ImageReady and Dreamweaver. I started working with Apache and wrote my first loop in PHP ... then I came to the conclusion that coding is not for me.
  In the meantime, I became interested in web design. I tried my way as a graphic designer (I even have my portfolio somewhere!) and created homepages after school to earn some pocket money - I worked mainly for trade and service companies from Białystok. I was really excited when I browsed through websites such as Towar.org, Webesteem or MocnyWeb, but only the CSS Zen Garden had truly opened my eyes. I admired aesthetics of Polish Flash experts, such as Mondo, or the Gmunek’s courage to experiment with digital. As the real dinosaur of web design, I really liked Kaliber10000 (K10k), Surfstation, Design Is Kinky or Holodeck73.
  I even managed to channel all this enthusiasm into my first project. With the help of virtual friends (met at mIRC!) I started the players’ community of Grand Theft Auto in the Yakuza site (one of the gangs in the game), which gained the status of an official Polish GTA website. The publisher liked the idea so much that soon after that the 200 MB offline version of the site hit the shelves at Empik as the addition to the game. I was extremely excited, but now I know how little I’ve known about negotiations because in exchange for the transfer of copyright I only received the original copy of the game and shirt, which I still have. :)

• What do you think is most difficult (and most interesting) in your work as Business Developer?
  I like to believe that I possessed the magical powers of reading minds of clients.

• The first thing you do when you arrive at the office.
  Breakfast!

• iOS or Android?
  I avoid smartphones as much as I can.

• What do you do in your free time after work?
  I spend time with my family. We like to explore cool places and travel (now a bit less due to our little Julka). My wife is a real champion of organizing trips and finding cheap flying tickets!

• Your favorite hero from childhood is...
  I didn’t have one, but I loved reading comics, such as “Gigant”, “Kajko i Kokosz” or “Tytus, Romek i Atomek”.

• Favorite place in Poznań.
  I frequently find new ones. I’m really impressed by the development of Jeżyce.

• Beer or vodka?
  Definitely beer. My top choices are Obolon Bile, Artezan, Kingpin or few Belgian ones.

• Sport?
  I play football three times a week, and I’m a big fan of Lech Poznań! I also trained Judo and Taekwondo.

• Dog or cat?
  At one time I had stick insects, hamster, and Japanese mouse (Tojo, rescued from a laboratory where my mom worked). Then, when I got (from the vet) a cat with ringworm, my love for animals was tested.

• Which website do you visit the most?
  Radio Intergalactic.fm (Classix or Dream Machine channels).

• Favorite app.
  Well... recently I caught myself on a frequent usage of YouTube, where I watch lectures of Jacek Bartosiak.

• If you could only visit one website for the rest of your life, what site would that be?
  404.

• If you could have your dream job, what it would be?
  The composer of electronic music from the 80s, the second Captain Nemo... because of the passion for music :).

You will find other interviews in the People&Events section on our blog!