The program was in the spirit of “Burnt Toast Theory”.It says that even small inconveniences, like burning your toast for breakfast in the morning and procrastinating, can protect you from something worse or set you on a whole new, better path. In the startup world, this is doubly true. Every dead end and failure makes the product better. The six main startups took the stage in turn and presented topics to show where they learned from their own mistakes. The program continued in the form of roundtable consultations with each speaker, many of whom were experienced founder who had been through the incubation of our project (Finlay,Lakmoos, Kardi AI ). We were guided through the program by Tomas Bena, Marketing Manager of the Technology Incubation project.
Topic: From Bootstrapping to Series A
Who is Pavel Digaňa?
Founder and CTO | Kardi AI
Pavel is the co-founder and CTO of Kardi Ai. He is an experienced
IT manager, software architect and developer with deep knowledge of development processes and
building technology teams from the ground up. During his career, he has gained extensive experience at Greyson, NEWPS.CZ and Twisto, where he was involved in the design, development and management of complex technology solutions. He specializes in creating scalable architectures, setting up efficient development processes and leading teams towards innovation and excellence in technology.
At Kardi Ai, he is responsible for leading technology development, setting up development
processes and architecting the overall solution. He is behind the technical foundation of the platform that
connects the chest strap, mobile app and cloud-based AI assessment into one
secure, stable and scalable healthcare technology ecosystem.
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Topic: Recruiting people for a startup: My best hits and most expensive recruiting disasters
Who is Ondřej Illek?
COO and co-founder | FINLAY
Ondřej spent 10 years in recruitment, most recently as Head of Talent Acquisition at Proton. Prior to that, he also recruited for the Czech unicorn startup Mews.
In 2024, he co-founded Finlay: a VC-backed (£7.6m) AI recruitment engine for companies in the technology sector. With Finlay, they want to replace the classic agency model of recruiting and make hiring a real competitive advantage. The founders of Finlay combine experience from companies like IBM, Mews, Rossum and IP Fabric.
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Topic: Mental health of founders: a topic not talked about in the pitch deck
Who is Kamila Zahradníčková?
Founder and CEO | Lakmoos
Kamila is the founder and CEO of Lakmoos AI, a technology startup developing synthetic dashboards built on neuro-symbolic AI that allow companies to test decisions and gain research insights without traditional data collection. Today, Lakmoos works with enterprise clients across Europe to help companies accelerate and scale their decision-making with AI.
She received her first award for research in the behavioral sciences at the age of 17. Her research papers were published during her undergraduate studies. She has applied her know-how in behavioural science in business – she has consulted for Nestlé and The Nature Conservancy, and worked with Ogilvy Czech Republic on a national campaign. Women in AI NL named her one of the top 5 female entrepreneurs in AI in 2023.
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Topic: The AI product certification trap and strategies for maintaining cashflow
Who is Marek Řehor?
COO and co-founder | Carebot
Marek is the COO of Carebot, where he has set up the complete internal operations since the beginning of the company and now manages the company in terms of operations, people and finances. Carebot is a company that develops advanced artificial intelligence-based referral systems that serve as a “third eye” for physicians to evaluate imaging tests such as X-rays, CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It focuses on finding detection that leads to faster and more efficient diagnostic processes, allowing physicians to evaluate images more quickly and accurately, thereby improving patient care.
Carebot has become one of the first Czech AI startups to receive European MDR IIa certification as a medical device and can now offer its clinically proven AI solutions to hospitals across Europe.
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Topic: Must & Nice to have: how to know what moves a product forward
Who is Martin Sliva?
CTO | Aireen
Martin is CTO of Aireen, where he leads the development of AI products for the healthcare industry. He has a long-standing commitment to integrating AI, data analytics and healthcare technology into products that stand up not only technically, but also in clinical and regulatory practice. During the meetup, he will share his experience on how to identify the strategic decision in a startup that will really move the product forward.
How to know if a startup is spending energy on “nice to haves” instead of real “must haves”? Martin Sliva from Aireen will offer a real-life story from the development of a healthcare AI where one strategic decision fundamentally changed the direction of the product.
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Topic: American dream or nightmare? A reality check on expanding overseas
Who is Martin Medek?
Founder | Unicorn Attacks
Martin is co-founder of Unicorn Attacks, creator of the Seed Starter venture program and co-creator of Bank ID. He has experience in both the corporate and startup spheres and has been mentoring companies for many years. For several years he has been working with startups at Silicon Valley Accelerator, not only in Prague, but also directly in San Francisco, where he focuses on global expansion, funding and scaling businesses.
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