Marcin Zabielski

With 30 years of professional scar tissue, Marcin Zabielski has navigated the treacherous terrains of strategic consulting, entrepreneurship, and venture capital.

He kicked off his entrepreneurial adventures in 2000 by co-founding Vatera, an online auction site, before spending a significant six-year chunk of his life helping Grupa Pracuj become a CEE recruitment juggernaut - essentially helping thousands find jobs while he was busy building a CEE unicorn.

Since 2012, Marcin has been playing the high-stakes game of VC. After managing a micro-VC, Hedgehog Fund (a name inspired by business theory, not a sanctuary for small mammals), where he discovered and led early rounds at Preply.com, he co-founded Market One Capital. He now oversees assets of over EUR 140 million. Having evaluated thousands of startups just to invest in more than 80 of them, he specializes in the sales, distribution, and valuation aspects of business. Loving these spaces, he dives into projects spanning HRTech, ConsumerTech, Music & EntertainmentTech, e-Commerce, and the Creators Economy. After so many years in VC, he has also become an expert at telling founders why their "revolutionary" idea isn't actually worth a billion dollars.

Marcin lives by the Hedgehog Concept - the intersection of what you are best at, what you love, and what actually pays the bills. Apparently, what he’s "best at" is being a father to three daughters, and what he loves is being an amateur rock singer for his band. Being brave, he is the first to admit the band is rightfully embarrassed by some of their old recordings. When he isn’t judging pitch decks or screaming into a microphone, he’s a devoted fan of Chelsea FC - a choice that proves he has the extreme emotional resilience required to survive both a volatile VC market and a standard Premier League season.