What I was looking for in Q1 2026.

My thesis heading into 2026 was that there's still enormous white space in Polish SME automation. Construction, logistics, agriculture, healthcare administration — all running on spreadsheets and pen-and-paper workflows. The incumbent tools are either too generic or designed for the German/UK market with poor localization.

In Q1 2026, I was specifically interested in founders with at least 3 years of operational experience in the target vertical, not just developers who spotted the gap from the outside. This thesis carried into Q2 with an even higher evidence bar.

The pattern I was watching: niche B2B marketplaces that earn revenue not just from matching but from embedding payment and financing infrastructure into the transaction. The take rate becomes defensible because switching costs are financial, not just social.

This thesis did not survive into Q2 intact — after reviewing several deals in this space I concluded the regulatory complexity in Poland is still too high for most pre-seed teams to navigate without a fintech-specialist co-founder.

Not generic AI writing tools — but purpose-built platforms for content teams at mid-sized media companies, publishers, and content agencies who need to maintain editorial quality standards while dramatically increasing output. The key insight: AI won't replace editors, but editors with AI will replace editors without it.

I made one investment in this space in Q1 2026. Not disclosing the company yet — they're still in stealth.

Polish SMEs have a serious talent problem — they can't compete on salary with large corporates, and most don't know how to build employer brands that make them attractive to candidates who have options. I was looking for tools that make professional employer branding accessible to companies with 10–200 employees.

Thesis evolved: Q2 2026 version is more narrowly focused on founder-led media and education rather than employer branding specifically.

Carrying my experience from SunRoof into the investment thesis. The solar installation market in Poland has fragmented massively — there are thousands of small installation firms with no shared tooling for quoting, project management, or customer communication. Software that solves the operational chaos for these installers, not just the B2C sales problem.

This thesis moved into Q2 in modified form, now framed more broadly as 'proptech with actual unit economics'.