Even now, Warsaw is still the town I claim as home
There's an old saying; "The best town to be from is the town you succeed in." I am a Varsavian. But five years ago if I had been told that I would wax poetically about Warsaw, I never would have believed it.
After spending a year helping to launch the Budapest Business Journal, I was given the "opportunity" to sign a personal guarantee and buy the operation back in Christmas 1993. Many friends including my roommate at the time, Thom Barnhardt, and my star ad rep, Doug Wheeler, stepped up to the plate and invested money. To a large degree, the purchase depended on advertising revenue we hoped to generate after the takeover. I had a bank full of hope and a head full of dreams.
After successfully tripling our sales, thus completing the purchase through cash flow, I thought the hard part was behind us but oh contraire.
In August 1994, Thom and I flew to Poland and walked up Aleje Jerozolimskie from the color-challenged Hotel Forum to the Ikea building. Just 15 minutes later, we made our decision over pizza in the Marriott Hotel. Warsaw needed a business journal too. So much for market research.
I moved to Warsaw in late November 1994, dragging my little brother John along to be our advertising director. Our first rainy week was spent in the luxurious $20 a night, Hotel Saski on plac Bankowy. Our budget was tight, to say the least. It got darker much earlier than I was used to and was already freezing. I remember a sad drunk who died at the bus stop that first night (or afternoon?) under my window. His body was left out for hours, for all the world to see. Adversity seemed to be around every corner and on many faces. We would be no exception.
In those days people said to expand in Central Europe by partnering up. We thought we should do the same. We found a local man (an American) who had the seemingly correct background and interest in becoming our launch editor. We invested the money, started a company, and expanded and improved his small publishing office. We also brought in know-how, our Managing Editor Stephen Kirkland, and brand new computers.
Two issues in, and after signing numerous partnership and non-compete documents, our new "partner" gave us an ultimatum. He wanted to be the publisher, president and 51% owner of the Polish company. If we didn't like it, he suggested we leave the country. We left his office.
The Warsaw Business Journal then became headquartered in the living room of my flat on ulica Dluga. Thom moved up from Hungary and immediately caught a train to Gdansk to negotiate with the printer. Janet and Peter Choynowski of Prime Property went searching for new office space for us. I also remember a very depressing Sunday in the freezing rain at the outdoor computer swap meet, in the lot across from the yet-to-be-built Skanska development. Later, while imbibing at Restaurant 99, I would often think back to that tough day as Thom and I searched for an affordable used keyboard and mouse that was desperately needed to put out the next issue of the WBJ.
Our ex-partner/editor printed our entire next issue under a new name and subsequently printed a weekly copycat competitor to us. After hearing our case, Lejb Fogelman of Hunton & Williams said he would help us sue him for the fun of it knowing that we were poor entrepreneurs and couldn't pay. Appreciative of the community support, we decided to move forward and put on smiling faces, ever fearful of self-consuming hatred.
Fierce determination bubbled up among the staff and we worked non-stop. I finally understood the meaning of the old saying, "competition is good." People on "Team WBJ" with no prior experience like new journalist Jennifer Laidlaw rose to the occasion. Laidlaw later became an esteemed reporter for AP-Dow Jones.
Nine days later the WBJ was back on the street and in a new office. People like Peggy Simpson spread the gospel. Advertisers showed foresight and compassion such as Menard Doswell and Matt Berman of Coty Polska, who booked "Cool Water" men's cologne ads (beautiful to any publisher's eyes) with an as yet unproven title.
During those subsequent months of 1995 we followed our budget and amazingly came close to hitting our original numbers despite the direct competitor. We out sold them and sweet victory was ours in August when they went out of business the same day I met my future wife cue "Ode to Joy" here.
I could continue with the war stories, like many who arrived here early with more enthusiasm than good sense. The main lesson I learned through it all is what goes around comes around. We survived because most of our young staff persisted when all signs pointed toward doom. I realized that everybody is the same, as they looked at their leaders who exuded a certain quality of enthusiasm (much maligned by many in this cynical part of the world), motivating them to keep going. We Americans, Poles, Irish English, Scots, Serbs, and Hungarians did.
Over these five years, we have seen state corporations fail and start-up entrepreneurs succeed. Our dreams were realized and we in fact expanded to Prague as well. Poland joining NATO, and being slated for the European Union (EU) were impossible dreams just a few short years ago. The majority of our subscribers now are Polish and our goal remains the same produce a practical business paper for top management, entrepreneurs, and those aspiring to corporate leadership. I dedicate our newspaper to the new generation of ambitious Polish men and women, the true modern day heroes of this great country, and their international colleagues, who are tired of propaganda, advertorials, political bias and elitist journalistic blather. We will continue to focus on integrity, transparency and independent journalism.
I would also like to salute our advertisers, who bet on us early, and who have covered the many shades of gray of this great city. They have lit the city with commercial commerce and made this brave new world just a little bit better. I am a Varsovian and yes, I miss it.
Stephan O'Connor, founder of New World Publishing, recently moved back to Hungary where he is currently publisher of the here-to-fore enthusiasm neglected, "Budapest Business Journal." He can be reached at sao@bbj.hu
