We’re on a mission to build Silicon Valley in Central Europe. After ELC 2025, I believe we can actually pull it off.
ELC 2025 broke me.
- Four days to recover.
- Three kilos gone.
- Shaky hands at the opening talk.
- Mixing up speaker names mid-conference.
- Nearly crying at the closing.
And I’d do it all again, because for us this was the turning point in Prague.
We founded ELC ( Engineering Leaders Community) to close the leadership gap in Central Europe’s tech scene.
Long before the 2025 conference, something was already building: a shared frustration, and a missing space for engineering leaders to share war stories, connect, grow, and push the region forward.
We moved fast, learned from every meetup, and focused on real problems. Now, with organic growth and strong momentum, ELC feels like a startup reshaping engineering leadership across the region.
It all led to a sold-out room with 300+ leaders in it.
Designed for action
Every session focused on real problems and gave leaders tools they could use from day 1.
Here’s what attendees walked away with:
🚀 Personal growth & leadership
- How to scale your influence far beyond your team: across departments, functions, and the org.
- Thinking like a strategist once your job stops being about code.
- A simple, repeatable framework to start mentoring and build your leadership legacy.
- Ways to boost your market value through negotiation, growth, and leverage.
- Staying healthy while scaling: how to spot burnout early and build systems that protect energy.
👥 Team building & culture
- How to hire smarter, avoid costly mistakes, and build real team resilience.
- Aligning product and engineering so decisions come faster and momentum doesn’t stall.
- Getting product teams out of the motion and into the outcome.
- Innovating through trust and transparency instead of micromanagement.
⚠️ Crisis, risk & resilience
- Learning from real incidents and bouncing back faster.
- Million-dollar mistakes: what actually went wrong at scale, and how to prevent it.
- Staying focused in hyper-growth environments without burning out.
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🤖 Tech strategy & innovation
- What the next generation of tech leadership requires, both in mindset and skills.
- Aligning engineering work with business goals so your wins actually move the company forward.
- Going beyond the AI hype and embedding tools that drive real value.
- Using IDPs to simplify software delivery and track team impact.
- Infrastructure that doesn’t crack under pressure and grows with your business.
Every speaker shared an actionable takeaway, without exception.
All of it came from people who’ve built rockets, scaled platforms, launched startups, and rebuilt teams from the ground up.
We also ran hands-on workshops, 1-on-1 mentoring, and an experience zone built for reflection and conversation.
Speakers and mentors joined us from SpaceX, Netflix, Pure Storage, Ataccama, Applifting, Dynatrace, Rossum, Jablotron Cloud, Better Stack, incident.io, Make, Rohlik Group, and more.
Why ELC hit home
Hundreds of hours spent mentoring engineering leaders taught me exactly what they need. I know their challenges and ambitions inside out.
This insight shaped every session, workshop, and talk, and it came through in the feedback.
- 300+ engineering leaders showed up and stayed late.
- We sold out without handing out free tickets.
- Our speakers scored a solid 4.76 out of 5.
Leaders joined from London, Western Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, far beyond our home region. We’re proud to see ELC becoming a global hub.
What people said
What did it feel like in the room? A few attendee quotes:
“Best leadership conference I’ve been to in years.”
“Finally, something serious and relevant for engineering leaders in Central Europe.”
“Great talks, workshops, and most importantly, meaningful conversations.”
“Practical. Honest. Impactful. Exactly what tech leadership needs more of.”
“I didn’t just get inspired. I got real tools and frameworks I can use tomorrow.”
We’re taking all of this into ELC 2026.
We’re building Silicon Valley in Central Europe
You don’t need to move to San Francisco to build something world-class.
We’ve got the people. The standards. The values. And now we’ve got the ecosystem to match.
Here’s what’s next for 2026:
- Attendees: 300 → 400.
- Workshops: 4 → 8.
- Mentors: 5 → 10.
- Partners: Growing to 8+ committed companies.
The momentum is real. Here’s what we’re seeing across tech, startups, and leadership in Central Europe: 2025 Solopreneur Strategy →
🎙 Behind the scenes: what we learned
A few notes from our own retro as organizers, checked against the feedback that rolled in:
- We built the whole event to deliver value, not noise: every talk, every panel, every touchpoint.
- The stage went to voices that matter rather than egos that sell.
- We cut the typical “sponsor clutter” and replaced it with experiences people remembered.
All of it points in one direction: a conference built by leaders, for leaders.
Want in?
If you’re a tech leader who wants to shape the future of Central European leadership:
👉 Mentor with us.
👉 Partner with us.
👉 Grab a ticket (coming soon).
We’ve started it. Now let’s scale it.
Want more? Explore practical leadership frameworks and tech strategy deep dives over at my blog.
Kudos to the team
Huge thanks to the team who made it happen:
- Anna Kožuch leading the charge.
- Mirka Hofmanová keeping strategy and logistics tight.
- Tomas Kos powering websites, editing, graphics, and videos.
Big shoutout to our ambassadors Jan Vrtiška, Ivo Klimša, and Soheyla Mirshahi, who led their own workshops to help others grow.
And one final thank-you to our partners: Eurowag, Bohemia Interactive, Apify, Trinity Bank, Sázíme Česko, Sparring Partners, and CANS. Your support made the whole thing possible.