A mentorship program by This is IT & This is the World. PL · EN
Bison Fellowship

Bison Fellowship.
We help the best
build startups.

Walk with us the path to becoming a founding engineer.* A program for the most ambitious students and recent graduates aged 18 to 26.

Apply by May 11
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A founding engineer is one of the first people who builds a startup. They are the keystone of the team. The best founding engineers come from our country.
The program in a few words

What is Bison Fellowship?

A mentorship program that teaches product thinking to the most outstanding young engineers — people with a passion for technology and science — through 8‑week projects in AI, ML and physics, with real-world deployment at our partners. Every participant is paired with a mentor from the world’s top universities.

Selected teams travel to a 10‑day summer school in San Francisco, where they meet the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem, VCs and AI researchers.

Alumni receive lifetime access to the This is the World and This is IT network, plus support for their next projects.

Program Partners
Knowledge Partners
Media Partners
01 About the program

It started in Kraków.

In July 2025 we met hundreds of people who wanted to build. We couldn’t leave it without a sequel.

Being Human in the Age of AI — Kraków
Being Human in the Age of AI · Kraków · Auditorium Maximum
Being Human in the Age of AI — panel
Maciej Kawecki · Wojciech Zaremba · Andrzej Dragan
Being Human in the Age of AI — group
Kraków·July 2025·Being Human in the Age of AI

In July of last year we hosted an event for olympiad winners, engineers and startup builders, named — at Wojtek Zaremba’s suggestion — Being Human in the Age of AI.

Bison Fellowship was born from that day. We want to help you walk the same path that Wojtek, Piotr and Rafał walked, building startups that are changing the world today — through LLMs, voice models and microsatellites.

02 Manifesto
We believe that today the era of talent has arrived. A small group of people, given the right support and AI tools, can build products that change the world. The best engineers are right here in Poland. Today, more than ever, we have the potential to build 10× more unicorns that change the world for the better.
— Bison Fellowship, April 2026
03 Who it’s for

We’re looking for people who want to build.

Faster, better, with more support. They don’t wait for a diploma — and they don’t wait for permission.

  1. i.

    Olympiad winners and competition finalists

    Mathematics, computer science, the sciences. A proven ability to solve hard problems.

  2. ii.

    Computer-science and adjacent students

    Who don’t wait for a diploma to start building.

  3. iii.

    Builders and designers with a portfolio

    GitHub projects, shipped apps, open-source contributions? This is your place.

  4. iv.

    People with high agency

    You don’t wait for permission. You see a problem, you build the solution.

04 Journey

Five steps from application to demo day.

By May 11, 2026

Submit a short application

A brief video, a link to your GitHub/portfolio and answers to two questions.

Step 1 of 5· ~15 min
May 2026

Conversation with the team

Selected candidates are invited to a conversation about their passion for building software or hardware.

Step 2 of 5· 45 min online
May 15, 2026 · Warsaw

Program kick-off

In-person meeting of all fellows.

Step 3 of 5· 1 day · Warsaw
May – July 2026

8 weeks of building

Intensive 1:1 mentoring and a real project shipped to production.

Step 4 of 5· 8 weeks · hybrid
July 2026

Demo day

You present what you built. Founders, VCs and mentors in the room.

Step 5 of 5· Warsaw
Bonus · for the winning teams
Late August – early September 2026

10 days in Silicon Valley

Winning teams travel to San Francisco. Networking, investors, meetings with AI researchers.

San Francisco· 10 days
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05 What you get as a fellow

What you get as a fellow.

01 / Mentoring

Mentors

Mentors who help you grow academically and professionally — from the world’s best universities.

02 / Network

Network

A community of exceptional engineers and founders. Relationships from the program last for years.

03 / Events

Access to events

Workshops, hackathons, demo days and meetings with investors. You learn from the people building Europe’s most interesting companies.

04 / Project

A real-world project

We match you to a team working on a real challenge from one of our partners. You build software that ships to production — and, if you choose, you can keep working with the partner or with a startup from our network afterwards.

06 Program Council

Program Council.

The Program Council guides the direction of the program and — together with our partners — evaluates the fellows’ projects on demo day.

Jolanta Kwaśniewska
Honorary Council Member

Jolanta Kwaśniewska

First Lady of Poland, 1995–2005

Rafał Brzoska
Council Member

Rafał Brzoska

CEO, InPost

Przemysław Gacek
Council Member

Przemysław Gacek

CEO, Grupa Pracuj

Esther Wojcicki
Council Member

Esther Wojcicki

Educator · Stanford University

Maciej Kawecki
Chair

Maciej Kawecki

CEO, This is the World

07 Mentors

Our mentors.

Poles with global success who personally guide the fellows — from top universities and labs.

Maciej Dunajski
Mentor

Prof. Maciej Dunajski

Professor of Mathematics · University of Cambridge

Zuzanna Stamirowska
Mentor

Zuzanna Stamirowska

CEO · Pathway AI

Dawid Kielak
Mentor

Prof. Dawid Kielak

Professor of Mathematics · University of Oxford

Włodzisław Duch
Mentor

Prof. Włodzisław Duch

Professor of Neuroscience · Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń

Krzysztof Geras
Mentor

Dr Krzysztof Geras

Co-founder, Ataraxis AI · NYU

Artur Dubrawski
Mentor

Prof. Artur Dubrawski

AI Researcher · Carnegie Mellon University

Janusz Pętkowski
Mentor

Dr Janusz Pętkowski

AI & Astrobiology Expert · MIT

Marek Cygan
Mentor

Prof. Marek Cygan

AI Researcher · University of Warsaw

Luke Kowalski
Mentor

Luke Kowalski

Vice President · Oracle

Adrian Kosowski
Mentor

Adrian Kosowski

Co-founder · Pathway AI

Jan Kwapisz
Mentor

Jan Kwapisz

CTO · Omniviser

Przemysław Dębiak (Psyho)
Mentor

Przemysław Dębiak “Psyho”

Competitive programmer

Marcin Koziorowski
Mentor

Marcin Koziorowski

Co-founder · Ecobean

…and more — the list of mentors keeps growing.

08 Team

Team.

The team that walks you through the program — from application to demo day.

Michał Wyrębkowski
MD · Bison Fellowship

Michał Wyrębkowski

Co-founder, This is the World

Aleksandra Warda
Team

Aleksandra Warda

Project Manager

Jakub Penkala
Team

Jakub Penkala

Bison Fellowship

Jarek Bielski
Team

Jarek Bielski

Bison Fellowship

09 Frequently asked

Before you ask.

The answers we hear most often. If your question isn’t here — write to us.

Q·01 When does the program start?
The kick-off takes place on April 27, 2026 in Warsaw. Applications are open until May 11.
Q·02 How long is the fellowship?
8 weeks of intensive mentoring and project building, ending with a demo day in July 2026.
Q·03 Is the fellowship paid?
The program is free for participants. Fellows receive mentorship, access to events, and the winning teams travel to Silicon Valley — at no cost.
Q·04 Do I have to be in Warsaw?
The kick-off and demo day are in person in Warsaw. The rest of the program is hybrid — meetings with your mentor and project work can happen remotely.
Q·05 Who can apply?
People aged 18–26 with a passion for building software or hardware. We’re looking for builders — your portfolio and projects matter, not your CV.
Q·06 What does the recruitment process look like?
A short online application via Pracuj.pl, followed by a conversation with our team about your passion for building. The whole process takes about two weeks.

Deadline · May 11, 2026

Apply now.

Filling out the application takes about fifteen minutes. We read every single one ourselves.

Apply now See FAQ