A lived experience
For more than 20 years, Karolina built her career the hard way: from casino floors to boardrooms in one of technology’s most competitive sectors. In 2024, she led her company to a rapid acquisition by FanDuel and stayed on as an operator accountable for results inside a global gaming leader.
Now working across capital, leadership, and narrative, she advises founders and investors navigating high-stakes decisions — challenging the idea that success is luck, and examining what truly creates it. Her work strips away the illusion of overnight success and confronts what it really takes to build — and endure.
Now working across capital, leadership, and narrative, she advises founders and investors navigating high-stakes decisions — challenging the idea that success is luck, and examining what truly creates it. Her work strips away the illusion of overnight success and confronts what it really takes to build — and endure.
Founder
Built and scaled BeyondPlay, raising €7M+ and leading the company to one of the fastest tech exits in the industry.
C-Level Executive
Award-winning operator with C-level and public board experience. Product-led, P&L accountable, performance driven.
Author
Author of Her Play: Make Your Own Luck. Shares unfiltered founder stories and BTS insight across media, podcasts, and social platforms.
Thought Leader
Frequent panel guest and sought-after keynote speaker across diverse subjects. Featured on global stages and in leading business media.
As seen on
Book release 9th of June 2026
What if the greatest gambles aren't on the cards — but on the life you dare to build?
Author of Her Play: Make Your Own Luck. Shares unfiltered founder stories and BTS insight across media, podcasts, and social platforms.
International Keynote Speaker
Karolina speaks on global stages as a founder, operator, and investor who has built inside some of the most competitive environments in technology. Her perspective is shaped by lived experience, not abstraction — bringing rare candour, strategic clarity, and earned authority to every room.
Keynote Speaker
Delivers high-impact keynotes that combine operator realism with powerful storytelling. Known for challenging comfortable narratives about success, she brings psychology, neuroscience, and real boardroom pressure into the room — leaving audiences thinking differently, not just feeling inspired.
Industry Perspective
Offers rare insight from operating across leadership, board, and venture-backed environments in one of the world’s most competitive industries. Speaks to innovation not as theory — but as performance measured in outcomes.
Founder Insight
Speaks from lived experience of building, scaling, and exiting under intense pressure. Through her proprietary mindset framework, she breaks down what actually builds resilience, conviction, and execution — and what quietly destroys companies from within.
Investor Lens
Brings the perspective of backing ambitious founders and working alongside private capital. Cuts through hype to examine judgment, discipline, risk calibration, and the decisions that determine whether companies scale — or stall.
Featured on
“Karolina brings something genuinely uncommon to the stage. She is not attempting to perform credibility, she naturally commands it. Karolina does not simply tell stories, she changes the way people see things.”
Harry Singha
Speaker, Mentor, Humanitarian
Conversations
that matter
Dive into Karolina’s world through her own podcast episodes and guest appearances on leading shows. From honest conversations about mindset, relationships, and personal growth to behind-the-scenes insights from her journey, each episode is designed to inspire, challenge perspectives, and spark meaningful change.
Featured
29 mins
Private Capital Perspectives With Founder, Investor And Author Karolina Pelc
Jamie & Karolina discuss everything from when it's right to turn down investors, unconscious bias in the next-generation and what you need in place to support a quick exit, to where the opportunity lies in the private capital ecosystem.
Watch on
29 mins
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36 mins
Secrets of 20 Years in iGaming No One Tells You | Bet It Drives Show ft. Karolina Pelc | by GR8 Tech
GR8 Tech CSO Yevhen Krazhan drives through Rome with Karolina right after her helicopter ride. She shares how land-based casino work shaped the vision for BeyondPlay, why three startup years felt like ten, what made her sell at 40, and how Her Play turns her journey into a mindset framework for founders. They also dive into fundraising in regulated markets, being a “firefighter CEO,” and backing the next wave of female-founded startups.
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36 mins
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1 hr
Diary of an iGaming Exec - Karolina Pelc
Karolina Pelc is in the hot seat for the latest instalment of Diary of an iGaming Exec... and so much we already know; founder and funder of her start up BeyondPlay, now part of Fanduel, and author of Her Play, a book chronicling her journey and path to success.
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1 hr
New
13 mins
What It Takes to Build and Exit an iGaming Startup with Karolina Pelc
In this episode, Karolina reflects on the journey of founding Beyond Play, the challenges of raising capital in a niche regulated industry, and the tough decisions founders need to make early if they want to succeed. We break down how frustration can become the starting point for a business, why conviction matters more than the product itself when raising early capital, and how founders should define success before building. Karolina also explains the realities of launching a B2B product in iGaming, how she thinks about risk, and why no founder is ever fully prepared for the emotional shift that comes after an exit.
Watch on
13 mins
Investments
& Projects
HerPlay, is an investment and mentorship platform created to “pay it forward” by advising, mentoring, and supporting early-stage founders, with a particular focus on women entrepreneurs. By leveraging her two decades of industry experience, network of investors, and influence as a thought leader, Karolina helps promising startups gain access to capital, strategic partners, and opportunities to scale.
Investor
Backs ambitious founders and partners with other private capital across early and growth stages. Brings operator experience from fundraising, building teams, and executing an exit.
Mentor
Works with founders and senior leaders building and scaling companies under pressure. Advises on decision-making, positioning, leadership, and growth at speed.
More from
Karolina
Stay up to date with Karolina's latest thinking with articles, interviews, and reflections on mindset, business, and what it really takes to back yourself.
April 9th, 2026
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Karolina Pelc, building businesses and inspiring women leaders worldwide
Few founder stories begin on a casino floor. Pelc was born in communist Poland in 1984, just a few years before the system collapsed. Her childhood unfolded during the country’s turbulent transition into a post-communist economy - a time when industries were being rebuilt and entrepreneurship was only beginning to re-emerge. Career paths were far more predictable than they are today.
March 26th, 2026
Fear has nothing to do with it
Like many in the iGaming industry, I found myself in Las Vegas last week for the annual G2E show. But this time, my trip had a different feel compared to previous years. Back then, I was so busy that Vegas might as well have been any other city—I barely saw the Strip
