The man who came for three weeks, but stays for at least a year: new leader at PortusHome

We have exciting news at PortusHome! Anyone who has been to us has certainly met Csaba Antal, the founder of PortusHome. Csaba and his small team opened the doors of the first Hungarian coliving in Vászoly at the beginning of June 2021, where they have built a vibrant community in the past year. The mission and goals remain the same, however, from the end of August Károly Szántó will take over the operation and management of PortusHome.

We live in hectic times, things are changing around us at the speed of light. We have to make decisions in a short time and react to new situations and opportunities. This was also the case with Csaba Antal, who, in addition to his engineering work, implemented a unique concept in Vászoly, opening PortusHome Coliving in June 2021. However, in May this year, a new opportunity emerged in the life of the Antal family: Csaba was invited to participate in an electronic toll project in Indonesia. After much deliberation, the family council decided to embark on perhaps the greatest adventure of their lives and move to Bali with their 9- and 17-year-old sons for ten months. However, in addition to the clear benefits, it was a serious challenge to ensure that during these ten months PortusHome runs smoothly and continues to build its open minded, nature-loving, location-independent community. 

This is where Károly Szántó came into the picture. The well-known professional from the startup scene first visited PortusHome at a startup event in May and liked the place so much that he returned for a 3-week active vacation in August. Already on the day of his arrival, he met Csaba, who shared with him the current situation: he and the family are about to leave for Indonesia and he does not yet know what the future of PortusHome will be. Over the next few days, he and Csaba discussed the details and Károly decided to take over the operation and management.

It so happened that Károly came for 3 weeks, but in the end he stayed at PortusHome for at least 1 year.

Károly worked for more than 15 years for international companies as a business development and sales manager, where he built sales channels in new geographical areas. He spent almost half of his career abroad, during his work he was active throughout Europe and the USA, Africa, the Middle East. He entered the world of startups and venture capital investment 6 years ago. He has built this ecosystem in several roles: he has prepared startups to raise capital, he has supported Vespucci Partners Venture Capital Fund in due diligence of the pre-investment business plan and the business development of its portfolio, he has been a co-founder and/or key man of several startups (MyMentis, Timedrips, 3S.life), founder of the MandoLab startup incubator – accelerator and through this he has been a mentor to many startups of Hiventures. In addition he is business development manager (CBDO) at CEEDAR Venture Capital Fund. From the end of August, in addition to the leadership of PortusHome, his main focus will be on CEEDAR business development and support for some startups.

Károly’s goal is to further expand the PortusHome community with domestic and international players in the startup and investor ecosystem. 

With our renewed team, we are waiting for you with exciting programs, modern infrastructure and great love in Vászoly, in the beautiful Balaton Uplands. Visit us as soon as possible!

The past one year at PortusHome in a nutshell:

In June 2021, we opened PortusHome with the clear intention of creating a vibrant, supportive, open to the world, accepting community here. To create a small microcosm where like-minded people from all over the world gather to share their experiences, best practices in business, career, work-life balance and about the good life in general. 

“I see PortusHome not only as a physical location, but for me it is much more of a community where it is good to belong even if you have no goals with it, you just want to have a good time,” adds Csaba. 

Over the past year, we have organized more than 70 events. Freelancer picnic, community lunches, networking events, startup events, business breakfasts, retreats, cooking workshops and e-bike tours, among others. At events, in the coworking office and in the coliving, we have met, talked and connected with hundreds of people over the past year.

We launched several initiatives, the first being the RE-CHARGE coworking camp. 

So far, we have organized our week-long coworking camp 4 times. This retreat combines everything we stand for in a special combination: effective work in a community, programs that help to relax and recharge, plus inspiring connections. The next session is scheduled for November 13-18, 2022. Find out more by clicking here!

In February-March, guests came to us for a stay of at least one month to explore the winter Lake Balaton together! We will also continue this program in 2023, about which we will share more details soon.

In May, we organized our first event for startups, Innovation and Startup days in the Balaton Uplands. The event, which aims to connect the actors of the startup ecosystem on a regional, national and international level, will be continued in the autumn, and will be held again between October 12-14, 2022. If you would like to join as a speaker, please contact us! 

In 2022, we won the Community Space of the Year award in the Office of the Year competition and we were also shortlisted at the Global Coliving Awards in the Nomad Coliving category. We love Balaton and Forbes also wrote about us. 

Since the opening, many smaller and larger teams and companies have visited us, including Volvo, United Consult, Ecocapsule, Propair Flight and Toni Katlan Cultural Kitchen!

We regularly cooperate with Draper Startup House, StartITup Győr, the Input program, FreelancerBlog, the BENT professional community, the Balaton Bike Tour and 2forU.