An entrepreneur, investor, keynote speaker and now author, Karolina Pelc has built a career defined by reinvention, resilience and a refusal to follow conventional paths.
Today, she is entering a new chapter following the successful acquisition of her multiplayer gaming startup BeyondPlay by FanDuel, part of Flutter Entertainment, in February 2024.
Pelc explores her story in her debut book HerPlay: Make Your Own Luck which focuses on her personal evolution and an unwavering belief in challenging existing systems rather than inheriting them.
Her professional journey began at just 19 years old as a casino dealer in Warsaw while simultaneously putting herself through university.
Those early years, she explains, exposed her to high-pressure environments long before entrepreneurship entered the picture.
Following Poland’s accession to the European Union, she moved abroad and steadily built an international career spanning casinos, cruise ships and some of the gaming industry’s most recognised names, including Betsson, LeoVegas and William Hill.
Over time, she progressed into senior leadership roles and award-winning executive positions, eventually serving on the board of Gaming Innovation Group.
But it was Malta, she says, that fundamentally shifted her perspective on what was possible.
“Malta represented openness, internationalism and a completely different way of thinking about ambition. The island’s gaming ecosystem exposed me to founders, investors and fast-moving technology businesses at a scale I had never experienced before.”
Karolina Pelc
That environment ultimately inspired the creation of BeyondPlay, a multiplayer-first gaming technology startup designed to introduce more social and community-led experiences into online gaming.
Pelc saw a growing disconnect within digital entertainment.
While online gaming had become increasingly individualised, audiences themselves were gravitating towards connection, shared experiences and interactive entertainment.
The company’s rapid trajectory culminated in its acquisition by FanDuel less than three years after launch – an achievement Pelc describes as one of the milestones she is most proud of.
Her rise through predominantly male environments also shaped many of the leadership principles she carries today. Resilience, adaptability and authenticity remain central to how she approaches both business and life.
At the same time, Pelc believes modern businesses cannot survive by focusing solely on growth metrics while neglecting culture and people.
In fast-moving industries, she says, it is easy to become obsessed with scale while overlooking the human side of leadership, so she has always tried to create environments where ambition and empathy can coexist.
“Hustle itself is not the problem – aimlessness is. Building anything meaningful requires discipline, consistency and periods of extreme effort. Success rarely happens accidentally. The key is ensuring that effort is connected to a vision that genuinely matters to you.”
Karolina Pelc
Earlier in life, for Pelc achievement was closely tied to financial independence and proving she could succeed despite not following a traditional academic or professional route.
Now, however, her priorities have evolved, and she says that she values freedom, alignment and impact far more than titles or valuations.
Writing HerPlay: Make Your Own Luck appears to have accelerated that shift even further.
The book traces Pelc’s life from the casino floors of Warsaw to her years working aboard cruise ships alongside multinational crews – experiences she says shaped her understanding of sacrifice, resilience and family.
The story then moves through immigrant life in London before arriving in Malta during the rapid rise of the island’s gaming sector, where both her career and personal identity transformed most significantly.
For Maltese readers in particular, Pelc believes the narrative may resonate strongly.
She says that Malta became the place where she stopped simply ‘building a career’ and started believing she could build something of her own.”
Nowdays, Pelc has developed an international keynote speaking career.
She has also expanded into investing, with a portfolio focused largely on female-founded, impact-driven and technology-led startups.
At the same time, she remains acutely aware of how rapidly the entrepreneurial landscape is changing, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence.
She also believes founders themselves are increasingly becoming brands and media platforms in their own right.
“It’s no longer enough to quietly build a product behind closed doors. People want to understand who you are before they buy into what you build.”
Karolina Pelc
That philosophy is something she has consciously embraced through public speaking, investing and now publishing her book, using storytelling as a central part of how she connects with audiences.
Pelc says she has become far more intentional about protecting her wellbeing in recent years.
For over two years, she has maintained what she describes as non-negotiable routines centred around sport, long walks, tennis, gym training and a diet free from processed foods and sugar.
She says that she has made a conscious decision to protect her physical and mental wellbeing with the same discipline she once reserved only for business goals.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start or scale a business in your industry today?
The biggest advice I would give is to stop waiting for certainty. Most people spend years trying to eliminate risk before making a move, but growth rarely happens in comfortable conditions.
That’s also the central idea behind my book. I’ve always been fascinated by how often we describe successful people as ‘lucky’, while ignoring the resilience, reinvention and persistence that usually sit behind success.
But how do you actually make your own luck? By reframing failure. Most people see failure as proof they should stop. I see it as redirection, experience and often the thing preparing you for the opportunity that comes next.
We spend so much of our lives asking, “What if I fail?” instead of the far more powerful question: “What if you fly?”
If there’s one thing I hope readers take from the book, it’s that your background, setbacks or detours do not disqualify you from building an extraordinary life.
HerPlay: Make Your Own Luck is available in all Agenda outlets, with a signing event in Valetta planned for late June.
