- What: Fuckup Nights Timișoara #Vol15, the 15th edition of the event where professionals talk openly about failure.
- When: Wednesday, 16 September 2026, Timișoara. Full house.
- Speakers: Ina Biebel (TomBabe), Vasilica Bob (Kiteworks), Olimpiu Porumb (Flex).
- Organiser: ATU Advertising, which brought Fuckup Nights to Romania in 2017.
- Next up: #Vol16 is already in the works.
#Vol15 showed exactly what the Fuckup Nights spirit is about: people who get past their nerves and find the courage to talk about the moments when things went wrong. We heard stories that played out in a courtroom, among strangers in Paris and inside a multinational.
The room was full, and you could feel the vulnerability, the openness and the laughter of an audience that followed the evening with curiosity and even fascination. It was a night when failure counted as proof of professional maturity.
What stayed with us after this edition
The speakers took the stage with presentations that looked good, but that they might not show in a job interview or on their LinkedIn profile.
We learned how a solid career is built, and how important it is to keep a clear head when you’re in the middle of a fuckup and to get through the moment. It was an experience that made us feel that an honest ‘futu-i’ (Romanian slang, roughly ‘fuck it’) is the moment when we finally get real and talk about ‘the crap bits’ too.
Three stories of failure on the #Vol15 stage
Three guests from entrepreneurship, tech and the corporate world, each with a fuckup they owned up to and a lesson at the end.
Ina Biebel
She opened the evening with a story that begins in 2019 with three T-shirts and three common mistakes people make in Romanian. That’s it. Three. A few days later, her sense of humour was slowly turning into a business. Today, with a community of more than 50,000 people, TomBabe is a brand loved for its direct, ironic style that is impossible to copy. Although someone did try. Ina ended up in court after her slogans were copied word for word, and there she learned that intellectual property law can’t protect you when you use words straight out of the Romanian dictionary. The case is still unresolved, but it has been full of lessons. The TomBabe story carries on, with the same voice, the same nerve and the same self-deprecating humour that turned ‘futu-i’ into a successful brand.
Vasilica Bob
She brought an insider’s view of the tech industry to the stage: more than 15 years in SaaS, leadership roles, agile teams, big projects. But one project was riddled with obstacles. Her drive was what got her into that situation, and it was also what got her through it, in true ‘the captain goes down with the ship’ style. The deadline was set in stone, the project had to be ticked off, and the end justified the means. Vasi talked about the other side of the coin: you can’t lead teams once you’ve lost their trust and they no longer see you as their manager. Sometimes the most valuable lesson comes from the most uncomfortable moment. A good leader understands that the relationship with the people on the team matters more than a personal drive to finish something they neither believe in nor understand. The takeaway? A team doesn’t automatically become a ‘family’. It’s your job to explain the why, show them the direction and help them understand the purpose behind every goal.
Olimpiu Porumb
He has more than two decades of experience in multinationals, but the story he told on the #Vol15 stage had nothing to do with starched shirts. Several years ago, while he was working for another company, he went on an important business trip to Paris and came within a whisker of scoring an own goal. Literally and figuratively. It all started with a laptop unlocked with a password written on a Post-it note. A few days later, in the middle of a football match, his boss rang. And here’s the interesting part: he owned up to the mistake and had the presence of mind to see the bigger picture, beyond his own small part in it. That’s how he realised that if you learn from a fuckup and move past it, it’s no longer a failure, it’s a win. He has promised us he’ll take up stand-up when he retires. Watch this space.
About people who aren’t afraid to say ‘yes, I got it wrong’
#Vol15 was about people who aren’t afraid to say ‘yes, I got it wrong’. About a community that understands failure isn’t shameful, but inevitable. And about the power to turn a bad moment into a good lesson.
We’re delighted to see our community of fuckuppers grow. And yes, #Vol16 is already in the works.
About Fuckup Nights
Fuckup Nights was born in 2012 in Mexico City. A few friends started telling each other about the awful things that had happened to them. And they enjoyed it. They met up again with more friends, and everyone agreed that talking about failure was fantastic. Today, Fuckup Nights is an international movement that shares, questions and celebrates failure.
The first Fuckup Nights edition in Romania was brought to Timișoara by ATU Advertising in 2017: an event organised and grown by the ATU team. Fuckup Nights Timișoara are networking evenings that bring the community together around difficult, vulnerable conversations. No prejudice, no sugar-coating and no ego.
Frequently asked questions about Fuckup Nights Timișoara
What is Fuckup Nights Timișoara?
Fuckup Nights Timișoara is the local chapter of the global Fuckup Nights movement, in which professionals take the stage and talk publicly about their failures and the lessons they learned. The event is organised by ATU Advertising, which brought the first edition to Romania in 2017, in Timișoara.
Who spoke at Fuckup Nights Timișoara #Vol15?
Three speakers: Ina Biebel, founder of the TomBabe brand; Vasilica Bob, Senior Director of Product Management at Kiteworks; and Olimpiu Porumb, Global Account Manager at Flex.
When did #Vol15 take place, and when is #Vol16?
#Vol15 took place on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, in Timișoara, to a full house. #Vol16 is already in the works. Announcements appear on the Fuckup Nights Timișoara page on atu.ro and on the event’s social media channels.
How can I become a speaker at Fuckup Nights Timișoara?
If you have a story of professional failure with a real lesson at the end, write to the ATU Events team via the contact page on atu.ro or at timisoara@fvckupnights.com. Speakers for each edition are selected by the Fuckup Nights Timișoara team.
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