After weeks of demonstrations, the Berlin Wall came crashing down on November 9, 1989. The end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe was clearly in sight. At about the same time, Washington, D.C.,...

After weeks of demonstrations, the Berlin Wall came crashing down on November 9, 1989. The end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe was clearly in sight. At about the same time, Washington, D.C., entrepreneur Paul Panitz was completing his three-year contractual obligation to the purchasers of his typesetting company. After nearly 20 years of running and working in the business he had started, Panitz had no concrete plans for the future. Paul had two heroes that he looked to for inspiration. One was Duke Snyder of the old Brooklyn Dodgers; the other was Alexander Dubcek, first secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from January 5, 1968, until his ouster by Soviet tanks in August of the same year. During his short tenure, known as the “Prague Spring,” Dubcek introduced reforms that presaged the “Velvet Revolution,” which occurred about 20 years later. Thinking of his heroes and having both time and money, Panitz wanted to do what he could for the newly freed people of Central and Eastern Europe. He believed in freedom of the press. He also believed that the way to help people was by creating businesses that created jobs. Paul wanted to do something that would advance both beliefs. His first venture was a loan/equity deal to help a Polish daily newspaper modernize its composition department. But this was a passive investment, and he was left with plenty of time to consider his next opportunity.