MBA International Trip to Croatia: Part 2 — A Hope for the Future with a Blossoming Tech and Start-up Scene
Last week, myself and 60 of my Auburn MBA cohort colleagues traveled to Croatia for our international business trip. We spent the first part of the week in the capital city of Zagreb visiting several different companies and then finished out the week in the beautiful port city of Dubrovnik.
I have split this into series of posts in order to more effectively cover all that I experienced and learned. This is the second post in the series, but you can find Part 1 here and Part 3 here.
An Early Look at a Croatian Start-up Success Story
From our first session of the week, a panel discussion with various people from different industries in Croatia, it became clear that start-ups were starting to have success and could be a solution to some of Croatia’s young economic problems.
One of these start-ups to already find success is Bellabeat. Bellabeat was founded in 2013 in Zagreb and we had the opportunity to hear from a UX designer that has been with them from the beginning. Bellabeat has already had international success and has other offices in San Francisco, London, and Hong Kong.
However, despite Bellabeat’s success already, Niksa Zemva still mentioned the struggle that the company has had in getting top talent to relocate to Croatia in order to the company to continue to grow. While remote work has been an option for fellow UX designers and developers, it would be ideal for Bellabeat and other growing Croatian companies to be able to convince talent to work in Croatia where they would like to remain located.
Bellabeat has been one of the first Croatian start-ups to find success, but based on others that we talked to over the rest of the week, I doubt they’ll be the last.
Inspiration and a Look Towards the Future from Luka at HUB 385
The highlight of my trip to Croatia was the time we got to spend at HUB 385, which is a start-up incubator and innovation depot in Zagreb. We heard an inspiring talk about technology as the key to the future from Luka Sučić as well as the opportunity to hear from some of the more successful start-ups and companies that HUB 385 has supported.
Out of these, my favorite was a company called Smart Lumies. Co-founder and CEO, Filip Kovacic Popov talked to us about the aim of Smart Lumies to provide a new learning experience revolving around coding and problem solving using just a few light up cubes that are powered by an application. I had a keen interest in Smart Lumies because the product and company intersects both my interest in software and technology as well as my current job where I get to organize teacher trainings and K-12 STEM outreach events.
Smart Lumies are approaching launch with the help of a competition that they won in San Francisco already. Even more impressively, the company is planning to launch first in Apple stores with Target and other retailers to follow. I appreciate Smart Lumies approach to education that goes straight to kids and parents and doesn’t necessarily involve traditional classroom involvement.
Along with Smart Lumies, we also heard from DING, an app that focuses on job search and skills development. From the description we were given, and after talking with two of the founders, it seems that DING is aiming to be an app that combines LinkedIn with sites like Udemy. DING is in earlier stages and so far I have not been able to find more information online, though I hope to follow along with their development as they try to bring on more talent and finalize their product.
Can These Start-ups and Many Others Offer Solutions to Croatia’s Problems?
While that seems like a tall task and a pretty loaded question, I am inclined to go with yes. We got to meet with several people who had different vantage points from both inside companies, around the industry, or just people with a deeper knowledge of Croatia’s struggles. Each one seemed to at least hint as start-ups and young tech companies as a potential solution to Croatia’s economic and emigration problems.
I mentioned a few of the companies we got to hear from, but a few quick Google searches upon returning to the States shows that we were barely scratching the surface of young tech companies’ success in Croatia.
People we talked to mentioned the question “does Europe need it’s own ‘Silicon Valley’?” and while many said the answer was mostly no, Croatia could still use the success of these companies to lure talent and money back into the country.
Most of these companies that are already having success and even the ones that are still in more infant stages mentioned the need to have offices outside of Croatia in order to sufficiently host talent needed to grow their young companies.
I’m by no means an expert on the issues within Croatia, but as I’ve seen many cities in the US redefine themselves by trying to adopt and support a “start-up culture” I think Croatia could do similar things to further boost their economy and give less reason for talent in both Croatia and abroad to not work in Croatia. I personally would even consider moving to Croatia, after what I experienced in a week, if conditions in their economy improve enough to balance out with issues in the US.
Whether They’re The Answer to Croatia’s Problems or Not, Each of the Start-ups We Talked to Offered Motivation and Insight into a Brighter Future
I really can’t state enough how informative and motivating is was to hear from so many young tech companies while in Croatia. To add benefit, most of the companies were equally interested in the questions and comments we had for them as the information they were sharing with us.
Before traveling to Croatia on a required MBA trip, I would have never known that Croatia has such a thriving tech and start-up culture. Now I’m even more inclined to follow along with the companies we met with as well as others that have been made aware to me.
