I’m Vlad,
a Venture builder

Words that define me the most: Startups, IT, Travelling, Early Adopter, Sports, Adventures, Discomfort, Star Wars

My story

I have always considered myself a "problem solving" enthusiast. I was born in Slovakia - a poor region of Europe where the possibilities were limited. This fact made me more "creative" during my teenage years when wanted to travel. Hitchhiking, couch-surfing and other low cost options were my way to go. No problem was big enough to stop me from my dreams - this mentality persisted until now.

Scholarships, studies & jobs abroad

My passion for travelling motivated me to work hard enough to apply & receive multiple scholarships, get jobs abroad and get to experience multiple lives on in multiple countries. Here is just list of some of them:

  • Multiple exchange studies & job internships in Germany
  • Scholarship at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan
  • Scholarship at Kookmin University in South Korea
  • Scholarship at San Diego State University in California, USA

Work experience

I started to work very early, which gave me great advantage to figure out what I want to do in my life. I quickly realized I wasn't build for manual labor during my several summer jobs abroad - in Germany. However, it was a great experience - living on my own abroad at the age of 18 as well as practicing my German.

During my bachelor studies I was able to sell my bachelor thesis - Tasty app - and later work in the same company as Product manager (Read more).

This drove me to start freelancing and building more products for customers like Moderný občan (Read more).
‍


While I was studying & freelancing I also got an opportunity to work for Adesso in Vienna, Austria as Android developer. At the end of my studies I was approached by Master Internet to establish a new brand Master APP and expand with it to California (Read more).

When I came back home to Košice, Slovakia I decided to offer my diploma thesis - Eatster - to all restaurants that were suffering from Corona virus for free. Thanks to that I got a lot of traction and received funding from the venture capital investors (Read more).

Passions, sports, hobbies

People that know me think of me I can't sit at one place for a moment - and they might be right. If I am currently not traveling I love to do sports like snowboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, swimming, biking or squash. I am also big nerd into new tech, early adopter of all new services or whatever makes my life easier and more automated. I love making videos - from traveling, doing action sports or just random vlogs.

Certifications & Voluntary work

During my studies I obtained several certifications, mostly related to my foreign language proficiency like:

  • City & Guilds
  • TOEFL
  • Goethe Zertifikat
  • CCNA Cisco certificats

It is important to me to share all the knowledge and experience I received. The key areas where I try to help the most are:

  • Protecting the environment - I spoke at several conferences & events about importance of this topic as well as created a service to sell leftover food for cheaper prices.
  • Social inclusion - Slovakia is full of minorities with a lot of prejudices. I am happy to be a consultant for Pontis Foundation - the larger NGO in Slovakia
  • Support startup community in Slovakia - being mentor in Femme Palette (organization to support women in business) as well as speaking / judging at several startup events gave me a lots of opportunities how to share what I have learned.

Things I still want to get better at

Public speaking has been always for me a place where I lacked "natural talent" but always strived to improve. I consider myself mostly as "extroverted" person until I am placed on the podium where my "introverted IT geekiness" comes to light. During my studies in the US I took several classes focused on improving my public speaking skills which was a pleasant change from typical Computer Science subjects like advanced algorithms or mathematics.

The other skill would be sales where my lack of impatience shines. As a founder of several startups I have always struggled with this part and therefore was never able to scale and create truly global company.

Take a look at my resume

See Resume

Follow me on Instagram