Sanja Milosavljevic: Hello, my name is Sanja Milosavljevic and I’m going to be your host today. You are listening to the Mondopreneur podcast. The podcast is supported by the US embassy in Belgrade. The main aim of this podcast is to share stories of successful women that run their own businesses, work at universities or in NGO sectors. So I hope you’re going to enjoy our conversation. Today, my guest is Klara and she comes from Czech republic. Hi, Klara, how are you?

Klara Horton: Hi, I’m really well. Thank you so much for having me today.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Well, a person recommended, Agnieszka recommended you and she had just the best words about you, so I was like “Can you connect me with her, I really want to share her story and learn her insights.” So, can you tell us something about yourself. Like what is your educational background? Where is your focus right now, what are your interests, what are your future plans, so something to get to know you a little better.

Klara Horton: Absolutely. So, I have studied – I always wanted to be sort of a creative person, however my parents didn’t support that decision. So, instead of going to art school I actually went to study media because that had some business potential. However, during my university studies I already started working. So I started my full time job and my university on the same day. And ever since then, I ‘ve been working full time. I actually managed to finish my bachelor’s degree. I did not continue for my Master’s, maybe that’s sometime for the future. But I’ve been working in people and operations ever since, so that has been a journey for the last seven years. And it has been a ride, I’ve been both in big corporations as well as small startups. In the meantime I managed to start two of my own projects as well which I am very passionate about. So, I will say that my regular HR and operations role is my day role and during the night I work on my own projects. So yeah, that’s my story. In my free time I love to travel and I love reading, so those are my two favorite things which you cannot do both during this time, but I can read a lot at least.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Yes, we can use this time for reading. But I was talking to a friend recently and, you know how the internet was full of recommendations on what to read, what to train while you are at home. And my first impression when this pandemic started, I was like “There is no way I can read, there is no way I can improve myself in any way, there’s no way I can train” because I’m not in the place for that. It’s just things are happening around me and I’m not calm enough to dedicate an hour or two for reading or developing myself and my potential. So, what is it like to work in corporations? In Serbia, we are a bit- I don’t want to say we have some bad feelings about corporations, but people don’t like to work in corporations. Most people don’t like to work in corporations. What is your experience and why is it actually important to work in one corporation?

Klara Horton: I actually started- so, working in a corporate company was my second job and it really shaped me in a way that I don’t want to work. It actually gave me an idea of what leaders should not do and how teams should not be built, which was very interesting. And I think in the sense of corporations in general, there’s actually no such thing as a corporation, right? There is this sort of notion of a company, but it’s only formed by its people, right? You cannot touch a corporation, right? It’s only the team and then there are products, but the corporation itself does not exist. But I think there’s this huge, huge aura, this air around corporations that’s very stiff and I think that, especially now, it’s visible that unless the mindset of some of these companies changes that they will not make it during this sort of- this hyper-growth and all remote work. So, for me the experience was really interesting. Later on I was working for a different company that had about 500 employees when I started, so you could say it was already becoming a corporation, but the attitude was completely different. I was a company that was on the market for 16 years and they were still- they still had a very energizing attitude. They were- the team was amazing, it was really empowered. So, I think you can do- I think you can build a big company the right way and the wrong way and just sort of your mindset is definitely reflected in the way you lead your team and the way the mood is like in the company as well.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Thank you. What will be – sorry, one more question and then we can move on. What is the team for the future? We’ve seen that this pandemic changed a lot of things and the teams have to reconstruct, or you have to re-invent how you’re going to manage your team. So what will be the team for the future, for the new time, for the new era?

Klara Horton: Yeah, I think that the teams of the future will be the teams that allow the individual employees to bring their full selves into work. Virtually. So I do believe that most of us will work in sort of a virtual environment. Of course there will still be some roles that will not have this possibility, but there is this huge shift. And I think this will- this should definitely impact the different topics of diversity and inclusion, that is sort of the empowerment of sort of the true self. Where you are not- because if you’re not in an office with someone, they don’t see you, they cannot feel your energy, so you have to be sort of more open in the virtual grounds. And if your team is not empowering you to do that, if you are afraid to speak up, to say what you think, to say who you are to say what you like, I think that you will never be happy, you will never have such a great performance as if you were in a team that makes you feel safe. So in my opinion the teams of the future will be the teams that are smart enough and caring enough to actually allow their team members to bring their full selves into work. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: And how is it connected to the new value? We are actually entering into a new era. So, values are also shifting. How is it connected to the new values that you have to present to the world, or you have to present to your clients, customers, buyers, whatever you are doing?

Klara Horton: I think the big shift in terms of values now is becoming that our values should actually be lived by. They should not be the fancy words that you have on your wall or your website. They should be something that you really want to stand by. Something that you actually live, that you, you know, sort of live by example as a leader of your company to your team, and I think that this sort of comes back to you. You know, the most simplest values are the most powerful ones, right? Like being truthful or transparent, being kind to one another and also being caring and being flexible. So these are all things that really come back to the basic morals that we should have as humans. But now we’re sort of actually allowed to say ‘hey, we want to be kind to our employees’. So if they’re working on a flexible schedule and they don’t come to a meeting, we won’t fire them. Because that’s not being kind and that’s not being flexible, right? And that’s not really being inclusive or a remote company for example, so I think the values are sort of shifting and I do believe that a lot of the great companies realized that already a while ago and they do have the sort of inner system or these inner principles in their company set up in such a way that is really working and that really creates an amazing culture. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: Well, that can be a new age corporation morals, or whatever. So, how does the pandemic change you? How much did it affect your everyday life? Not just in terms of work, but in your everyday life?

Klara Horton: I think this pandemic has sort of this power. Same for the sickness and for this overall atmosphere – to attack what we sort of- what is our weakest site. So, what is our weakest power, I would say. For me, that was definitely – I was multitasking a lot, I was not able to focus since I was all the time at home, trying to push so many projects, trying to work on everything at once. So I think this was sort of in the spring/summer, this was really, really visible to me and I realized I really had to change the way I work, otherwise I’ll just go insane. So I think that was sort of the first in terms of my work lifestyle the first thing I realized. In terms of my personal life, I sort of realized how precious it is to have freedom. And you know, that freedom means many, many things. And just realizing, you know, I see different people protesting outside for different reasons and I think we don’t realize that very often. And this comes down to you actually needing to make tough decisions before the problem even comes. So this goes back to voting for the right government, taking care of your body, taking care of your mind, enjoying free time, enjoying time with your family, enjoying time with your friends and partners and exercising – all these things that you actually are sort of pushing off to when you actually need to be doing them or when it’s absolutely necessary. When you get to that point it’s too late. So I think actually having that freedom and combining freedom with discipline has been really sort of a shift for me in order to create some sort of a routine around my lifestyle and actually just be more connected with people that are important for my life. I think this was this sort of shift. And I definitely want to keep this what we’ll have of the lockdown – next two months or two years or you know whatever the outside world will look like. This was a very, very big shift and I think a lot of people realize that you need to start acting before it’s too late. So that’s been sort of the biggest change for me. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: That’s very powerful, the things that you said. Like how we take freedom for granted. Like, it’s here, we use it, we consume it, we don’t take care of it, it’s just here. Once it’s taken away from us from some invisible things, we are starting to be aware of freedom, of- or just free time or something like that. So, you said at the beginning that you also participated in some  startup projects and that you actually have two of them? Did I understood correctly? Can you tell us something more about it. Because I’m no longer a startup company, I’m five years old so I’m not a startup, but I’m very interested in startup ecosystems and startup culture and we have to build that here. In Serbia we are really on a low level of startups and entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. So, can you share your story and can you share your experience?

Klara Horton: Absolutely. So, after working for a corporation, then this sort of mid-sized corporation that I’d probably call a smart company, I had the opportunity to join a really, really small team. And I’ve been working in three or four startups actually ever since and I’ve been both working in startups, mentoring startups in different programs as well as working on two of my own projects. And the first one I actually – when I joined the first very, very startup company, I was the seventh employee there – I wanted to become a part of the community here in Czech Republic or here in Prague that would help me with all these tough decisions I have to make. Because I figured there are all these amazing businesses that built the stuff that we need to build, I’d like to connect with them and ask them how they did it. I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, as they say. But there wasn’t really a community that I could connect with. I didn’t really find any sort of, you know, events or people that were sort of same as me or that I could feel safe with and reach out to. So I actually built my own startup community. And we’ve been on for two years now, we have seven team members and recently we actually signed our first partner Google for Startups. So we are now empowered by one of the greatest companies, so that has been the great achievement for this last month. Yeah and we do a lot of different activities, including different event-

Sanja Milosavljevic: Can you- sorry, sorry to interrupt, but can you share events, virtual events, do you do mentorship programs, what do you do? How do you empower your startup community?

Klara Horton: Yes, so we have so many different activities. As you mentioned, we have events, we have online events as well as offline and basically the three pillars on which all our community is built are education, inspiration and networking. So we always try to combine at least the two, but ideally the three of them into every activity we do. So we have different webinars, we have investor panels, we have talks with different kinds of entrepreneurs, so different types of events. We also have a mentors network. We have around 30 mentors on our website that help our startups pro bono. We also have a community on Facebook where I think we have over 1100 members at the moment, we have a newsletter, we have blog posts, a lot of content – we do Instagram Live with entrepreneurs and we also actually help kids either from universities or even from kids’ homes to find their first job experience in startups. So we’re actually we built this whole internship program and we help people to get into startups as well now. So, it’s been this great ride so far. And we’re planning a lot of different activities for 2021 as well. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: Perfect, that’s very nice. So, is your government helping in any way promotion of startups or entrepreneurship?

Klara Horton: I think that there are some programs supported by the government, there are a few companies/communities that actually work with the government very closely. We haven’t been one of them, which I think gave us a great flexibility in terms of what we do. But also, it gave us zero budget on what we do, so until now we were actually – my whole team until this summer was volunteering. So, we basically built the whole thing out of volunteers which was amazing. And we were lucky enough that we got- our community got merged, acquired by one of the biggest business media in- startup, tech business media in Czech Republic so now we have a strong partner and a great sponsor as well. But I think that there are some programs in terms of the quality of the state programs that are here. I actually cannot say in detail as I wasn’t- I was never in a program that would- that I could sort of go through. And I’m very careful in terms of giving sort of subjective feedback if I did not go through the experience, but I think it’s sort of- it’s 50/50. There are people who find it helpful, but I think there’s always a lot of space for improvement so yeah, I think that would be the case.

Sanja Milosavljevic: But is it important that the government stands behind entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship as a system? Because I strongly believe that somebody as powerful as the government and the state should be behind these kinds of activities, because that’s the- I don’t want to say easiest way to promote entrepreneurship and startups, but it’s good when you have somebody that strong standing behind you and not just to count on individual initiatives. Individual initiatives are also very welcome, but when you have a structure and system standing behind you, it’s easier. Well, I think that’s- and why is entrepreneurship and startup actually very important for the economy for one country? Do you have any opinion regarding that?

Klara Horton: And I think what you mentioned in terms of the government and the individual institutions – it has to be sort of a hybrid, right? Where the individual institutions they learn faster, they’re more flexible and they should be supported and give inputs to the government and vice-versa. And I think on both sides there needs to be the ownership and the understanding of what we’re good at, right? From the government and from the individual institutions and communities and programs like this one too. To understand what they can give and what they need and they just sort of work as you mentioned as an ecosystem that helps and empowers. Because I strongly believe that these startups and entrepreneurship in general does not necessarily have to be a startup company persay, meaning that the government grows you know 10x per year and scales extremely fast, etc. etc. It can be building businesses for your family and children and grandchildren in the slower pace as well. But I think if you don’t support this mindset, if you don’t support these activities as leadership, as government that there- they’re still going to happen, but the more difficult you make it the more talent and money you will lose. Sooner or later these people will either find different ways to do it or different places to do it at. And we’ve seen it in the past that a lot of amazing- we’ve seen a sort of shift to the west where a lot of amazing, talented people go away from the country where they were born and they actually do business elsewhere because the ecosystem supports them more and the energy is better. And I actually noticed a few trends now where a lot of great entrepreneurs that originally were from Czech Republic and were doing business in the US are now coming back to help the ecosystem, which is amazing. And you know, that’s the way you want. You want people to travel, people to learn to experience different cultures and to bring a different perspective, but you want them to understand how they can make an impact locally and you want to empower that. So that’s sort of my opinion in terms of what the ecosystem ideally would look like. And there’s so many ways how you can empower people, but I think the first and most important step is actions. If you make 75 different brochures and different websites and presentations, that doesn’t empower people, right? What empowers them are different challenges, budgets, connections, you know, ability to travel, to get connected with entrepreneurs outside of the country, to talk to other people. I think that’s what really gives you the energy. I myself personally I’ve never been excited after I read a government website about a potential project, right? So, yeah…I think I agree with you. I think it’s very important that the initiative comes from both sides. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: From both sides, yeah. Because the government is the main stakeholder and they are the ones that write laws and regulations, so they are important part of this ecosystem. But sometimes I feel that we cannot break through their structures because they are very old and they are not flexible as you said. The change is coming very slowly, but they are a very important part of it. But what do you think, why is the small-scale business or startup or entrepreneur important for the local economy? How can they improve the local economy?

Klara Horton: Yeah, there are many ways they can do that ,right? And I think the first is innovation. If you have products coming from your country that are able to innovate- you know, I always ask how can we build amazing things here that can then change the world? So, if you build something that innovates a product or service that innovates in an amazing way something locally and you can scale it, then I think you have a winner. And this comes back to empowering other entrepreneurs and showing them that the path is there, but also bringing them a great amount of cash in terms of their business for the government, right? So I think that actually it can be extremely beneficial if you set your sort of state preparation in such a way that companies don’t actually build, they do their legal entities elsewhere in terms of taxation, or the process or the complication of actually establishing a company, because then you are losing all of their- the taxes and the revenue that the business has built. And if they become really big and we have some amazing businesses in Czech Republic, then you lose on that as a government. So I think it should be sort of in their best interests to build such grounds that the companies can really flourish. And yeah and grow as fast as possible and not be forced to leave and to do business elsewhere. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: Well, we have a similar problem here. People that are enthusiastic about something or some ideas and they are ready to take action, they just leave the country. They just go somewhere else because they cannot grow here, they cannot thrive here, so they have to find as you said a different place to show what they can and what they know. Okay. Can you tell us something about this last startup you are doing? What is it about, or can you even tell us? Can you share some details? And some other topics- we’re going to cover some other topics like what is a fair trade for you, what is ethical production for you, but this new idea, what is it about?

Klara Horton: Absolutely – and I love that you brought up those two topics, because that’s actually what our project is sort of about. So, in the last two years I’ve been a great consumer of superfoods, of sort of freeze-dried superfoods. They have amazing benefits for you, they’re really healthy, they have antioxidants and vitamins which are, as we know now, very important and to sort of make up for some of the nights where I worked late, or some of the nights when I have more than one glass of wine with my friends. I’ve been sort of using superfoods as this balance in my lifestyle. And yeah, I’ve met Agnieszka you know, a while ago and we were talking to each other and we actually thought it would be a great idea to build a store where you’d be able to build your own, custom superfood mix. So a store where you can go and you don’t need to buy anything off of different large marketplaces that are well known or too expensive, or suspicious, less expensive and that sort of you know, downgrades the quality. Yeah, so we are building our- we call it ‘holistic superfoods’ and we’re building our store and we’re hoping to finish our products in the next few days. So, yeah, what we’re doing are basically mixes of superfoods that you can mix in your smoothies, smoothie bowls, pancakes and these amazing, colorful meals. Yeah, so that’s a really fun project of ours that we’re working on currently. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: And how does your project with the superfood correspond to the environment and how are you going to- what’s your attitude towards packaging, alternative types of packaging and what do you actually think about the carbon footprint and everything that’s very important now. We’ve seen- sorry, but we’ve seen at the beginning of the pandemic I think that it was in Venice, the dolphins came back to the lagoon because humans were- humans left the nature and nature just recovered. So the dolphins came back to the lagoon. What are we doing now? Me or you with your new project? Are you aware of the environment and what are your plans to protect the environment? 

Klara Horton: Absolutely, that’s actually one of the biggest values and pillars that we’re building our brand on. Because you know, transfering food is never going to stop. We are always going to transfer food from now on around the globe. So that is always going to have some kind of footprint in terms of the environment. But we can think of the ways how we transfer food, we can think of what state we do it in and how we actually get the different- how we actually farm and get the different ingredients. You know, the vegetables and fruits and how we harvest them and how we then transfer them. So I think in terms of sustainability, that is one of our main goals of the project. We want to make sure that all of our products will be vegan – I’ve been vegan for the last two years and the environmental state has made an impact in my life to take that decision. You know, we tried to sort of live our lives in a way to have a sustainable approach and this project is really a mirror of that. Because we are- we’re working with products that are already dehydrated, so you can actually transport a lot more of them and they are a lot less heavy than if we were working with the whole fruits. We would love to work with local- with farmers directly to make sure that they are properly paid and that they have proper life conditions. I think that not a lot of people actually know this, but coffee and cocoa are the famous ingredients that are not really being harvested ethically and superfoods are right up there. Because they grow in the subtropical and tropical areas, one of the biggest lands where they grow is Africa or Asia and in that sense we don’t- we cannot really go there and see for ourselves. Well, not now. That’s hopefully the plan for next year – to visit some of the farms. But, we want to make sure that not only we are using products that have been collected by people who actually can afford to eat themselves, but that we’re also using products that don’t harm the environment. For example with cocoa, cocoa needs a very specific type of soil and you know a lot of sunshine and humidity as well and cocoa trees have been planted in areas where they have been already protected in different forests. So forests are being cut down to plant more cocoa trees. And the farmers do this because they are paid so little that they are trying to produce as much cocoa beans as possible to actually earn the minimum wage for them to survive, for their children to survive. This makes me so angry. So we want to make sure that we’re not- we’re probably not going to change the world, but we want to be one of these companies who can say with a light head that we are going this direction. Our packages- our packaging is compostable, so you can actually put it next to your palm tree at home for 60 days and it will disappear. So, yeah we are trying to think of all the different ways to make this more sustainable. And this is not only about the project we’re building, this is sort of my perspective on life. That if you don’t act on- even if you do a little change and you sort of shift your daily habits into making them sustainable a little bit, it makes a huge impact if we all did that. That’s sort of my point of view on this topic. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: You said you’re going to use compostable packaging? Is it easily- or is it easy to find it in Czech Republic? Is somebody doing that? Producing compostable packaging?

Klara Horton: Yeah, it’s actually- it’s been very easy to find the different packaging that we’re going to be using, so we’re lucky enough to have this great environment that’s really supportive. Even for me personally instead of going back to meat, only eating plant-based, I think if I were to take on a vegan diet ten years ago I think it would not have been as fun as now. And I think that, you know – there’s so many options in terms of products you’re building, the packages you’re using, the transport you’re going to take and you can always make the more conscious and sustainable decision and we’re trying to do that with our projects as well. 

Sanja Milosavljevic: Because in Serbia we have one company that is also a startup and they are producing compostable or biodegradable packaging out of funghi – out of mushrooms. So, it’s very interesting like, you can actually see how your packaging is decomposing and vanishing and it’s returning to the soil, so…I really hope that startup is going to succeed in their mission. I wanted to ask you something and then it just went…nevermind. No, no, no, nevermind. It was connected to this…no, nevermind. So, I will remember it at some point. Why is it that important to- let’s return to that startup ecosystem – is it important to have a good structure, good development of the startup ecosystem? Because maybe you have some products to offer and maybe some other startup is developing some service for transport and then maybe some other startup is developing eco-friendly packaging. Is it important for these three let’s say be in some kind of a connection and is it easy for you in Czech Republic to map them and to easily find them and network with them?

Klara Horton:  Yeah, in terms of this typical sort of supply and demand, I think this first crucial step is to actually start. Right? You have to start your business, not with the vision that you want to supply the local businesses or that you want to supply the specific other company, but that you have to supply the business out of need. And if that need is big enough, if you have it, if your colleagues have it, it’s probably bigger than your team, it’s probably bigger than your city, it’s probably bigger than your country. So, you know, I think that’s the first step into building a business that has this sort of supply and demand mechanism. And then, later on, being connected locally and helping each other, I think that comes back to the essence of being kind and being a community-driven company. And also a smart company. Because what we see actually in different, for example, startup accelerators, incubators – the companies that go through one year together, or one cohort or one semester of the startup accelerator are then in close touch for the next few years. Right? So they actually- just the fact that they have come through the similar program, it doesn’t even have to be in the same country, it can be remote. And even companies that go through this program later on are in this sort of community, are in this sort of ecosystem. So I think this is really up to the entrepreneurs to figure out where we want to be. Because really your network is sort of your net-worth. So understanding in which type of community do I need to be, to whom I need to sell, from whom I want to learn is really sort of on the entrepreneurs and I think they need to take initiative here. You know, the government cannot build this sort of- it has to sort of grow organically, but companies have to be very smart and be connected. When we are building, when we are building- when we are debating about a new idea, or we are building a new program or even a new project, we always connect with companies that are similar to ours, or that are our friends, that have a great experience in the field and we ask them for feedback. We validate, we ask them what they would need. And I think being smart enough to do that, you can build great friendships, you can get great help, you can support other entrepreneurs, so I think this is really about the mindset of the individual entrepreneurs to be open, and not to sort of keep your startup and your product as a secret to everyone, but rather yeah, rather go out there and not be afraid to build your connections. And to ask for help and to offer help as well.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Nice. I remembered the question from earlier. What do you think about new product development? How important is- you said that your initiative should be based on the demand, so if there is a real need at the market for the product, then you should go for it. But before that, before when you just think of the new product or new service, how is it important to think in terms of design-thinking and new product development?

Klara Horton: You mean before I start building what I need to put together?

Sanja Milosavljevic: Yes, before even gathering members of the team, or thinking how to develop an idea, before a business plan, what do you think about new product development? Is the new product development something that’s for the future? Something that’s basically very- we’re going to need the new products, like your superfood?

Klara Horton: Well, you know, in terms of coming up with a new idea and then sort of the stage in between having an idea and building a business, I think the very first thing is – if your idea is coming from “I can be very rich by doing this”, first of all you’re probably never going to be happy and you’re probably gonna lose your discipline and passion very fast unless you’re extremely money driven or you have some other attributes that we should not get into. But usually what happens is that when you have an idea, it comes from your personal need or your personal experience. For example, with our project, with both of my projects that I’m working on and the company I’ll be joining from next year, I can see myself using all of these products. I know I need them, I enjoy using them and I love telling other people about them. Right? So, those are the very important things to me and I think that’s the first steps you need to take as entrepreneurs. To figure out ‘what is my problem?’, well not in general but a specific problem. How, what can I do to actually help out with that problem and do other people have this? Is this sort of unique to me or can I see other people using this? And how you can figure out the next step is just asking around. Either by observation or gathering feedback and that can be literally calling your best friend and just telling them “hey I have this idea, what do you think?”. And I would just like to say here – don’t be discouraged if people tell you that you will never make it, that the idea is silly. It’s never your fault, it’s always on them if they share any negative feedback or discourage you. It’s not because your idea is not worth it. Maybe they just don’t understand the value, or they have some sort of other personal issue or in general. Yeah, and then just sort of going small, experimenting, trying to go fast and sort of using this MVP, the minimum viable product. I think that the benchmark right now in terms of startups is so high, where we see companies like, you know, Skype was sort of the fastest unicorn and how HopIn in terms of growing to a unicorn in 18 months. The benchmark is so high that what I usually say and what I just told my friends as well – I actually don’t care. I do not care that we won’t be the fastest startup, who cares – right? The important thing is that we build the minimum product which is not perfect, we try it out, we test it out, we figure out what needs to be there and then we just get on and we do us. We do not focus on how fast the other companies are, what sort of universe they went to, how much funding they got .There can be so many different things how you can compare yourself to other people. I think it’s better- I think it’s great to be connected, it’s great to get inspired and to learn and to be a part of a community, but it has to be beneficial for you, it cannot be toxic for you. So you know, in terms of you know to wrap this together – figure out what problem you would love to solve for yourself and for others, validate it, experiment. Get sort of a minimal MVP together and then I would really start a business out of it. I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen the first prototype of an iPhone? But it was an actual iPhon with this huge desk of different wires and batteries next to it. They said ‘this is what we want the thing to look like, don’t mind all the stuff around, we’ll figure out how to put all of that inside, just tell us if this is how you want to look like”. So that’s sort of what you need to do .And you want to build a ‘wow’. You want to really figure out the one point that makes you unique and really invest in that, because that’s what’s gonna differentiate you from other companies out there.

Sanja Milosavljevic: From competition, yes. So, I usually ask at the end of conversation, I ask my guests to share their thoughts, their personal thoughts, and to send a message to other entrepreneurs or other people that are listening to this. But you actually did that intuitively in this last question, so I’m going to ask you if you can recommend a movie, or a book that we can find on the internet, Netflix, HBO or a book that we can read that inspired you. It doesn’t have to be connected to entrepreneurship or business, just something that was meaningful for you.

Klara Horton: Hmm, I’m looking at my bookshelf here to see if there’s something I would love- I actually- and I talk about this book a lot. But I love the book called “Ego is the enemy” by Ryan Holiday. He talks about the power of ego and decision making and how a  really big ego can make a big mess in our lives. And when you become a founder and you have investors that you need to report to and a team you need to take care of, a lot of times it’s not going to be comfortable. And the reason why it’s not going to be comfortable 99% of the time is because of your inner voice or your ego saying “this is too much for me, I don’t need to do this, they are wrong, I am right”. So I think really understanding that inner ego, that inner voice and how you can actually manage it, it can actually help you to become much happier. It’s something probably most of us are struggling with and that’s the book I really recommend to everyone. I really loved reading it and I plan to read it again and I have so many notes taken out of it. That’s probably my favorite book.

Sanja Milosavljevic: Thank you Klara, thank you. Thank you for your time, thank you for accepting my invitation. Even though we don’t know each other, we are just connected through Agnieszka, thank you for this wonderful conversation. Dear people, this was Klara from Prague, from Czech Republic, I hope you really enjoyed our conversation because she shared some very smart insights based on her experiences. If you like, you can always follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel, you can find us on LinkedIn. So, stay safe, be good and be in good health. See you in a week.