Bostjan Troha-Karo

BUSINESS CONSULTANCY

 

Business management specialist, seasoned entrepreneur, founder, and executive with proven skills and hands-on experience in senior and C-level positions who will tell you like it is, no candy-wrapping, no sugar-coating.

 

Business & Marketing Strategies

Development of mid and long-term strategy, the definition of the BHAG, nailing the vision and mission statements. Competition and SWOT analyses, positioning, and branding strategies.

Innovation Strategy

Alignment with business strategy, defining processes and structures how to search for novel solutions, synthesize ideas into business concepts and product designs and select which projects get funded

Focus & Alignment

Introduction and development of focus and alignment tools, such as Objectives and Key Results, development of internal communication channels, and 360 review systems.

Fundraising

Development of investor decks, materials, and due diligence questionnaires for venture capital and venture debt financing.

Operational Excellence

Development of company-wide processes, guidelines, and implementation of RACI matrices to achieve accountabilities, trust, and commitment.

Human Resource Management

Defining recruitment strategies, work ethics, company culture, clear career paths for each individual, and making sure the right people are in the right seats.

Years of Experience

C-Level Positions

VC-Backed Startup Exits

Teams Built and Lead

Letters from the Trenches

A Conspiracy of Dunces

How a small group of dunces may create an extinction event that may wipe out the human race.

Why VCs Should Start Listening to Founders and Stop Giving Advice

Why do VCs have an 80% failure rate? Why do 8 out of 10 startups they’ve hand-picked fail? Why, since 1997, has less cash been returned to VC investors than they have invested? Why do average VCs consistently underperform compared to the stock market? In short, why do VCs suck so much at what they do? Why don’t they start listening to founders and stop giving advice?

Why “Throw Deep” is a Good Strategy

Suppose you want to get ahead of the competition and be a juicy acquisition target. In that case, one of the best strategies is to forget the commoditized benefits everyone in your magic quadrant has and go for the touchdown pass by developing the most advanced and most complex ones first. The ones the competition doesn’t yet have, but you know they’ll be going there soon. Only then go back and either get the commoditized benefits off the shelf or develop them yourself, if necessary.

How to Shoot Yourself in the Foot and Have Fun Doing It

Why it’s not very smart to post pics and videos of expensive settings, bragging about visiting exotic locales, snapping selfies on sailboats, wearing expensive watches while holding the wheel of a supercar, and generally acting like a rich asshole while you’re fundraising.

Your Business Venture as Mythological Adventure: the Entrepreneurial Hero’s Journey

This is going to be a bit unusual, but I think it’s going to be worth the read. I am going to plot your entrepreneurial journey and show where you’re going and what lies ahead by mapping it to a concept taken from an unlikely field of comparative mythology and narratology: the monomyth.

How to Align and Mesure Company Goals: a Case for OKRs

As you scale up your business keeping every single individual tightly aligned to achieve company goals is very difficult. You’re hiring lots of new talent every month while the complexity of your product expands, initiatives pop up, new departments are born and strategies evolve — so how do you make sure everyone is going in the same direction, understand the goals, and how do you measure that without killing the drive?

The Founder’s Syndrome: When it’s Time to Let Go?

Running a startup and running a scaleup requires two very different skill sets. Very few founder-CEOs posses them both, and those who don’t will either stall the growth (and eventually sink the venture) or be replaced by the Board. Neither is very much fun, so let’s look at how you can avoid the Founder’s Syndrome or treat its symptoms that are epidemic in the entrepreneurial world. For a more rounded insight, please check out my blog on the Founder’s Dilemma.

The Founder’s Dilemma: Control Or Wealth?

How to decide whether to keep the initial absolute control over your business and run the show or to relinquish it and get professional management to focus on wealth?

Experience

Worked in international companies with interdisciplinary teams and on global products.

Founded and lead several successful VC-funded startups in video games, military industry, med-tech, and HORECA entertainment.

Two businesses were acquired in successful exits.

Served as CEO, COO, CCO, and EVP in several businesses, spanning various industries, including med-tech, military, video games, gaming, mobility, marketing, hospitality, real-estate, and prop-tech.

Founder & Principal

Troha&Co (investments in distressed economies)

Hands-on leadership in recruiting and investing in startups in distressed economies, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Lebanon, and Egypt. Troha&Co is dedicated to solving the toughest problems countries face today. We’re building entrepreneurial success stories with local people.

troha.co

 

Partner

Real estate investment in hospitality

Managing and raising funds to repurpose stately homes in the north of Italy to luxury hotels.

wellness-holidays

 

EVP Strategic Partnerships

Cosylab/ArrowFast (medical technology)

We have been working with MedTech industry leaders and on the most advanced scientific projects around the globe for 20 years. Our in-house team of 220 engineers helps startups from planning to developing their medical devices and making sure it’s certified for the targeted market.

www.cosylab.com, www.arrowfast.tech

Founder

Barthletix (Casual Esports)

Barthletix (renamed to Huvii) generates acquisition and retention and boosts revenue for bars and restaurants by engaging guests with collaborative and competitive games played with their smartphones and displayed on your big-screen TVs for all to enjoy. Anyone can join and play with or against other customers.

Barthletix is a digital sports bar where everyone is engaged and immersed in playing football, soccer, darts, race cars, play trivia or blackjack, and roulette.

www.huvii.io

COO & SVP Strategy

Visionect / Joan (Developer of electronic paper solutions)

Defining, owning, and leading the corporate strategy, including fundraising. Developing, communicating, and implementing the product and company strategy internally and externally so that all employees, partners, suppliers, and contractors understand the strategic plan and how it carries out the company’s overall goals. Driving decision-making that creates medium- and long-term improvement. Establishing and reviewing key strategic priorities and translating them into comprehensive strategic plans. Monitoring the execution of the strategic plan. Facilitating and driving key strategic initiatives through the inception phase. Translating strategies into actionable and quantitative plans. Acting as a resource across an organization to increase broad cohesion for strategic plans.

Developing and cascading the organization’s strategy/mission statement to the staff, and implementing appropriate rewards/recognition and coaching/corrective practices to align staff with company goals. Developing and communicating career paths. Maintaining and monitoring staffing, levels, Knowledge-Skills-Attributes (KSA), expectations, and motivation to fulfill organizational requirements. Developing and communicating company and staff OKRs. Implementing and enabling the organization’s people policies and practices in alignment with business objectives and core values. Recruitment and selection. Training, mentoring, coaching, and staff development.

www.visionect.comwww.getjoan.com

Creative Director

Renderspace / Pristop, Digital marketing agency

Leading the creative team in the region’s first digital marketing agency.

Driving and defining digital transformation for client corporations and enterprises. Developing next-gen customer experience with gamification, virtual reality, augmented reality, 360 videos, and more.

www.renderspace.siwww.pristop.si

Chief Creative Officer

Interblock, Luxury gaming products

Creating and executing innovative concepts in the fields of slot, bingo, and classic casino games. Developing Virtual Reality concepts with Oculus Rift, such as virtual casinos and VR marketing material. Working with a team of 50+ engineers and artists to deliver cutting-edge products for the land-based casino market.

Working on mobile games, such as Monster League Racing (AndroidiOS), cross-media products, such as holographic gaming, cross-media hybrid entertainment/gaming products, gaming products with skill-based RTP for global millennials-focused markets, developing player retention mechanics and economy systems.

www.interblockgaming.com

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

ZootFly, Video game development studio

Serving as CEO and co-founder of a global video game studio with over 70 team members from 13 countries and over 150 outsourced professionals. Strategic positioning of the studio, multi-million dollar contract negotiation, securing funding of early-stage projects to the tune of over $5 million per project, and strategic alliances with such key players as Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Ubi Soft. Leading the creative team, developing original concepts, and designing games for the world’s largest publishers. Acting as Game Director for most studio’s products, including the critically acclaimed Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death, which grossed $45 million worldwide on a $5 million budget.

Serving as Game Director on other games, such as Panzer Elite Action: Fields of GloryFirst BattalionPanzer Elite Action: Dunes of WarPrison Break: The Conspiracy, and Narco Terror, along with numerous concepts, such as Ghostbusters.

The company was acquired in 2013 by Mr. Joc Pececnik.

www.zootfly.com

Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer

Guardiaris, Military trainers, and simulators

Working as COO for a developer of military simulations and training systems. Responsible for the successful day-to-day running of all aspects of the business. Ensuring delivery of high-quality projects for clients such as ThalesBAE Systems, and the Slovenian Ministry of Defense. Always within time, cost, and quality parameters. The company was acquired by Panna in 2013.

www.guardiaris.com

Selected Clients

My little solo game project (that will never be finished)

The game was inspired by the German expressions classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the works by Franz Kafka. Obviously, the Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) for such a game is about 1.

So, press play and dive head first into the weird world of Dr. Caligari. The footage is Alpha gameplay recording.

+386 41 571 685