The annual Job Fair manifestation that took place at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing in Zagreb on 17-18 May has seen the biggest tech companies in the world such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft competing to get the attention of IT college students. While the tech giants were presenting the students with the advantages they offer to their employees, the Croatian startup Repsly decided for a different strategy.
Repsly disclosed their finances and their business philosophy, thus becoming the first Croatian startup to publicly reveal information about their business model. During his presentation at the job fair, the co-founder and CEO of Repsly Marko Kovač disclosed the company has seen an income of 2,5 million dollars in the first trimester of 2017. They began to see growth in 2013, followed by a revenue of half a million dollars six months later. In 2015, the profit has increased to a million, continuing to grow to 2 million dollars before the end of last year, according to poslovni.hr. Repsly is a startup providing mobile CRM for companies who do field work.
“The numbers I’ve shown make for 80% of our total revenue and represent the success we’ve achieved through online sales. Our wish is to continue to grow at the same rate, but growing from one million to two and getting from four million to eight million is not the same thing. It calls for a different approach, so what we’re doing now is basically training the team for the next season.” said Kovač. He added he expects to maintain the current growth rate in the next three years, making this his personal goal for investors’ sake.
They are expecting a revenue of five million dollars in 2017, and they’re planning to add 10 more employees to their current team of 35 experts.
Kovač remarked he hasn’t visited the last two editions of the Job Fair, and said he’s amazed by the current demand in the IT industry. When he addressed the students, he said: “This is phenomenal. You’re in the same position today as Linda Evangelista was when she stated she wasn’t getting out of bed for less than 10.000 dollars. The demand for you is astonishing, and the supply is so low you can make as much money as you want. That’s why I’m urging you to stop for a moment and think. You have one life, and you should decide what you really want to do with it.”
