Meet Berislav Marszalek, a successful entrepreneur from Croatia.
Stories about start-ups always sound great, but only those who have tried to run their own business projects know how hard it is to succeed globally, especially when starting from Croatia. One of those who have succeeded is Berislav Marszalek (28) from Zagreb, the founder and majority owner of the Entrio Tehnologije and Snap Tap. He started his first company in 2011 in order to implement the Entrio project, conceived as a new way of selling and distributing tickets for concerts, festivals and other events, reports Forbes on December 10, 2015.
“We wanted to change the conventional ticketing system so that tickets can be purchased and used over cell phones, which is very convenient for both visitors and organizers. This is a so-called mobile ticket system which has been used abroad for several years. My colleague Matija Marijan and I founded the project. After you start working on a project, you realize that not everything is going smoothly”, Marszalek said.
They first created a web application which was customized for mobile phones as well. But, they soon realized that computer literacy among Croatian citizens and among organizers of various events is not at a sufficient level for the ticket sales system to be fully digitized. Croatians like to have a ticket in their pockets. “The organizer of an event can register on our website Entrio.hr, enter all information and start selling tickets over the internet in five minutes. Our profit is a commission of 8 percent plus two kuna per ticket sold. When the buyer pays, he gets the ticket with a code which he or she shows at the entrance. Tickets do not have to be printed. For the organizers, we have developed an app for Android phones which can scan tickets at the entrance”, Marszalek said. The system is now used in Croatia, and in Montenegro, Slovenia, Serbia…
A year ago, Marszalek started another project called Snap Tap, which includes solutions for interactive entertainment at events. “I started with the IT operations, which is my profession, but in a business sense I am increasingly turning towards marketing, which makes me very happy. I started working on my project immediately after college, I have never worked for someone else. I love to set my own goals, achieve them and observe the results. In developed countries, it is certainly easier to succeed than in Croatia, but I do not want to complain. If you want to enjoy the beauty of Croatia, live close to your family and friends, you do not need to envy the living standards and working conditions in some richer countries. I am determined to achieve the American dream in Croatia”, Marszalek said. He loves entrepreneurship because he can choose what he will do, when and with whom. With his businesses developing so rapidly, he is confident that financial success is just around the corner.
