Luka Abrus: Playing in a band is my escape from stress

The young businessman from Zagreb finds demanding managerial work insufficient. He plays water polo, sails, plays the piano, is a member of the band Kopito, teaches at the private Polytechnic of Vern’ in Zagreb, has written three books, and also writes for Croatian computer magazines.

As if running a successful company in Croatia isn’t difficult enough, Luka Abrus (34) is behind two. He is the director and co-owner of Pet minuta (Five) and co-owner of ShoutEm along with his colleague Viktor Marohnić, who heads the latter. Marohnić, by the way, founded Pet minuta 11 years ago, and today they share responsibilities so that each runs one company, although their businesses constantly intertwine. Luka emphasizes that he reinvested his first earned million kuna back into the company at that very moment, as all the value they possess lies in those companies.

Pet minuta and ShoutEm are recognized worldwide and have offices in New York, Zagreb, and Osijek, so as they primarily operate abroad, multi-day business trips are a daily routine. However, for the young businessman from Zagreb, this is not enough. He plays water polo, sails, plays the piano, is a member of the group Kopito, teaches at the private Polytechnic of Vern’ in Zagreb, has written three books at the ages of 22 and 23, and writes for Croatian computer magazines. He comes from an acting and journalism family – his mother is actress Nada Abrus, and his father is Krešimir Fijačko. Despite the allure of acting, it could not compete with the world of computers, and writing has found its space. Versatile Luka has managed to successfully intertwine business management and personal life, which have become so intertwined that today he sees no boundary between them.

You have always known that you would work in IT. How did you turn to it in an acting environment?

– I have always enjoyed that whole world. Even as a two-year-old, my mother, an actress from the Komedija theater, took me to see plays; as a boy, I traveled and went on tours with them, and thus my love for theater was built. Even today, I strive to see as many performances as possible, both in Zagreb and in New York. But the first computer, the Commodore 64, which I received in early elementary school, completely fascinated me, and there was no more doubt.

But alongside IT, there is music…

– Along with high school, I also finished music school, theoretical direction and piano. There has always been a connection between music and mathematics, and thanks to that theoretical direction, I now have a good ear and can play several instruments. My involvement with bands started in high school, where I played guitar, and continued in countless combinations and setups, most often with the piano, sometimes with drums. For the last few years, the most stable has been Kopito; we recently released our third album. We met playing in other bands, and today it is one of my escapes from stress: a relaxed team, traveling with musicians, good music. And in this job, the island mentality comes in handy. Today, I don’t play as much as I would like, but sometimes there are concerts with Kopito and guest appearances with other bands.

You have worked in many companies. Where did you learn the most?

– Every company was a school, and I left them when I wanted to learn something new. I started with my first projects and clients while still in high school, and that’s when I learned what it means to sell and charge for a service and product. During my studies, I worked in two companies as a programmer, and in my final year, I started at Microsoft. I stayed there for seven years and learned the most. After all, it is a global company with serious clients, established sales and marketing processes, and there was also the most important thing: a top-notch team of people I could follow and learn from, especially at the peak around 2005 and 2006.

Why did you leave Microsoft for Pet minuta?

– I reached my limit in the corporation; I felt like the world was passing me by while I read about it on foreign portals. I met Viktor Marohnić when he won a web application development competition I organized at Microsoft, after which he started Pet minuta. I remember in 2010 when he asked me to join him and leave Microsoft. He just told me he wanted to talk, and we arranged to sit down for coffee, and I thought I already knew what he would ask me and that I would agree. I didn’t think too much about the conditions or details, and today we are partners.

How do you operate? What are your plans, what are you focused on?

– Five is an agency that helps companies like Rosetta Stone, Rhapsody, Choice Hotels, or Squarespace in designing and developing their mobile applications and digital products, and today it employs nearly a hundred people. ShoutEm, on the other hand, is our product, a platform where anyone can create their own mobile application, used by 5,000 clients worldwide and employing around 30 people. Both companies have offices in Zagreb and Osijek, but also in New York, where we have eight employees. The goal of Five is to become the leading New York agency for mobile technologies. We collaborate with increasingly larger and more recognized brands and deliver concrete and measurable results on mobile platforms. With ShoutEm, we want to completely change the way mobile applications are developed and help large enterprise companies that need to publish and maintain dozens of applications, like news publishers, agencies that want to create mobile applications for their clients, but also individual users who want an application for their business, restaurant, store, or event. We have been investing in this technology for years and believe that the real successes are yet to come.

What do you consider the greatest success of your companies?

– With Five, we succeeded in transforming into a global agency from New York, and ShoutEm has grown from a small startup into a stable business. Today, we generate almost 100 percent of our revenue from exports to the United States, and that is a result of the strategy set from day one. Our business today grows primarily based on constant client referrals. We have always paid great attention to quality and invested extra efforts to prove ourselves. Today, we have a team that performs better than most global and American agencies. We have always traveled to events in the U.S., and we invested our first earnings in presentations at conferences. Viktor moved to the U.S. back in 2011; with our first significant revenues, we started hiring in New York and stick to the same principles here.

What is your greatest business success?

– I think it hasn’t come yet. On paper, it would be the sale of a new company formed by spinning off a team from Pet minuta to the American Real Networks, but I am still most pleased by small steps, like the invitation to the final pitch of the 9/11 Museum, a symbol of New York and the U.S., which recognized us and placed us among the top three agencies.

Can turning to information technology (IT) be the driver of the economy in Croatia?

– Our driver should be the reduction of regulations, levies, the informatization of public administration, and generally the creation of an entrepreneurial culture. So, a zero step for any activation of the economy, but there are no signs of that yet. We are not yet ready to talk about strategic industries, and all good stories arise exclusively from unpredictable flashes of individuals in various industries. Specifically, companies engaged in computer programming employed only 0.8 percent of people in Croatia in 2014, while the EU average is 1.3 percent. At the same time, this sector shows revenue growth of 13 percent, exports of 43 percent, and an increase in the number of employees of 21 percent compared to 2013. Therefore, we won’t be particularly innovative if we say that perhaps we should invest in information technologies, which clearly have the potential for significant growth, but behind that, there must now be huge and brave moves to catch the first step with the environment and learn something from, for example, Romania.

What is the biggest problem in Croatia in your industry?

– In IT and generally in creative industries, the biggest problem is the shallowness of the labor market, or the limitation of resources. Too few people choose a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), while budgets for education and science are simultaneously being reduced. In our industry, there is plenty of work; all companies continuously hire and are even forced to turn down jobs simply due to a lack of resources. As a cherry on top, I notice a significant outflow abroad within my circle of people. And the main reason is not a lack of work – there is too much of it and it is well-paid, but in the overall context, perspective, and messages sent to the youth.

Although you could have gone abroad, why did you stay here? You also have an office in America.

– We view Five and ShoutEm as global companies and citizens of the world. We operate from Croatia because there are phenomenal talents and people here, but we also hire in the U.S. We travel constantly and spend a lot of time around the world and with clients. Our desire from the beginning was to create world-class companies in Croatia, to create value, to employ, and to show that it is possible. In doing so, we measure ourselves against global competitors, compete with the best, and do not settle for being the best ‘in the village.’ Given our exports, we are also winners of two Fin’s Golden Balance awards for IT.

How do people abroad view you coming from Croatia? Did you have to prove yourself more?

– Absolutely not; our clients in America do not care where we are from as long as we know our business and solve their problems efficiently and on time. We are a New York company with operations in Croatia. The language and location of the people working on the project are only a problem on paper. Although people in Croatia speak excellent English, we have further resolved this difficulty by introducing a conversational course for all employees. We solve the other by constant travel and spending as much time as possible with clients. There is another aspect. Since there is a shortage of quality people everywhere, our clients have problems finding top programmers and designers, as most have gone to Google, Facebook, or some new top startup. On the other hand, we have the position of a leading company in Croatia and attract the best local talents, so we can offer quality and a level of work that clients do not expect. That is why our entire business grows based on referrals.

Do they ask you about Croatia? What is their general impression of Croatia, and what is it when it comes to investments and entrepreneurship?

– Of course, they are interested in Croatia; everyone would like to make a ‘working’ visit and enjoy the beauty of the coast. They know the most about Croatia because we are one of the filming locations for ‘Game of Thrones’ and a popular tourist destination. That is what is most talked about, and when it comes to investments, business, and entrepreneurship, we are not on their radar at all.

You are not really working on domestic projects.

– We simply do not have enough resources. There are smart projects and clients in Croatia, but it is very difficult to achieve a return on investment in mobile technologies, both due to the small market and the limitation of money in electronic and mobile transactions. We have focused on the U.S. because it is uniquely large market compared to Europe, and the same references are valid from Seattle to Boston, from New York to San Francisco. I believe we can create far greater value by further investing in those relationships and clients, and fortunately, there are enough quality technology companies in Croatia that can meet the needs of the domestic market.

How do you manage in the role of a lecturer to students? What do you advise them?

– My advice is always to do something alongside college, to find what interests them by trying out all possible jobs, because if they do not take initiative and just wait for the right opportunity, it will not come. For most modern professions, a computer and an internet connection are enough, and there are plenty of educational opportunities. Today, they must continuously learn, try new things, and employers will quickly be fighting over them. If they want to start their own business, the advice is to educate themselves as much as possible. Our education system does not provide the right education for entrepreneurs, and perhaps it is wise to continue learning after college as an employee in a similar company, through internships, competitions, incubators, before jumping onto the currently popular ‘I-have-my-startup’ train.

It is often said that education must keep pace with the economy, but this is difficult to change in Croatia, especially in public education. Why is that and what needs to change?

– We constantly change strategies on paper; no one starts any reforms; we are completely paralyzed and lagging behind the world. While children in the U.S. are already taught programming in early elementary school, our IT classrooms are not even equipped. Not everyone will be programmers, but it teaches them procedural thinking, computer management, and creating something new. We lack practical work, student projects, encouragement for out-of-the-box research, and asking questions, so our foundations are not good, let alone talking about following the needs of the economy.

How do you prefer to relax?

– I constantly read something and play with the piano, but I relax the most by playing water polo. There can be up to five training sessions a week, and there are also frequent short trips, veterans’ tournaments, and gatherings. Of course, I love the sport, but above all because of the team, whose biggest concern is whether a player will pass through the right wing. That is the greatest relaxation from stress.

Could it happen that you leave everything and start living in solitude, which is known to happen in the business world?

– I can’t say that it doesn’t cross my mind. I solve that by sailing, which is the closest thing: two people at sea, in some cove today, anywhere tomorrow. I think I could never leave everything because even if I embarked on that, after a month, I would get nervous and start creating something.