Born in Kaunas. Landed in markets abroad
Instead of waiting for better times to come, conscentrate on harworking and invest in the development of both talents and team. Well-known Lithuanian companies, such as NFQ Technologies, TeleSoftas, iTo, and others which have been established by the young entrepreneurs of Kaunas and which have grown into large businesses, share their success guidelines. Together with them, Kaunas Science and Technology Park (Kaunas STP) expanded as well during the past twenty years. The main insights by internationally-recognised Kaunas STP alumni companies show that human resources are important for business lessons.
A human-centred business model
TeleSoftas is a company which provides innovative IT services. It began its operations in the Kaunas STP Technology Business Incubator, and currently operates in four markets and across five cities - Kaunas, Vilnius, Zurich, Dubai, and San Francisco. Looking back from the perspective of fifteen years of operations, Algirdas Stonys, founder and CEO of the company, says that he has developed a different, human-centred business model.
‘We are lucky that we have succeeded in putting together a community of enthusiastic and talented people whose thoughts and visions, professionalism, and ambition all coincided. Communication between teams and a common microclimate is a very important aspect that can encourage anyone to take action to implement inspiring projects and to contribute to our growth, even including the business itself,’ says the company’s founder, Algirdas Stonys.
Seek a foreign market from the very beginning
Although the head of the company says that every step is important in business, because it may lead to a number of unexpected details that could determine success or stagnation. However, for TeleSoftas the most important point was the courage they showed in entering the international market at the very beginning of the company's foundation, where it was able to look for partners.
Since its creation, TeleSoftas has developed more than 350 innovative solutions using modern technologies, such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality. The company develops each solution in order to provide added value and transform the ICT sector, inspiring significant changes in the markets.
At the Mobile World Congress exhibition which took place last year, the company introduced Medusa, the highly-featured multi-functional prototype of its platform for virtual conference calls. This year the company introduced a demo version of a virtual reality solution named Inner Child which is intended for use in psychotherapeutic treatments and which also received a lot of positive public feedback. People can fight their fears by diving into a world of virtual reality.
According to the company’s head, any financial support for a start-up business which is driven by young people is very important. ‘The support that was offered by the Kaunas Business Incubator included both a free-of-charge office space and consultancy. The first TeleSoftas office was located in the former Kaunas Science and Technology centre. It was a room of 12sqm which contained just a few computers and a workstation, and had a four-person team working in it, Stonys recalls.
From the dormitory to the incubator
The story of another young company is similar. When three students from the KTU Faculty of Informatics, who started working together when they were creating websites, got tired of visiting each other's homes and instead tried to concentrate on joint work. They settled near the former Kaunas Technology Centre. ‘We got ourselves a small office in which to work, but this was not just a case of renting a premises. A lot of added value was given to us by our acquaintance with and understanding how we should do business,’ says Paulius Lazauskas, the head of UAB iTo.
The first orders came due to recommendations, and there were only a small number of companies which had websites on the internet for their business representation. ‘We needed more understanding of what is business, rather than looking for clients. For example, the incubator team had a very open attitude towards young people and their ability to create their own businesses. At that time it was extremely important - not to play “business”, but work,’ says Lazauskas.
Today the company’s team has grown to 49 members and is the greatest investment and guarantee of success for the entrepreneur. The team’s smooth internal communications and interoperability has allowed its solutions to conquer the mobile operator market. ‘However, you must open your heart to your employees, so that they will open their own hearts to you,’ says Lazauskas. An early cleared customer profile and the concentration of energy on their concerns has made it possible to position itself in the IT sector. Their products are used by the country's largest mobile operators, Tele2, Telia, and others.