I have been a part of Direct People since 2013. Since then I have led or worked on more than three dozen projects. I worked in finance for most of my career. First as a consultant for Deloitte and Logica and later at various executive positions in banks – including eBanka, Citibank and AXA. I spent my last three years before joining Direct People as Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of Equa Bank. I enjoy doing things that change the nature of established businesses. I always strive to find the most effective solution and excite my team for it.
My journey to Direct People
I first worked with Petr Šídlo, who later brought me to Direct People, when we were 21. At that time, within a small and by today’s standards comical company, we had business cards that said sales and marketing manager, and we thought we were going to change the world. Later on we cooperated again in Logica. We have known we can work well together for a long time now.
As a Chief Operating Officer I built, launched and led operations and IT department of one of the most successful banking startups in recent years. I have a lot of experience in product design and strategic partnership development. Altogether I have built three different banking startups and bringing ideas to life from scratch is my biggest quality and joy at the same time.
When Petr and Michal founded Direct People, I was sceptical and unable to imagine why I would want to bring these boys from outside into the bank , when I already had the best people I could find on the market. However, they stayed true to their vision, and when I realized I needed a change outside the world of banking, I quickly and comfortably settled into their mosaic.
Projects I have enjoyed
A long-term and very demanding client of mine is W.A.G. Payment Solutions, a fascinating and rapidly growing project of a successful Czech entrepreneur. Our role there shifted from the creator of a specific product for a concrete segment to functional design and business architecture management as part of a significant company transformation and replacement of the IT platform. We bring innovation to W.A.G. in the form of methodology, way of work but also specific products and decisions.
Another interesting experience was working with Asekol, which broadened my perspective in waste management and electronic waste recycling. I realized how important this topic really is.
A few words about me
Thanks to my good intuition and experience, I can tell when something only appears attractive, while in reality it is nonsense. I try to simplify and seek the most effective paths and maintain a pragmatic overview. My strength is that on one hand I can be healthily and sometimes highly critical, but on the other I can excite and convince people when something makes sense.
Even as a child I was fascinated by the world of technology, and that has stayed with me to a large degree. At heart I am a constructor, and those closest to me know that LEGO Technic makes me happy to this day.
What would I like to achieve at work? I want to experience the excitement that the SpaceX team experiences every time the Falcon 9 is prepared for launch. For decades all the space agencies have burned up or destroyed tons of expensive technologies, and then Elon Musk came along with the idea of “How about reusing it?” It’s a fascinating world, and I want us to also achieve such great innovations.
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2023 Direct People
Created by Beneš & Michl
