Who am I?
By the industry, experience, and position, I could define myself as a highly experienced sports betting and gaming professional, driven by a passion for innovation and creating top-quality, scalable digital products that users love.
With a deep understanding of the field, honed over 20 years of experience, I'm constantly exploring new ideas and driving innovation at the crossroads of product design, software engineering, emerging technology, and art to create outstanding digital products.
Over the years, this expertise has contributed to elevating minus5 as a notable technology provider in sports betting and fortifying Super Sport's leading position in the Croatian market, both of which are now part of the highly respected Entain Group.
Among other things, my contributions to the industry have been recognized by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, having been honored for my role in an Emmy Award-winning achievement.
Today, as the Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Product Design at minus5, my key roles are to shape the company's product strategy and conduct ongoing strategic research to ensure that the products stay ahead of the curve in emerging business opportunities.
The Guiding Principles
It's difficult for me to define the box I should place myself in. I revel in exploring various fields, whether it be in product design, software engineering, high-level product strategy, art, or any other discipline that enables me to create something I've envisioned.
By pursuing knowledge and expertise in these diverse areas, I am able to broaden my understanding and develop a more comprehensive perspective on anything I'm working on. One thing I know for certain about myself is that underneath all lies an enduring curiosity and passion for learning, exploring, and expanding.
I firmly believe embracing new experiences and continually learning can unlock a world of boundless potential and opportunity where we are better equipped to recognize life's myriad possibilities.
Within these pages, you'll find my personal stories and journal entries.
They serve as a curated collection of my experiences and insights, offered to spark curiosity and perhaps inspire your own journey.
The Beginnings
For as long as I can remember, I've had an unquenchable passion for the world of art and building things. As a child, my hands were always busy crafting, drawing, painting, or molding something from the depths of my imagination. For me, this was not just play; it was a language that transcended words, a way to communicate my innermost thoughts and feelings to the world.
My passion for creation persisted as I aged. Around the age of 9 or 10, I found home computers such as the Commodore 64 and later the Amiga. Their pixel-style graphics and chiptune music fascinated me, pulling me into a world of digital wonder. The seemingly limitless potential these machines offered for creation excited me, even though their tools for art and coding seem simple today.
Driven by curiosity, I ventured into programming and digital art. I started coding with Basic but soon preferred Assembly and immersed myself in Art Studio and Deluxe Paint for artistic endeavors.
This exploration revealed a perfect blend of my passions: art and software engineering. It unlocked a realm of creativity and self-expression beyond my imagination.
Despite lacking books and the internet (which didn't exist then), an unending drive to research and experiment led to detailed knowledge of every bit and pixel. This crude era was a great time to establish solid foundations for the future.
The Next Steps
As time went by, my passion for both creativity and technology led me to join Croteam, a highly skilled team of game developers. Together, we embarked on an ambitious project that would eventually become the award-winning, classic first-person shooter Serious Sam.
This collaboration was truly remarkable and resulted in the creation of several successful games, providing me with invaluable experiences that have greatly influenced my career.
Continuing my journey in the world of game development, I was fortunate enough to work on renowned titles such as Payday 2 and Raid.
These projects were developed in collaboration with Lion Game Lion and Overkill/Starbreeze Studios, respectively. Both of these studios are well-respected within the gaming industry, and being able to contribute to their projects was a tremendous honor.
Along the way, driven by endless curiosity and a passion for blending art and technology, I expanded myself into the realm of video production and soon found myself working on various high-profile video productions.
These projects included the two Annual Academy Awards opener videos (Oscars), one of which won an Emmy for Main Title Design, the worldwide broadcast of the NBA Finals show opener and the NFL Playoffs show opener featuring superstar singer Pink.
These unforgettable experiences enriched my creative journey and granted me the incredible privilege of receiving honors from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for contributing to an Emmy-awarded title.
Sports Betting & Gaming
As I continued to evolve, a remarkable opportunity arose to create a virtual horse racing game for Super Sport, Croatia's largest sports betting company today. This fantastic project steered my career in a new direction, immersing me fully in the sports betting industry.
Over time, my responsibilities quickly expanded to include product design and front-end engineering for our complete range of products and platforms.
Soon, I found myself creating experiences for pre-match and live betting, lotto, virtual sports, player, wallet, web, mobile web, native apps, self-service terminals, shop TV displays, and whichever endeavor we decided to step in.
Creating all these products gave me a comprehensive understanding of the sports betting industry, from the intricacies of game mechanics to the complexities of customer behavior and market trends.
Today
Over the course of my twenty-year journey, my curiosity, which led to diverse experiences, has played a vital role in shaping a range of impactful products, and it has been a wild ride so far!
Whether contributing to the birth of the iconic Serious Sam franchise, contributing to an Emmy-awarded Oscars show opener and receiving honors from the Academy, or aiding minus5 and Super Sport in becoming leaders in the Croatian sports betting market, each of these endeavors pushed me to evolve into what I am today. Yet, despite all of this...
... I'm still learning.