When it hurts enough, we make a change

A sentence you have heard many times. And it is very true. And it applies to absolutely all areas. If you do not make a change when it starts to hurt and you wave it off saying “it’s nothing,” it will hurt more and more until it becomes unbearable, and by then it may already be too late.
I believe most of you thought of health or personal relationships, while few immediately thought of business and innovation. Perhaps you should have.
The speed at which innovations follow one another today is hard to believe. Sometimes it feels like we can barely keep up, even though just yesterday we thought we had everything under control.

Crises as a driver of development

It is true that we live in a time when the world is quite unpredictable. The reasons are not new—humans and their greed have long been a constant. We are determined in destruction, but as long as we are even better at creating, developing, and finding solutions, civilization will continue its path. And this is where an interesting shift happens—in peaceful times, we often resist change because of comfort, but when circumstances push us into a corner, innovations that would normally take decades are implemented in a matter of months.
If we look back, we see this is nothing new—only the examples change over time.
The internet was not created as a convenient innovation, but as a military project during the Cold War. ARPANET was a response to a very specific need—how to ensure communication that works even in the event of an attack. Today, virtually no business exists without it.
GPS, which we use every day, was not developed for tourist navigation but for military precision. Today, logistics, delivery, and mobility cannot exist without it.
After the financial crisis of 2008, when trust in banks fell to a minimum, alternatives began to emerge. Fintech, digital payments, new platforms. At that time, they were not developing because it was “interesting,” but because the system showed cracks.
If we look even more concretely—this was the period when Airbnb, Stripe, Uber, WhatsApp began to grow. At a time when people were losing jobs and looking for additional sources of income, models were created that have since transformed entire industries.
And then Covid. There is not much to explain here. In a few months, we made a leap that would otherwise have taken years. Online meetings, remote work, digital processes. Things that were recently “in the plan” became a necessity overnight.

When theory becomes reality

There have been many such examples throughout history, and there will be more. The pattern remains the same—development does not come when everything is stable, but when stability disappears.
I will also draw from my own experience. I do not dare compare it to the examples mentioned, as the reasons were nowhere near as dramatic, and the level of success is not comparable. However, there was still a need strong enough to move us forward.
About ten years ago, based on our experience in the event industry, we noticed a lack of transparency in “regulated conferences”—events where certain professions must confirm their attendance (medicine, education, trainers…). The system was based on basic principles that quickly showed their limitations in practice.
We therefore developed a solution for tracking entries and exits. Before that, we were told it was excellent, but when it came time to actually use it, we realized it was not really a problem for them, as certificates were already pre-printed, and no one was going to disturb a doctor enjoying coffee in the sun in Portorož with a sea view while Ljubljana was covered in fog.
We soon received a new question from the market: what about larger numbers of people? Do you really think we will scan each individual every time they enter and exit? The concern was completely valid. At that point, we had to decide whether to stick with the existing solution or take a step forward. We chose the latter. We developed RFID UHF portals that automatically detect participant movements without the need for manual scanning. We also received EU funding for this innovation (SME Horizon Phase 1).
When we finally developed and validated the solution, and were even hired to support a conference in the USA, it seemed we were on the right path. Six months later, Covid arrived. Everything shut down. The industry we were building for practically stopped, and we were at the stage where development had just been completed. It was a moment when you had to quickly rethink what you were doing and where you were going next.

From problem to a new model

The next story emerged from that reflection. A gift card solution for shopping centers based on a closed-loop financial scheme—meaning the money stays within the system and does not flow to banks or processors, while users can spend the value across multiple providers and own valuable data that any advanced marketer can effectively use.
At first glance, a simple idea, but in practice quite complex, as it requires system stability and security, integration of different stakeholders, understanding of the user, and above all, transparency and trust.
Looking back, development never followed a direction we could precisely plan. It always followed the direction of need.
To be completely honest, we never started with the idea of building platforms or ecosystems. We started because something bothered us—something was missing—and we felt things could be done better.

Change is not a question of “if,” but “when”

It is interesting that throughout the entire process, the same pattern keeps repeating. When one door closes, another opens. When something does not work, it forces you to think more broadly. And just when you could give up, a new opportunity appears.
Not because everything is ideal, but because there is often no other choice.
Today, as the world once again enters a period of uncertainty and questions arise about stability, markets, energy, and the future, most people are looking for ways to preserve the status quo and reduce risk.
But fear is the greatest enemy, and often only appears bigger than it is. We, too, are moving forward, preparing new developments, improvements, and expansion—gradually, without big announcements. Not as one major leap, but as a logical continuation of everything we have built so far. As an upgrade.
We cannot influence global events. But we can influence how we respond to them. And that applies to everyone. We can wait for circumstances to force change upon us, or we can make it in time. History teaches us that change always comes. The only question is whether we lead it or it overtakes us.