DESCRIPTION

This week, it is great to be joined by Dominic Kovacs, CEO of Colossyan. He stands out as the youngest CEO on my podcast, and yet, in a few short years, he has transformed himself, his business and the learning sector using tech and AI.

Dominik is humble about his learning. Yet he has achieved much his transformation maxes on internal locus of control, using culture to drive sustainable growth and a mathematical approach to problem solving.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Technical founders who take the CEO role out of responsibility, not ego, can become exceptional leaders when they treat CEO as a craft to be learned, not a title to be worn.
Deep-tech companies must flip the script from “build first, validate later” to continuous customer validation, or they will ship beautiful products that nobody truly needs.
Continuing to develop a product that the market and regulators aren’t ready for is folly.
Cultures that worship speed and ignore quality eventually pay in lost customers and credibility.
Transformer CEOs, treat customers as long‑term partners. They protect their experience over short‑term speed or vanity releases – is what turns painful product mistakes into deeper trust, better design, and stronger, more sustainable growth.
When you reward teams for quality, provide ownership and develop a “don’t hurt the customer” culture you turn values from posters on the wall into products and experiences clients truly trust.
A strong team and culture will move mountains through setbacks and hypergrowth.
The next generation of CEOs will win by embedding AI into workflows, not as shiny tools but as invisible “cog wheels” that keep knowledge fresh and training effortless at scale.

BEST MOMENTS

“You've founded and been the CEO for two companies, and yet you haven't hit your 30th birthday yet.”

‘I took on the role for basically doing everything I can to create like a stronger position for all of us who are already part of the business.’

“Transformation is never linear. There's always hiccups, potholes or cliff edges."

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominikkovacs

https://www.colossyan.com

PODCAST DESCRIPTION

If you're a CEO, Chairman or investor this is a destination podcast for you. At some time, all companies get out of step with their consumers, fall behind the competition, or lose their top talent – or all three. The financial fallout can be severe.

The Transformer CEO podcast meets global leaders who have taken on the brief to transform their company from ugly duckling to swan. It explores their corporate and personal journey, their leadership values, their challenges, and successes along with their mis-steps and learnings. It inspires those about to start, re-assures those already underway and offers a benchmark for those who feel they have concluded. If you want to know what it takes to succeed in tough environments, you'll not want to miss Transformer CEOs.

HOST BIO

Erik is described by CEO and Chairmen as "exceptional", "undoubtedly one of the top global HR leaders" and "a strong strategic thinker and amazing change leader". After 35 years working with some of the most successful companies on the planet including Diageo, GE, LEGO, HSBC, and Pandora, he focuses in the podcast on sharing the unique character of corporate leaders who take on some of the biggest challenges and win. This is also a critical topic in his consulting work where he partners with CEO’s, Chairmen and Investors as Founder & Managing Director of Erik Schmidt Consulting & Advisory (erikschmidt.co.uk) to help companies achieve out-performance.

https://www.erikschmidt.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-erik/

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/