Before Time Began: An Introduction

Introduction: Understanding the Roots

Every startup has a moment it looks back on and says: That’s when it all changed.

This one is ours.

We had a product-market fit. Real revenue (500K EUR). Expanding accounts (372% NRR). We had clients who stayed, paid, and referred others. What we didn’t have - not really - was structure. Not the kind that scales.

Everything worked because we worked harder.

Smarter, too but always from inside the chaos.

We were founder-led to the bone: closing deals, crafting slides, chasing payments, onboarding clients, gathering feedback, writing specs, managing vendors, following up, cleaning up.

Again. And again. Until we couldn’t anymore.

That’s when Sabina entered the story - our super-angel, but more on her later.

And that’s why we applied to Katapult.

About the Katapult Accelerator

For those unfamiliar, Katapult is a three-month accelerator, created by the Serbian Innovation Fund (Fond za inovacionu delatnost). Its goal is to push startups into their next chapter through capital (300K EUR match if you raise private capital) , mentorship, and relentless, productive pressure.

How we got there?

I remember being in Mozaik's Startup Studio in Sarajevo on December 25 when the email landed: We got in.

Dino was calm and confident, even after the pitch. I wasn’t, I’d just been grilled by V. and walked out thinking we blew it.

Katapult labeled us a “scale-up” but we knew we weren’t there yet. We’re post-product-market fit, but we’ve hit the ceiling of founder-led everything.

Founder-led doesn’t mean solo. It means there’s no system. The team mirrors what works, but the playbook doesn’t exist yet.

It’s everything we’ve built, now under relentless scrutiny.

What we’re building at Katapult

Foundation for our Growth machine. In 90 days.

The Machine that:

Generates Repeatable Sales
Delivers Scalable Storytelling
Ensures Operational Clarity

To scale from €500K to €5M ARR, we must automate, standardize, and get founders out of execution.

Without that, even our best metrics won’t scale.

But with a fully automated Go-To-Market engine: sales, onboarding, customer success, we unlock growth and healthier margins.

That’s the shift: from crawling to velocity.

Once the machine works, scaling is simple: €1 in, €3 out.

Optimize further: €7. Master it and the unicorn math becomes real.

We’ve done with figuring it out, I guess :)

Who is this for?

Audience: Our team, our fellow cohort founders, and (occasionally) Simone de Beauvoir, Borislav Pekić, and Virginia Woolf
Format: Bulit in public (sort of), Real-time execution breakthroughs, strategic decisions, momentum snapshots
Katapult Sprint Dates: March 10–June 10, 2025

The founder-led era ends here.
The machine is loading.

If you’re wondering whether the grasshoppers really ate those years - maybe.
But we stayed human.

As for the company?

That’s not up to us anymore. It’s up to the machine we’re building.

Sprint Timer: 90-day countdown started on March 10.

Prologue: Before the Clock Started

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📅 Wednesday, March 20 | Matching Grant Triggered

📅 Tuesday, March 11 | Term Sheet Relay

📅 Monday, March 10 | Timer Starts

Introduction: Understanding the Roots

About the Katapult Accelerator

How we got there?

What we’re building at Katapult

Who is this for?

Command Palette

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Beyond42: The Startup at the End of the Universe

More from this blog

Introduction: Understanding the Roots

About the Katapult Accelerator

How we got there?

What we’re building at Katapult

Who is this for?