At the last Tinel meetup, the audience had the chance to hear from Dr. Josipa and Georg Bauser, a Croatian-German couple bringing rich experience from both Silicon Valley and the European startup scene, helping tech companies grow smarter and faster.

We sat down with them for coffee the next morning and asked them to share practical advice on product development and business scaling. With experience from companies like Airbnb, DoorDash, and ClassPass, this wasn’t a difficult task for them.

You’ve both worked with leading tech companies and high-growth startups. What are the most common mistakes you see early-stage founders make when trying to turn an idea into a product?

J: One of the most common issues I’ve seen in the beginning is founders falling in love with their idea, instead of falling in love with solving the problem. In the early stages, founders often rush to build a solution without first properly validating the pain points of the problem they’re trying to solve.

And at the end of the day, is this a problem that a large enough number of people actually have?

Founders often think, “The more I add, the happier the user will be.” In the process, they often confuse and overwhelm the user.

Josipa, your focus is on turning customer insights into product strategies. Can you share an example where understanding the user made a measurable difference?

J: I recently worked with a smaller fintech company offering product solutions for small businesses. Our user research showed that customers weren’t very interested in a new feature—they cared much more about the stability of the elements they used daily.

Thanks to this small insight, the company slightly shifted its focus toward battery life and improved connectivity.

Churn decreased, user satisfaction increased, as did usage of existing features.

Georg, you’ve helped companies like Airbnb and DoorDash scale efficiently. What does “operational excellence” look like in a startup that’s just finding product-market fit?

G: Operational excellence is a mindset. Depending on the stage of the startup, it can mean different things.

If you’re a young startup trying to find product-market fit, you should care about three things:

1. Know your numbers – both input and output
2. Fast iterations – treat everything like a sprint
3. Balance between freedom and creativity

In short, at any given moment you should know what you’re doing and what you’re trying to achieve, and measurement is an important part of that.

How is AI changing the way startups are built today?

G: Everyone should be using AI – I have no doubt about that. I’d highlight two things: AI allows you to build products faster. But that also means you need to test faster.

Even if you’re an early-stage startup with limited resources, you can use AI to write emails, create content, do market research, and spot trends.

What advice would you give to someone building their first MVP—what should they focus on, and what should they ignore?

J: Your MVP isn’t there for you to love it—it’s there to show you where the value is.

Focus on learning, not launching.

Your MVP should be the fastest and cheapest way to test your riskiest assumptions.

You can build a simple website or a fake feature to offer key capabilities you want to test with users. Collect feedback, learn, and iterate as needed.

You’ve worked across different regions—Silicon Valley, Europe, and now Split. What patterns or differences do you notice in how startups approach growth?

G: We’ve worked all over the world. Three things make Silicon Valley strong: a massive market with one currency and one language, a very powerful ecosystem (especially VC and exit options), and finally—excellent products.

In Europe, there’s a stronger focus on efficiency and caution, and a lower tolerance for risk. That’s a great tactic, but bureaucracy can be a challenge.

And finally, I’m not saying the U.S. doesn’t have it, but in Europe—and specifically in Split—there’s incredible talent. They just need to think bigger. You don’t have to limit yourself to the Croatian market, there’s growing support from ecosystems. Ping people, find mentors—good enough is no longer good enough.

Looking back—what’s one lesson you learned the hard way that you wish more founders understood from the beginning?

J: Having a good idea is not enough. You need evidence and data to make decisions. You need to know that you’re solving the right problem, and solving it the right way.

You can achieve that by researching the user experience—building something based on assumptions alone can be very costly and discouraging.

If I could give founders one superpower, it wouldn’t be a technical skill—it would be curiosity.

Talk to users, listen actively to what they have to say. The most successful startups I’ve worked with are the ones that learned quickly.

G: I wish more founders knew how to distinguish motion from progress right from the start. Lots of meetings and carrying your laptop everywhere doesn’t mean you’re being productive.

Don’t mix up input and output. If you can raise your employees’ salaries, if you’re solving real problems for your users – then you’re on the right track.