Stjepan Zelić
Episode · #695
PAMETNA HRVATSKA Stjepan Zelić
Guest Stjepan ZelićHosted by Boris ŽivkovićMay 3, 2026
Stjepan Zelić
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation
Influencer marketing often feels like a gamble: you pick a creator who looks like a good fit, only to discover their audience isn't buying what you're selling. Stjepan Zelić and his team at Hypefy built an automated platform to remove that guesswork, flipping the traditional model on its head. Instead of guessing at brand fit, Hypefy's AI matches products to specific audiences, then finds the influencers who actually reach them. Zelić shares how this approach delivers dramatically better results, and why his company launched with an "unfinished" product to get there. You'll hear how to think about building a product that truly serves its market, and why the most obvious choices in marketing are often the least effective.
Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
A shopping mall client had previously hired a fashion-conscious influencer, only for Hypefy's analysis to reveal 80% of her audience was male. Matching an influencer's aesthetic to your brand is a common error; real marketing success comes from matching your product to the actual audience demographics, not just the creator's appearance.
02
Hypefy launched its platform two and a half years ago as an "unfinished product," deliberately lacking a full user interface, to gather immediate market feedback. Product-market fit isn't a static target you hit; it's a dynamic process of building features that clients explicitly ask for, not what you think they need.
03
Instead of directly searching for influencers, Hypefy's AI campaign builder first identifies the precise audience segments for a product, then finds influencers with the highest percentage of those specific demographics. A message is only effective if it lands on receptive ears; targeting the right audience is more important than simply finding a popular voice.
04
Stjepan Zelić states Hypefy delivers "three to five times better" results in reach, impressions, conversion, and return on investment, all with "ninety-five percent less effort" for the client. The most compelling value proposition isn't just about efficiency or outcome; it's about the multiplicative effect of combining dramatically improved results with significantly reduced effort.
05
Influencers on the platform receive automated, pre-negotiated offers from Hypefy: "We have a campaign. Client X. Your budget is Y. Interested?" For creators, an automated system that brings relevant, pre-vetted offers can be a "free channel" for new work, bypassing the time-consuming process of direct outreach and negotiation.
06
Hypefy takes its commission from the client, not the influencer, and Zelić frames the service as "more than free" because of the superior results it delivers. A service can provide such outsized value that its cost becomes a net gain rather than an expense, making the investment return far more than it consumes.
07
Hypefy has run campaigns in 13-14 markets, including the USA, UK, Germany, Austria, and Spain, alongside regional markets. A platform-based service can scale internationally faster than a human-led agency, reaching diverse geographies without needing local teams for every transaction.