Dario Boras
Episode · #218
POSLOVNI ĐIR Dario Boras
Guest Dario BorasHosted by Ljubica VukoMay 3, 2026
Dario Boras
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation
Dario Boras leads Parklio, a company that began with a smart parking barrier and has since grown into a comprehensive platform for smart parking solutions. Their journey started not in a garage, but in a university lab, with four friends fresh out of engineering school, zero entrepreneurial experience, and a shared drive to build something new. Boras describes their beginnings as "naive and ambitious," a period marked by personal loans and countless hours spent perfecting prototypes. Their story offers a counter-narrative to the typical startup trajectory, highlighting the grit required to build a hardware business from scratch in a challenging bureaucratic environment, and how a single competition win can change everything.
Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
Parklio's first product, a smart parking barrier, was not a grand vision but a calculated entry point. They started with a specific problem and built one solution, then expanded into a platform. The lesson is to build a single, solid product that solves one acute problem before attempting to address an entire category.
02
Boras and his co-founders, all from the same university engineering program, describe their initial entrepreneurial knowledge as "zero." Their strength came from a shared drive and a willingness to learn everything on the fly. The ambition to create something new often matters more than prior business experience.
03
When they couldn't afford a proper workspace, two university professors offered Boras and his team access to a lab, equipment, and electronics. This early support enabled them to build their first prototypes. Mentorship and access to resources, even informal ones, can be as crucial as capital in a startup's early days.
04
Instead of waiting for a fully equipped office, Parklio started in a university lab, then moved to a co-founder's apartment, then another, before securing a tiny 12-square-meter space. The point isn't to delay; it's to start with whatever space you have and let growth dictate expansion, rather than waiting for ideal conditions.
05
To fund their hardware startup, Boras and his team took out personal loans, as banks wouldn't lend to a newly formed company. This early financial risk for a "maximum of fifty thousand kuna" (about 6,600 EUR) was just enough to build a prototype. Personal risk is often the first form of capital for founders without a network of investors.
06
For years, Boras and his co-founders would search for startup competitions every Monday morning, traveling by bus with packed sandwiches to Zagreb because "the startup scene didn't even exist in Split five years ago." The search for early funding isn't always glamorous; it's a grind of constant outreach and pitching, wherever opportunities exist.
07
Winning the 'Get in the Ring' competition in Zagreb in 2017 was the pivotal moment for Parklio, putting them "on the map for investors and other companies." Before that, they were just another startup with a prototype. A single high-visibility win can be the turning point that validates a concept and attracts the necessary attention.