POSLOVNI ĐIR Josipa Blažević

Guest Josipa BlaževićHosted by Ojdana KoharevićMay 3, 2026

Josipa Blažević

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Most businesses are built on creating something new, or selling something existing. Josipa Blažević, founder of GiveNget, started a company that does neither: it creates value purely by connecting people who want to exchange goods and services without money. Her platform is the first of its kind in Croatia, a modern take on bartering, born from the reality of business compensation. Blažević found that many small businesses already trade services or items instead of cash, but the process is time-consuming. GiveNget simplifies this, allowing users to list what they have and what they need, then automatically connecting them with a direct match. The challenge, she explains, is not building the technology but overcoming a deep-seated skepticism toward new concepts in Croatia. This conversation explores the surprising persistence of bartering in the modern economy, the unique mechanism that makes GiveNget work, and what it takes to introduce a truly novel — and yet ancient — business model into a cautious market.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

Josipa Blažević's husband, a private business owner, often found himself dealing in compensation and barter instead of direct cash payments. The idea for GiveNget didn't come from inventing a new need, but from formalizing a common, if informal, business practice that many small and medium enterprises already rely on.

While similar platforms exist globally, GiveNget's core innovation is its direct matching algorithm: "It connects you directly with the other party that needs your services or item, and wants what you have." This removes the intermediary steps of points or credits, making the exchange immediate and personal.

The platform's initial design was for businesses, but a quick test revealed its broader appeal to private users, from parents exchanging baby gear to collectors. A business solution often scales when it taps into a universal human behavior, like the desire to declutter or acquire without cash.

In an economy where cash flow can be tight, GiveNget's most compelling feature is that "you don't need cash to get something." This allows users to acquire needed items or services by trading what they no longer use, effectively creating value from dormant assets.

Despite the clear utility and global precedents, Josipa Blažević notes that "Our people are very skeptical of new things." Introducing a novel platform means not just building the technology, but also investing heavily in educating the market and building trust in a new way of transacting.

GiveNget is the first platform of its kind in Croatia, operating in a space currently filled by generic classifieds and fragmented social media groups. Being a pioneer requires defining a new category and demonstrating why a dedicated, streamlined solution is superior to existing, less efficient alternatives.

Rather than launching with a large advertising campaign, Blažević focused on creating "a complete, 100% functioning product." For truly new concepts, a flawless user experience and proven reliability are more effective in building early adoption than marketing hype.

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