https://www.marekdlugos.com/Recent content on Marek Dlugos — Revenue Growth, Product, Design, Software Engineering.Hugoen-usThu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/now/Fri, 12 Jul 2024 12:44:18 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/now/<p>Last update: Oct 7, 2024, from my home in Lausanne, Switzerland.</p> <p>Current priorities:</p> <ul> <li>Run a half-marathon in under 2 hours.</li> <li>Find a new job.</li> <li>Move to the German speaking part of Switzerland.</li> </ul>https://www.marekdlugos.com/privacy-policy/Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/privacy-policy/<div class="row"> <div class="col-md-8"> <p><strong>Last updated:</strong> April 2, 2026</p> <p>This privacy policy describes how marekdlugos.com ("this website") collects, uses, and shares information when you visit. By using this website, you acknowledge and agree to the practices described below.</p> <h3>1. Data Controller</h3> <p>Marek Dlugos<br> Email: <a href="mailto:hi@marekdlugos.com">hi@marekdlugos.com</a></p> <h3>2. Information Collected</h3> <h4>2.1 Google Analytics</h4> <p>This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC. Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to collect and analyze information about the use of this website, including:</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/collect-memories-not-things-until-memories-start-fading/Mon, 22 Dec 2025 08:08:25 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/collect-memories-not-things-until-memories-start-fading/<p>This piece is possibly for younger generations reading. I assume many of us who grew older have already figured this out on our own.</p> <p>I was fortunate to <a href="./hobbies" >travel the world</a>. Younger me bought into a minimalist philosophy. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that my dad would collect most things. He&rsquo;d often joke that my future home will look like a museum. Nothing, but empty walls. The popular opinion I kept hearing back then was: “collect memories, not things.” In my head, souvenirs were just eventual clutter. Dust collectors. There were so many of them when I was growing up, and I remember how annoyed I was as a teenager when I was tasked with dusting all those “interesting objects” in our apartment.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/it-bothers-me-how-little-startups-care-about-360-customer-view/Wed, 02 Apr 2025 19:12:33 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/it-bothers-me-how-little-startups-care-about-360-customer-view/<p>If you worked in sales before, you know you can&rsquo;t get far without a well set customer relationships management software (a.k.a CRM). If you have not worked in sales before, here&rsquo;s my short essay on why this is something you want to invest in straight from the beginning.</p> <p>Ensuring you have the right foundations is what you can benefit from largely later.</p> <h3 id="why-should-i-even-care">Why should I even care?</h3> <p>Perhaps, you are a small team, but whether you want it or not (hopefully you want it) you have to communicate with (potential) customers, investors, and partners. The requirements to do this well grow quickly - first you want to start tracking the list of potential conversations you had, then you want to track the number of people who signed up for your free trial/tier, then you need to email them to let reengage them. Lastly, when they reach out to you, ideally you want to be able to keep track of that too.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/year-2024-retrospective/Tue, 31 Dec 2024 08:08:25 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/year-2024-retrospective/<p>Year 2024 started the best way possible. In the last 24 hours of 2023, I found myself on a plane, flying to a new continent and to a new country that I had never visited before: Brazil. Landing just 6 hours before NYE in an 11 million-person city, Sao Paolo.</p> <p>But first, how did I even get here?</p> <h3 id="leaving-my-employer">Leaving my employer</h3> <p>To find out how I ended up in Brazil we have to go back in time a little bit. In December of 2019 I moved to Switzerland to transition my career from product design to sales, hired by a local software company.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/from-no-running-experience-to-half-marathon-in-just-four-months/Fri, 01 Nov 2024 08:08:25 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/from-no-running-experience-to-half-marathon-in-just-four-months/<p>I was the guy who only ran in school because the PE teacher made us do it—not exactly a big fan. But I’ve always admired certain people around me for their athletic achievements. I thought those were not possible for me to achieve.</p> <div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen" loading="eager" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a4MxPc0iAHU?autoplay=0&amp;controls=1&amp;end=0&amp;loop=0&amp;mute=0&amp;start=0" style="position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;" title="YouTube video"></iframe> </div> <p>After avoiding any form of exercise for the past 2-3 years. Before, I used to basketball, do ballroom dancing, or go to the gym. The first two required others and facilities. With the gym, I just hate the fact that here in Europe it&rsquo;s so rare to live in an apartment building that would have a gym. Otherwise, I just find it annoying and time-consuming to commute to the gym. Seeing a lot of my connections on socials running, I always wanted to see what and if I could achieve in this sport. Another advantage? The only thing I&rsquo;d need were shoes. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if I am currently traveling or whether there&rsquo;s a facility nearby. I could just get out there and explore.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/motivation-to-write/Mon, 07 Oct 2024 19:12:33 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/motivation-to-write/<p>For many years I enjoyed reading blogs, but was never brave enough to write one myself. I found the fact that the content becomes obsolete and stuff I write won&rsquo;t be true anymore (or people will disagree with me) scary. But here I am today, in the VS Code typing in the first lines of what I am hoping will help me clear my head and form my thoughts better. Become more intimate with the world and people who want to tag along.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/have-i-run-out-of-luck/Mon, 08 Apr 2024 08:08:25 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/blog/have-i-run-out-of-luck/<p>Last Friday I had a conversation with my old friend that triggered me to write these paragraphs. I hesitated a lot whether I should press publish on this self-pity piece and that people reading it might not find it appealing. Not only that but they would also see me as of lower value in their eyes. But I decided to roll with it anyway for two reasons.</p> <p>I believe it&rsquo;s important to share that life isn&rsquo;t always this beautiful simple place where whatever we wants finds its way to us — it&rsquo;s important to share that sometimes we feel down and it&rsquo;s completely normal because we all were in this place. Secondly, this blog isn&rsquo;t going to make me famous or anything. I write it to save some of my thoughts, feelings, and progress in life. So I am hoping that a couple of years later I will be able to re-read this article and laugh at this as I will either understand that there are bigger problems in life and/or be in a different, better spot.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/work/Wed, 15 Apr 2020 20:09:17 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/work/<section> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-11"> <h2 class="mt-2 mb-2">I used to create software. Now I am focused on growing its potential.</h2> </div> </div> </section> <section> <div class="row"> <h3 class="mb-2">Leading brands trusted my work</h3> </div> <div class="text-center"> <div class="row row-cols-auto"> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/shopify.svg" alt="Shopify" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/sap.svg" alt="SAP" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/ubs.svg" alt="UBS" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/philip_morris.svg" alt="Philip Morris" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/bnp.svg" alt="BNP" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/sanofi.svg" alt="Sanofi" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/avis_budget_group.svg" alt="ABG" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/marks-and-spencer.svg" alt="M&S" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/prudential-plc.svg" alt="Prudential" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> <div class="col"><img src="client-logos/givaudan.svg" alt="Givaudan" height="100" class="p-2 grayscale" /></div> </div> </div> </section> <section> <h2>Work Experience</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-8"> <h4 class="mt-2">Customer Success Manager at SpotMe</h4> <small class="text-muted">Jan 2021 till Jan 2024 — Lausanne, Switzerland</small> <ul> <li>Managed the largest portfolio of contracts value in EMEA as a single CSM ($1.5M) at the time. Mainly a sales role.</li> <li>Managed strategic relationships as an IT vendor with 30+ enterprises.</li> <li>Coordinated with the product, operations, and engineering to ensure SLAs were met and required improvements were delivered.</li> <li>Designed, implemented, and owned KPIs and success plans.</li> <li>Assessed risk events and handled communication in case of any accidents. Ran quarterly business reviews.</li> </ul> <p>Proactively accomplished besides my main responsibilities:</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/hobbies/Wed, 15 Apr 2020 20:09:07 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/hobbies/<section> <!-- Couchsurfing? --> <h2>Traveling</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-4"> <p>Countries visited: 70</p> </div> <div class="col-md-4 text-md-center"> <p>Journeys around the world: 2</p> </div> <div class="col-md-4"> <p class="text-md-end"><a href="https://my.flightradar24.com/marekdlugos" class="external" target="_blank">My Flight Radar profile</a></p> </div> </div> <script src="https://www.amcharts.com/lib/3/ammap.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="https://www.amcharts.com/lib/3/maps/js/worldHigh.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="https://www.amcharts.com/lib/3/themes/dark.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <div id="mapdiv" style="width: 100%; height: 450px;" class="d-none d-sm-block"></div> <script type="text/javascript"> var map = AmCharts.makeChart("mapdiv", { type: "map", theme: "dark", projection: "mercator", panEventsEnabled: true, backgroundColor: "#535364", backgroundAlpha: 1, zoomControl: { zoomControlEnabled: true }, dataProvider: { map: "worldHigh", getAreasFromMap: true, areas: [ { "id": "AT", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "BE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "BG", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "HR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CY", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CZ", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "DK", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "FR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "DE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "GR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "HU", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "IE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "IT", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "LI", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "LU", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "NL", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PL", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PT", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "SK", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "SI", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "ES", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CH", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "GB", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "BS", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CA", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "US", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MX", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "AR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "BR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CL", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "UY", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "KH", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "HK", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "ID", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "IL", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "JO", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "LA", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MO", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MY", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PS", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PH", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "QA", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "SG", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "KR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "TW", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "TH", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "AE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MA", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "VN", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "TR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "GE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "AM", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "SE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "KW", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MV", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "SA", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "IS", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MT", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "LT", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MU", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "BO", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PE", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "EC", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CO", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PA", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "CR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "DO", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "PR", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "AL", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "XK", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "MK", "showAsSelected": true }, { "id": "ME", "showAsSelected": true } ] }, areasSettings: { autoZoom: true, color: "#B4B4B7", colorSolid: "#84ADE9", selectedColor: "#84ADE9", outlineColor: "#666666", rollOverColor: "#9EC2F7", rollOverOutlineColor: "#000000" } }); </script> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-3 gy-2"> <h5 class="mb-1">Asia</h5> <small class="text-muted">Armenia</small><small class="text-muted">, Cambodia</small><small class="text-muted">, China (Hong Kong, Macau)</small><small class="text-muted">, Georgia</small><small class="text-muted">, Indonesia</small><small class="text-muted">, Israel</small><small class="text-muted">, Jordan</small><small class="text-muted">, Kuwait</small><small class="text-muted">, Laos</small><small class="text-muted">, Malaysia</small><small class="text-muted">, Maldives</small><small class="text-muted">, Palestine</small><small class="text-muted">, Philippines</small><small class="text-muted">, Qatar (Doha)</small><small class="text-muted">, Saudi Arabia</small><small class="text-muted">, Singapore</small><small class="text-muted">, South Korea</small><small class="text-muted">, Taiwan</small><small class="text-muted">, Thailand</small><small class="text-muted">, Turkey</small><small class="text-muted">, United Arab Emirates</small><small class="text-muted">, Vietnam</small> </div> <div class="col-md-3 gy-2"> <h5 class="mb-1">Europe</h5> <small class="text-muted">Albania</small><small class="text-muted">, Austria</small><small class="text-muted">, Belgium</small><small class="text-muted">, Bulgaria</small><small class="text-muted">, Croatia</small><small class="text-muted">, Cyprus</small><small class="text-muted">, Czech Republic</small><small class="text-muted">, Denmark</small><small class="text-muted">, France</small><small class="text-muted">, Germany</small><small class="text-muted">, Greece</small><small class="text-muted">, Hungary</small><small class="text-muted">, Iceland</small><small class="text-muted">, Ireland</small><small class="text-muted">, Italy</small><small class="text-muted">, Kosovo</small><small class="text-muted">, Liechtenstein</small><small class="text-muted">, Lithuania</small><small class="text-muted">, Luxembourg</small><small class="text-muted">, Malta</small><small class="text-muted">, Montenegro</small><small class="text-muted">, Netherlands</small><small class="text-muted">, North Macedonia</small><small class="text-muted">, Poland</small><small class="text-muted">, Portugal</small><small class="text-muted">, Slovenia</small><small class="text-muted">, Spain</small><small class="text-muted">, Sweden</small><small class="text-muted">, Switzerland</small><small class="text-muted">, United Kingdom</small><small class="text-muted">, Vatican City</small> </div> <div class="col-md-3 gy-2"> <h5 class="mb-1">Latin America</h5> <small class="text-muted">Argentina</small><small class="text-muted">, Bahamas</small><small class="text-muted">, Bolivia</small><small class="text-muted">, Brazil</small><small class="text-muted">, Chile</small><small class="text-muted">, Colombia</small><small class="text-muted">, Costa Rica</small><small class="text-muted">, Dominican Republic</small><small class="text-muted">, Ecuador</small><small class="text-muted">, Mexico</small><small class="text-muted">, Panama</small><small class="text-muted">, Peru</small><small class="text-muted">, Uruguay</small> </div> <div class="col-md-3 gy-2"> <h5 class="mb-1">North America</h5> <small class="text-muted">Canada (Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal)</small><small class="text-muted">, USA (Florida, Hawaii, NYC, Puerto Rico, SF)</small> <h5 class="mb-1 mt-3">Africa</h5> <small class="text-muted">Morocco</small><small class="text-muted">, Mauritius</small> </div> </div> </section> <section> <h2>Sharing</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-3"> <h3 class="mb-2">Interviews</h3> </div> <div class="col-md-9"> <img src="hobbies/marek-dlugos-podcast.jpg" alt="Marek Dlugos Podcast" class="img-fluid mb-2"> <p>I was fortunate to meet a lot of very interesting people along the way and now I am happy to bring 5 interviews with some of them! I guess I might be able to say it is quality content, unfortunately, it is only available in the Slovak language.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/sharing/Tue, 14 Apr 2020 12:44:18 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/sharing/<section> <h2 class="mb-0">Follow along</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/marekdlugos/" title="LinkedIn" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">LinkedIn</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Work related content together with my resume.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/marek.dlugos" title="Facebook" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">Facebook</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Life updates and insights.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/marekdlugos/" title="Instagram" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">Instagram</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Travels.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://twitter.com/MarekDlugos" title="Twitter" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">Twitter</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Tech related content. Startups and web development.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/MarekDlugosVideos" title="YouTube" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">YouTube</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Travel vlogs and interviews.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://medium.com/@MarekDlugos" title="Medium" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">Medium</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Long-read stories.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://medium.com/@MarekDlugos" title="Dribbble" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">Dribbble</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Design projects.</small> </div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-md-6 g-3"> <h5 class="mb-0"><a href="https://github.com/marekdlugos/" title="Github" target="_blank" class="text-decoration-none">Github</a></h5> <small class="text-muted">Code projects.</small> </div> </div> <!-- IDEA: Couchsurfing? --> <!-- IDEA: Goodreads? --> </section> <section> <h2>Writing</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-3"> <h3>Life Stories</h3> </div> <div class="col-md-9"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-2"> <p><span class="text-muted">Feb 2023</span></p> </div> <div class="col-md-10 gx-0"> <p><a href="https://blog.refresher.sk/article/10500/saudska-arabia-vsetko-co-potrebujes-vediet" title="Saudi Arabia - everything you need to know" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia - everything you need to know</a></p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/side-projects/Mon, 13 Apr 2020 18:32:06 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/side-projects/<section> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-11"> <h2 class="mt-2 mb-1">I am driven by improving things around me.</h2> </div> </div> </section> <section> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-12"> <h3 class="mt-2 mb-3">Highlighted Projects</h3> </div> </div> <div class="row gx-4"> <div class="col-md-6"> <h4 class="mb-1">Hire Me as an Intern</h4> <p>At the end of high school, I created a website to express my desire to find a summer internship abroad. The website gained massive attention, becoming the #1 post on Y Combinator's Hacker News and attracting over 30,000 visitors in a single day. It also brought me more than 150 emails from around the world and significant media coverage.</p>https://www.marekdlugos.com/education-awards/Mon, 13 Apr 2020 18:05:30 +0200https://www.marekdlugos.com/education-awards/<section> <h2>Education</h2> <div class="row"> <div class="col-md-3"> <h3>The Story</h3> </div> <div class="col-md-9"> <p>High-quality technical education abroad has been my aim for a long time, which is why I left my home country after graduating from the best tech high school in Slovakia (according to the INEKO ranking).</p> <p>Followed by applying for the Ivy League universities. The University of Cambridge, according to rankings, the 4th best university in the world, invited me for interviews where I exceeded their expectations in Computer Science but didn't persuade them with my math skills.</p>