From farm boy to corporate leader, Ákos Szabó's journey is a tapestry of diverse experiences. He navigated combine harvesters at 10, procurement departments at 30, and entire companies at 40. Through Fluenta, he established a key player in Hungary's electronic procurement market, building significant international credentials along the way. But success didn't come easily. It took meticulous planning, innovation, and hard work – along with some missteps that he chose to view as learning opportunities rather than failures. In this third installment of our life journey series, we sat down with Ákos Szabó, CEO of Fluenta Europe, to discuss his successes, setbacks, crisis management, and growth.
You launched Electool in 2003. How did it all begin?
Zoltán Deák and I started with the planning phase. We put together an extremely detailed roadmap, mapping out one-, two-, and five-year projections, complete with financing plans and sales targets.
We also made a pact: if we missed our targets, we'd cut our losses and walk away. No questions asked.
We set specific revenue targets for each of the first three years. On the financing side, we each committed to providing 20 million forints on top of the initial capital for operations. That came to 43 million forints total – worth about five times that amount (roughly €500,000) in today's terms.
A lot of people underestimate just how much capital it takes to build a viable company. This was a major source of anxiety for me at the time. I had to completely eliminate my personal income and pour all my savings into the venture.
Signing that contract for the two 20-million-forint commitments was nerve-wracking. My wife supported the decision, but I knew I was gambling with money I'd promised would go toward building our house. It meant staying in our apartment, keeping the mortgage, and forgetting about a new car. So yes, it was a challenging period on many levels.
You went full-time with the company in early 2004. Was that a tough call?
We did our homework first. While our official launch was January 1, 2004, we spent the lead-up doing roadshows with potential clients, developing concepts, and creating plans – essentially running a pilot sales program.
Once we were confident we could sell our concept, we made the decision: everyone would drop everything else and commit 100 percent.
We brought on our first employees too. For the first three years, we only hired from our network – people we knew and trusted. We divided responsibilities among ourselves. I faced a significant challenge that we discussed in detail with Zoli, too: in procurement, you don't build a sales network. I couldn't just walk up to potential clients and say, "Hey, check out our product." They didn't know me from Adam. So we agreed Zoli would have to open those doors. It was like that scene in "Crime Busters" where Terence Hill tells Bud Spencer: "You say Electool, your voice is deeper."
So our sales approach was pretty straightforward: Zoli would get us through the door, and I'd explain what we offered.
What exactly were you offering?
From day one, we built the company to stand on three legs. First was consulting. This took priority initially since our capital only covered building the organization and starting consultancy work. Product development and software would have to wait.
The second pillar was providing ongoing services to large organizations as outsourced staff.
This was slow to gain traction, and despite landing several contracts, it never really became profitable. Plus, we kept running into a problem: when things went well, our clients would try to poach our people. After two and a half years, we decided to drop this line of business.
The third pillar was IT. Initially, we ruled out developing software – we simply couldn't afford it. Instead, we partnered with an external provider who developed the electronic auction system while we used their services. Eventually, we became their biggest customer, using the system more than anyone else. When we needed more advanced features and they weren't interested in developing them, we crunched the numbers and realized: it was time to invest in our own system. So we developed our auction platform and started creating our own tools.
The Shift from Manager to Owner
When did you first feel confident the company would make it?
Our plan was to keep investing for three years, knowing it would take that long to see any meaningful return. That's exactly how it played out: around two and a half years in, we could finally see we wouldn't need to invest more. Originally, we'd planned for two installments of 20 million forints; we ended up putting in 37 million total. So our calculations were pretty spot-on.
The first and perhaps most crucial lesson was the importance of having a business plan – both at startup and at every major turning point. Plans don't always work out perfectly, but dealing with deviations from a plan is far easier than navigating blind. Unfortunately, many Hungarian businesses lack proper planning.
We set an ambitious first-year target of 100 million forints. We hit it by hiring strategically, investing our capital, and aggressively pursuing new business.
We started with a success fee model based on a percentage of savings. This helped build client trust, and successful projects brought in far more revenue than hourly billing would have.
Of course, you can only pull off a 50 percent success fee once with most clients. But it helped us meet our business plan.
The team grew too. Feri Varga joined us, taking our sales operation to a much more professional level. We built a core team of five that stayed stable and effective for years.
How did you handle the transition from being an employee to an owner? As a manager, you had specific responsibilities, but the company's overall success and your paycheck were ultimately someone else's concern. That changes when you're running your own business.
Honestly, I never saw myself becoming an entrepreneur. I was earning an almost ridiculous salary as an employee; I couldn't imagine making more running my own business.
One of my biggest challenges was getting my head around all the laws and regulations. Learning to read legislation was painful but necessary – there was no way around it.
Yes, you need a good accountant, but you can't expect them to catch every tax law and benefit for you.
And you have to learn to take the hits. Because they will come.
Did you take any hits?
Plenty. I quickly learned that as a consultant, sometimes you get blamed even for things you didn't do.
Our first major hit came from a big domestic bank. They withheld 2 million forints, claiming we'd messed up the job. Unsurprisingly, this wasn't true. When I challenged it, they even admitted I was right. Then they just shrugged and said: "Sorry, you're right, but the decision's been made, nothing we can do."
I took a deep breath and said: fine, you needed a scapegoat, we'll be it. But we want compensation: give us the next job. They laughed at first, but eventually agreed. At least they had enough integrity to make it up to us after we took the fall.
These situations are never easy, but you have to learn to handle them. Sometimes people will try to mess with you, but there's usually a way to turn it around to your advantage.
Into the Dark
Then came the real hammer blow – the 2008 crisis. How did that hit you?
By then, we had our systems in place and were self-financing. We stayed optimistic about the future – even after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September.
I remember chatting with a business unit leader at a consulting firm party about procurement. He was convinced that the crisis would create a golden age for procurement optimization – after all, companies would be desperate to cut costs.
But that golden age never arrived.
No. This conversation happened around December, when we still had work coming in. But I was starting to feel like we were entering a dark tunnel with no light ahead: lots of promises, no concrete deals. By January, it was clear he'd been wrong – even procurement optimization wasn't going to work.
The reality? Our deal flow dropped to zero. Literally zero. Late January, a friend confided that their company had become so strict, they were firing managers just for having consulting fees on their invoices.
What did you do?
Back to the drawing board – I created a new business plan.
We cut loose some underperforming foreign operations and had to lay people off. I announced this to the team in March. They asked if there would be more layoffs, or if this would be enough. I said it would be enough. Big mistake – it wasn't. My plan wasn't good enough; the situation was worse than I'd thought.
So you had to face them again and announce more layoffs?
Yes. And admit I was wrong. That wasn't easy. In business, leaders and management make plenty of mistakes. But this one really hurt. Still, we managed to find placements for everyone we let go – nobody ended up on the street.
The company took a serious hit, not just financially but in terms of losing valuable team members.
2009 stands out as a bizarre year – simultaneously one of the worst and best years of my life.
On the business side, it was brutal: massive losses, constant crisis management. Bankruptcy was a real possibility.
But personally, I had some amazing experiences. I spent seven weeks in the States with my family, then went sailing for 17 days with perfect wind every day – which is almost unheard of.
The other leaders questioned me: "You're going away when the house is on fire?" I told them, "Look, I've done everything I can possibly do." I needed to step away from crisis mode for a while. And it turned out to be exactly what I needed.
Don't miss the first, second, and fourth installments of our interview series.
