Miroslav Kren (Safetica): One question reveals who in the company is redundant

In this episode of the CEO na ostří nože podcast, we talk to Miroslav Kren, who has led Brno-based Safetica since January. The company focuses on data loss prevention and insider threats and delivers its solution to 110 countries. Kren arrives after fifteen years in Silicon Valley with a clear goal: to change the mindset of a process-driven company and bring in startup thinking.

The first step is expanding into the US. Safetica doesn’t want to conquer America from Brno. It wants to build a team there with decision-making power at the highest level. The business side of the company, meaning sales, marketing and product management, is moving to the US, while engineering and operations stay in the Czech Republic. According to Kren, Czechs have a great engineering base but lack business experience and the confidence to take on big Western players. If you want American investors to take you seriously, you have to start thinking like an American company. In his view, a handful of people across the ocean won’t get you there.

The second change is moving away from perfectionism. A company that has been on the market for fifteen years can easily end up wanting to do everything perfectly, and it slows down as a result. In security, which has moved more in the last two years than in the previous ten, that isn’t affordable. Startup thinking, Kren says, doesn’t mean a worse product. It means the courage to experiment and sometimes go against what existing customers want. Instead of long-term action plans, he is introducing a faster management rhythm: every manager meets their people for at least fifteen minutes a week. Half of the top management team is now new.

Among employees, the change brings both hope and uncertainty. The old process gave them the certainty that if they followed the rules, the job was done. Management is therefore changing internal communication, explaining the reasons behind the changes and showing early wins. When hiring Americans, Kren openly talks about what doesn’t work in the company. He sees cultural clashes in how results are presented: Americans show things in a better light, while Czechs tend to be realistic or even pessimistic. He also points to habits that are common in the Czech Republic but unacceptable in the US, such as choosing an assistant based on looks or rewarding a closed deal with beer or a weekend getaway.

Kren has a strong view on performance. A team, he says, is judged by its weakest link. If a company tolerates someone who doesn’t deliver, others conclude they don’t have to either. The first step is to find the cause and try to support the person. If that doesn’t work, you have to act quickly. That’s why, in performance reviews, he doesn’t ask for scores from one to ten but asks a single question: what would you do if this person wanted to leave? Would the world stop turning, or would you not care?

What else will you learn in the podcast?

• Why Safetica is moving business roles to the US and keeping engineering in the Czech Republic

• How to explain to a Czech team that their new boss will sit in America

• Why perfectionism is the enemy of progress

• Where Czech and American work cultures clash most often

• Why an individualist who breaks the rules can hurt a company more than losing a few deals

• Which single performance-review question reveals who adds value

For Miroslav Kren, moving from a process-driven company to one with a startup mindset isn’t about new rules. It’s about more frequent communication, more freedom for people and the courage to make decisions. That includes being willing to name who isn’t contributing to the team and act on it.