098: Sasa Popovic: Choosing to Build a Great Company – imperfect action (with broc edwards)

A lot of leaders and entrepreneurs have read Jim Collins’ book “Great by Choice”, but how many have actually applied the ideas to build a great company? Today, I sat down with Sasa Popovic, co-founder and CEO of Vega IT Sourcing to discuss the choices, decisions, and actions they used from the book to build an award winning company.

We discuss:

The three key principles from “Great by Choice” and how they use them at Vega IT.
How Vega IT grew 30% a year without a sales team and why and how they chose to start one.
The advantage of starting a company during the Great Recession while not knowing how you are “supposed” to run a company.
Why they are in a good position to weather the global economic crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
The discipline of performing despite tough conditions combined with the discipline of holding back when things are good.
Using success to make their country and the world a better place.
Vega IT’s focus on people, culture, and cash reserves.

Although it’s a business conversation, every principle we discuss could easily be applied to personal lives as well.

Let’s play bigger, do better, and move the world!

Related Episodes:

064: Sasa Popovic: Building an Innovative Business and a Better World

036: Maja Neducic: Creating Business Results Through Happiness

Sasa Popovic, Co-Founder and CEO of Vega IT Sourcing

Sasa Popovic is the father of two children. He was born in Zrenjanin in 1980. Sasa completed his academic education at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, where he got his master’s degree in electrotechnical engineering and computer science.

During his studies, Sasa began working as a programmer. He spent the first couple of years creating and developing software solutions for a company from the Netherlands based in Novi Sad. In 2008, he and his university colleague Vladan Ostojic founded the company Vega IT using their assets. They still own and manage Vega IT together.

Ever since becoming an entrepreneur, Sasa has encouraged leadership and entrepreneurship within the company. Heartcount, which is a tool that helps companies know how their employees feel at work, is a result of his years of experience of building a happy workplace at Vega IT.

Sasa’s caring for his colleagues and his emphasis on customer satisfaction, which he has devoted a significant portion of his working hours, has resulted in Vega IT’s annual growth of over 30% since its inception – in terms of income, profit and number of employees.

Connect with Sasa:

LinkedIn: Sasa Popovic

Website: VegaITSourcing.rs

Instagram: @VegaITSourcing

Theme music: Just a Little by award winning indie pop band Shadow of Whales.

Big thanks for letting me use the song! Find them, check out their videos, and get their music.