Borko Kovačević - Corporate Executive Turned Founder & Operator

I spent 17 years at Microsoft.

Leading marketing in Central Europe, Chief Operating Officer and managing director of Microsoft Singapore and Head of Business Development for startups and new ventures across Asia Pacific. I had the title, the team, and the view from the executive floor.

And then I left to start a network of studios across the world.

Not to advise, to consult or to sit on boards and give strategic counsel from a comfortable distance. I left to build — to sign leases, hire crews, negotiate with landlords, chase invoices, and figure out how to make payroll across ten countries.

Today I’m co-founder of Poddster and Podyx.

This is a podcast production studio network operating in Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and 100+ partner locations globally, and Podyx, a vertical SaaS platform for podcast studios being used by over 200 studios and 10+ M$ transaction volume. Two companies. Two different business models. Both built from zero.

Poddster

Podyx

Here’s what I learned

Almost everything I believed about innovation during my corporate career was incomplete. Not wrong — but dangerously theoretical. The gap between knowing what disruption looks like from a conference stage and experiencing it when it’s your company on the line is enormous. And that gap is exactly where most corporate transformation efforts die.

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That’s what I talk about.

Not innovation as a concept, but innovation as an operating reality — what it actually costs, what it actually breaks, and what it actually takes to come out the other side.

The Reinvention Gap

Every year, thousands of experienced leaders decide to “do something entrepreneurial.” Most become advisors, consultants, or angel investors. Very few actually build. Borko explores why corporate leaders struggle to cross the gap from executive to operator — and shares the specific mindset shifts, identity crises, and hard-won lessons from his own transition. This is a talk about what reinvention really costs and why the discomfort is the point.

Leadership offsites

Annual general meetings

Townhalls

Executive retreats

Career transition events

AI Readiness Is an Execution Problem

Borko has seen AI from both sides: as a Microsoft executive selling the vision to enterprise clients, and as a founder figuring out how to actually implement it in a scaling business with real constraints. Most organisations don’t have a technology problem — they have a systems, culture, and execution problem wearing a technology mask. Drawing on a decade of enterprise AI conversations and hands-on implementation at his own companies, Borko delivers a practical, no-jargon session on what AI readiness actually requires.

Tech conferences

Digital transformation summits

C-suite briefings

Industry association events

Building When Everyone Else Is Advising

There’s a growing class of ex-corporate leaders offering advice on entrepreneurship. Borko isn’t one of them — he’s in the arena, running operations across Singapore, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, managing teams, and navigating the unglamorous realities of building companies from scratch. This talk is for audiences who are tired of theory. Borko shares what you learn about innovation, resilience, and leadership when you’re the one making payroll — not the one advising from the sideline.

Entrepreneurship summits

Founder events

Corporate innovation teams

Startup ecosystems

Aventure capital conferences

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Trusted by organisations and stages

“Borko has an excellent sense of what needs to be the focus of the moment

And is very highly effective in setting goals and achieving them. Whenever I worked with Borko, whether it was on marketing or training projects, or on various conferences, I found Borko to be a great go-to guy for making sure things worked well.

Howie Lau

NCS Group

“Borko is the rare leader who has operated at the highest levels of global tech and built something real from zero.

His perspective on reinvention is hard-won and worth listening to"

Nir Eyal

NYT Best selling author

“Borko is an excellent speaker

In bridging the traditional corporate, rigit and intert narrative and scrapy, innovative and novel startup culture.

Prerna Gulati
Apurv Joshi

JP Morgan Private Banking

“Borko was one of the strongest operators on my Microsoft APAC team

the kind of leader who consistently delivered against ambitious targets while developing the people around him. Watching him apply that same operator's discipline to building two ventures from scratch has been remarkable. Any audience serious about leadership, transformation, or the realities of building something new will get genuine value from hearing him.

Andrea Della Mattea

former Microsoft CVP APAC

For Event Planners

Based in

Singapore (available globally)

Formats

Keynote (30–60 min)

Fireside Chat

Panel Moderator Executive Workshop

English (native-level)

Languages

English (native-level)

Experience

50+ keynotes and executive sessions across

Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East

Industries

Technology

Financial Services

Media

Startups & Innovation

Download Speaker One-Sheet

What you get

A speaker who has operated at the intersection of big tech and startup building. Borko brings real operational stories — not recycled case studies — and tailors every session to your audience’s specific challenges. He’s known for high-energy delivery, audience interaction, and ensuring executives leave with concrete takeaways, not just inspiration.

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