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The case Mandates Growth Systems Review Positions Record Contact

I take the seat, not the meeting.

Fractional Executive mandates (CEO, COO, CSO) in owner-led, family-owned and investor-backed companies, plus the rooms where capital, partners and operators actually find each other.

Free, ten minutes. Or .

Vlado Houba
SkyWallFounder, FLITT SkyWallCroCzechChamChairmanSea-BreaksFounding memberRTB HouseExecutive Director CZGemiusCountry Manager CZ/SKIAB SlovakiaRetail Media CommitteeICFCertified executive coach
The case

Part of an exceptional executive beats all of an average one.

Fractional leadership isn't a stopgap between hires and it isn't consulting with a nicer title. A seat carries a number and a seat can be lost. That accountability is the whole distinction, and it's why I hold one at a time rather than a portfolio of advisory relationships.

I work with founders and owners who need senior commercial leadership before a full-time hire is justified, family businesses handling succession or a generational handover, and investors who need someone accountable for the operating plan.

Mandates

Four ways I'm engaged.

A seat, a number, and a date I hand it back. Open any row for the detail.

Senior commercial and operating leadership for founders, owners and family-owned businesses that need part of an exceptional executive rather than all of an average one. I own the sales strategy, the team build, the partner ecosystem, and the P&L line they sit under, accountable to the board like any other executive.

  • Executive leadership
  • Sales strategy
  • Team building
  • Partner ecosystems
  • Operating cadence
  • P&L ownership
  • Market entry, GTM

One seat at a time.

Connecting investors with projects, and businesses with capital, across CEE and beyond. European companies reaching international capital on one side; global investors looking for vetted opportunities and the operating talent to run them on the other. The value is in knowing both rooms, not in a mandate letter.

  • Capital introductions
  • Investor readiness
  • Opportunity vetting
  • Operating talent
  • CEE, Adriatic, GCC

Independent board seats and advisory mandates for founder-led, family-owned and investor-backed companies in digital, adtech, retail media, cyber security and related industries. Commercial discipline, regional market depth, and a coach's read on what is actually happening between the people at the table.

  • NED seats
  • Advisory boards
  • Commercial due diligence
  • Investment committee

Most founders have nobody to think with. Not the board, who they're managing. Not the team, who they're leading. I'm the sparring partner for the decision itself and the accountability partner for what happens after it: commercial calls under pressure, the dynamics inside a leadership team, the human side of scaling. ICF-certified, grounded in Cornell's Psychology of Leadership and Gallup CliftonStrengths. The agenda is the business.

  • Founder and CEO 1:1
  • Leadership teams
  • CliftonStrengths
  • Selected pro bono work
Situations

You'd call me when.

Growth Systems Review

Is it a system, or does it only look like one?

My review of how a company actually generates revenue, from the first conversation to the fifth year of a customer. You learn where it leaks, what to fix first, and whether the system fits the game you are playing. I also run it with Chairborn, where I share the method with Martin Fabry.

The structure the survey reads: direction, traction, offer, buyers, proof, experience, economics, machine, ownership DIRECTION TRACTION OFFER BUYERS PROOF EXPERIENCE ECONOMICS MACHINE OWNERSHIP
Roof
Where the company is going, whether the leadership team believes the target, and which game it is playing.
Pillars
What you sell and how disciplined the pricing is, who can actually say yes, and the proof that makes a buyer believe you.
Beams
Outreach that converts, a forecast you can plan against, and what happens to a customer after the first deal.
Foundation
What a customer costs and returns, whether the CRM and the AI are used or just owned, and who holds the relationships.
1

Structural Survey

Free, about ten minutes

Twenty-eight questions answered for the company as it runs today, not on a good day. Your result arrives by email: the main crack in the structure, what it means, and what I would look at first. If you want my written read on top of it, I reply within two working days.

2

The review

Fixed scope, fixed fee, three to four weeks

Evidence rather than workshops. The last fifteen won and lost deals, the CRM against what actually landed, the channels that produce meetings, real sales calls, and which decisions wait for the owner.

3

The readout

One working session, then ninety days

The verdict in one sentence. At most three priorities, each with an owner and a number. Ninety days later, a short re-read of whether those numbers moved. I hold myself to the diagnosis too.

And if nobody in the company can own the number

Sometimes the readout lands on a priority the existing team cannot carry. That is when a seat is worth discussing, never before. A mandate then runs in three phases.

  1. Read the businessWeeks 1 to 4

    P&L, pipeline, org chart and twenty conversations, ending in a written diagnosis and a decision on what we stop doing.

  2. Take the seatMonths 1 to 9

    Accountable for named outcomes with the team you already have, reporting to the board like any executive.

  3. Hand it overFinal 60 days

    A successor, a documented operating system, and a cadence that survives my leaving.

You will not get a strategy document. You get three decisions, the people who own them, and the numbers that tell everyone whether they worked.

Start the Structural Survey

Building businesses by building people first.

The operating system underneath every mandate on this page.
Positions

What I hold, not what I sell.

Most mandates reach a point where the answer isn't inside the company. It is a distributor in Zagreb, a fund in Vienna, an operator who has run this exact market before.

Chairman

Bilateral trade body connecting Czech, Slovak and Croatian businesses, investors and professionals, with a wider ambition for CEE and SEE cooperation: market entry in both directions, member introductions, and the institutional side of cross-border work.

Founding member

Invite-only global yachting and HNW network where senior operators, founders and investors meet through sailing and curated experiences. Serious conversations happen on the water, not in conference rooms.

Founder, FLITT SkyWall

Investor and regional business development partner for SkyWall across Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria: distribution, key accounts and market build-out.

Business matching

Tell me what you're looking for: capital, a market entry partner, an operator, a board member, a client. If there's someone across these networks worth meeting, I make the introduction personally. If there isn't, I'll say so.

Record

Where it comes from.

18Years in C-level commercial leadership
7CEE markets built and run
30+Professionals led across five countries
98%Client retention at portfolio level
2016 to now

Magnaxa, Founder

Holding structure for fractional executive mandates, cross-border capital advisory, executive coaching and the Sea-Breaks network.

2025 to 2026

Interim business development positions

Commercial structure and pipeline for growing companies. Sales and account management built from the ground up.

2018 to 2025

RTB House CZ, Executive Director

Statutory executive with full P&L across CZ, SK, HU, RO and BG. Team of 30+, consistent year-on-year growth, 98%+ client retention.

2013 to 2018

RTB House, Regional Director

Launched and scaled operations from zero across five CEE markets: local go-to-market, country leads, key e-commerce and media relationships.

2008 to now

FLITT, Founder

Founded as a distribution and business development company, today trading as FLITT SkyWall: investor and regional partner for SkyWall across Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.

2008 to 2013

Gemius, Country Manager CZ/SK, then Senior BDM EMEA

Built the audience measurement business in both markets, then led business development across EMEA.

Education

  • MBA, City University of Seattle
  • University of Economics, Bratislava

Coaching & leadership

  • ICF certified executive coach
  • Gallup CliftonStrengths
  • Psychology of Leadership, Cornell

Languages & other

  • Slovak, Czech, English
  • German and Spanish, basic
  • Offshore skipper, Category C
Rooms

Stages, boards and water.

Sea-Breaks Ibiza 2026
Sea-BreaksIbiza 2026
Dubai Gala
Dubai GalaBlack tie, UAE
Sofascore Awards in Zadar
Sofascore AwardsZadar
Majova Regata 2026 prizegiving
Majova Regata 2026Prizegiving
At the helm on the Adriatic
At the helmAdriatic
Monaco Yacht Show
MonacoYacht Show

Start with thirty minutes and an honest read.

Bring the situation, not a brief. I'll tell you whether this is a mandate, an introduction, or something you should handle yourself.

Book a call
Email
vladimir.houba@gmail.com
Phone SK
+421 903 305 049
Phone CZ
+420 775 726 659
LinkedIn
/in/vladimirhouba
Based
Bratislava and Prague