From strategy to a reliable entry into the Serbian and Balkan markets

DACH companies entering the Balkans typically waste between six and eighteen months on the wrong partner, the wrong first hire, or a pricing model that the local market doesn’t understand. Lost momentum, unnecessary costs, and reputational risk in a market you’re just getting to know.

A failed entry often ends up being more than a project cost. It sticks to the name of the person who proposed it, which is why these decisions get postponed for months.

Our job is to make sure that risk isn’t yours alone. From diagnosis to first revenue, we stand behind the results, not just our part of the work.

What does this service look like?

People Focus builds your entire business ecosystem in Serbia and the region at the same time, not sequentially. Strategy, team, operations, and initial revenue all happen together.

Instead of coordinating multiple different partners, you have three senior partners who cover what would normally require five separate engagements and are responsible for the results, not just their part.

Who is this for?

Why now?

The shortage of senior IT staff in the DACH region is demographic, not cyclical. It won’t solve itself, and next year it will be even more pronounced than it is now.

Competition that enters a year before you doesn’t just take clients. They also take the people you wanted to hire and the partners you planned to work with. The number of senior architects and team leaders in this market is finite, and the best of them don’t apply to job ads.

Entering the market rarely feels like something that has to be done today. The cost of waiting isn’t visible at the moment of decision, but a year later, when the same people are hired by someone else.

What do you get?

1 — MARKET DIAGNOSIS AND ENTRY BLUEPRINT

Before hiring your first employee and signing your first contract, you’ll know where the money is in this market, who makes the purchase decisions, which partners are trustworthy and which revenue model actually makes sense here. The model from Vienna rarely works without adjustments and that only becomes clear when the first offers start getting rejected.

2 — TALENT INFRASTRUCTURE & DACH STANDARDS 

Saša Marinković leads this pillar as Owner & CEO and business development specialist. Born, raised and educated in Austria, with more than 20 years as Managing Director of five-plus companies in Serbia and Romania. He has sat on your side of the table, running the kind of operation you are about to build.

That means DACH standards applied by someone who grew up inside them, not by someone who read about them. The right people, placed against a benchmark that does not exist as default in the local HR system. The first employee determines every hire that follows, so that decision is not left to job ads and chance. 

3 — OPERATIONAL SETUP AND SALES EXECUTION

Aleksandar Bukumirović leads this pillar as Sales & Operations Leader. Two threads run through his career across every market he has worked in: hard operational management and hard sales. The operations are set up to withstand both inspections and daily work and the commercial side is run by someone who closes rather than reports.

4 — BUSINESS STRATEGY, MARKET ENTRY AND POSITIONING

Miloš Milenković leads this pillar as Business Strategy & GTM Partner. He covers business strategy, business development, the routes into a new market, and the network that makes those routes viable. Branding sits inside this work rather than beside it. Most companies entering a new market underestimate it, and how you are understood here decides how expensive every commercial conversation after that will be.

5 — EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP ON DEMAND

While your local team is getting on its feet, we cover the fractional CEO, COO, or CSO role. Temporarily closing the leadership gap until the local structure becomes independent.

Who bears the risk?

Entering a new market means that you hand over part of the responsibility to a company in a country you don’t know yet. That’s a legitimate concern, and we address it specifically.

You don’t have to set up a company to get started. The first people can work through the Employer of Record model, and the legal entity is registered when the market proves it makes sense. Entry is phased, not a leap.

We take on the tax, payroll, and employment law responsibilities for these people. You retain full control over their work and results.

Every job placement comes with a three-month replacement guarantee. We get paid to keep the person, not just fill a chair.

Diagnosis and blueprint are fixed-scope with a fixed price. You know exactly what you’re getting before you commit to execution.

What distinguishes us?

A consulting firm delivers an analysis; the execution is up to you. An EoR platform covers the payroll, and that’s where it ends. A lawyer registers the legal entity, but the company still isn’t operational. A local consultant has connections but lacks the capacity to turn them into operations.

Three things separate us from all of them.

We have run the operation, not advised on it. Saša has spent more than twenty years as Managing Director of companies in Serbia and Romania, building and managing operations for the DACH market from the inside. You are not buying a consultant’s model of what works here. You are buying the experience of someone who has already done it, from your side of the table.

The cross-border profile is rare and cannot be assembled quickly. Native German, an Austrian upbringing and education, Serbian market knowledge, and trusted relationships on both sides. Your board hears its own language with nothing lost in translation, and doors open here that stay closed to others, with candidates and with institutions alike.

Recruitment and Employer of Record under one roof. The company that finds the person is the company that employs them. One partner, one contract, nobody in between. You can scale without establishing an entity, and when you do establish one, nothing has to be handed over.

Wir haben die Operation durchgeführt, nicht nur dazu beraten. Saša hat mehr als zwanzig Jahre als Geschäftsführer von Unternehmen in Serbien und Rumänien gearbeitet, dabei die Abläufe für den DACH-Markt von innen aufgebaut und geleitet. Sie kaufen hier nicht das Modell eines Beraters, was funktioniert. Sie kaufen die Erfahrung von jemandem, der es bereits von Ihrer Seite aus gemacht hat. 

Most market entry engagements end with a document. Ours ends with the first revenue. We measure success by whether you are truly operational and commercially active in the market.

Three senior partners – one for people and business development, one for operations and sales, and one for business strategy and go-to-market – cover what would normally require a team of five. Each of them runs their pillar, but they are jointly responsible for the outcome.

Saša Marinković	Aleksandar Bukumirović	Miloš Milenković
People and business development. Recruitment, team building, organizational structure, institutional and partner networks, DACH standards.	Operations and sales. Legal entity registration, tax and accounting structure, local infrastructure, KPI system, negotiation and closing.	Strategy and go-to-market. Business strategy, revenue model, market entry, branding and positioning, GTM launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we test the market before establishing a company in Serbia?

Yes, you can. The first employee is hired through the Employer of Record model, and the legal entity registration follows once the market is confirmed.

How long does it take to enter the Serbian market?

Registering a company takes a matter of weeks. Having an operational and commercially functional company takes months. The blueprint is set for 90 days to achieve the first measurable results.

What if an employee doesn’t fit?

We replace them under a three-month guarantee. The risk of a wrong hire stays with us.

We’ve already entered and it’s not working. Is it too late?

No. A good part of the job is corrections: wrong partner, team not delivering, or positioning that the local market doesn’t understand.

Who will we be dealing with day to day?

All three partners stay on the engagement. Which of them leads a given conversation depends on where the work is, not on an org chart. You will not be handed to an account manager.

In what language do we work?

German, English, and Serbian. We communicate with your management in German.

Talk to us before making your first decisions about market entry. One conversation can save you months of wrong moves.

📩 office@peoplefocus.rs · peoplefocus.rs