From classroom to code: Martin Kajtazi's journey into Croatian tech entrepreneurship
Martin Kajtazi, a 2018 graduate of RIT Croatia's Global Business Management/IB program, has forged a path that perfectly blends business strategy with hands-on digital development. His career, marked by the founding of the web and software development agency CRISP and the innovative spatial and urban planning information platform Arhium, offers a masterclass in modern, niche-market entrepreneurship.
The RIT Croatia foundation: A constant tailwind
For Martin, RIT Croatia was instrumental not for a single course, but for creating a mindset that encouraged action over hesitation. "The professors and the environment acted as a tailwind rather than a brake," he explains. "The message was always simple: 'Go for it.' Not once did I hear 'why would you do that.'"
What stayed with him was the way of thinking: critical thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to recognize problems in one industry and apply solutions from another. This strategic agility is exactly what helped him identify a significant, persistent problem in the Croatian real estate market that everyone complained about, but no one had properly solved.
The entrepreneurial leap: Problem-solving at CRISP
Martin’s journey to entrepreneurship was a gradual merger of skills. After graduating, he spent several years in the media and telecom industry, focused on data analysis and consulting, while simultaneously teaching himself how to code.
"CRISP exists because entrepreneurship has always been part of who I am," Martin states, emphasizing consistency, discipline, and the idea of always doing 'one more rep than yesterday.'
The core driver behind CRISP is practical problem-solving, rooted in a tendency to organize and simplify—an approach he humorously admits applies to his desire to reorganize a dishwasher because "this just works better." This mindset carries over into how CRISP builds products and services, leading to a specialization in clear, structured, and easy-to-work-with digital solutions.
Arhium: Simplifying the complex
This focus on simplicity laid the groundwork for his latest, most ambitious project: Arhium. Martin realized that spatial and urban planning information in Croatia was scattered across institutions, PDFs, and maps, making it difficult to interpret.
"We decided to take responsibility for consolidating that data, linking it directly to each land parcel, and keeping it updated as regulations change," he says. The result? What used to take hours for an experienced architect can now be done in minutes. Arhium also introduced a new way of discovering land plots through advanced spatial filtering and rule-based analysis.
Arhium initially began as an internal solution for his architect partner, Helena, before they realized the problem was universal across the profession. The technological backbone involves collecting documentation from public institutions, then manually processing, cleaning, and technically linking it to the digital cadastral base. This required extensive spatial analysis and geometry calculations.
While launching with the City of Zagreb and currently expanding to Zagreb County, Martin’s focus remains steady. "The plan is to expand slowly and steadily to other major counties," he says, noting that the modular nature of the application allows them to quickly adapt to user feedback.
Advice for future RIT Croatia alumni
When asked for a single piece of advice for RIT Croatia students looking to launch their own companies in the Adriatic region, Martin emphasizes resilience:
"Be patient. Stick to it. Be consistently good rather than occasionally great. Launching products in Croatia is not easy due to administrative friction and complex procedures, but that process forces you to become better, sharper, and more resilient. In the long run, that is a strength, not a weakness."
