From Apple to a family mattress business: Filip Hlaváč's story

Filip Hlaváč traded an international career at Apple for the CEO’s chair at the family company CFH Group, which brings the premium Italian mattress brand Magniflex to Czechia. The handover of the business from father to son took about a year and a half and became a model of carefully planned generational succession in family entrepreneurship.

Until last February, Hlaváč spent ten years at the tech giant Apple, holding various international positions, and most recently led the Czech-Slovak retail team, working with partners such as Alza and Datart. The turning point came when his father, František, who had spent fifteen years building the company, decided to sell the business — the deal with investors fell through, and the family agreed on an internal handover of management instead.

“It took us about a year to work out a plan and settle all the details. Then came a roughly six-month process of leaving Apple,” says the younger Hlaváč. He ended up taking over as CEO after ten months, going through a brief intermediate stage as commercial director.

The key to a successful handover, he says, was a clear plan, defined expectations, well-structured decision-making processes and mutual understanding between the generations. Today CFH Group combines two approaches — that of the father, a former senior banker obsessed with precise processes and minimising risk, and that of the son, with experience at a major tech company and a bolder vision for long-term strategy.

From Apple, Hlaváč brought an emphasis on a flawless customer experience: at the Magniflex showroom in Prague’s Karlín district he has introduced sleep consultations, organises yoga masterclasses, breathing courses and art exhibitions, turning the space into a gathering place for the brand’s community of fans. The company’s clients include Olympic swimmer Barbora Zemanová, influencers and actors, as well as Czech billionaires.

About 40% of customers are repeat buyers, with some already on their “third generation” of mattresses. Alongside retail, CFH Group is also strengthening its B2B business, supplying mattresses to prestigious hotels, including the Pupp in Karlovy Vary.