Slevomat CEO Tomáš Braverman on how AI is reshaping his Czech firm

CEO and co-owner of the Slevomat group Tomáš Braverman talked about how artificial intelligence is transforming a business with revenue of 5.5 billion crowns, and admitted he himself had felt FOMO over the spread of vibe coding — building apps using plain text commands.

Braverman is 42 and spent ten years running Heureka before joining Slevomat. For almost a year now he has been more than just a hired executive — he is a co-owner of the company: last year the group was bought back from its British owners into Czech hands, together with management and investors. The new owners include the Genesis Capital fund, the family office of Jitka Cechlová Komárková (sister of billionaire Karel Komárek and owner of the engineering group Bonatrans), as well as Braverman himself and other top executives — Jakub Mazal, Romana Trusinová, Petr Gyža, Jaroslav Hanzlík and Lucie Pavlíková.

The company has around 350 employees and revenue of 5.5 billion crowns, which Braverman describes as healthy numbers even in the age of AI, even though dozens of people have left the firm because of the changes. “We say it honestly: if you're not comfortable in a culture built around pressure for results, AI and innovation, you might be better off somewhere else,” he notes.

The goal for the next five years remains multiplying the business several times over, both in revenue and profitability. The company is growing at double-digit rates, especially in the travel segment thanks to Poland and Austria, while the market itself is growing only a few percent a year. By the end of the year Slevomat plans to launch a new consumer app and grow its audience to 250,000 users.

Despite all the hype around artificial intelligence, Braverman is skeptical of predictions that it will transform business entirely: “Everyone now thinks AI will change everything. No, it won't. Fifteen years ago, when e-commerce arrived, people also said brick-and-mortar shops would die. They didn't.”