The questions that come up before the call.

What do you actually do?

I find where a project is going to go wrong — and either fix it before it does, or limit the damage once it already has. In practice that means interrogating the original decision, making sure what was agreed is clear enough to survive delivery, making sure vendor decisions don't get made on the wrong grounds, and staying close enough to what gets built that it still matches what the business actually needed.

That work rarely stays inside one department. A decision that looks like a technology question usually has roots in an earlier part of the business. A delivery problem often traces back to departments that were never properly in the room. I work across all of it — management, finance, legal, operations, sales, and IT — wherever the problem actually sits.

In regulated markets, compliance is part of that conversation from day one — not raised for the first time when a regulator asks questions, a fine arrives, or a licence approval stalls.

Who should hire you?

Organisations that have committed budget to a programme — or are about to — and something feels off. That could be a programme already in trouble, or a CEO who senses the decision was made for the wrong reasons before anything has visibly gone wrong. Either moment is the right moment.

In what capacity do you work?

The work lands in one of four situations.

• Pre-commitment review. Something feels off before the contract is signed. I check whether the plan holds up — the strategy, the scope, the assumptions.
• Project reset. Budget is committed, outcomes are not landing. I find where things went wrong and what has to change.
• Phase ownership. One critical phase owned end-to-end — diagnostic, choosing the right supplier, regulatory feasibility, go/no-go before a pilot or market entry.
• Business–delivery bridge. Between whoever commissioned the work and whoever is building it, making sure what gets built — or bought, or launched — is what was actually needed.

None of these is limited to a technology project. Market entry, distribution, operational setup, regulatory approval — the pattern is the same wherever a commitment has been made and the outcome needs to actually land.

What does a typical engagement look like?

It starts with a diagnostic — one to two weeks of structured interviews and document review, followed by a frank assessment of where things stand. From there we agree on the next phase: concrete scope, clear outputs, and a fixed effort cap. Each phase ends with a review. We only move forward if there is clear value to capture.

How is the engagement priced?

Each phase is priced independently — a fixed fee or capped day rate agreed before work starts. There are no open‑ended retainers. If a phase produces nothing worth acting on, there is no obligation to continue.

What sectors do you work in?

No sector restriction. Past work spans fintech, telecoms, energy, logistics, cybersecurity, and public sector across Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The common thread is complexity — not the industry.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. Based in Prague, working on-site across the Czech Republic and across Europe in combination with remote. In the Philippines and Southeast Asia when the work justifies it.

How do you use AI in your work?

I use AI where it speeds up analysis and delivery — reviewing material faster, exploring options, and structuring what we already know. I do not use it as a substitute for judgement, accountability, or anything that has to stand up to a regulator, a board, or a post‑mortem.

Why hire one person rather than a consultancy?

A consultancy sends a senior partner to win the work, then a junior team to deliver it. The person who impressed you in the pitch is rarely the person who shows up on Monday. With me, there is no bait and switch — I am both the person you meet and the person who does the work.

Most advisory firms also stay inside a lane — IT consultants talk to IT, strategy firms talk to the board, and the two rarely meet in the middle. Most client problems do not sit in one department. A market entry challenge touches legal, finance, operations, sales, and IT simultaneously. A project that is failing usually has roots in more than one of those. I work across the whole business, whichever departments the problem actually involves.

No account management overhead, no internal politics about utilisation, no version of the findings sanitised before they reach you. When a project needs more hands, I can bring in the right people for specific phases, or help you build the internal team to own it after I leave. What I will not do is pad a team for margin.

What does the first call actually look like?

Thirty minutes. I'll ask what you're dealing with — where you are in the decision, what's already been committed, and where something feels off. No pre-read required. By the end you'll have a clear view of whether there's a fit and what a next step would look like. If there isn't a fit, I'll say so.

How do I start?

Book a 15- or 30-minute call at cal.com/martin-kobera-digital/intro or email martin@kobera.digital. No deck, no prep — just a conversation to check fit.