---
title: "Robert Nikic in The European Business Review (2025)"
description: "The European Business Review on Robert Nikic's mission to remove the barriers that stop new business owners, using automation and AI to cut human error."
canonical: "https://robertnikic.com/recognition/european-business-review"
author: "Robert Nikic"
advisory_role_profile: "https://reseated.com/robert-nikic"
type: "WebPage"
---

# Robert Nikic Featured in The European Business Review

The European Business Review on Robert Nikic's mission to remove the barriers that stop new business owners, using automation and AI to cut human error.

#35 (Inc. 5000) · TEDx (Speaker)

## At a glance

- Outlet: The European Business Review
- Format: Profile
- Published: January 9, 2025
- Topic: Removing barriers to ownership with automation
- Robert's role: Founder and CEO
- Inc. 5000: #35 (as reported)
- Last updated: October 17, 2026

## What The European Business Review reported about Robert Nikic

### The shift

The European Business Review profiles Robert as the leader behind a company the article reports reached #35 on the Inc. 5000. Its focus is a shift: from a platform for sellers to an automated, hands-off ownership model.

### Designing out failure

The article explains that the model was built to remove the operational burdens that sink most new ventures. Robert puts the goal plainly: "We wanted to eliminate the barriers that stop people from succeeding and create a system where success is built into the process."

### Why automation

He also argues that "technology removes human error, which has historically been the downfall of many ventures." The profile closes by noting his Forbes Councils and Fast Company Executive Board memberships and his TEDx appearance.

Related: [NBC WFLA on why businesses fail](https://robertnikic.com/recognition/nbc-wfla-daytime) · [The Guardian on designing against failure](https://robertnikic.com/recognition/the-guardian)

> "We wanted to eliminate the barriers that stop people from succeeding and create a system where success is built into the process." (Robert Nikic, The European Business Review)

> "Technology removes human error, which has historically been the downfall of many ventures." (Robert Nikic, The European Business Review)

## In Robert's words

"We wanted to eliminate the barriers that stop people from succeeding." That line was the whole point. My family came from the Balkans as refugees and started over with nothing, and my teenage startups failed for reasons that had nothing to do with effort. I worked 18-hour shifts and still made avoidable mistakes. Automation was my answer to that: take the error-prone steps away from the person who can least afford them. We built the company without outside investors and reached #35 on the Inc. 5000. Since 2026 I've worked on SDG 8 & 9, where many of the barriers are rules.

## Key takeaways

- Hands-off ownership: The model automated much of the daily work of running a business.
- Success built into the process: Barriers were designed out rather than left to the owner.
- Fewer human errors: Robert argued technology removes the mistakes that sink new ventures.

## Where this fits in his story

- 2011: First platform launched
- 2018: Relaunched as a full platform
- 2023: Inc. 5000 debut at #418
- 2024: Climbs to #35 (this feature)
- 2026: Steps away to work on SDG 8 & 9

## Where it led

Then, he engineered barriers out of business ownership. Now, under SDG 8.3, he works on the barriers that software can't remove: registration steps, paperwork, fees and delays. The European Business Review captured his technology answer; his current work is the policy answer.
See: https://robertnikic.com/united-nations-sdg-8-and-9

## Questions

### When did The European Business Review feature Robert Nikic?

January 9, 2025.

### What did it report?

His move to an automated ownership model designed to remove the burdens that sink new ventures.

### What does Robert Nikic do now?

He works on SDG 8 & 9, including SDG 8.3 on simpler business registration.

## Original article

Published in The European Business Review, January 9, 2025: https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/just-leaked-robert-nikic-has-a-secret-circle-of-winners/

## About The European Business Review

The European Business Review is a business and management publication.

## About Robert

Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and Advisory Council Chair at Reseated Councils (United Nations SDG 8 & 9). He came to the United States as a refugee, and from 2011 to 2026 he built and led an e-commerce company that was twice named to the Inc. 5000. Today he works to make it easier for anyone, anywhere, to start a business and grow it.