
Validation & Startup Programs
Luka Prišunjak
Validation specialist with fifty-plus projects behind him, testing what people will pay for before the money is spent and what they actually do once it is.
Luka’s specialty is the moment before the money is spent — and what happens right after it, too. Across more than fifty validation projects, he has built a practice that runs from the first customer interview to post-launch metrics.
What Luka does:
- Runs structured customer interviews and validation experiments to test problem-solution fit before development starts
- Builds Lean Canvas, pricing, and go-to-market models grounded in real customer conversations, not assumptions
- Guides teams through launch prep, first deployment, and early customer acquisition
- Tracks post-launch usage data to catch the gap between what customers say and what they actually do
- Designs and facilitates startup and accelerator programs: curriculum, mentoring systems, evaluation criteria
- Runs corporate innovation challenges and trains internal teams to keep them running long after he’s gone
- Evaluates and scores startup applications and portfolios for accelerators, funds, and corporate programs
He doesn’t stop at “will they buy it.” On Blistavi Umovi, he tracked real usage data before, during and after launch, not survey answers. That reshaped both the target audience and the feature set. The next iteration ran with 3x longer usage. On hardware launches like Mosquitch, he defined placement strategy and the must-have content for first deployment, then used that rollout as proof to close three more locations.
Since 2016 he has been an Ecosystem Facilitator with Swisscontact on the Swiss SECO Entrepreneurship Programme, strengthening startup support organizations across six countries: designing accelerator programs, building mentoring systems, evaluating what works, and educating investors. At ICT Hub he spent four years as a Business Designer, helping corporations define innovation hypotheses, build innovation funnels, and validate ideas before committing serious resources.
He mentors founders through the Innovation Fund of Serbia’s Smart Start program, guiding startups from problem validation through launch prep and into their first market data. His startup instincts come from the inside: he was one of the first employees at FishingBooker, the Belgrade-built platform that became the world’s largest fishing-charter marketplace, where he led customer experience through years of exponential growth.
At Zavisi, Luka leads validation and customer discovery through launch: identifying the right first customers, testing problem-solution fit, getting products to their first paying users, then tracking what those users actually do once they’re live, not just what they said they’d do.
Selected work & credentials
- Ecosystem Facilitator, Swisscontact — SECO Entrepreneurship Programme, six countries (since 2016)
- Business Designer & External Innovation Consultant, ICT Hub (since 2020)
- Mentor & startup program expert across the region — Smart Start (Innovation Fund of Serbia, since 2022), F787 BiH, STP Niš, STP Novi Sad
- Strategic Expert for Validation, BoarVenturers community
- Lecturer, katarza.tv — MasterKAT series on Understanding Customers in Practice
- 50+ validation projects with startups and corporate teams, from pre-launch through post-launch metrics
- Early employee & Head of Customer Experience, FishingBooker
Testimonials
Luka played a significant role in MyTurn's development from the very beginning. Through mentorship, he helped us improve our business model and focus on what mattered most — building an app users actually want to use. Together we developed customer interviews, tested and validated key hypotheses, and his advice helped us build a product that is now used in over 80 countries worldwide.
Ivana GazivodaCo-founderMyTurnAt NTP Niš we've worked with Luka across multiple programs for startups and informal teams. He's truly unmatched when it comes to Customer Discovery, combining methodology, experience and hands-on work with teams in a way that's hard to find. He's direct when needed, but keeps things relaxed and motivating — and almost every time he comes to Niš, he already has 'old acquaintances' among the startups to grab coffee with. Luka is one of those experts we're always glad to bring back into our programs, and even happier to recommend further.
Aleksandra RistićBusiness Development AdvisorScience and Technology Park NišLuka has been with us since the very beginning, he helped us with the first text for our website, our first sales presentation, and the important decisions that come with growing a startup. What I appreciate most about him is how quickly he gets to the core of a problem and always gives honest, pragmatic advice. He's not someone who just tells you what you want to hear, he genuinely engages, asks the right questions, and helps you reach the important conclusions yourself.
I recommend him to any startup that needs a smart, reliable advisor who genuinely wants to help.
Miodrag VilotijevićCEOJigJoyI first noticed Luka at one of his lectures, long before he became our mentor — and I remember thinking, this is someone I'd like to work with one day. When I first reached out, I only wanted an outside opinion on where we stood as a startup. I got a lot more than that. Luka quickly became someone who follows every step we take, and over time, a friend. The Smart Start program ended long ago, but he's still here — sharing advice, connecting us with other mentors, and talking about us wherever he thinks it can open a door. I've had different mentors, but Luka is the only one who looks at the person behind the startup, not just the startup itself. He knows the two can't be separated, so he never pushes you past what's realistic. Honestly, at this early stage we're in, I don't know what more I could ask for.
Dženan HajrovićFounderBlistavi UmoviWorking with Luka in the early stages, when we barely knew how to structure anything, left a real mark on both our business and the way we think. What stood out most was his reliability — every deadline met, every commitment kept, which in the startup world is worth more than almost anything else. We even had a pause in our collaboration while I worked on implementing everything we'd planned, and when we picked it back up, nothing was lost — every document and plan was exactly where we left it, organized and ready, as if no time had passed at all. For someone who values professionalism, dedication and genuine humanity, Luka is a combination that's rare to find.
Hristina Lazarević MiloševićFounder & CEOHealth&More · Izbegni Aditive
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