Steckler was a fortress, enduring compromises and intercessions, remembering the late Avast of his successor | Business

Lidovky.cz: How did the manager from California get to Avast?
He ended up in Symantec, where he had two global customer divisions, and looked at what he could do. And k nm piel on recommended. At the time, we were looking for a general manager and we worked with headhunters. And they did not take his, but his former fa. He was in the process of looking at the city. But in the end he decided, because he was 60 years old at the time, that he would take care of the family and other life priorities. But he said, he was a great hunter, he worked and it was Vince.

Lidovky.cz: At the time of his accession, you were the technical director and he was 31 years old. How was your first flight alongside the American fa?
We sat in the office together with the pig from the first day, the two of us. And we talked every day about how we would run a business, how we would make products, what language versions we would locate them in, and so on. It was a big round for me, because he had a lot of experience, moreover from our biggest competitor. I was doing really well under the nm. He was the architect of what was going on.

The agreement was such that the position of CEO, which until then was performed by Eduard Kuera, will take over immediately. that there will be no transitional period when competencies will be advanced. He also took over the company on the day of entry. As technical director, I was mainly responsible for the implementation of news. In order for the products to work and they liked the customers.

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Lidovky.cz: m vs the most shifted?
When he drove, the company had 60 and 70 people. About 50 of them fell into my darkness. We did not have a solid organizational structure in the sense of a written hierarchy. We worked quite a lot together at the time and we were in a way a company of our own. I was primarily responsible for technology and products. And to reform the company from 60 people to 200 and 500 is not a lot of fun. Hand in hand stm goes a lot of sweat.

There is a big difference between when a guy who saw it and had a feeling for it, or someone who did it the first time. He also owns it and I realized that and again very cleverly and so he moved the levels of the role from the same technical and technological level to a role that is business. We talked more and more about things, they were about business, expansion, competition. He probably did it because he saw talent in me in this direction.

But it was only because he didn’t have to go, because at the time of the arrest he didn’t have people. The business team was small and he had to build it all. I just had more to do with these things. And in 2014, he made me an operations director. He threw customs sales, marketing, customer support under me. I officially became his right hand man, when I was also responsible for all operational aspects of the business.

Lidovky.cz: What was its strongest feature?
He was really a bastard. In that sense, he had the greatest talent for getting out of the people in such a natural way. Of course, this was not for everyone, as with the hard ldr bv. Tvrdch in the sense of nronch on himself and the people around them. He did not compromise. kal, let’s figure it out, let’s do it, there’s always a way to do this. This was in my blood. And it’s pretty tough. When the hunter gets into it halved, that everything goes, then you all lp lp. Come on.

But this, of course, only works to the limit. If the machine was in any way, it was more difficult and said that it worked, and it really wouldn’t work, because it would be against you to sell, then the system would collapse. But Vince had a good feeling for how to stretch it so that it would go lo, but to make it a challenge for everyone.

Lidovky.cz:Was he in Prague all the time?
Not all the time. First he flies 100%, with the whole family, then with me. The company became much more global, it was also much less needed in Prague. VUSA was a far-reaching customer or shareholder or partner. And since 2014, when I became the operations director, ie his official right hand, he has reduced his stay in Prague in order to do things in California.

Lidovky.cz: You call Vince Steckler your mentor. But as the technical director of such an innovative adynamic company, you had to be aware of … Did Mr. Steckler learn anything from vs?
That’s probably not a question for me, I can’t do that. But one vc full arrest was Vince a programmer. He graduated in 70. years and his first job was programming. At that time, we worked with a system of rough ttk.

He didn’t take it long, he has been in business since the 1980s. But I think he was very interested in technology. we often talked about them. I think he liked it very much, that after those previous years he got a lot of blue technology again. This was probably the reason for him, I think he had a lot of fun at Avast. He was through me a much ble product, which is one and zero.

Lidovky.cz:K pedlo of the highest company in the pedal two years ago, when he fell into retirement after ten years. How did Avast develop after his departure?
The last big thing Vince did was brew Avast on the stock exchange. About a year before we left, we listed our events on the London floor. Since then, the company has changed its regime a bit. Provide information to investors according to a precise schedule and its status can be detected differently on a daily basis.

But at the same time it can be limited inwards. Because we became a publicly traded company, we had to confirm a number of internal processes. And drastically restrict access to information. At the same time, one of the principles applied in Avast has always been that the company is very transparent, ie that everyone has daily access to information and other information. You just can’t do it. Because at the moment when the people knew each other, they become insidei and as such they can’t give anything. There are laws for it that pay in most countries.

Otherwise, I have to keep the company in good condition and continue at the current pace of development. At the same time, we have a slightly modified strategy on how to move ours a bit longer through new investments.

Lidovky.cz: What is now the main concern of the helmsman of Avast?
Just like you for every covid editor. What did he say to the company. It was the case with us that we all sent the house last year. Adote, we have our offices genuinely closed, two thousand people are also working and they have some exceptions from home. And it is so that at the end of the arrest, the execution of all forces led to more productivity, not when people went to the office.

Last year it worked like this under the influence of a bit of a euphoric slogan together. But in lt it started to weaken a bit. And this year the dog thinks winter like that. I don’t have reliable data on how to have productivity. I see that we have new products and we have them for you. S tm problem no. But overall, the energy in companies or the ability to innovate and be creative, I think it suffers.

And so it turns out that the covid will end and we will dive not into the original regime, but into some hybrid one, where people will be able to meet again. And the problems are more operative, because everything is fulfilled through zooms, webexes and the like from my point of view is not optimal.

Lidovky.cz: And how will you do it?
We gave people to vbr. About 40 percent of them have chosen to stay at home, the others want to go back to the office. But those who stay at home have a good stop in that office. Meet your darkness there and they will discuss the necessary things there. For this reason, let’s rebuild the office space a little so that the meeting place there is everything.

But this will not work for a long time to make the most of it, not settle, it will take some time. With such a small paranoia, due to the fact that April, the new innovations this year will not be as it would have been if we had the opportunity to meet in person.

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