We had nothing. Just excessive ambition and a lot of naivety, says the founder of the technology company DIVELIT.
DIVELIT system is a czech technology company specializing in the development of custom electronics and software, particularly in the field of industrial embedded systems. The company was founded by Matěj Očenášek, a graduate of the Department of Microelectronics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication, Brno University of Technology. He describes his company as something like a product-based firm providing “turnkey” development.
Although the company consists of a team of professional developers – of which there are many on the market – DIVELIT holds a significant advantage over other firms. “Some people would describe our company as a design house. Our added value lies in the fact that we provide complete product development. This means that we handle the entire electronics development process for our clients – from prototyping, certifications, and technical documentation to software development and production launch. We don’t hand over semi-finished projects; we deliver products that customers can take directly to market,” explains the company’s CEO, Matěj Očenášek.
In addition to development, the company can manage the entire project plan, budget, and risk analysis. It also owns its own laboratory, so the services include actual production, including sample preparation. “For pre-certification tests, we cooperate with partners who can perform such testing in their laboratories – among them are BUT and the Technical University of Liberec,” says the Brno graduate, adding that the comprehensive nature of the service is what customers value most.
The technologies the company works with primarily include semiconductor chips – specifically microcontrollers and microprocessors with ARM cores. They most often use M-core and A-core architectures. The first type serves for real-time operations because it can respond immediately and consumes little power, while the second is intended for more powerful applications with full-fledged operating systems.
Besides custom-made products, the company also has several of its own devices in the fields of automotive, energy, and access systems. One of them is M-KIT, an all-in-one debugger that allows electronics developers to easily connect, debug, and test development boards, microcontrollers, and sensors. They also obtained an international patent for keyless car access technology, enhancing automotive security.
Among the clients that have worked with DIVELIT are major companies such as Rieter and Linet, for whom they developed solutions for hospital bed servicing, accessories, and a collision sensor for hospital beds.
The idea was born while waiting for a bus
Matěj Očenášek was inspired to start his own company by his grandfather. “I had a huge desire to prove something more, and my grandpa worked on many complex projects all over the world. I thought maybe I had that in my genes,” he recalls with a smile. While thinking about what he wanted to do, he came up with the idea of better connecting car security with mobile phones. And that’s how DIVELIT was born – in his third year of high school, at a bus stop on the way home from training. “We had nothing. Just too much ambition and a lot of naivety,” he laughs.
The company started with two people. “I was the less technical one, and my colleague was the more technical one. But we realized we needed someone who understood the business side, so we brought in another friend and his brother,” explains Očenášek. They began working on their first electronic devices until they decided to pitch one of their ideas to ŠKODA Auto. “We basically went there with a sheet of paper, an idea, and a small piece of electronics. At that time, we knew very little about cars and thought it would be enough. We quickly realized how complex the automotive industry really is,” he recalls.
Although the project with the car manufacturer didn’t succeed, it attracted attention and opened the door for the company to develop other technologies. DIVELIT was officially founded in 2017, and instead of trying to reach carmakers directly, the founders shifted their focus to supplier companies that needed electronics development for various industrial applications. “Our first major customer was Jablotron. That was a real game changer for us, even though the collaboration wasn’t entirely successful,” says Očenášek. Today, DIVELIT has 25 employees and two offices – in Brno and Olomouc.
The biggest challenge is people management
Although Matěj Očenášek founded the company while still in high school, it had to evolve into the form it has today. “When we started, we basically knew nothing. We didn’t understand project management or business. We learned everything on the go,” he describes, adding that they later realized the importance of starting from real client needs. Today, when creating a new service or product, they begin by talking to potential customers and partners to uncover what companies truly need. This makes it much easier to bring innovations to market.
Even though the company’s primary focus is market orientation, it also pays close attention to innovation and new technologies. It was the first Czech company to join the FiRa Consortium, which focuses on UWB technology. “We keep experimenting with this technology because we believe that one day it could compete with Bluetooth or Wi-Fi,” Očenášek declares.
The company also actively collaborates with BUT, where the founders studied. They participate in lectures, offer internships to students, and support the idea that the university should be an incubator for innovation. “Studying at BUT gave me key knowledge that you simply can’t find on the internet. But it also gave me valuable contacts – I met the key people from DIVELIT during my studies,” he explains, admitting that balancing university and running a company was challenging. “The year I did my final exams was probably the hardest of my life.”
According to Očenášek, the biggest challenge the founders have faced over the years is not business or technology – but people and motivation. “The hardest thing is to discover why people do their work. We don’t want them to see it just as a job; we want them to feel good and be deeply engaged. External motivation only works up to a certain point, so we constantly try to find the internal motivation of our employees,” he explains.
A company with added value
What are DIVELIT’s future goals? To become a company successful on the global market. “If I had to quantify it, it would be a billion crowns, which is, of course, a long journey – and we’re really just at the beginning. But it’s a metric we can aim for and work toward. The goal is to find a global product or solution that will get us there,” says Očenášek.
“We’re currently very interested in the field of smart agriculture and are gradually identifying the problems that need to be solved in the agricultural industry. We’re thinking about what ‘the’ product should be,” he notes, adding that supporting Czech-based development and manufacturing is important to him. At the same time, the company already has its first foreign clients, so he doesn’t rule out opening another DIVELIT office abroad. “But it would rather be a business office than development or production labs. We want our devices to be made in the Czech Republic,” Očenášek explains.
Although the company continues to grow and expand, its goal is not to grow endlessly. According to the CEO, the company’s size must always reflect the real added value it brings to the market.
Zdroj: zvut.cz/en
| Responsible person | Ing. et Ing. arch. Jana Němcová |
|---|---|
| Date of publication |