How did you reach this point? What path led you to the idea you realized?

András entered the workforce nearly 20 years ago as a software developer, a role that has followed him throughout his life. His career began at Laptopszalon in Pécs, where he was the second person to join the company, helping grow it to a 3-billion-forint revenue business while maintaining his position as the second-in-command. During this time, he encountered every aspect and pain of growth. Although the concept of growth hacking was unknown then, they knew they had to implement their ideas with limited funds, employing various tools, experiments, and marketing solutions to achieve growth.

“Reaching three billion from scratch is a tough nut to crack. Teams migrate, divisions form, structures transform, development needs arise, and the organization leaps to a level no one has seen before.”

Following this, András moved to Budapest, where he had to build a Hungarian development team owned by Americans from scratch in six months. He successfully established a 20-member international development team when the idea of starting his own business emerged.

In San Francisco, he met Sean Ellis, the founder of the term Growth Hacking, from whom he learned all the tricks. His knowledge and mindset inspired András to establish growthhackers.hu in Hungary, representing a special branch of growth strategies based on empirical data, hypothesis testing, and experimentation. Today, every marketing agency uses the methodology of experimentation, but very few knew it back then. The magazine also emerged from one such experiment.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, they began experimenting themselves and saw successful growth.

“We hypothesized that 25-30% of magazine readers would also be interested in listening to the content. It turned out to be much less than 25-30%, but there was some conversion rate, making QR code-based listens measurable. We proved this by finding a magazine in which we wanted to place a QR code. This would have been the simplest experiment, but the cost was around 300,000 forints, enough to create our own magazine. That’s how Growth Magazine was born.”

The first issue still exists, with only two copies. It contained no full articles, just QR codes and brief introductions. Demand for further development emerged, so András and his co-founder, Beatrix Gosztola, began recording video podcasts of all the content, which then became written material.

 

Did you establish the magazine editorial team at this point?

They did not want a large editorial team and currently work with a team of five. The magazine is published quarterly, now with a circulation of 2,000 copies.

“This is a passion project for us. We don’t just say someone received a hundred-million investment; we show the journey, the sacrifices, the daily life, and how it feels as a founder to build a startup that serves a part of the world. Whether you innovate or shape society, or elevate it to a new level, it’s a human challenge and involves the human side, not just the technology. I think that’s what’s exciting, and we seek this in every story, the person behind the innovation, and try to convey this so that you get to know the startup world through the founders’ eyes.”

 

What structural change is currently happening at the magazine that we have read about?

They want to expand their business model internationally, requiring structured operations in other countries. This can be achieved if András is not actively involved in production planning.

He handed over the extremely rewarding and responsible role of editing the magazine to his co-founder, Beatrix Gosztola. He fully trusts her work, as her sociological knowledge, marketing, and other professional experience make her clearly suitable for the task. The last issue, almost entirely her work, was one of their best yet.

 

If the magazine levels up, what’s next?

András will remain the company’s CEO. In the magazine industry, it’s common for sales to function as a separate division to avoid interfering with content creation and supervision, ensuring no pressure on content quality. Thus, he continues with their other services like consulting, implementation, and content production.

He also revealed a secret, resource-intensive plan for this year: he wants to produce a documentary about the secret life of the startup world. He aims to create a Netflix-level documentary with some entertaining elements.

 

Could you talk a bit about your comprehensive services and portfolio as an agency?

They built a Podcast studio, investing millions to acquire high-quality cameras, lights, and equipment.

They not only produce content for themselves but also create content for others, which they can even distribute, providing extra traffic through the magazine’s online channels. They are happy to assist with everything from website creation to any other needs, as long as they see synergy.

“We don’t want to go in the direction of a typical agency producing content in bulk. We want to connect with the startup world in some way. This is a bit of an investment for us. If we do good for the ecosystem by enhancing a partner’s presence and visibility, we believe in that and are happy to invest energy in it. As long as there is some connection to the ecosystem.”