Paul Kukitz, Chief Technical Officer of Likepost, shares how he went from a small town in Kazakhstan to leading the development team of one of Europe’s most exciting new social media startups. Based in the heart of Zagreb, he works closely with a team of over twenty developers to create Likepost. This app rescues everything you save online and helps you finally make use of it.
If you’ve ever lost track of screenshots, links, or saved posts, Likepost might be the tool you didn’t know you needed. It turns your forgotten digital saves —restaurants you wanted to try, movies you meant to watch, and products you planned to buy — into organized, timely suggestions that appear exactly when you need them.
Born in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, and now working across several continents, Paul has built an impressive career in technology and startups. With Likepost, he’s helping develop a platform that brings order and purpose back to our digital lives.
From early fascination to global leadership
Paul’s fascination with technology began at an early age. He started programming as a teenager and took his first developer job during university. After graduation, he moved into product management at a startup. He later founded his own digital agency, delivering projects for global brands such as Unilever, Shell, and PepsiCo.
He spent a decade moving through roles in product and business management before stepping into technology leadership. He quickly realized he was drawn not only to code, but to how teams and systems work together.
Paul often credits his sense of responsibility and persistence to his upbringing.
“My parents were entrepreneurs, and in our family, business conversations often happened at the dinner table. They showed me that leadership means taking accountability and having a clear vision. And that there are no days off when you truly care about what you do.”
That early exposure to teamwork and decision-making shaped his management style, one grounded in trust, transparency, and mutual respect.
“My career developed naturally, not too fast, and not too slow. It took me about ten years to grow from developer to CTO. I think that’s the average time it takes to reach this role from the beginning.”
Over the years, Paul has worked on digital platforms across multiple industries, from automating everyday business operations to creating mobile apps and marketplaces that cater to consumer and hospitality needs.
“I usually join projects when they’re still just an idea,” he recalls. “That’s the part I love — seeing a concept become reality. Likepost solves a problem every one of us has: we save tons of things… and then completely forget about them.”
He believes that true innovation happens when everyone involved, from engineers to investors, fully understands the mission before the first line of code is written.
“A project’s success doesn’t depend 99% on the niche. It depends on the team behind it. The best projects I’ve worked on weren’t about choosing the perfect market. They succeeded because of their strong, collaborative teams ready to work transparently with investors and the board of directors.”
Building Likepost — a platform that organizes your digital life
Likepost was born out of a simple frustration: we save everything online, but rarely return to it. Likepost team set out to change that by building an app that transforms the way people organize and rediscover the things they love.
Users can add content directly from Instagram, TikTok, Google Maps, or even screenshots from their phone gallery. The app automatically organizes everything by city, category, and occasion, eliminating the need for manual sorting.
When it’s time to make plans, Likepost brings back the saves that matter most from restaurants near you to movies you’ve been meaning to watch.
“The magic happens when people start using and sharing with others what they once only saved,” Paul says.
The platform combines AI with classical recommendation algorithms to predict when and what to show each user.
“We use a hybrid approach,” he explains. “OpenAI works together with traditional models to understand user interests, predict engagement, and resurface relevant content at just the right moment.”
The result is a product that feels personal, intuitive, and fast, thanks to a robust backend built on microservices, a GraphQL API, and a full CI/CD pipeline that reduced deployment time from hours to minutes.
“The development process could move faster,” Paul admits, “but never at the cost of quality.”
A global team in the heart of Zagreb
Paul leads a distributed team of developers, backend engineers, mobile specialists, and QA experts, all working together in Zagreb, where Likepost’s engineering hub is based. His team closely collaborates with the product and marketing departments in New York, while part of the data and infrastructure team operates from Kazakhstan.
“Every morning, we have a short check-in to align, but after that, the team works independently. In a startup, you don’t want people waiting for orders. I’m building a team whose members truly own their ideas.”
When hiring, Paul values communication and integrity as much as technical expertise:
“If a person is professional, open-minded, and ready to act in the project’s best interest — that’s all I need.”
He emphasizes that in Croatia, engineers appreciate structure in their workflow and operations — something that can be challenging for a young company, but complements the dynamic rhythm of startup culture.
The rise of Croatia’s digital scene
Paul believes Croatia has the potential to become a leading digital hub in the region.
“The potential is there. Croatia has a growing community of aspiring developers and entrepreneurs. They just need the right opportunities to build, learn, and grow.”
He sees the new generation of startups emerging across Croatia and the Balkans as a driving force for regional transformation, creating high-value tech jobs, fostering innovative cultures, and connecting local expertise with global markets.
“The next generation of engineers here won’t need to leave for big corporations if they can build their own.”
One piece of advice Paul shared with young developers in Croatia: join startups at the idea stage, learn management early if you’re interested in it, and build teams. Ten years to CTO is precisely how long it should take to gain industry insight and experience, and every year is worth it.
Looking ahead
Likepost continues to evolve, preparing for a full-scale launch in the United States, with Zagreb remaining its main engineering center. The platform has already completed its beta phase with positive feedback from early users and influencers.
In a world full of digital noise, Paul Kukitz and the team are building a product and a culture that helps people reclaim attention, order, and joy, and share their interests with others. He’s part of a new generation of professionals shaping Croatia’s modern economy, one smart idea and one inspired team at a time.
