Dalibor Cicman

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Dalibor Cicman

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CEO&Founder at GymBeam | From 0 to 300M€/Y in 12Y, crazy right? Building EU largest fitness e-com. Sharing the playbook. 🚀

05/10/2026

Are robots stealing jobs at GymBeam? 😱🤖
Actually, they’re just doing the exhausting parts. By automating our inbound logistics, we create healthier, better-paid roles for our team. 💼🚀

See our robotic arms in action in my latest vlog. Link in BIO. 🔗

Do you think automation is the future of e-commerce? 👇

05/10/2026

Scaling an e-commerce brand to 9 figures is about completely rethinking how you operate. 🚀🧠

In our new Milan warehouse, we’ve implemented the highest level of automation in Europe. 🏭 The result? We process 500k+ orders a month with a team of just 15 full-time employees. This level of automation gives us a massive economy of scale. As our volume grows, the Autostore robotic grid actually becomes faster and more efficient at optimizing routes. ⚡ It allows us to handle massive peak seasons like Black Friday without breaking a sweat and without overwhelming our staff.

Here are the 4 core facts and strategies behind our new mega-warehouse:

1. €32 Million Deployed in Robotics 🦾💰
We built our own software solution for a robotic picking arm that uses machine learning to figure out the best way to grasp products. It works continuously and one robotic arm replaces about seven manual picking jobs, allowing our human employees to shift into better-paid, quality-control roles.

2. 24/7 AutoStore System 🤖🕒
Instead of employees walking miles every day through aisles, our AutoStore grid brings the inventory directly to them. We now utilize 340 robots across our warehouses that work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, vastly improving our economy of scale as order volumes grow.

3. Cross-Border Delivery Efficiency 🚚🌍
Automation is only half the battle; logistics is the rest. Every day, we dispatch between 80 to 350 trucks directly to 31 different logistics depots across Europe. This bypasses traditional delays and allows for incredibly fast shipping, such as next-day delivery to Vienna for orders placed before 10 PM.

4. Custom Smart Packaging 📦♻️
Our automated packaging machines dynamically cut cardboard boxes to the exact size of the products inside. This eliminates about 30% of empty space (shipping "air"), which drastically reduces our transportation costs and environmental footprint.

Watch the full behind-the-scenes vlog on YouTube to see exactly how we operate: 🎥 https://youtu.be/a2DVYIDOZOs

In what year do you think YOUR job will be replaced by AI or robots? 🤔⏳

05/10/2026

10 talks in one day. 700+ paying attendees. My last public appearance in Slovakia. 🎤

A few months ago, I decided to stop giving public talks in Slovakia. It's part of my long-term strategy to move all of my communication to English. Then Forbes Slovensko approached me with an offer for a full-day event - Forbes x Cicman. I took it as my farewell to the Slovak stage and, at the same time, an extreme challenge: 10 talks in a single day, several opening addresses, interviews and hundreds of photos with people. 😅

A few days before the event, I seriously underestimated how visible I had become and, through my own mistake, caused a PR controversy that could have put the whole event at risk. The public criticism was intense for about two days and then calmer for another two. Thank you, Forbes, all 30+ speakers and 10+ partners, not a single one of you changed your position, and you all stood behind our projects. 🙏

The most expensive VIP tickets sold out early, and every single ticket was gone two days before the event. We expanded capacity to 700+ paying attendees, and it sold out again, and I was still getting messages asking for tickets.
Operationally, everything ran flawlessly, and I'm genuinely thrilled with the feedback. Several people told me it was one of the best events of its kind they've ever attended. The lineup was packed from morning to evening, and from my perspective, there wasn't a single weak minute on the main stage all day. Honestly, I'm a bit sad it was a one-off that will never happen again.
And one more thing… The cherry on top: at the end of the event, we donated €100,000 to Skyro AI High School. 🎓

People often ask me why I invest so much time in conferences, interviews, YouTube and LinkedIn while running a fast-growing company. It also comes with real risk, I learned that the hard way this month. 💡

🧲 Talent - the best candidates often come because they've seen how we think and work
🎓 Giving back - sharing what worked and what didn't helps others avoid our mistakes
🤝 Partners and investors - trust is built long before the first meeting
📣 Company brand - every talk is also a story about GymBeam
🧠 Clarity - preparing a talk forces me to rethink my own decisions

It's not about being famous. It's about being useful and visible to the people who matter for the company. 🚀

Should founders build a personal brand, or let the company speak for itself? 👇

02/10/2026

What Q3 looked like at GymBeam 📈

Once a quarter, the whole GymBeam team stops for a moment at our All Hands meeting to look back at what we delivered and to align on what comes next. Today was that day.

What Q3 brought 👇
📈 €77M in GMV and +30% YoY,
🧠 our own AI local models, working directly with company data,
☁️ we finished migration of our e-shop on Google Cloud,
🧬 the GymBeam DNA Test is available in every language we sell in,
⭐ customers rate us 4.7 on Trustpilot, up from 4.6 - the best in our category,
🎨 the rebranding is done and the entire portfolio now speaks with one visual identity,
🏭 production got stronger with a new doypack filling line, capsule filling machine and capsule packaging line,
🤝 B2B grew from a team of 5 in 2024 to 40 people today, with local teams in 11+ markets and 2 autonomous AI agents.

GLP-1 is the new normal. And it's showing up in our P&L 📊
Not everything went smoothly this year. Despite strong revenue growth and a major shift of production in-house, our average gross margin declined.

The main reason: whey, our single most important raw material. Its price has surged, and the driver behind it is GLP-1.
- in the US, roughly 1 in 8 adults (~30 million people) now take GLP-1 drugs. Europe is catching up fast.
- for many, it's not a short course but long-term therapy that continues after the weight comes off.
- doctors recommend protein supplementation during treatment to protect muscle mass. The result is structurally higher demand for whey, and the price followed.

My view: whey prices peaked about one month ago and are now gradually easing. But the speed of the increase over the past year hit our unit economics hard. For anyone in nutrition: GLP-1 isn't a trend. It's a new demand baseline, and supply chains haven't caught up yet.

In the short term it puts pressure on margins, in the long term it confirms that our market keeps growing structurally. 💪

Thank you, team, for a quarter we can be proud of. 🧡

What's the one thing you would never skip in your company all hands meeting?

02/10/2026

€100,000 for AI education in Eastern Slovakia 🎓🤖

At the end of the Forbes x Cicman conference, the Dalibor Cicman Foundation officially handed over €100,000 to Skyro, the first high school focused on AI in the EU. 🙏

Where the donation goes 👇
📢 reaching more high school students in Eastern Slovakia,
💻 expanding the online platform for external study,
🤖 new AI tutors for specialised subjects,
🧩 AI-adapted materials for students with special educational needs,
🏆 gamification for long-term retention,
📚 content for higher grades, so students can transfer in,
🎓 scholarships for talented students for whom tuition would be a barrier.

I built GymBeam in Košice and I know how much talent is here. If we want young people to build tech careers in their region, they need world-class education right where they live, not only abroad. 📍

I founded the Dalibor Cicman Foundation to make my philanthropy more focused and systematic. One-off donations help, but long-term support with a clear goal changes much more. The vision is simple: support young people in learning to use modern technologies for positive change in society. 🚀

I believe that knowing how to work with AI will soon be as basic as knowing how to read and write. The sooner young people get access to it, the better for all of us. 💡

Where should business leaders invest to have the biggest long-term impact on society?

25/09/2026

Forbes a Cicman: Moje posledné verejné vystúpenie po slovensky 🎤

Vyskladali sme celodenný program s 30+ podnikateľmi 🤝 so zameraním na to, ako prakticky vybudovať vašu firmu z nuly až do medzinárodnej ligy 🌍📈

🗓️ 1. 10.
📍 Stará tržnica, Bratislava

Forbes Slovensko

21/09/2026

Chcem sa krátko vyjadriť k včerajšej IG story z indického slumu.

Mrzí ma, ako príspevok vyznel pre ľudí, ktorí si nevšimli, že nejde o moju ruku a hodinky. Teraz chápem, že to mohlo pôsobiť nevhodne či povýšenecky.

V Indii točím vlog o miestnom podnikaní. K ľuďom tu mám veľký rešpekt, sú mimoriadne pracovití, priateľskí a dokážu z minima vytvoriť hodnotné produkty, v čom sú pre nás veľkou inšpiráciou.

Zaujalo ma, že miestny človek v slume mal fake hodinky, ich originál stojí veľa peňazí a preto som to dal na svoju story. Vôbec by mi nenapadlo, že si to ľudia vysvetlia tak, že tie drahé fake hodinky sú moje, moja ruka a chcem sa nejako povyšovať nad miestnych ľudí. Bola tam aj moja ruka s neznámymi hodinkami.

Ospravedlňujem sa za toto nedorozumenie všetkým, ktorých sa to dotklo.

18/09/2026

Súťaž o lístky na Forbes & Cicman 🚀

Hráme o 10 vstupeniek (5 výhercov získa po 2 lístky) na biznis event, kde 30+ úspešných podnikateľov predstaví reálne návody na škálovanie firiem.

Napíšte do komentára najlepší podnikateľský nápad pre rok 2026. 👇

18/09/2026

I received the Voice of the E-commerce Community award 🏆

Tonight at Upterdam I received an award that is not decided by a jury, but by a vote of the community itself.

I believe a big part of it comes down to the fact that I build my personal brand deliberately. A lot of people still read this topic as nothing more than a big ego. I see it as one of the best returning channels we have. People who come to us for an interview usually know how we think before the first call. The same goes for partners, suppliers and acquisitions. It cuts months off everything. 💪

That is why I communicate publicly in a very open way and why I keep showing up at events, where I try to share my know how transparently. I publish numbers most companies keep internal: what the warehouse automation cost us, what the team building cost and why it paid off.

On the other hand, personal branding does not work without company results behind it. It is a multiplier, not a substitute. If there is no work done behind you, reach will not produce it for you.

So I take an award from the community as confirmation that what I put out there, and the way I try to contribute, is actually useful for someone. Thank you to everyone who voted. 🙏

What do you think, can transparent communication and publishing internal numbers ever backfire? 🤔

17/09/2026

Chrapko vs. Cicman 👉 veľmi otvorene a mimo záznam 🎙️🔥

Na podujatí Forbes x Cicman vás čaká zaujímavá panelová diskusia v rámci bloku o nastavovaní procesov vo firme s hyperrastom.

Budem sa v nej rozprávať s Jaroslav Chrapko a verte tomu, že pôjdeme úplne na dreň o tom, ako (ne)zvládnuť extrémny rast.

Jaro zažil v slovenskom e-commerce niečo bezprecedentné:
👉 V roku 2021 dosiahol tržby 91 miliónov € pri takmer 90 % YoY raste (hoci plán bol 150M €). Je to pravdepodobne najväčší extrém, aký náš trh zažil.

Školenie za 100 miliónov €, aby ste vy nemuseli 💡
Jaro si obrazne zaplatil extrémne drahé „školenie“ pri zníženej valuácii firmy. Ako sa hovorí: „Pokojné more nevychová skvelých námorníkov.“ Za to, ako toto obdobie ustál a čo sa z neho naučil, má u mňa obrovský obdiv. Presne v takýchto fázach človek získa tie najcennejšie skúsenosti.

Rovnako otvorene budem hovoriť aj ja o našom ťažkom období a problémoch s cashflow. 💸

Celá táto časť ide mimo záznam. Bez kamier a pripravených PR odpovedí. Jaro má odvahu hovoriť o veciach tak, ako naozaj sú, a táto otvorenosť je často vzácnejšia než samotné rastové čísla.

V Silicon Valley platí heslo „Fail hard, fail fast“ chyba sa považuje za najrýchlejšiu cestu k posunu. Na Slovensku však Jaro pri propagácii svojho mentoringu často čelí hate-u.

Ako to vnímate vy? Je náš biznisový trh pripravený na takúto otvorenosť, alebo u nás neúspech stále odpúšťame ťažšie než v zahraničí? 👇

Lístky si môžete kúpiť na tomto linku 🔗 https://www.forbes.sk/podujatia/forbes-x-cicman-beyond-growth/?cart

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