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Matija Goljar wanted to be an astronaut when he was a child, but things turned out a little differently. His first job was a ski instructor and he seriously considered becoming a hippie ski bum, but then an opportunity appeared to start a tech company when he was a freshman and he did that. He dropped out of college in any case - a decision his parents did not like much.

After a reasonably successful exit, he was invited to lead an entrepreneurship club at his former high school which expanded into Ustvarjalnik, one of the largest entrepreneurship education programs in Eastern Europe. More than 10.000 students in 6 countries took part and the teaching methodologies he created have become the gold standard of business education, receiving worldwide acclaim and multiple awards.

He is perhaps most known in his native Slovenia for a reality TV show he created and hosted that followed young founders starting companies and selling their products in the largest supermarket chain in the country. Start it up Slovenia showed how new products come to be and has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to try launching new products themselves.

Matija is a sought-after consultant, mentor and speaker that works for a local venture capital fund (Silicon Gardens), is a visiting professor at a number of universities and business incubators, and recently he made his parents proud by getting a degree at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, where he was awarded the title of Master of Arts in Applied Imagination.

One proud geeky moment for Matija was winning the national championship in general knowledge when he was 12 years old. He is seriously considering joining a university in the UK just to take part in University Challenge.

His time is split between consulting work and lecturing at universities and business incubators in Europe and traveling around the world in a tiny camper van.