I hope all of our U.S. readers had an enjoyable Memorial Day holiday weekend. The three-day break is viewed by many as the unofficial start of summer, but it is always summer here in Florida so we don't notice the change of seasons a lot! :-)  I spent all of this first day back at work completing our latest Cover Story that was just published a few minutes ago.  

It is a profile of Elephant Orchestra Co-Founder Jan Barta, a wildly successful young entrepreneur with a remarkable family history. Could you imagine losing everything you own? Not just you, but every member of your family losing everything they own as well? Barta, one of the brightest young stars in the domain industry (as well as in the Czech Republic's mainstream business world), can imagine it because his family lived it.

The 26-year-old Barta has become well-known in the domain industry after co-founding his  Prague-based domain investment, monetization and lead generation company in 2007. Barta has since diversified into other businesses including feature film production, auto insurance, mobile marketing and many more that are giving him an ever growing financial footprint in Eastern Europe and beyond. 

Things could have turned out much differently 

Jan Barta  

for the young entrepreneur but he seems to have inherited a success gene from his forefathers - a trait that a Communist takeover in his homeland and confiscation of the family's property could not eliminate. 

(Posted May 31, 2011)