On Thursday, February 5, 2026, at BUG Future Show 2026 in Zagreb’s Mozaik Event Center, in front of a packed Müller Hall, Katarina Zubatović and Nikola Mujdžić Reščić delivered a talk that made the audience laugh - then hit them straight with the reality of entrepreneurship:

“A Human, Not a Bot: Why Hiring a Virtual Assistant Is the Smartest Investment in 2026.”

BUG Future Show once again drew a huge crowd this year, with programming across three stages and topics ranging from sustainability and robotics to coding and artificial intelligence. In a room full of tech hype and fast promises, Katarina and Nikola did something refreshingly grounded: they talked about what can’t be fully automated—context, people, accountability, and the operational chaos that quietly eats your focus every single day.

“I’m Katarina. This is Nikola… and the man who nearly had a nervous breakdown in 2023.”

They opened with a simple, relatable story. Katarina introduced herself and immediately set the tone:

“Good morning everyone! I’m Katarina, this is Nikola—my partner… and the man who nearly had a nervous breakdown in 2023 over one ‘small’ project.”

Nikola jumped in with a joke—“Just one?”—and Katarina, completely deadpan, admitted it was actually three projects at the same time. It was the perfect lead-in to their core point: a virtual assistant isn’t a trend—it’s a solution to a very real problem in modern business.

At the time, Katarina had just pitched Toni Milun with the idea for a virtual assistant course, because she could see where the market was heading—and how much Croatia was missing a truly solid program. Meanwhile Nikola was carrying Toni’s conferences, running social media for Burger Festival, coordinating a Chinese delegation filming at protected locations—and on top of that, they still had to shoot and edit the course.

And then came the sentence entrepreneurs say more often than they like to admit:

“I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off.”

Katarina paused and turned to the audience:

“Who can relate?”

Hands went up. Laughter followed—because everyone did.

Hvar in 60 minutes: the story that explains the difference between “AI will do everything” and “someone actually has to solve it”

Katarina decided to take over the “Chinese project.” In practice, it wasn’t one Excel sheet—it was around 70 official requests to different institutions, because every location required a permit, sometimes multiple. The twist? The delegation didn’t even know all the places they wanted to film at the start.

Ten days later, the permits were sorted. Then the curveball: the delegation is on a boat heading to one island and, mid-ride, changes their mind: “We’re going to Hvar instead.”

Nikola summed it up: they had just over an hour to get permission for a location that wasn’t even on the list. Katarina called the responsible office. The response:

“Ma’am, that’s impossible. Normally it takes 8 to 14 days. And today at 12 the President is arriving—we have to welcome him.”

The room laughed because the bureaucracy was painfully familiar. Katarina continued: persuasion, explaining, “this matters for tourism,” “it’s a popular Chinese TV show”… and eventually they got it—an oral approval.

Then came the punchline that stuck:

“If the police stop you, call me directly.” Because Hvar was full of police due to the President’s visit—and Katarina literally had the number of the person who could resolve the issue on the spot.

That was the moment everyone understood: this wasn’t a ‘task.’ This was real life.

“Kira, can you get an oral permit for Hvar in 60 minutes?”

Nikola then added the tech contrast perfectly—mentioning Lenovo and the idea of an AI assistant that “listens to what you’re doing, sees what you see, and executes tasks.”

Then he asked the question the audience was ready for:

“Kira, can you get an oral permit for Hvar within 60 minutes, while the delegation is literally sailing and the President arrives at 12?”

Katarina’s conclusion landed hard:

“I think Kira would factory reset.”

A virtual assistant isn’t a chatbot—it’s a person who turns chaos into a system

This is where they drew the clearest line:

• A chatbot is great for FAQs, drafts, and simple automations.
• A virtual assistant wins when you need judgment and context, human communication, and—most importantly—ownership.

Nikola said it simply, but brutally truthfully:

“AI can speed things up. But it can’t take ownership.”

A VA can—and also knows how to recognize when AI starts hallucinating.

Katarina added a quick “proof from real life”: she asked Canva AI to simply resize a photo of their virtual assistant… and Canva turned her into a cat. Nikola followed with:

“If AI ever tells you ‘I’m sure’—don’t trust it blindly.”

And that’s exactly why their message for 2026 is crystal clear: VAs are becoming even more valuable, because someone has to know which AI tools make sense for your business, how to set them up, test them, and where not to use them at all.

The myth: “If I can’t see them, they’re not working”—and how they solved it without micromanagement

They also addressed the most common objection: “If I can’t see them, they’re not working.”

Katarina dismantled it easily: you don’t stare at an employee’s screen eight hours a day in an office either.

Their solution was systemic: time tracking, task lists, and radical transparency. The client sees what was done, how long it took, and what the output is. That gives most entrepreneurs what they actually want: control without micromanagement—and peace of mind.

Nikola added the pragmatic angle: a full-time employee means taxes, equipment, sick leave, and risk. A VA means flexibility—and paying only for completed work.

The room saw it: “VA” isn’t a buzzword—it’s real people

They wrapped with clear takeaways and a strong CTA: demo, real examples, and how they match entrepreneurs with a vetted assistant. And in the audience were also virtual assistants from the GoThrive platform. When Katarina invited them to stand, the room saw it with their own eyes:

“VA” isn’t a buzzword. It’s real people.