Built in the Digital Republic 🇪🇪

It started with a catalytic converter alarm. Then Catrak's customers began asking something new: where are our vehicles, and what are our drivers doing?

That question eventually led to Drivestream, a platform that helps businesses manage their fleets and field operations.

Our guest is Jim Noble, COO of Catrak Technologies, who talks about the US–Estonian collaboration behind that evolution. How did a California company find the engineering expertise it needed in Tallinn? And what happens when product people in the US and developers in Europe start building together?

Join host Alex Antonuk for the full story.

In the 90s, Scandinavian businesses started opening offices in Tallinn and outsourcing finance to people they had never met. But back then, no one called it nearshoring.

Our guest – Stig Terje Henriksen of Autobahn Technologies – arrived in Estonia from Denmark in 1996 and stayed for three decades. He watched the country transform from a low-cost experiment into a trusted partner for Nordic companies.

So, how did a country of 1.3 million people win contracts from Norwegian Air, Nordic banks, and global BPO firms like WebHelp? And how did that same foundation lead to Estonian SaaS selling to Peugeot, Opel, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo?

Trace Estonia's 30-year rise from manual bookkeeping to automotive software with Terje and host Alex Antonuk.

Delegates used to ask Estonia how to make things faster. Now they ask: what happens when someone attacks the digital infrastructure? Who do you trust when you cannot see the servers? Can AI run a country without breaking it?

In this episode of Built in the Digital Republic, we look at what foreign governments actually take home after walking the streets of Tallinn.

Our guest, Petra Holm – Digital Transformation Adviser at the e-Estonia Briefing Centre – advises ministers, tax officials, and curious skeptics. She shares what German delegates fear, what the French obsess over, and why no one asks about technology anymore. 

Host: Alex Antonuk

Is Estonia a true hub for foreign startups, or just a story with good PR? 
In this episode of Built in the Digital Republic, Alex Antonuk hosts Hendrik Hindov, Partner and Senior Advisor at AnsonBaer, a firm that guides tech companies into the Estonian market.
Together, they dissect Estonia’s appeal as a jurisdiction and compare it with other global hubs. The conversation covers operational details, like practical entry strategies for founders. Alex and Hendrik evaluate the real-world use of e-government tools before addressing the challenges of banking and hiring. Finally, the conversation builds toward a factual checklist for the critical first three months.
This episode offers a balanced view for any founder weighing Estonia as a potential home for their tech initiative.

Why do familiar scaling strategies abroad fail – or unexpectedly succeed?

In this episode of Built in the Digital Republic, Alex Antonuk talks with Estonian export veteran Sven Aulik, Member of the Management Board at the Estonian Association of IT and Telecommunications, and Director of International Partnerships at FleetGuru.

With 30 years of experience, Sven shares insights on choosing first markets, avoiding cultural pitfalls, and building trust in unfamiliar environments – all of which help companies create a lasting presence beyond one-off deals.

What makes Estonian engineering culture stand out, and why are UK startups increasingly choosing teams from this Baltic country?

In the pilot episode of Built in the Digital Republic, we speak with Jack Mangnall, co-founder of UK-based fintech company Shape Technologies.

He shares first-hand insights on working with Estonian developers, the pros and cons of such partnerships, and what questions founders should ask before hiring remote tech teams abroad.

Hosted by Alex Antonuk.