Karolis Simniškis is the owner of the “Express da Vinci group” and the creator of the first in the world mobile flights and digital traveling simulator “Express da Vinci,” the president of “Baltic Entertainment Association,” businessman, and designer.
Karolis Simniškis has 17 years of experience organizing, manufacturing, and operating attractions and country-level commercial events in his motherland, Lithuania’s best European country. Now he is accomplishing his life’s award-winning project.
Express da Vinci also has a social media presence on LinkedIn. Karolis Simniškis is a follower of Leonardo da Vinci and aims to bring innovative solutions to the tourism industry.
Learn more about Express da Vinci and Karolis Simniškis with our interview below.
Explain the background of you and the company in detail.
All my life, I have been different from others. I was very active and curious, always questioning and arguing, not following standardized norms. Already in school, it was clear that my future would be about creativity, leadership, and organization.
Even in my childhood, I collaborated with my grandfather in his business and worked together in an attractions park. Later, when I was 14 years old, I did business and worked with my father on electrical engineering and security systems.
When I was a teenager, I started to work more seriously in the entertainment business with gaming machines. After that, when I turned 19 years old, I was already the manager of the most popular attractions park in my motherland Lithuania. I have 17 years of practice working in the entertainment business.
I started the “Express da Vinci” product idea from the observation tower concept. People encouraged me to be more creative and innovative, so I started to think about improving the observation tower and changing it. This is how the Express da Vinci simulator idea was born.
There is more story behind the “Express da Vinci” name. The Renaissance person Leonardo da Vinci was the one who inspired this idea. As history tells, Leonardo da Vinci created the first flying machine concept. The Express da Vinci simulator is an improved version of da Vinci’s invention in the context of the fourth industrial revolution in the 21 century. The fact that I was born the same day as Leonardo da Vinci – the 15th of April, creates more value and history behind this product.
What are your goals?
For today my main business goal is to create the whole global network of Express da Vinci flights and digital traveling simulators to let people fly worldwide and educate themselves without even leaving their country. It’s a great opportunity for people who can’t travel over the globe and see all the nature and architecture and feel the world’s beauty.
I hope to continue my designer and creator path with new ideas and their implementation in the future. Also, I have in mind to publish a few books because I want to document my experience and create more value by sharing my knowledge with other people.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of yourself/company right now?
The biggest strength of the Express da Vinci group is the uniqueness of the product, which is never seen before and has important functions – it’s transportable, so it can be operated in any popular place. A full-motion system creates the feeling of the real flight, the exterior design looks like a spaceship, and the content function is to educate people. Express da Vinci simulator is a futuristic way to explore the most wonderful world’s areas.
What was the path you/your company took to get to where you are today?
It was a very long learning journey, and it’s still going. We needed to do market analyses, figure out consumers’ needs, and find a professional team for such a unique project to develop. It was a big challenge to prepare a technical project and took us about 3 years, and required many resources.
All the crisis scenarios we had in the past several years forced us to think even more
about how to adapt to all regulations and the uncomfortable environment. For example, a pandemic situation lets us assess the mobility of the machine properly. Especially when traveling was closed, and now tourism is reborn, this machine is the perfect instrument to attract more visitors.
Why did you start (or want to be the head of) this company?
I am an artist and designer, so I have been creating and expressing myself all my life. This product is new and has so much potential in the future. There must be a professional team and dedicated leaders for such hard projects. The fact that I have similarities to Leonardo da Vinci in the birth date, talents, and skills gives me more faith in myself and in the whole idea.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest challenge was collecting the professional company’s group team for such a difficult project. “Express da Vinci group” consists of 19 different European companies which are leaders in the technical field. It was a great challenge to find appropriate specialists who would dare to participate in this innovation development process.
These days it’s really hard to find hardworking, caring, and real professionals in their fields because nowadays, so many people want to be successful without much effort. In our case, the right people with skills are the key to reaching success.
Give us one word that describes you the best.
“Express” is the best suitable word to describe me. I am a passionate leader for my team, and I am giving 100% of myself in my job to reach our goals and inspire other members with my energy.
What makes you excited about Mondays?
The fact that I work a lot and it’s more hours than standard working hours. Also, during the weekends, before Monday, I prepare the plan for the upcoming week, and on Sunday, I put my mind in place to focus on Monday’s start.
It’s great when you can start the new week with a full package of energy and you are motivated to make further progress.
What do you value most about your culture and vision?
I grew up in the Palanga city next to the sea, and it’s one of the most popular tourist destinations in Lithuania. It means that in summer times there are many people and action, people know how to do business and are used to it.
My activities in the entertainment business started in my hometown Palanga, so I appreciate every chance there to improve my leadership, organizing, business making, and other skills.
Tell us about a project that forced you to be innovative and creative.
There are many different flying theaters globally, but they are not transportable ones. By analyzing the market, our Express da Vinci group saw that there is not such a unique product with a different design and functionality and has a story behind it.
What are the strategies of your company, and how do they stand unique from your competitors?
We are one in our specific mobile simulators market with edutainment functions.
One of the main criteria is the mobility of the Express da Vinci simulator. It can be operated anywhere in the world, in the most popular places and heritage areas, so it shows our flexibility.
Another unique aspect is the design of the machine, which looks like a real spaceship, and of course, the real flight experience with extreme effects like teleportations, breaks, and acceleration mixed with sound and video content that visitors can feel.
It’s more than a simple flying theater. With Express da Vinci we are simulating the biggest magnetic drone globally by making massive movements of the machine together with the platform full of people inside.
What are the key values that helped you overcome the roadblocks/challenges in your career?
I am grateful for my life for getting out of my comfort zone in my youth and starting to be active and pursue my goals.
My values are my curiosity, strong character, development, and hardworking. Since I was a child, I wasn’t afraid to argue and ask questions. All the experiences that I had helped me build my personality as I am now, to be a real leader and businessman who never stops learning.
I have always known my way and haven’t given in to the influence of others. Today I can thank people who have shown me what kind of life I don’t want for myself and my family.
Tell us something about your memorable incident in your leadership?
During my life and leadership, every little or bigger victory for me is very important, but one of the most remarkable moments was not from my business side. It was when I met my soulmate and life partner.
Now we have built a strong relationship and during all phases of business, having family support is very important. We have so much in common. For example, we are from the same city, and she also grew up in the attractions business. So it may sound naive or simple, but the acquaintance with my woman when we are the best team is one of the best incidents.
How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?
Our main aim is to create a 1000 units global network of Express da Vinci simulators. Then all people worldwide could travel virtually and have an amazing experience with their relatives and friends. When people see the simulator, they will feel all the massive power because of the size, movements, and unique design.
Also, these days, when the digital world is becoming more popular, we can see the growing potential of Express da Vinci entering the metaverse opportunities. Through our simulator, people could enter different metaverse worlds and explore extraordinary metaverse universes.
Where is your leadership going? What benefits do your clients get from your company in this competitive world?
Creating and keeping a network of loyal people around is priceless value, and we are keen to grow the business so, in the future, we can live more freely and collect the value from the hard work that we did.
Our visitors will have the unique chance to observe the most wonderful sites of the world, educate themselves on innovation and feel the evolution of the history when entering the machine or use the simulator as a tool to explore digitized worlds in the future. Also, there are many cases when people can’t travel to the other side of the world to explore. This is why Express da Vinci has great benefits, so it can be transportable from one country to another to give people chances to observe global beauty.
The thing is that other attractions like flying theaters are not transportable. They don’t have such an exterior design that creates a “wow” effect for visitors, especially about the experience. In this full world, so many attractions are based on the static screen and 3D glasses, but people want to have quality time during the experience. In our case, we let visitors share and collect their best memories with their friends and family.
What are the services/solutions or products offered by your company at par with the current industry standards? Tell us something about your upcoming products or services?
With Express da Vinci, we offer the solution for the bigger activation of tourism destination visits. When people travel digitally with Express da Vinci, then it will be much more exciting to travel to those destinations by themselves.
We are making progress in the technology field as well because in the future, when drone technologies will grow up, our machines will be able to fly and reach even more potential.
Digital traveling or just having an immersive experience these days are very beneficial because now there is reaching the point when virtual worlds look more beautiful and positive than reality.
Looking to the future, I am keen to continue my design skills by creating something new and useful for people. It’s important to follow the evolution and changes of humanity’s needs depending on life periods.
Connect with Karolis Simniškis on LinkedIn.