The Recursive Podcast

Next stop for The Recursive Podcast - Bucharest, where we meet with Lavinia Mehedintu.  She has dipped her toes in different educational programs as a student before embarking on an entrepreneurial journey of her own, in the learning and developing pool with the social learning platform Offbeat. With a diverse background in HR and communications, Lavinia aims to provide a fresh, actionable twist to the learning industry's ongoing transformation.  In her conversation with Elena Vrabie, Lavinia shares how her desire for freedom and autonomy in solving problems eventually led her on the entrepreneurial path and helped her build a community for learning and development professionals.  Their discussion delves into the intricacies of learning - how we learn, how our neurons connect, why is it so hard to change our behaviour, and what should a long-term learning strategy for your professional and personal development look like.  In the episode you’ll also hear:  How AI will change our learning experience;  How to build effective knowledge-sharing in your organization;  The Importance of having a support system as an entrepreneur; 

Our next guest comes from London but has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe. Bakhrom Ibragimov is a partner at Molten Ventures, which invests in Europe’s tech leaders from Series A to the growth stage.    Bakhrom joined Molten in 2022 from EBRD Venture Capital.  There he founded and managed commitments of €500m over three VC funds.  Previously Bakhrom was leading investments with Virgin Green Fund and TLcom Capital. He was also an Internet Finance Director at Virgin Media and a tech investment banker with Cowen & Co and Credit Suisse. Bakhrom holds degrees from LSE, Cambridge University, and Tashkent State Technical University. In his conversation with Irina, Bakhrom highlights the potential of Central and Eastern Europe, emphasizing the abundance of engineering talent and the advantage of entrepreneurs having a global perspective from the start due to the small economies in the region.  In the episode, he also talks about:  Bridging the funding gap between seed and growth equity stages in the region;  How to build a repeatable and scalable sales process, focusing on the value the product brings to customers; Strategies for scaling in an economic downturn;

Today The Recursive podcast is live from Bucharest, meeting one of the most prominent founders and investors on the Romanian tech scene.  Radu Georgescu is a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the tech industry.  He has successfully exited several companies, including the acquisition of RAV antivirus technology by Microsoft, the ePayment business by Naspers, Avantgate by Francisco Partners, and VectorWatch by Fitbit.  Radu is currently the founder of Gecad Ventures, a family office that invests in high-growth potential companies.  He is also a Board Director and adviser to numerous technology companies, including the equity management and financing platform for tech startups SeedBlink.  In this conversation with Irina, we get a sneak peek into the mind of a  strategic thinker, a prolific entrepreneur, and a passionate investor.  Radu shares his learning experiences gained from founding 37 companies, both successful and failed, and his revelation that the operational roles are not well suited for him.  Radu Georgescu explains that he has always been focused on identifying market niches and the problems that need to be solved. By not being involved in execution, he managed to maintain a broader perspective and use his network to gather information and deliver it to the team that is better equipped to create and build the product. In the episode, he also talks about:  Why pivoting is one of the most important tools in a founder’s bag; (“Just pivot and figure out where the market goes as you roll.")  The Danger in Treating Your Business as Your Baby;  What really makes a company stand out; 

Our next guest - Sasha Bezuhanova - has left an impact in manifold ways on the Bulgarian tech ecosystem and society.   She’s one of the first internationally recognized managers. One of the first Bulgarian female leaders in tech. She’s an active angel investor. A philanthropist. A social mover and shaker.  Sasha Bezuhanova is the founder and chairman of the board of MOVE.BG. Ten years ago she left her business career at HP to dedicate herself to positive social change and sustainable development in Bulgaria through innovation, education, and active leadership. Among the causes Sasha Bezuhanova pursues through many initiatives and projects is positioning Bulgaria as a global digital center, promoting entrepreneurial and green transformation culture, and affirming the role of women in business in Bulgaria and Europe.  In her conversation with Irina, Sasha dives in-depth into the transformative decision she took 10 years ago on a plane from Jakarta to Frankfurt.  Inspired by the street protests in Bulgaria, she left a successful corporate career to try to foster a meaningful societal change, based on dialogue, collaboration, and grassroots empowerment.  In the episode, she also talks about when it makes sense to break rules in business,  how Bulgaria built a deep tech expertise, and how to harness the power of networks to enable social change. 

Our next guest has close to 20 years of experience in management consulting and digital transformation.  Orlin Dochev is a managing partner at Next Consult, an international business, and digital transformation consultancy, blending both strong management consulting expertise with deep IT knowledge. The company has offices in the USA, UK, Switzerland, Romania, and Bulgaria and is partnering with global technology vendors like Salesforce, Tableau, and SAP ERP. Orlin co-founded Next Consult 13 years ago with the vision to add value to its clients by introducing best practices in sales, marketing, etc. He’s also an avid supporter of various educational initiatives.  In his conversation with Irina, Orlin shares insights from his journey from programming to sales to business leadership, combining rich experience in global corporations, startup companies, and entrepreneurship.   He talks about his philosophy of continuous learning by self-challenging and how they spotted the gap on the market with Next Consult where IT companies would focus on programming systems without questioning the client's processes and operations. The mission of Next Consult, Orlin shares, is to focus on making clients more successful by helping them to restructure their businesses. “This requires a lot of sales psychology, discovering business models, challenging the client, challenging yourself, and listening”, he points out.  In the episode, you’ll also hear:  The potential impact of Chat GPT on the consulting industry; Building a company culture of continuous learning;  The state of digital transformation in the Bulgarian market;

Today on the podcast we welcome a Ukrainian entrepreneur who currently resides in Sofia.  Dmitriy Aleksandrov is the CEO of Homsters, a SaaS provider of automated digital marketing solutions for the property segment.  For 8 years, he grew the company from an idea to a PropTech business running in 5 countries. Homsters was acquired by the global media company Ringier at the end of 2022. But Dmitriy is still at the steering wheel to scale the company’s solutions.  Initially working in marketing and transitioning to project management in the fintech and telecom industries, Dmitriy gained valuable experience in tackling complex problems and managing diverse projects. This experience prepared him for his role as CEO, where he emphasized the importance of both a big-picture perspective and attention to detail. Dmitriy credited his colleague and mentor, Andrew Olejnik, for inspiring him to join the proptech industry and become part of Homesters' early stages, even when the company was just an idea on a napkin.  In his conversation with Irina, Dmitriy discusses the culture clash with his corporate background and the challenges of building a startup from scratch. He shares their company's pivots, the need for customization in different markets, and the importance of establishing partnerships. He opens up about their failed expansion attempt in Vietnam and the lessons learned from scaling back.  In this episode, Dmitriy also talks about  The importance of defining values and maintaining them despite changes in the company and its products;  The role of AI - property matching algorithms and the emergence of conversational interfaces in the real estate industry;  The challenges of managing a dispersed team and the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine on their business;

Our guest today is one of the Co-founders and а Board Member of Scalefocus - Viktor Bilyanski.  He started his career in the field of software development two decades ago.  In 2012, a pivotal moment in his career came up, as he joined forces with 4 other professionals to establish Scalefocus.  With 7 delivery locations in Bulgaria, Turkiye, and North Macedonia, the company provides tailored software solutions and services that empower Fortune 500 companies, innovative startups, and established leaders to innovate, grow and meet technology and business challenges.  In the past decade, Scalefocus has developed hundreds of successful projects on an international level.  The company is one of the biggest IT employers in Bulgaria and allows local talent to work on impactful projects for various international clients across many industries - IT, financial services, healthcare, energy and utilities, and more.  Viktor is heavily involved in the local startup ecosystem as an angel investor, community supporter, and event organizer. He is also an avid sports enthusiast.  In the episode, Viktor talks about:  How to stay competitive in today's very fast and constantly evolving business environment; How to balance between aggressive scaling and maintaining focus;  How to multiply your value as a software engineer;  AI and Leadership: can technology help us make better decisions? Learning through teaching: the power of sharing knowledge;

Our next guest is helping marketers all over the world have a scalable process for user acquisition, engagement, and storytelling through social media. Sinisa Rakovic is the CEO and co-founder of HUNCH, a marketing technology company focusing on creative intelligence.  Sinisa is also a serial entrepreneur with several successful exits behind his back. He graduated from California State University and spent time at Stanford University.  In his conversation with Irina, Sinisa reflects on all these experiences - his time in the US, his first venture and exit, the challenges and opportunities to build and scale a company from Eastern Europe - and how they have shaped his definition of success and views on building an infrastructure and support system for the long-term success of tech entrepreneurs.  Tune in for more insights on:  How to win in the attention economy with creativity;  How will creativity evolve in the AI era;  The Growth Story of Hunch; In the podcast, Sinisa references the Zone of Genius framework by Gay Hendricks;

In our next stop in Belgrade, our guest is fascinated by the application of AI, machine learning, and data science in the digital transformation of businesses.  Darko Todorovic is VP of Engineering and Delivery at the software company HTEC Group. Prior to that, Darko was in charge of R&D, leading the development center of the company HTEC in Niš.  Darko is a  Ph.D. candidate in the field of Robotics at the University of Niš, where he was the head of the Robotics Laboratory and thought at the Department of Control Systems.  In his conversation with Irina, Darko shares how his science education and early exposure to different scientific areas have influenced his career path in the tech world and at the HTEC group.  In this episode, Darko talks about:   How universities can become the breeding ground for innovation and talent again; HTEC's approach to business, talent acquisition, and growth; (“Create an environment where people can become the best version of themselves”) Putting the CEE region on the map as a product destination (“We are not the option where you go to cut the prices, we are the option where you go to solve your biggest problem.”) The importance of problem-solving skills and human intelligence compared to AI;

Next stop for The Recursive podcast - Belgrade! Our next guest became an entrepreneur fresh out of high school. Nikola Krstic is now the CEO of the software company Anoris Technology. His company develops a smart glove designed to help people with impaired vision. The smart glove works like a wearable assistant device enabling blind people to have a better quality of life. And it is inspired by the founder himself.  In his conversation with Georgi Nenov, he shares his personal journey to entrepreneurship - from a nerdy kid who started programming at 8 years old through winning a high school entrepreneurship competition with his idea of the smart glove for blind people, to building a working prototype and planning a global distribution campaign.  In the episode, Nikola talks about:  ⚒️ The thirst for being a creator and the importance of motivation when venturing out; (“If you give someone the knowledge, you give them the key to success”) 🚀 The technology behind the smart glove, their market approach, and vision to help visually impaired people live a happy and fulfilled life; 🇷🇸 The challenges but also opportunities to grow a startup with a global vision from Serbia;