Hi, Yavor! It’s a pleasure to finally talk to you. It took me almost a month to get you to interview for our blog. To begin, please tell us a bit more about your background.

Hi there and thanks for the patience!

I’ve always loved exact sciences. In fact, solving different problems and puzzles is my passion. I am extremely happy I’ve found a sphere where I can make a living doing what I like.

I graduated from the High School of Mathematics in Plovdiv and I am currently finishing my Computer Science degree at Sofia University.

Recently, I joined 3veta as a full-stack developer. This is my second full-time job in the IT sphere, but I’ve known Iliya and Masha for many years. Thanks to that, I’ve been following the growth of 3veta even before it was live.

I remember you were one of the first people to create an account with us! Back then you were reporting bugs… now you are the one creating them.

Haha, it’s a part of the job description, I guess.

I am still gaining experience. Next week it will be exactly one year since I have been working as a full-time software developer. Before that, I had been freelancing and had worked on quite a few projects, including two for 3veta.

The first one was the Chrome extension, which I am particularly proud of. It is a product I developed completely on my own.

The funniest part was that it started like a joke. I had published a Chrome extension before and Iliya joked: “Hey, Yavor, why don’t we hire you to make a 3veta Chrome extension for us?” I agreed, two weeks later they sent me the design… and the challenge was on.

I think it turned out quite well and I am using the extension every day.

It is definitely a great addition to the core product and we are thankful for it! Is there anything else you have worked on before joining our team?

One of the most thrilling projects I have worked on is a desktop app, used to generate table tennis tournament draws.

There is this table tennis club, which organizes competitions every week. They wanted to automate the group stage drawing process and the elimination stages. The problem was – it used to take 2 hours of manual labor per tournament.

Since the app was released (at the end of 2019), it has been used for over 130 tournaments. That means 260+ hours of human work saved! That’s what automation is about.

Apart from programming, I spent around 2 years repairing mobile phones as a side gig. During high school, I had plenty of free time and was always reading about tech. The first phone I repaired was my own. I was so impressed with myself that I started fixing the phones of people I knew. It was a great way to stay occupied, learn new things, and earn some money.

I am always looking for a problem to fix!

Wow, so you are not only a software engineer but also… a hardware one!

I wouldn’t call myself an engineer but rather someone who is interested in engineering.

It doesn’t need to be tech related at all.

Last year my father and I decided to build a professional ping-pong table.

We play quite a lot but a professional table is very expensive. We thought about it and realized that the manufacturing materials themselves were not expensive at all.

So we wanted to see if we could make one ourselves. After a few months of experimentation, we finally built a table that was identical to the top models on the market.

So far we’ve manufactured over 15 tables and I would say their quality is getting better and better! The players like them a lot and clubs are happy to support the only table tennis table manufacturer in the Balkans.

I love the entrepreneurial spirit! Maybe that’s one of the reasons why you decided to join a start-up. How does 3veta differ from your previous software experience?

3veta is a product company. This means it develops its own product(s).

Prior to this, I was a part of an outsourcing company – where we created software for many different clients.

They differ quite a lot.

I believe I prefer developing a single product rather than switching projects all the time (as happens in outsourcing companies).

Working for several clients means a lot of deadlines, pressure, and weird requirements. Often you don’t have much freedom while developing and most of the time you have to use technologies specified by the client.

At 3veta I have the opportunity to use my problem-solving skills and suggest different ways to tackle the problems. Generally, the requirements do not change but can be influenced by my point of view. This is what I find most valuable and rewarding.

You are still young and could be considered a junior developer. What is the difference between a junior and senior developer in your opinion? What makes a senior developer better?

I have the pleasure to work with one of the best software developers and mentors I’ve met – Iskren. He is a Senior with a capital S.

Every time we discuss a problem I learn new things. Our relationship is the perfect comparison between a junior and a senior developer.

That’s obviously a bit abstract so here are several examples.

• Time

The first thing that comes to my mind when comparing a junior and a senior is time. A junior developer would probably need a lot more time to solve a problem while a senior one should deal with it faster.

• Quality of code

The second and maybe more important thing is the quality of the code. A junior developer, by definition, has seen fewer problems. Therefore, when given a specific task they may struggle to find the optimal solution.

However, juniors should not be underestimated. If the person has the capacity and the motivation they can do a lot of good work.

It is important to note that developers learn new things every day no matter their seniority. The technologies are constantly being updated, upgraded, and replaced by better ones.

If you want to be a good developer, you need to keep up with the newest developments.

While you are at it, what is one piece of advice you can give to junior developers who want to build a successful career?

The most important thing for a junior developer is motivation. If you are motivated, you can achieve almost anything.

There are a lot of people who learn how to code in just a few months and they are a real example that motivation is the key. Watching tutorials, experimenting with new technologies, working on personal projects, reading articles, attending hackathons and workshops. All these will help you develop and grow.

I like to stay active, so I’ve doubled down on projects and this has taught me a lot.

Another piece of advice for every junior is to find ‘their Iskren’. Find someone to mentor you, guide you, and criticize you (that’s not always pleasant but trust me – it pays off).

The point is that it’s so much easier when someone shows you the best practices and explains how things are done. It is valuable to work alone but sometimes you spend hours and hours trying to figure out something which others already know.

Last but not least, bad habits are hard to change down the line. So, don’t wait too long before finding a coding mentor.

You are from one of the generations whose social life was most hit by COVID. Do you think there are some advantages that you gained from it?

I’ve always loved traveling, going out, and doing sports.

I’d categorize myself as an extrovert and all these COVID measures really affected my life. COVID is also one of the reasons for me to change from a freelance job to a full-time one (so I could meet and talk to more people).

On the other side, one of the biggest advantages we all gained is the home office policy. The ability to work from anywhere gives you a lot of freedom.

For example, during the next 2 weeks, I will be working from Sozopol, on the Bulgarian seaside. So, remote work is something I really appreciate and I think everyone who works on a computer should have the right to work remotely.

The whole lockdown phase was also awakening in a way. It made me realize how much I loved traveling and exploring. I missed it so much that as soon as the restrictions were lifted I immediately visited 3 new countries.

Thanks to the pandemic, I am now doing the same things as before – traveling, going out, and having fun with friends.

However, I appreciate all of them much more.

Most of our team is fully remote from Day 1. What’s your preferred type of work – remote, hybrid, in the office?

Without the option for remote work, it would be pretty hard to be part of 3veta, as I live in my hometown – Plovdiv. Therefore, I am glad that I can work remotely.

Still, I visit the office in Sofia from time to time and I use every opportunity to meet up with whoever is available from the team.

I actually like the office of 3veta a lot as it’s a very cozy place. Moreover, going for a walk or lunch with the team is much better than staying at home.

To sum up, I would love to visit the office more often, but at the same time, I am very thankful that I can work from anywhere.

Is there something interesting about the future of 3veta you want to tell us about?

There are many interesting things coming up, but I will share only one.

The last freelance project I was working on was a Slack integration app for 3veta, which I started working on in March. During the development of the application, I started a full-time job at 3veta, and obviously, my task was to finish the Slack application.

It is my second end-to-end developed mini-product for 3veta and I am very excited!

By the time this interview goes live, it should already be available. So feel free to install it directly in your Slack workspace!

Great job on promoting it! I thought I was the marketing person in this conversation but you could do it just as well Finally, enough work. How do you let the steam off?

I am not someone who enjoys chilling on the beach. I prefer an active break – playing sports, walking, hiking, anything but chilling.

I am a very sporty person and I have done many different sports.

My top sport is table tennis. I have been a professional table tennis player since the age of 11. During the last few years, I’ve been competing in the strongest leagues in the country.

So sports are a very big part of my life.

However, I also enjoy photography. I love going out and shooting landscapes. Here’s a picture I took a few months ago – the Roman Amphitheatre in my hometown (Plovdiv).

Finally, I must also mention one of my biggest passions – the mountains.

Skiing, ski touring, hiking – all of these activities recharge me. Only a day or two in the mountains give me the required energy to work even harder during the week.

That’s me on mount Malyovitza (2729m) after a successful winter ascent.

Well thanks so much, Yavor! You are one of the most physically active software developers I’ve seen. Great job so far and we wish you all the best in your upcoming projects.

Want to know more about the other people behind 3veta? You can explore other interviews over here.

The post Meet the Team – Yavor (Full-Stack Developer) appeared first on 3veta.

On one end, the salespeople use their video conferencing and CRM tools not to the full extent. And on the other, their colleagues have gone too far with automation, relying solely on technology when engaging with customers and team members.

This post will help you balance sales automation and human interaction while managing a remote sales team.

We’ve also included pro tips and insights from Marina Arkhireeva, a Sales Team Lead, who’s managing her team online amid the war in Ukraine.

3 Virtual sales team challenges

Even though remote working is now widespread, sales reps had some challenges to overcome when transitioning from an in-person to a fully remote or hybrid workplace.

Managing your entire team and sales process remotely while maintaining high productivity is hard.

Couple that with the inability to control your team’s workflow, and the challenge becomes even more extensive.

So, what are the problems we encounter the most often?

1. Keeping your team connected while working remotely

When your colleagues are spread out across a country or worldwide, it’s tougher to feel connected.

The 2022 Hubspot report revealed that 40% of remote workers miss spontaneous, in-person connections with their colleagues, despite feeling the benefits of working from home.

As a result, losing connectedness and engagement can damage your productivity.

Therefore, virtual team leaders must bring their remote employees together and lead with empathy, finding out what works best for everyone.

2. Not having the right set of sales tools

In the office, understanding what’s going on in your team is effortless, but it becomes more complicated when devices are all you have to build the team environment.

There are plenty of tools for sales managers out there to choose from. Define your business and team needs and choose those that tick all the boxes.

3. Zoom fatigue

It’s not an overstatement to say that everyone in the sales and marketing department should know when to turn off.

Feeling pressured to be accessible or working at all times causes burnout, coupled with six calls per day that tires us out.

The fact is, 70% of remote workers have said that too many calls are disruptive to their concentration and that at least 50% of the meetings they joined could have been replaced by emails.

So, the real problem lies not in the video conferencing tools but in our current implementations of these technologies.

Thus, Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, highlights four reasons why people suffer from Zoom fatigue:

• We maintain excessive amounts of close-up eye contact.
• We become more critical of ourselves, constantly seeing a reflection of ourselves during video chats.
• Our movement during meetings is limited.
• In video chats, we have to work harder than in regular face-to-face interaction.

Once we take into account these problems, we’ll be able to reduce meeting fatigue and make videoconferencing a truly good thing for remote communication.

7 Strategies for setting up a virtual sales team for success

Salespeople can likely be impacted by the remote work challenges mentioned above.

Though regularly measuring your team’s effectiveness won’t necessarily help you feel more connected socially, it can undoubtedly help with team communication and productivity.

Let’s take a look at seven tips on how to manage a remote sales team effectively.

1. Build a sales communication strategy

Working remotely can be especially challenging for employees who’ve been speaking face-to-face with their managers and colleagues for years.

Therefore, strong communication is like the foundation of a household and should be a priority for a sales manager.

Once you establish explicit communication norms with your sales reps, they will know the best way to get ahold of you and one another via suitable channels.

Besides, creating an environment of transparency and trust is vital for remote sales team management.

So, to build a sales communications strategy, you need to:

• Analyze your SMART goals.
• Establish clear communication channels (choose an internal social tool and conferencing platform).
• Create consistent schedules and routines.
• Empower your team to create individual workflows to reach their goals.
• Collaborate with a marketing department to create cohesive communications.

This 5-step sales communication plan is a great place to start when you’re thinking about how you can improve your communication internally.

2. Encourage your team to engage with prospects on social media

When you’ve established an internal communication plan for your team, it’s time to think about external communication.

No matter what industry you’re in and what business goals you have, leveraging social media is a game-changer when it comes to engaging with leads.

Even if the company has an official page ruled by a Marketing Manager, the personal content on social media is crucial, believes Marina Arkhireeva, Sales Team Lead at Synebo. She explains:

“In fact, the customer communicates with you as with a person, not with a company or organization. Therefore, telling about your life, activities, and hobbies gives your audience a feeling of closer contact, makes them know you better, and, as a result, increases trust during negotiations.”

There are two things you need to consider before building your sales team’s social media strategy.

Pick the right social media channel

First, you have to define channels your prospects use more frequently. While Instagram and Pinterest are great for B2C companies, LinkedIn works best for B2B.

If you work in B2B, using LinkedIn for sales is probably one of the most effective strategies for building loyalty to your company and you personally.

But, of course, you will need to put a lot of effort into making the posts on your page helpful, filled with educational content and unique advice that you can give based on your experience.

Explain why personal content is key

Often you may notice that the reach of publications on a corporate page is much lower than on a personal page.

This is natural because people are more interested in personal stories than corporate ones.

And because people are often on social media at lunchtime or after work, they want to consume content filled with personal emotions and thoughts, not official statements and advertisements.

The same logic works with photos – people react to photographs taken from your smartphone more actively than to a professional photo shoot.

So the more your team personalizes content and shows their personalities, the better your engagement rates are.

3. Simplify your lead management

Remote selling is unthinkable without customer relationship management (CRM) tools nowadays.

As CRM has transformed into a means of managing all business functions in one place, more and more companies are choosing this type of software to optimize and automate processes.

CRM allows us to track each customer’s journey across all stages in the sales funnel. And when there are a lot of such clients, you can’t succeed without automation.

“As we have a massive amount of contacts, and our negotiation could be extended and take years, it’s crucial to systemize it with CRM. The human mind can’t save such an amount of information, and with the help of CRM tools, I could always rely on correct info, notes, and reminders. This helps me free my mind from administrative tasks for global goals, negotiations, and development,” adds Sales Team Lead.

Moreover, most CRM systems come with customer journey analytics capabilities, which empower you to make data-driven decisions.

4. Measure your remote team productivity

When sales reps know their deliverables well, they feel more accountable and engaged.

Therefore, set up to 10 key performance indicators (KPIs) for each team member, depending on their scope of work. There might be:

• Call volume
• Closed-won deals
• Revenue generated
• Outreach activities.

The vast majority of this data will be entered into the CPM one way or another, and you will see statistics every month.

However, it’s important to remember that these numbers don’t exist by themselves-it’s essential to analyze them with your team.

Discussing with the team why the results are the way they are with specific examples is also considered a helpful technique.

For example, you can collectively break down one of the sales reps’ conversations and reach conclusions together.

This not only develops your team but also demonstrates you as a mentor who knows how to listen to others.

“To manage the remote sales team, personal contact is always significant because each negotiation is individual. I’m always in touch with Sales Managers on weekly meetings to discuss the ongoing negotiations one by one,” – shares Marina Arkhireeva.

5. Find the balance between sales automation and personal interactions

The chances are high that you’ve already heard more than 30% of all sales tasks can be automated.

No wonder, taking into account that automation technologies are becoming more deeply embedded into day-to-day operations – to drive greater efficiencies and save costs.

According to IBM, 80% of companies are using automation software. And 38% of companies do it specifically to make employees more productive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, automation is not a panacea.

Just think of how many emails you receive, you remember?

Because they look similar, they trigger you after typical events and send you the message you’ve seen before.

“In a variety of automation searching tools, I still think it is beneficial to reach out to customers personally, not with automation. No automation could replace real human communication,” says Marina Arkhireeva, a Sales Team Lead at Synebo.

Like no other industry, sales is the place for personal interactions – empathy and authenticity.

Sure, bots are helpful sometimes, but their capabilities are limited.

Many specialists in the B2B segment expect your involvement in building lasting relationships.

“Working in a company that deals with automation, we still prefer manual customer search. And when prospects ask me whether I am bot or not, they are happy to find out that I am a real person,” adds Marina.

To avoid poor customer experience, you have to define what automation tools are necessary for your goals.

Perhaps, you can choose 3-5 and integrate them to access all the data quickly.

6. Try remote team-building activities

Virtual team building will help you keep employees engaged and motivated.

The primary goal of these activities is to improve communication within your virtual sales meetings and help your team work together more effectively.

Thus, if you want sales reps to get used to video conferencing tools they utilize at work, try virtual escape rooms.

They make the usage of the chosen tool for calls more comfortable, allow you to relax after work, and build team spirit, as they encourage people to cooperate towards a common goal.

To boost your team’s motivation, we also suggest celebrating important events, milestones, and wins and marking baby steps toward your goal.

7. Ask your virtual sales team for feedback.

“Getting feedback from a sales team is a key point in managing a remote sales team. Each sales manager goes through the exact pre-selling process, and sharing the individual experience helps us grow,” notes Marina Arkhireeva.

She adds that a Sales Team Lead should constantly ask team members for feedback, trying to find the most comfortable way to share feelings and opinions.

Comfort is key since delivering feedback online is even more challenging than in-office. To find the option that works best for each person in your team, you can try:

• One-on-one meetings via video conference or phone call
• Frequent check-ins in a chat
• Feedback during team meetings
• An anonymous feedback form.

According to Hubspot, 31% of workers said that anonymously providing feedback helps them feel more supported and included at work.

Final Thoughts

To be a successful remote sales manager, you need to pay attention to details that often seem insignificant.

These include regular feedback, comfort calls, and tools for managing your leads.

Sometimes it feels like you can still work without it. But that’s not true; the entire team’s productivity depends on the sum of these things.

That’s why it’s essential to choose only software tailored to your team.

And if you use a dozen services that are not 100% suitable, you’re wasting your time and accumulating stress.

So talk to your team, learn what things work best for you, and don’t forget to take the time to ask for feedback.

The post 7 Tips on How to Easily Manage a Remote Sales Team appeared first on 3veta.

His experience is extremely diverse but gravitates towards the most transferable of skills – project management.

Hello, Ivo. Nice to e-meet you. I am super excited about this interview because I know how diverse your background is! How about you tell us more about that?

First of all, hello to you and the rest of the colleagues in the marketing department

So, about me. I grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria. In my teenage years, I was developing a basketball career in parallel to my studies. I was playing for one of the strongest junior teams in the country and even participated in a Men’s division for 2 years. I suppose I was into doing a few things in parallel even then, as my school was also quite demanding.

Anyway, my plan for the future was leaning on education, hence I pursued the opportunity to study abroad. 5 years later I had collected my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Bocconi University, which is a notable trend among the 3veta co-founders

Then my work-life started at full speed with a role in a management consulting company, followed by a project management role in a big American corporation. This period helped me build practical business expertise, which I always tried to link to the knowledge built at the university.

Later I got really passionate about the project management field and besides the hands-on experience, I got certified as PMP® (‘Project Management Professional’ by PMI), which is the world’s most renowned qualification for project managers.

So I am currently working as a project manager for a global manufacturing company, of course besides being a partner of the exciting 3veta team!

So you do have a full-time job apart from being a co-founder of 3veta. Are there any other exciting projects we should know about?

Well actually yes.

As I mentioned at the start, seems I always end up doing a few important things in parallel. I have already one startup behind my back – Devote Academy. The small team there is focused on delivering project management-related services, such as delivering training and consulting services. We are now working on a very interesting case, consulting a company in the life sciences sector and helping it develop a tailor-made project management methodology, along with all related practices, processes, and tools. But I will be able to tell you more next time.

Last, but definitely not least, I have authored an online course for junior project managers in partnership with my friends at 365 Careers. Our course, The Project Management Course: Beginner to PROject Manager, is currently a Bestseller on Udemy with more than 70,000 subscribed students from all over the world. So yes, seems most of my endeavors gravitate around the project management field

So your full-time projects are of enormous scale. Your other projects are small enterprises and startups. From a project manager’s point of view, what’s the main difference between these two types of projects?

Indeed, they are different.

Looking at them in general, big corporate projects usually consume significant company resources – financial, employee, management attention, and others. From a PM perspective, this requires solid structure, planning, and coordination of stakeholders. With some exceptions, being able to structure the project with predefined parameters and a detailed project management plan increases your chances to be successful.

Projects that are smaller in size, such as most of the startup-related ones have a different flavor.

Your team is usually in a more “experimental” environment where you need to test your concept and understand what would be the best way to shape your business. Such initiatives require mainly flexibility.

How can you be sure that you are nailing it from the beginning? Instead of losing precious time in trying to predict, you better structure the work in a flexible manner so you can adapt dynamically while observing and living the reaction of your target customers.

Furthermore, usually, you have even more limited resources at hand, so you need to be sure you use them in a way, which will bring tangible results.

In ‘PM words’, this would mean more structure and predictability for big projects and more flexibility and pragmatism for smaller endeavors. Pretty much waterfall vs agile methodologies.

After COVID many people started working from home. Tell us a bit more about how your commute has changed.

In my case, the commute disappeared. For almost 2 years my company moved to fully remote working. As my office is right across the street (lucky, huh?) if I have to go to the office, the commute itself practically did not change.

I know where you work, so I’d say your commute has decreased from 3 minutes (across the street) to 1 minute (across the room). Still, now that companies are going back to the office, would you say you engage in remote work or hybrid work? Tell us a bit more about how you manage this.

That is correct. Right now, I am engaging in a hybrid work model. It is still more than 50% from home, but visiting the office and being on business trips are coming back into the picture.

There are a lot of benefits in the hybrid model because you can enjoy the benefits of both worlds – having the flexibility to work remotely and organize your day accordingly, but also not losing the office touch.

For example, I led a big program for more than a year, working remotely with a few key people for the whole period. I finally met them in person recently, while on a business trip. It was a great feeling from a personal and work perspective. We can now go back to a remote state again but now we would know we have already met each other and worked very well in a “live” environment too.

I think this brought us closer together. And while remote and hybrid are generally better for me and my family, I love the fact that I met my colleagues in person.

As a project manager, does it really matter where and when you work?

In today’s circumstances, WHERE is not so important. If I quickly go back to the example I made in the previous question, although it was great meeting the team in person, it went just as per my expectations. The virtual version of the people with whom I have collaborated for more than a year turned out to match the real person – maybe to a 99.9% extent This means, remote work is absolutely sufficient for work.

The WHEN is definitely much more important… at least for my job. Regardless of the ‘where’, in each project, there are a few critical moments, in which the PM needs to be 200% dedicated. One must not lose the grip during those periods and it is all about timing.

How do you envision work as a whole 10 years from now? Will it be remote, hybrid, or back to the office? Do you think it will differ by industry or by company?

Remote working has proven itself as a big contestant for the new steady state.

Hopefully, the pandemic will soon be a bad memory, but the remote work will continue for many. I guess that in the next 5-10 years the jobs that are somewhat computer and communication based will convert to a hybrid model.

The benefits of this are just too significant.

Employees gain flexibility and more time for them. Companies have an opportunity to reduce costs and, even more importantly, have happier employees.

Hybrid is just too good.

On the 3veta About Us page, it reads: “Ivo has a framework in his pocket for all occasions in life”. What is this supposed to mean?

Hahaha… well, seems I am quite curious about business and management frameworks.

I guess this started during my years at the university. When I say framework, I intend pre-defined logic and structure that helps you manage a given business situation and drive correct business decisions. Some of the famous examples would be:

• Lean six sigma – if we want to improve the operations and processes in a company.
• Critical path method – if we want to efficiently sequence-related tasks in an initiative or a project.
• MOSCOW – if we want to be more structured when trying to prioritize development work.
• Porter’s 5 forces – if we want to understand the competitive environment for your business industry.
• Kanban, Theory of constraints, Pros and Cons analysis, Scenario analysis, SWOT analysis, the list goes on.

What I have been doing, maybe subconsciously, is collecting those into a Framework Swiss Knife, which I can use in many situations.

What is one framework you believe every reader should know about and implement in their life?

I think the top one for me is the 80/20 Rule.

I have found this one coming back to me so many times and from all kinds of contexts – personal life, corporate life, entrepreneurship, sports.

The simple idea of understanding on which 20% to focus your efforts, to gain 80% of the benefits. The Pareto principle.

It sounds very obvious, yet I keep seeing situations where people focus on doing and redoing work until it gets to the 100%. Of course, there are cases when we need to strive for 100%, but in many cases, this is very costly in terms of time and effort.

So… remember the 80/20 and strive for efficiency and productivity, instead of perfection.

In your opinion, what were the most defining moments in 3veta as a project?

3veta team is quite forward-looking and that can be seen also through the product. The mix of features is aiming to bring something new to the remote and hybrid working people. In that sense, all campaigns are quite interesting as we are testing new offerings to the market.

Nevertheless, I can probably highlight two moments.

First is the Big Bang, during which 3veta was shaped as a start-up. The founding team was gathered for 2 full weeks in the same place, where the full focus of everyone was put on the goal of building the strategy. This “Bootcamp” was the actual Kick-off of 3veta, during which we defined the business plan – product, offering, targeting, strategy, etc. Turning a concept into a concrete business model with specific actions on how to get there. It was.. well… fundamental

Funny story – one of the co-founders flew in from the UK and since it was lockdown times he was literally not able to move more than 100 m. away from our improvised office. Max efficiency!

The second really interesting campaign was around the mild shift in strategy that 3veta took in Q4 2021, by expanding the focus toward “teams”. With the precious market feedback we had collected with the first 1000 users we figured out that many remote teams of a certain size struggle with managing their calendars.

Furthermore, if the teams are formed from a mix of small companies, freelancers, etc., very often they use different calendars. This creates an inefficiency in such an important element – calendar management. This is the area that 3veta is now satisfying – no matter what calendars your team members, and internal and external partners use, 3veta can help your team be as efficient as possible, also when working remotely.

Is there something interesting about the future of 3veta you want to tell us about?

3veta is heading towards exploring all technology needs of the hybrid-working individuals and teams.

The most interesting new superpower of 3veta that is coming soon is the integration with Slack – one of the best communication tools there are for remote teams, startups, and SMBs. Shortly, 3veta will be one click away in your Slack.

As we are aimed at making a difference in the Hybrid work landscape, there will be many more to come. Stay tuned!

If you could improve one thing about the 3veta platform, what would it be?

The platform is on a continuous development path so it will be getting better and better. I think the biggest potential right now sits with the calendar-related functionalities. That’s also where the differentiation between 3veta and all other calendars or booking tools is being created. As we speak.

You are a project manager, so of course, your favorite features will be calendar-related! One final question. We understood you work a lot. How do you let the steam off?

I love sports.

Since my wife (our co-founder Katya) and I became the happiest people on earth with our girl stepping into our lives my sports focus changed and transitioned from gym and basketball to tennis and… training at home!

Let’s see what is the future of hybrid work-outs

Thanks so much for this interview, Ivo. Good luck to you and the 3veta team!

Read interviews with other team members!

The post Meet the Team – Ivo (Co-Founder) appeared first on 3veta.

With a strong interest in everything digital and a keen eye for design, Eve is always ready to learn and gain insight into all things digital marketing.

She has a solid background in working remotely and has been part of several successful startups.

When she isn’t working on campaigns, she can be spotted reading crime novels, watching Korean dramas, and searching for cheap flight tickets.

Hi, Eve, it’s your turn on the hot chair. Tell us about your background.

Eve: Let me start with this. I was terrible at Math in 6th grade. No one would ever consider that I’ll graduate from the Mathematics and Informatics faculty of the best university in Bulgaria – Sofia University. And I believe that if my Math teacher from that time ever finds out, she’ll probably collapse at least 3 times. So, shh, don’t tell her!

At the tender age of 13, I met my first mentor. And that person turned my whole perception of what Math is, why it’s important to have goals in life, and why giving back is an essential part of our lives.

Till today, I strongly believe in mentors. And I was lucky enough to always have them in my life.

They thought me many things but by far the most important thing I’ve learned is that if you really want something you can have it. You just need to work (hard) to get it. As simple as that.

And I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be a vet.

A vet? Now I got confused. What happened with Math?

Yes, at one point I was crushing it at Math and pretty much everything else at school, so my decision to become a vet was not well received among my family.

However, I wanted to try and found an internship at the best veterinary clinic in Sofia.

I was helping with anything – from taking care of the animals to assisting doctors during surgeries and helping in the shop – and I couldn’t be more excited.

And how couldn’t be I?

I was responsible for feeding a baby alligator, teaching a beautiful African parrot how to speak and re-educate a naughty monkey that had the habit to steal things.

Exciting indeed. So what happened? How did you get from a veterinary assistant to a math teacher to a web designer to a digital marketer?

Eve: At one point, I had to choose whether to study for a vet or to study Math and Computer Science. And trust me it was not an easy decision but I’m glad I went this way as it opened so many doors for me.

While I was at the university, I was chosen to substitute a Math teacher in the Sofia High School of Mathematics, which is the highest-ranked high school in the city.

So, yes, I was a Math teacher for a few months.

While it was great fun working with 6-graders, it was a great responsibility too as some of these kids were Math gold medalists.

However, around that time, I was really into graphic and web design. So, right after I graduated I moved to the Netherlands to chase a career in that field.

Two internships later, I was working full-time in a startup building a Hootsuite rival.

During my time in Amsterdam, I worked for a few other startups and I was fortunate to meet and work with amazing people. Thanks to them, I realized that in order to be successful, I need to keep learning new skills and gaining new work experience.

And so I did.

I was part of different teams and tried to split my time between hanging out with developers and marketers. That way I managed to learn the best from both fields.

Slowly but surely, I stepped into the marketing world as a web designer with copywriting skills.

One day I received an exciting job offer – a startup in Barcelona wanted me to join their team as a marketing assistant.

I didn’t think twice.

It was a pretty easy decision to make. Not only because I was sick of the wind and the wet in the Netherlands but because it was an opportunity to really step into a new field and I couldn’t miss it.

And that was it. I was officially stamped as a marketer.

What do you think makes you so good at what you do? What are the main qualities a marketer should have?

Eve: A good marketer should be a creative problem solver and strategic thinker but most of all they should be a lifelong learner.

And this is exactly my game.

Digital marketing is changing at a lightning-fast pace and you always need to be in tune with the new trends and the best practices.

I guess this is the reason I’m so into it. It perfectly fits my nerdy yet adventurous character as it is a constantly evolving profession.

If someone wants to become a digital marketer in 2022, where should they start?

Eve: To anyone who wants to delve into the fast-moving climate of marketing – find a good mentor. There’s no better way to learn things than from a veteran in the field.

In Barcelona, I met a great woman who turned into my mentor shortly after. As an ex-Senior Marketing Manager at Paypal, she definitely had tons of experience to share.

And let me tell you: when she talked, I listened. I became who I am now because of her.

Sounds super interesting! How about now? What do you like the most about working at 3veta?

Eve: The variability of my tasks, the option to work from any place, and the fact that I’m part of something that evolves every day. I get a front-row seat watching how a simple idea grows into an international business.

Every day is different, and it is a constant adventure. And I love adventures!

You have a substantial remote working experience way before that was the norm. Tell us how and why did you start working remotely?

Eve: I first started when I was still at the university. I worked for a huge media company and it lasted for about 2 years.

Back then, remote work was not as chic as it is now, haha.

Everyone was happy to work in an office, have their own desk and a mug with the company logo.

Everyone but me. Even then I was able to recognize all the benefits of remote working and knew that this is what I want.

Later on, I ended up working remotely from time to time, and I really enjoyed the flexibility and work-life balance that working from home provides.

Furthermore, I slowly realized that the world is too big and my vacation time is, unfortunately, too short.

So, at one point I decided to quit my current job and became a full-time digital nomad.

See, it all started because I wanted to travel more.

Bathing those elephants after work looks like something I would love to do, too! I guess there are also some challenges that come with working remotely, though.

Besides the freedom to choose where to work from, what I really like about working remotely is that I ditched commuting for good.

I remember that I used to spend approximately 2 hours every day on trains and busses and it really drained me.

Not to mention my transportation expenses.

But putting money aside, most people don’t quite realize that long commutes or being stuck in traffic for an hour thoroughly affect your mental and physical health. I was always in a rush, often skipped my breakfast, and didn’t have time for anything.

Now, the time I save allows me to prepare dinner, meet with friends and I never miss breakfast.

My work itself hasn’t changed much since I’ve started working remotely but my performance did improve.

I found out that at home there are fewer interruptions and it’s quieter than in an office. I have more time and fewer distractions, which naturally leads to increased productivity.

As for the challenges of working remotely, you definitely need discipline.

Sometimes it’s easy to get distracted at home. A 10-minute break turns into an hour or a pile of dirty dishes starts calling your name.

But there are easy tricks to overcome distractions at home such as choosing a quiet spot and designating it for work only.

What really helped me to master the remote work game was building routines.

I know which part of the day I’m most productive and I schedule my most important tasks accordingly. I also know when I need a break and just take it.

See, I’ve been a remote work ambassador for years now and I can tell that this trend is here to stay. It’s a win-win situation both for employers and employees.

Companies want to hire the best talents out there no matter where they are located. That’s the reason why the number of virtual teams around the world is rising daily.

I used to have colleagues in Taiwan and Argentina while I was in Vietnam and the only challenge we encountered was finding a timeslot that fits everyone’s schedule so we can meet. Too bad 3veta didn’t exist yet. Would have made our remote team collaboration much easier.

Okay. A tough question ahead. From approximately how many different places have you worked? Which one was the coolest?

Eve: That’s a tough question indeed. Besides Spain and The Netherlands where I spend a few years living and working, I’d like to mention France, Cyprus, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Hungary, and lately, Bulgaria. The list goes on and on since I was constantly traveling and living abroad.

The coolest place I’ve worked from was the concrete floor on the Kuala Lumpur train station.

I had gotten an emergency request and I had to quickly jump in and fix something while I was waiting for a train to hop on.

And now seriously, I’ve worked from amazing places such as a beach bungalow on a small island in Thailand, from a terrace overlooking Ho Chi Minh City, and from a designer furniture shop/cafe in Chiang Mai (this one was particularly cool, yet incredibly weird).

But by far the coolest place I’ve worked from was a gazebo in the jungle somewhere in the Mekong delta in Vietnam.

Every day I’d see the owner of the homestay climbing one of the coconut trees to collect fresh coconuts. Then he quickly opened them with a few hits of his machete to serve with breakfast. This is something you can’t get even in a 5-star hotel.

If you could relocate anywhere around the world, where would that be?

Eve: Another tough question, haha. There are so many places on my list. Georgia, Argentina, and Ethiopia to mention a few.

I see you are quite the adventurer! What’s your greatest adventure so far?

Eve: I’ve walked about 1,300 kilometers from Southern France throughout Northern Spain and down to Porto in Portugal. It was part of the Camino de Santiago – a well-known pilgrimage route in Europe.

It took me exactly 47 days and I carried a 10kg backpack in heat, rain, wind, snow, and hail.

Many people asked me why I was doing that, what was the point?

The thing is, this journey and the people I’ve met thought me many things about life, career, and business and it definitely made me a stronger person. I still apply some of the lessons I’ve learned back then in my daily work.

Wow, what a journey! I got a bit too excited! We like to finish each interview by getting some information on what’s being cooked at the 3veta kitchen. Are there any cool marketing campaigns coming up you want to tell us about?

We are about to officially launch 3veta 2.0 very soon.

Our design team with Masha in charge did a fantastic job redesigning 3veta’s website to match our new goals and better serve our client’s needs.

Iskren and our dev team have been working hard the past few months polishing the platform and adding a bunch of new features like the team calendar, meeting rooms, and some additional platform customizations. And we’ve launched our Chrome extension so you can now manage your schedule directly from your browser.

Nikola and the sales team already started onboarding beta users to our most requested feature – the Team plan. If you want to be one of them, reach us at team@threeveta.com.

With so much going on lately, you can imagine that Iliya and I have a lot on our marketing plates, haha. Expect a new Product Hunt launch and a brand new monthly email digest.

Sounds exciting! Is there anything else you want to share with our readers?

Eve: I don’t drink coffee, I don’t eat chocolate and I don’t like peppers on pizza. Thanks for reading my story!

The post Meet the Team – Eve (Digital Marketing) appeared first on 3veta.

Energetic, fun, and resourceful, Nikola will always go out of his way to help you out!

Hi, Nikola! Welcome to ‘the hot seat’. Let’s start with a simple question: what is your background?

First of all, hi to everyone reading this.

So I come from Banja Luka, which is the second biggest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina (southeastern Europe for those that are not aware). I finished the international baccalaureate high school in my hometown before I went to study International Economics, Management, and Finance at Università Bocconi in Milan, Italy. I also did my Master in Finance there which is currently the 7th best in the world (according to Financial Times).

It is during my master years that I have met Iliya (co-founder of 3veta.com). As luck would have it, we were roommates in the same dorm. We instantly became best buds, and I was even his best man for his and Masha’s (our other co-founder) wedding last year. We also founded the Bocconi Students Mathematics and Logics Association together which I’m especially proud of.

Following my training in Finance, I did my first internship for UniCredit Bank, and after that, I started working for a boutique consulting company based in Milan. Working for the consulting company was great, the team was amazing, we worked on interesting projects and traveled to many places. However, after a couple of years, I received an attractive offer from one of our Dubai-based clients and went to UAE to work for them in the retail sector. This was also a great experience since it taught me the intricacies of both the fashion and retail industries, and how KPIs and careful planning can play a massive role in improving a company’s overall performance.

After a couple of years in the retail industry, I finally got a chance to work in the field I specialized in – Finance. I started working in Risk Management for SHUAA Capital (the oldest UAE Investment Bank in Abu Dhabi). It was very interesting seeing how the financial system works from within, and it’s unlike anything I have imagined. However, if you strip down all the complicated financial products and terminology, the entire industry is simply just a people’s business.

That brings us to today.

During the corona pandemic, Iliya approached me with the idea of working together on 3veta. I loved the idea and was immediately on board. Now one year down the line I couldn’t be happier with the progress we have made with the platform, and I believe our users would agree with me!

Sounds like quite the ride! So, what is your role in 3veta exactly?

Great question. I get it a lot!

Seeing how we’re a very small team, all of us have to work multiple roles which is something I very much enjoy. However, my tasks specifically are mostly client-facing, so both sales and customer support. That is probably why many of you reading this today know me already, I assume we have interacted in some way through one of our many communication channels haha.

On the sales side of things, I find myself enjoying the dynamism of it. There’s not a “one-size-fits-all” solution that is forcing us to try different campaigns and strategies, some of which are more successful, while others less so. We are currently working on a campaign that I’m very excited about and can’t wait to see the results of. The approach is truly unique and we’re hoping to see positive results and I truly believe this is something we could use a lot in the future.

You’ve been working in industries that are known to be slow to adopt new technology. Now you are in an environment where the product is much more agile and the pace of change is quite high. How did your work routine change?

Strangely enough, the pandemic has also changed the face of the Finance industry quite a lot. We have all started working from home and using mostly video calls and chat to communicate. I believe that COVID has brought about the changes that many thought would never happen. Some of my ex-colleagues are still working remotely and we have all adapted. Or at least we had to. And now nobody wants to go back to the office, and I completely understand that.

However, other than working from home, you are right that the Finance industry has largely been stuck in its ways for many years. This is obviously completely different when your product is SaaS.

When working on a new product you’re basically starting from scratch. While in large established companies you spend most of the time working on the already established and repetitive processes. In a startup such as ours, most tasks require you to build something from scratch. A lot of the time is spent thinking about how to do certain things.

For example, we have many brainstorming sessions where we discuss the product, how do we see and perceive it, discussing different views and ideas on how to solve a problem or create a feature. This is rarely a case in a larger organization where you are rarely challenged creatively.

Standard processes are the death of creativity as we like to say. What are some of the new skills you have acquired since you joined 3veta?

Thankfully, I have been a part of small teams before, so I was already quite aware of how that should work. Although, this is the first time I’m working on a project that I’m involved with from the start. Moreover, I’m working on it with friends, so this has been a very pleasant experience I have to say. We often have differences of opinion, but I think that knowing each other actually helps us when making decisions.

I’m very pleased that I started finding out more about coding and how it all fits within a system since this is something that always interested me. Naturally, I didn’t do any of the coding myself, but I was involved with translating the website in Italian, so I had to learn how to use GitHub and how the collaborative work is performed in general. I’ve created quite a few pull requests (if I have to use the IT lingo).

Also, I’ve learned a lot about sales and the different methods used in sales. We even held a webinar with a friend who does sales for a living. It was definitely eye-opening. However, I’m well aware that I have so much more to learn in this area.

Other than that, it is very important to be well organized. I’m still working part-time as a consultant for the investment bank, so it is very important to keep track of all the tasks, meetings, and deadlines across three time zones.

I know you and I know that you are a very likable person. However, while answering support questions, you are often being criticized about everything users don’t like about the product, as if it is always your fault. How does it feel to take all the hits for the team?

Haha yeah, I print them all out and put them on a wall as motivation. Just kidding.

We really haven’t had a lot of negative feedback which is a testament to the great product we have built. However, we did have some complaints (*khm* account creation flow *khm*) so what I believe is the best strategy, in this case, is to try to show the users our reasoning behind this feature or approach to solving a specific problem. Naturally, you should always try to be as polite as possible, and people usually respond in the same way.

There was only one time I slightly lost my temper. I replied to a Facebook comment criticizing one of the features of the product and I… how should I put it… let’s just say I replied more aggressively than I normally do. And wow, it blew up immediately. Within 5 minutes I had other 5-6 replies from different people just piling up on my comment. I had to backtrack and in a very polite tone explain our position on this issue. Hasn’t happened since though, and probably never will.

But to be perfectly honest, so far, I’m very proud of the way we have interacted with our users and I believe that they are satisfied with their communication with us.

I am happy you are happy, Nikola! Now, people joke with the fact that you are always online. Are you really?

Yeah, my girlfriend has been telling me the same thing haha.

There’s a funny story about this. I’m currently spending a lot of my time replying to people’s inquiries and I’m always trying to reply to everyone as soon as I can (I just find that to be the best possible impression you can leave when communicating with people).

I guess people took notice of this because, during one of our webinars, I appeared on camera and say hi to the attendees. As it turns out, some of the attendees were surprised to see me since they assumed I had to be a bot because I’m always online and replying to everyone.

Since then this became a running joke within the company. We’re always joking that I’m some kind of sentient AI.

But to me, the key message here is that people notice when you reply to them quickly and provide an answer or a solution to their problem. They also like it when they see the person they are speaking to and know there’s a real person there trying to help them out. I believe that’s what most of our users like, we are always out there, interacting with everyone and we’re not afraid of showing our face since we stand behind the product we’ve created and trust in it.

What new feature or theme are you most excited about in the future development of 3veta?

Good question. I’m quite excited about numerous upcoming features (reminder that you can find our public roadmap and all of our upcoming features here).

Several calendar-related features are in the pipeline. We will soon have multiple calendars and per service availability, restyling of the calendar view, and many more.

But what I’m most excited about is the Team plan.

We are a small team, and I know how difficult it is sometimes to organize a meeting with more people, to find that ideal time slot, then inform everyone where will the meeting be held. So much time is wasted on this and numerous teams around the world are facing the same issue. Therefore, by solving our problem we will also be solving theirs.

The Team plan is already halfway completed and I can’t wait to place it in the hands of customers so they can test it, use it, and give us their feedback. The best part is that this time we held many meetings with already paying clients to ask them what they want us to build, so I do think this feature will be nailed from the beginning.

What is one thing you are passionate about outside of work?

Ooh, I like this question. I mean who doesn’t like to talk about their passions. Let me list some of them down:

Movies

Now I know this sounds like your average Tinder bio (add also traveling and pizza), but movies are indeed my passion. When I was a teenager I even directed two short movies, one of which was featured at a local film festival and I almost went to a film school. But I guess common sense prevailed and I studied Finance instead. However, I’m still a great admirer of the seventh art, I tend to stay informed as much as I can on all the upcoming movies and like to get lost browsing IMDb. If you’re looking for a movies guy for a pub quiz, I’m your man.

Fantasy Premier League (FPL)

This is a passion of mine that is fairly recent. I’m quite a competitive guy overall so FPL is a great game for someone who doesn’t have too much spare time. For those who don’t know what it is, it is a game that links to the English Premier League in football. At the beginning of each season, you choose your team of 15 players (11 plus 4 substitutes) and earn points based on their real-life performance (scoring or assisting goals, etc). The best part of it is that you get to play with your friends against their teams. It is very addictive.

Sports

Football is number one, basketball is a close second, but I enjoy all types of sports. I was recently introduced to cricket and rugby through some of my colleagues and now like watching them as well. I’m a big supporter of Liverpool and Red Star Belgrade, which made it very fun when they played each other in the Champions League.

Is there a question I didn’t ask which you’d like to answer?

Yes, thanks for asking. Burek is only with meat, all else are pitas.

You heard it here first, I guess.

Thanks so much for your time, Nikola, and good luck with all your future campaigns!

The post Meet the Team – Nikola (Head of Sales) appeared first on 3veta.

She graduated the maximum grade from Bocconi but is also known to have a Master’s degree in getting things done. So at only 33, this absolute go-getter is putting her heart and soul into 3veta, while raising her beautiful 2-year old daughter Reni together with her husband Ivo (yes, that’s another one of 3veta’s co-founders, but more on him in the next chapter of Meet the Team).

Katya, welcome to the hot chair of 3veta’s blog! It’s been a challenge to get hold of you – you are so busy all the time!

Let’s start with the elephant in the room. You are a working mum and that is always a challenge. How do you make it work?

Katya: Hi, Deni. I am very happy to be here. It is finally my turn  

If I have to be honest, there are no working hours when you have a child and a start-up – you work wherever and whenever your kid allows you to. My girl is a very active one – she wants to go out, play games with me, solve puzzles. Or she is sick (like now). I try to organize my day so that I can have time both for her and for work. Being able to work from home is a massive convenience. I am lucky to have super supportive colleagues – they often reschedule our calls last minute, so the time is convenient for me and I can join.

You really have to be clever about how you use your time. I usually take all my con calls from the phone – God bless the wireless headphones! As soon as my daughter starts playing with her toys or goes down for a nap, I will do some work on the laptop. I’ve got to work after she goes to bed for the night too, which is after 8 pm. My day used to finish pretty early before, but it’s no longer an option.

I bet it isn’t! You are a mom, a wife, and an entrepreneur, and I can imagine it’s never easy to organize everything seamlessly. Yet you make it look so easy. How do you do that?

Katya: Maybe I just make it look easy by turning off my camera during the meetings, haha!

It’s not easy at all.

You need to be very organized – I have dozens of tasks on my to-do lists for the day. And even when you have the best plan for the day or for the week, it can be ruined. And you just have to adapt, to change your plans, to reorganize. You must realize that no plan is the final one – you have to be agile, just like in any start-up. You commit to something but then the circumstances change, and you have to adapt. 

2 years ago I would do anything to follow my initial plan. Now I have a different motto – keep calm and be agile .

Yes, 2 years ago must have been a very different time for you. No 3veta, and no baby yet! So tell us about the start of it all. How did the idea about 3veta come to being? How was this all-star team assembled?

Katya: It was during the first lock-down in Bulgaria – in April 2020. Ivo and I hadn’t seen Iliya and Masha for 2 months. We just had regular family video calls so they can see us… well, see Reni, actually! She was 10 months old back then and starting to take her first baby steps. One day they told us that they have a business idea. They said think about it for 1 week and if you still think it is a good idea, let’s do it. It all started afterward and went really quickly!

I really believe in the importance of dates and numbers, so we decided to share the news with our family on May 2nd, which is an important date in our family. Towards the end of May, we met with Iliya and Masha in person. It was a strange experience given the COVID situation. We basically hadn’t seen any people in person for about 3 months. We then decided to pitch Iskren to become the fifth co-founder and CTO at 3veta.

So there you have it – 4 Bocconians and 1 Oxford guy decided the time has come for them to create something and present it to the world. 3veta was officially established in July 2020, and it’s been a lot of work ever since. But it’s been a really rewarding time because everyone on the team is truly dedicated. Everyone has a unique role and we fit together like pieces of a puzzle.

I would be forever grateful for the opportunity to work with so many smart and capable people.

Well, you are being too humble now. I know you are famous for being super-efficient and organized. Were you always like that?

Katya: Haha, yes, it’s in my blood really. And it’s really helped me get to where I am now. I graduated from a Maths High School, which is still the toughest one in Varna. But I was also always involved in extracurricular activities – youth clubs, extra courses, language classes. If there was ever anything that needed organizing, I was involved. It was a really precious experience because it helped me develop a large network of contacts.

This expanded even more during my time in Bocconi and I still enjoy meeting new people all the time. If I ever need to find out about anything, I always know who to go to.

So I am really lucky to know you then! And what are the new skills that you have learned since you started your own business?

Katya: It is to be patient.

When I was younger, I wanted to have everything here and now. When you build something from scratch, you have to be patient, otherwise, you will go crazy.

During our first boot camp with the team in June 2020, we were talking about 3veta, what it will look like, what problems it will solve, what features we are going to add.

But those were only words and dreams.

The product was not there yet, we had nothing to show to our friends when we pitched them. And then I realized I have to be patient because I can’t get 3veta for 1 day or 1 month. Then, when it was already there, we had to find our first client, then the first 10, then the first 100 clients. You just need to learn to take small steps all the time.

Another favorite skill I learned since I started my own business is to listen.

We are five co-founders and all five of us have our own opinion. People say that if you have 5 different people means there could be 5 different opinions. Actually, sometimes we could have 10 opinions!

So, you need to listen to what the other person has to say – not only because you may not be right, but sometimes they have more experience – no matter the age. Iliya has a lot of experience in the online business, Iskren is the tech person, Masha is so creative that you just don’t interfere in the design process, and Ivo is perfect at leading all kinds of projects. You can learn a lot from all of them, you just have to listen.

These are the words of a true leader! Now tell me, what gets you out of bed in the morning? What’s your source of motivation?

Katya: It’s the slice of bread with butter and jam that is waiting for me for breakfast!

I’m joking, of course.

My source of motivation is life. I get out of bed to live a meaningful life – nothing happens when you sleep and stay in bed. I go to bed to charge my batteries, so I have the power to create and add value to my family, friends, and 3veta. Life is so beautiful and so vivid – that’s the best motivation you may have to get up in the morning.

That’s very inspirational! Sounds like you really have a lot to look forward to. What is the most exciting thing in 3veta’s horizon in your eyes?

Katya: We are always working on a lot of new things. Recently, we’ve realized 3veta can be a valuable tool not only for individuals but also for teams. So we are developing a special team plan (agencies call it ‘agency’ plan). This is something our clients want, they are asking for it – and it’s fantastic that we are able to develop it for them!

Let me explain in more detail.

If you are providing services on your own, like an entrepreneur, sole proprietor, freelancer, the existing 3veta plans would be perfect for you. However, if you have grown and you have a group of professionals who are providing services on behalf of your company, you will certainly need to be able to coordinate and oversee their work.

This new Team plan satisfies the needs of exactly such organizations, by enabling each member of your team to have their own account, calendar, booking page, but at the same time grant an admin account to the owner or team leader. This admin account permits them to oversee all team members’ calendars, to be able to add/remove team members, etc.

Furthermore, through this option, the owner or team leader would also be able to centrally manage the payments, by connecting all user accounts to the main bank account of the company.

And that’s just one example of an exciting feature that is on its way! And 3veta is just at the beginning of its journey.

What’s really unique about us is that we listen carefully to the feedback of our customers, and we adapt our product very fast. Many other cool features are on their way to the world. Be ready for them!

So, yes, I see a bright future on 3veta’s horizon.

You come from a background in big-scale pharma corporate operations. How does this experience translate in the context of 3veta?

Katya: You learn how to deal with big numbers – they don’t scare you, but instead, you look forward to crunching them

Jokes aside, established companies have a lot to teach you, especially at the beginning of one’s career. In such an environment you learn how to structure work in the most efficient manner and how to follow processes, which are proven. Such large companies cannot afford to organize their operations in an inefficient manner. Things are not always fast, but they are always efficient for the bottom line.

To think about it, they have tens of thousands of employees. There are many layers dividing the highest and the lowest levels in the organization. On such a scale, if you make a small exception about the processes and practices on a basic level of the operation it can have tremendous consequences.

I have seen this happen while moving through different levels and have understood the importance of establishing the basics of any operation in an efficient way. This is also one thing I have tried to bring into 3veta’s processes. Strong fundamentals give more time and space to the team to focus on strategic topics.

So what was it like to transition from the pharma industry to the SaaS (software as a service) industry?

Katya: Those are two completely different industries.

The pharma industry, on one hand, is an established one, with heavy regulations, forcing it to follow precise processes. Deviations in such big-scale operations and projects are extremely expensive. Therefore, the way of working is dominated by adherence to strictly predefined corporate guidelines and procedures.

The SaaS industry, and especially B2C products, on the other hand, require the ability to shift and adapt constantly to market requirements and customer feedback. That means that at the beginning, you can have a specific idea about your product and what features the users might find appealing but later on it can be completely transformed into something else, given customers’ feedback.

So, dear customers, please give us feedback! Let us know what is most important for you.

Luckily, we are not in the pharma industry, so you could be able to receive your feature within a few weeks of requesting them!

You manage the financial side of the business. What tips can you give to your clients who manage their own finances?

Katya: There are few things that I think are very important and I always try to follow those best practices.

First, try to work with a realistic budget. We all tend to underestimate the resources we need, so try to build a more comprehensive budget, think harder if you are missing something, and if you are wondering between two numbers, choose the higher one to budget for. And of course, always use the good old buffers at the end.

Another critical thing is to be on top of your cash flows. Especially when you are tight on cash, it is all about the cash flows. In the beginning, forget about financial management ratios, profit-loss analysis, etc. It’s all about the cash flows.

You need to have a good grip when money goes out of your bank account and when you expect to have money coming in to ensure your business has enough fuel to go forward. This is exactly why we have included a payments solution in our product.

And the best tip I can give you is to use your finances to invest in yourself to become a better professional and always seek opportunities to learn.

So if you are contemplating whether to start a side hustle or not, just go for it.

This is so true! How do you see 3veta in a year, and in 5 years from now?

Katya: We are offering an outstanding product, and this is only the beginning for 3veta.

3veta is a simple to use all-in-one-place platform. It is a platform that unifies your client bookings, video calls, payments, and much more.

Next year is all about growing the number of our customers all around the world. We’ve already added so many new features in our product map for the near future that you just would not be able to resist signing up to it Being online, or at least in a hybrid work environment, is the future!

In one, five, or ten years 3veta will be always there because the 3 V-s will be there working hard to fulfill their dreams. And help professionals fulfill theirs, too!

And finally, one personal question. Most people relax by spending time with their family and friends. But in your case, your colleagues are your family and friends, too. Do you try to avoid work conversations in your spare time or is there no such thing as spare time for you?

Katya: When we started 3veta we decided to use only one channel for work conversations – Slack. All other channels are for our personal/family communication. So, they know that when I write them on WhatsApp it is not work-related.

As per our spare time together – it is inevitable to talk about 3veta but we try not to go too far. Or if we go for a family weekend somewhere we plan some time in advance for work talks. In fact, I grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and I am sure neither I nor my brother Iliya could think of a family dinner or holiday without work-related topics. That’s the life of an entrepreneur – you don’t have well-defined working days or hours.

But you know what, I like it. And most of it I like working with my family. Because it is good when you have colleagues like family, but it is better when your family is your colleagues.

Read interviews with other team members!

The post Meet the Team – Katya (Co-founder & CEO) appeared first on 3veta.

Working home office can save you a lot of money and can offer you more freedom than you ever had before.

However, perfecting your online presence is not an easy task. Even if you think you’re fully prepared for everything that you could stumble upon, there’s always something unexpected that might put you off guard and off track.

In this article, we’ve selected some of the main struggles that 7 of our coaches have experienced:

1. Building a solid strategy

The first thing that you should consider when you move your coaching business online is what strategy you will employ.

You should set a goal and a plan on how to achieve it. It seems simple but there are many factors to it.

What should you do first?

Invest in marketing and advertisement? Decide which group of potential clients to target? Choose the best platforms a.k.a. consultant scheduling software? Deal with administration and accounting? Find the best equipment for your virtual meetings?

You should do all that but in the right order.

If you already have the equipment needed, move on to finding your niche and type of loyal clientele.

Find the best consultant scheduling software that will help you arrange meetings and sort out the administrative stuff.

Then invest in the proper kind of advertisement to expand your business.

After you’ve grabbed the attention of the public and you can’t keep up with the paperwork, hire an employee or find a platform that automates the process.

Strategy is key in times of war …and in times of running a business online.

Make sure to plan what the next step is and how you want to proceed.

2. Booking and scheduling issues

Michael Roub, a strategic consultant with more than two decades of expertise working with businesses, says that ‘scheduling meetings with prospective clients typically require back-and-forth emails to confirm dates and times’.

You must be prepared for the chaotic and time-consuming process of arranging a meeting with a client via email.

At least until you find a nice appointment software that will spare you the trouble.

Furthermore, sometimes booking a time slot is not as easy as expected.

‘Because I’m helping women in their marriage, clients need to feel comfortable to explain why they are booking a session with me. Instead of sending prospects a direct calendar link, I send prospects to my website where they can access my link. This allows women to learn more about me before booking a consultation’, Leona Carter, a relationship coach and international empowerment speaker, explains.

You need to persuade the client that you’re trustworthy by introducing yourself first.

Make sure that they won’t change their mind about making an appointment with you just because you haven’t made it easy enough for them.

Dave Phillipson, a small business consultant and best-selling author, adds up to the conversation about the booking process by sharing that the biggest struggle he’s encountered is the lack of personal touch. ‘In-person, people see my genuineness, sincerity, and integrity’, he says.

Indeed, video call consultations can never fully replace face-to-face meetings. They are just the best alternative that professionals got in these difficult times.

3. Video meetings and ‘the personal touch’

Video meetings with your customers are a fundamental part of your online coaching business. This way your clients can see how charming and easy-going you are!

The tone of your voice, combined with your facial expressions and your body language can easily erase any trace of doubt that your client might be having.

Leona Carter admits, ‘For my clients, I have the first consultation via video because it ensures better connectivity and comfortability. Having my business fully online would not work well if video meetings were not an option because video makes the session personal and interactive’.

However, what you need to consider is which video calling software you are using, since two of the most common issues, according to Paul Granger, SEO Specialist & Google Ads Consultant, are related to your Internet speed and your processor being overloaded.

Tom Battye, an executive coach and leadership development consultant with 20 years experience, also highlights the importance of good equipment for video meetings:

‘I have learned that I feel much more confident if my setup is good. This involves professional lighting, an external microphone and camera, a neutral screen, and a standing desk.’

Ensuring high video and sound quality will also help you appear more professional in the eyes of your clients.

Even if you’re camera shy…

Pro tip

Scheduling video coaching sessions will be an important part of your coaching business. That’s why having a professional booking page where people can easily book you will help you organize your day. Plus, you’ll have a full overview of your availability.

4. Struggles with online payments

‘I used to focus on payment via check to avoid additional fees, however, I found that this was a terrible solution for many clients’, says Michael Roub.

That’s why every online coaching business should switch to online payment methods.

However, regarding online invoicing Paul Granger says, ‘it can be difficult to remind yourself to collect payments when you are a small business and have limited staff or resources. Then getting clients to pay on time is another part of the process.’

To find a solution to all these setbacks, Leona Carter made sure that ‘the payments were completed before the coaching session was finished’. This way she has no trouble with receiving what she’s owed on time and the client can enjoy a ‘worry-free session’.

But, it’s not all struggles when it comes to payment.

David Poole, a spiritual business coach, states that he doesn’t come across any payment difficulties:

‘My clients have a problem that needs to be solved and they have to pay me upfront for my services. I receive the payment immediately as I walk my customers through the payment system.’

One great example of a seamless checkout process is the one coaches find with 3veta – a tool that has focused on facilitating the invoicing process.

As the experts have pointed out, you must receive the money right away to avoid any awkward situations.

5. Website building and maintenance

After being asked about his website, Paul explained: ‘Planning a website is always a struggle but lucky for me I have the web development skills and online marketing skills, so I have been able to build our website and market the website online to get more organic traffic for the business.’

This is amazing, but what if one doesn’t possess the required web development skills to make their own space on the Internet?

‘I maintain the website, but a professional built it. I paid around $2000. The challenge is to keep it relevant by writing regular blogs. Also, SEO is an ongoing challenge. The marketplace is very competitive and it is necessary to keep creating backlinks to remain noticeable’, answers Tom Battye.

Similarly to Tom, Michael also paid another person to set up his website. He shared with us that he had to pay around $5,000 for the web developer’s services.

Although it’s convenient to pay someone else to do the job instead of you, it’s quite expensive and even unnecessary when there are platforms that can do the same job for much less.

David Poole, for instance, trusts a tool called Kartra to build his website. He states that it costs him $97 per month and he manages to maintain it since he has knowledge of sales processes, relationship building, and copywriting.

Eduardo Perez, founder of Musician Authority, also decided not to hire anyone and used WordPress to build and maintain his business coaching website because the platform is ‘beginner-friendly and ‘gives you full control over your website’.

While WordPress is a nice tool, building websites is its only application.

And many coaches prefer to have one solution for everything.

6. Finding the right platform to fit your workflow

As you might have noticed, there are a lot of platforms on the market for online coaching businesses.

For each important component of providing virtual services, there’s software that provides you with a solution. Therefore, you might get overwhelmed by the number of options and you might experience choice paralysis.

If you’re an aspiring coach, then surely you’d want to get your video calls, bookings, payments, and website in check.

That’s where 3veta can help.

One platform that provides you with everything needed to kick off successfully and without a single worry.

3veta’s got your back no matter what!

Are you ready to start your virtual coaching business?

Don’t hesitate much!

If you have read this article then you’re very aware of what you need to be prepared for.

Sure, providing online services might be challenging at first. But in no time, you’d realize how beneficial it is for both your personal and professional life!

The post 7 Coaches Share Struggles of Moving Their Coaching Businesses Online appeared first on 3veta.

For us, the regular muggles, math exams have been the worst nightmare during high school. However, Iliya not only enjoyed the exact sciences but also participated in math competitions.

So, it comes as no surprise that completing his degree in Economics & Finance was not that challenging for him at all.

Iliya Valchanov is one of the co-founders of 3veta and is Head of Marketing. But, this isn’t his first start-up rodeo. Previously, he has been a part of 365 Data Science – an educational venture that has helped over 1,000,000 data science professionals all over the world.

Let’s find out what else he has to share.

So first thing first, tell us about your previous education. How did you end up studying in Italy?

Iliya: Back in high school, I was competing in Mathematics. I was probably 10 years old when my family found out that I was quite good at it. So I started pursuing this and people always expected me to continue studying Мath as a part of my higher education.

But, I didn’t see much promise in studying Мathematics at university then. Today, I recognize this as a foolish belief, but I am still quite happy with my education of choice.

I graduated from Bocconi University in ‘International Economics, Management, and Finance’ with a focus on Finance. Of course, I chose all the Math-heavy electives I could.

How did I end up in Italy precisely? Well, Bocconi is a great university. Hands down one of the best in Europe (and the world) for business. To be honest though, what really made the choice much easier was that I got a Merit scholarship.

At the end of my degree, I went to China for a semester to do my exchange in SUFE (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics). In terms of education, this was the main place where I could devote time to actual Math. From a ‘life’ standpoint, so to speak, this experience changed my perspective on just about everything ever.

Amazing! And what about your professional experience before 3veta?

Iliya: After graduating from Bocconi, I was doing my gap year before my Master’s in law at UCL. I was applying rigorously for consulting jobs at different well-known companies. I was also expanding my education by taking the CFA (Certified Financial Analyst) exams. You know, I was determined to learn as much as possible.

That’s when a couple of my friends told me they were working on a start-up. It was about creating online courses and they asked me if I wanted to join.

For one reason or another, something didn’t work out for me at those consulting interviews. And, in hindsight, it’s all for the better. I joined the start-up.

It was just four of us in a very small office. Although the projects I was working on hadn’t picked up eight months from the time I joined, I was certain that online education was the next big thing. And, I wanted to be there.

So, I declined the Master’s degree offer, I stopped thinking about finding another job, and I fully devoted myself to this company. This is how I became a co-founder of 365 Data Science.

As a Finance graduate at first I didn’t know what data science was. But after a bit of research, it turned out that the heavy Math I was studying in my electives both at Bocconi and in China was practically what data science people called machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). Not only that, I had trained numerous machine learning models, which in business school fell under the topic of Econometrics.

Overnight, I realized that my skillset: Business + Economics + Finance + Math + some coding, as well as my affinity for teaching, was extremely well suited for data science. So, I started creating online courses. My first online course was ‘Statistics for Data Science and Business Analysis’ and was quite successful.

Soon after it came to life, we created a roadmap of a total of 12 courses that we believed are needed to become a data scientist. Together with the 365 team, we built arguably the most comprehensive online data science program out there.

Currently, there are more than 35 online courses, created by 365 Data Science, and more than 1,000,000 students around the world who have taken them.

We can say that you have experience in the online education industry, and you were also a top student and a merit-based scholarship recipient. What did offline education give you?

Iliya: Basically, it’s all about meeting people: your professors, professionals in the field, and of course students. With your peer students, you’ll meet a lot of like-minded people, interested in the same things as you, having similar goals to yours.

At the same time, they’ll have different backgrounds, different experiences. It is irreplaceable to meet all these new people and broaden your point of view and build these relationships with people from different cultures.

Reflecting on this, I think the main thing about going to university is to be able to understand another person’s perspective and learn from it, put in Layman’s terms.

Sounds quite trivial, but it is actually quite deep. I need to elaborate on this, sorry for taking extra time.

This point refers to developing the theory of mind. Theory of mind describes the ability to put yourself in others’ shoes and understand people from different backgrounds, cultures, industries, needs, and so on. It is absolutely fundamental for being successful in whatever you do that involves other people.

While this is a process that starts when you are a child, I think it is nurtured and redefined by changing your environment drastically.

I can think of no better trigger event than going to study abroad.

So, would you encourage young people to go for formal education? Or, do you think that the future is online-based?

Iliya: Honestly, if you want to develop a skill, you don’t need to go to university, you just go online, learn the skill, practice it, and master it.

Let me throw another theory into the conversation. I have a feeling you are starting to like these.

There is this thing called just-in-time learning that many people are practicing. Whenever you need something, you just learn about it either by reading or watching a video, or whatever. Then you practice it immediately after, and this gives you the best learning experience possible.

Don’t get me wrong, I think universities will never go out of fashion. However, in the aspect of learning skills, universities are very clumsy. It takes two to five years to graduate and quite often the materials you are using are outdated.

You know the quote ‘Tell me and I forget; teach me and I remember; involve me and I learn’. Just-in-time learning closes the full circle almost immediately. With universities, you close the circle years after you’ve studied something. This makes the whole learning process highly inefficient.

Going to university is irreplaceable as humans are social creatures. We need to meet people, make friends, form a network with them. My best man at my wedding is from my university. When it comes to skills though, most of my learning has been self-learning.

So my next question is related more to the generation that is living almost fully online and is feeling overwhelmed by that. Technology has found its place in all of our daily activities and sometimes it’s just too much for us to handle. Is this happening to you as well? Is there a time when you need to take a break and unplug from the web?

Iliya: Personally I don’t feel I have to unplug. I do work on a PC. But closing the PC usually means that work for the day is over.

‘How so? Aren’t you working on your phone, Iliya?” – you may ask. My phone is ‘read only’ when it comes to working. I don’t answer emails from my phone. I am informed of what’s going on but I maintain my work-life balance by engaging only on a PC.

Even so, my smartphone screen time is relatively low. I average around 1.5 hours per day (yes, I do monitor it). This includes phone calls, work, social media, videos, articles, everything.

Finally, I purchased a smartwatch recently. So, sometimes I leave my phone at home and I go out just with my watch. Come to think of it, one can say I’ve been trying to unplug for a bit.

However, the idea that I can go without my computer, smartphone, or Internet connection for more than two days is a bit unsettling. I think it is even irresponsible –mainly to the people that may need you. That’s why I don’t do it and I don’t recommend it.

I was wondering if your previous experience in online education has something to do with your decision to create an online consultant scheduling software?

Iliya: Everything I have done before has brought me to where I am today. So the answer surely is yes. To be more specific, though, it is not very much related to my experience as a teacher as it is to working and creating online.

I’m super enthusiastic about software, digital nomad life, and so on. I am fascinated by tools that can help your productivity but also empower people who are less tech-savvy.

No matter your age or technical preparation, you should be able to be a bigger part of society by working online. And, easy-to-use software is what helps the most.

I think helping others achieve more is what drives me –doesn’t matter how.

And how do you envision the future of the workplace in 10 years?

Iliya: Oh, absolutely online.

When we were creating online courses some years ago, the team could be remote, the students were remote as well. Everything was happening in a different time zone. All we needed was a computer and a stable Internet connection.

However, back then this was not a common practice because connectivity was poorer, the Internet was not everywhere. Even nowadays, there are some inconveniences while traveling. Yes, you can work from anywhere, but you are always wary of the Internet connection.

So, there are 3 main drivers of the future of work: connectivity, software, and hardware.

As to connectivity, I am absolutely certain that in 10 years’ time this is not going to be an issue anymore. So, we’re going to stay connected wherever we go.

We’ll also have much better software. Our product is a prime example of software advancement. We have new technology, in fact, better technology. And we’re making it very easy, very light for Internet usage, very light for ‘brain’ usage.

Finally, after software innovations, there are hardware innovations. So holograms, VR, cameras that follow you around the room, and all that jazz. They are not fantastical. They are already here, but they are too expensive to be used by the public. However, many companies are working on their accessibility and it’s merely a matter of time.

Okay, so I would like to add to this question by asking you if there are professions that in your opinion can become fully online, but would be better if they don’t? After all, in-person communication is crucial.

Iliya: Yeah, I know a couple. A big one is speech therapy, I’ll say. Usually, speech therapists are people who teach children how to pronounce words and letters better. And when you’re live face-to-face with a child, you can create a much better connection. You can build trust.

Now, if we’re talking about psychology, psychotherapy, and so on, it’s also a bit complicated. But being a grown adult is different, right? A child cannot understand this very well (think about the theory of mind from before).

So, I think professions that consist of work with children couldn’t and shouldn’t be done online. Primary school, speech therapy, sports, etc.

I’m going to change the topic a bit and ask you how do you feel working with friends and family?

Iliya: Well, sometimes it’s tough. Sometimes it’s easy because you know the strengths and weaknesses of the other person.

So, if you’re working with someone new, you have to get to know them, see what they’re good at. It takes time to note the things they fail at and the ones they excel at. When you work with friends and family, getting to know each other is no longer an issue.

Also, it’s very empowering. For instance, working with Masha, my wife, means that we are sharing knowledge constantly. This way I don’t have to know everything and be good at everything, I can trust her with some of the knowledge.

So, on to the negative side. Some arguments could spiral out of control and that’s because the hierarchy is less well-established than in a company where people are strangers. The important thing is to have conflict resolution mechanisms that can help you close the problematic topics as soon as possible and move forward.

And as a marketing specialist, what is the biggest challenge that you have faced so far in 3veta’s journey?

Iliya: I think of myself more as a marketing enthusiast.

But, I believe being a marketer nowadays is this collection of technical knowledge and marketing understanding; as well as being able to recognize compelling visuals (not even create them).

As a marketer, you also need a lot of data. In 3veta, we started from a brand new website with no users and no website visits. Therefore, we didn’t have any data.

The biggest challenge for us was to acquire this initial data.

Having data helps not only with knowing what users you’ve got. It is also crucial for quality assurance. Only if you have data on bugs can you fix them.

Finally, and most importantly, you need a critical amount of data before you can start leveraging machine learning when running ads.

Getting there was definitely our biggest challenge. And, it still is a challenge.

I’m used to working with enormous datasets, I know hundreds of ways in which I can work with the information. However, when the dataset is small, the techniques are quite limited.

What about the thing that you love the most about 3veta? I know that Masha’s favorite feature is the website builder. What about yours?

Iliya: Okay, so I have two things that I love.

The first one is that you can get set up and start your online business without having to integrate any other software. In five minutes, you’re up and running. Zoom is incredible, but you have to connect it with all these other apps to make it more than a video conferencing tool. And, this is the best thing about 3veta.

The second one is a person’s identity on 3veta. We let our users have it.

You can put your own branding and your own logo. This is your own place on the Internet, which is truly yours. You don’t compete with anyone on it and there are no rankings.

It is just you. With our technical expertise behind your back.

Okay, and is there something that you would like to improve at 3veta?

Iliya: I want to improve structured data. It is actually more sophisticated than most I’ve seen online, but I have this vision about how it can be perfect.

It’s absolutely the biggest waste of time for our team to make it happen. Even so, that’s something feature-wise that I would like to change. Maybe in a year or two…

So my next question was, how do you see 3veta’s future in a few years from now, but I think you just answered that.

Iliya: Oh no, structured data is a very minor thing.

In a few years, I want to see 3veta become a recognized tool to build your own workspace with your own branding, on your own terms, with your own client list.

In 10 years, I want to do holograms.

It would be way cooler to have holograms, by the way. So yeah, we are looking forward to that!

Iliya: Yeah, I’m sorry for the inconvenience. I’ll do my best to bring you some holograms as soon as possible.

We are counting on you. Now, I have two more questions, and they’re a bit more personal. Do you have any hidden talents or hobbies that you would like to share with our readers?

Iliya: If I have hidden hobbies, they shall remain hidden

As for the hidden talents, I could say that I’m handy with all the physical tools. I’m good at repairing things around the house. I’ve purchased a bunch of tools, watched a number of YouTube tutorials, and put them to work. It comes easy to me.

Apart from that, Iskren and I are doing this podcast, which is kind of work-related, kind of a hobby.

The name is Life Math Podcast and you should definitely check it out.

We are not getting financial gains from it, but we are super satisfied so I think this is what people call a hobby.

Thank you so much for this interview, Iliya. It was fun! As for your talents, I found another one of yours! James Joseph Sylvester said that ‘Mathematics is the music of reason’, so maybe you should consider yourself a musician!

Read interviews with other team members!

The post Meet the Team – Iliya (Co-founder & Head of Marketing) appeared first on 3veta.

She is one of the co-founders at 3veta, head of all things visual, and a professional with a burning passion for product design.

It might come as a surprise to you that all her background is very much quantitative: Mathematics, Economics, Technology and Management consulting.

However, Masha has always found a way to implement her creative skills in her day-to-day life, running away from the boring stuff and finding a creative outlet in the most unexpected places.

Let me cut to the chase. I know that you are responsible for 3veta’s design. Tell us about your background – what did you study; what’s your professional experience?

Masha: For starters, I want to mention that my experience and education were never related to design. But creative work has always been a big part of my life!

I graduated from a High school of Mathematics and then moved on to study Economics at Bocconi University in Milan.

I got my first real job as an assistant to the HR Director of Hilton for Continental Europe. Being the right-hand (wo)man of a Director in a company such as Hilton provided me with unprecedented exposure. I was often in the room where things happened.

Nonetheless, one of the more important lessons for me from that period is how important it is to communicate through design, to make sure to keep people’s attention even when it comes to a boring document or a slideshow. One way to do that effectively was by making it engaging and exceptionally visually appealing.

After Hilton, I moved back to Bulgaria and became a business analyst at Indeavr, a management consulting firm, which focused on improving company performance through digital transformation. Due to my Economics background and design affinity, my role quickly became more client-facing.

There I truly developed the ability to communicate through design. As a part of a consulting team, I was tasked with a lot of sales pitches but also complex data science projects. While not a data scientist myself, I have worked with our data science team to develop Microsoft PowerBI dashboards. Their job was to crunch the numbers, while I was entrusted with making the results digestible for a non-technical audience. And smart design was my best friend.

I’ve always loved having a creative outlet, I’ve been drawing since I was a child, I was also into photography. It turned out that I could contribute to any team through my creative skills.

That sounds very interesting! I was wondering, how did you learn to do all this new stuff? Would you say you’re a self-learner or maybe you’ve attended some courses?

Masha: I think there are several components to learning new things.

First, you need to have a desire to do it, to be curious and fascinated by what you’re doing, or at least an aspect of it. In my case, that was design in any shape and form. And to design things, I believe you need to have an eye that enables you to differentiate between bad design and good design.

Once I realized design could be my strong suit, I started further developing my skills. A great leap forward was a course I did on presentations by 356labs. The more you know about anything, the more you notice it.

The same goes for design. Analyzing the designs that you see all around you, you start understanding what makes a good design and why other designs fall flat. You train the eye and build the ability to pinpoint what needs to be improved, why, and how.

It really is a process. You never stop learning. The good thing is that nowadays there are so many resources – blogs, YouTube, even Instagram. All the knowledge and inspiration are right at your fingertips if you are ready to learn. 

What’s the story behind becoming involved in a start-up? How did you decide to create 3veta?

Masha: To be honest, I’ve always known that at some point I want to do something for myself, be my own boss, and work with people that I like and that I am inspired by. My family is a family of entrepreneurs. So for me, the idea of mixing up business and family has always been the natural way to go. It’s not always easy, but I have seen it work. It was just a matter of time and having a great idea.

So at the beginning of the pandemic, I quit my job. I had no idea what we were going to do, I had no job prospects, nothing. I truly loved my old team and am actually good friends with many of them. However, professionally I felt I needed to be learning and progressing faster. I looked around but I couldn’t find anything else that interested me as much as striking it out on my own and learning new things that will be in a radically different direction.

Once I quit my job, something rather cool happened. I started coming up with all sorts of new ideas. Indeed, if you don’t have a full-time job, your mind is not occupied by it anymore. You get the creative freedom to think. We would be discussing ideas every day and eventually, by focusing on the problems we saw around us, we found one that we thought we could solve. That’s when we came up with the idea.

The hardest step was quitting a great job with no security prospects or anything, just leaning on your intuition that, now that I’ve freed my mind, something’s going to come up. And it did.

As far as I know, this is your first job where you have to manage people. Was it difficult for you to become a manager or maybe you are a natural?

Masha: I’ve got to say, it wasn’t easy. In my previous job, I had a lot of freedom and I never liked this sense of micromanaging people or being micromanaged. Checking in on people every 15 minutes is a complete no-no for me.

I want to work with people who I trust and who need only a bit of guidance and help. However, now that everybody’s working remotely, it’s even more challenging to manage a team. You need to build that trust first. You cannot start working with someone and just rely on them completely to do their job diligently.

I think the most challenging thing is establishing a relationship that allows you to understand each other with lesser and lesser words as the communication goes. Of course, it’s not going to work out for everyone. With some people, you’re just never going to find the same language to speak. Finding the right people who will fit in your team is just a part of the process. Being a business owner surely helps with that

Tell us what it’s like to work as part of the 3veta team.  Do you get along with everyone or is there a bit of drama sometimes?

Masha: The 3veta team is like family!

Everybody’s very open when it comes to their anxieties or something that’s bothering them. I can always come to them for help, feedback, or sometimes even just vent. Everybody’s very supportive, but at the same time, they can give you the critical push you sometimes need.

It’s a direct, open, and honest communication, which I think is very important.

What makes you the proudest about the 3veta product?

Masha: What makes me the proudest is definitely how far we’ve come.

How far we’ve come in terms of everybody’s understanding of what we are, what we’re supposed to be, and how close our product is to these initial values that we set up in the beginning.

We wanted it to be very inclusive, accessible, and easy to use. To make it simpler for people to move their business online, achieve their goals, meet their clients, and get paid.

And I think we’ve done a pretty good job at that.

Okay, and while we are speaking about what 3veta offers to the public, I wanted to ask you what is your favorite feature of the product?

Masha: My favorite feature is our website builder.

Why? Because I do believe this is the easiest website builder found online at this point in time. Using it feels like child’s play, it’s fun instead of frustrating and there’s nothing to figure out.

My teammates joke with me for loving it so much, haha.

But really – it is so simple and cool. You should definitely check it out.

One of the most common questions for start-ups is ‘How is your product different?’ I want to ask a slightly different question. All the products on the market look very much alike. What makes 3veta stand out design-wise?

Masha: All design has trends and follows cycles. And it’s the same for web design.

When we were starting out, there were a few platforms that we liked that stood out. But now the cycle has turned. Everybody implemented those designs and now so many platforms and ads all look the same. They are all using the same fonts and the same types of visuals.

I think that it’s good to use the latest of what the technology can provide you with. But also listen to your inner voice when it comes to design, and not always be completely immersed in the new fashion of web design.

If you’re just following the latest trends, instead of standing out with your visual components, you blend in. So you have to keep an eye for what’s in style but trust your gut.

I think our current design is very modern at the same time has a pinch of us. We did not give in to the latest trends.

And it is inevitable, as we grow for our design to change. It’s a living thing.  

I wanted to ask you if there is another place where you implement your designer skills?

Masha: I’ve just recently launched my own kind of creative outlet called Masha’s Monthly.

There I collect some inspiration, I curate a monthly playlist with songs I hope you haven’t heard, I make desktop wallpapers with calendars and just collect things I find fascinating.

I have a particular attachment to the wallpapers, as they serve little purpose other than to bring some joy at the start of the workday. But exactly because their goal is so simple, I find designing them and using them very satisfying. 

You sound quite productive. I am curious if you have ever experienced a creativity crisis and if so, how do you manage to overcome it?

Masha: Oh, yeah, for sure. Who hasn’t?

Burnout is a very popular word now for getting to this stage where you don’t have the inspiration or motivation to keep pushing. And it happens so often that people have made it normalcy in today’s life. Of course, it’s best to avoid reaching that point, but that’s easier said than done.

I usually just need to recharge or look at something new to gain a fresh perspective on what I have already seen. It might be through watching a movie, or it might be just going out for a walk or reading some articles.

What’s important is to try not to force it, but rather let the purpose of inspiration go and follow your curiosity instead.

It is often when you least seek it that inspiration strikes.

Can you share any secrets about the future development plans of 3veta as a platform? What are you currently working on?

Masha: One thing that is in the oven right now, baking and cooking, is something that we’ve designed recently – the payments page. I’m very excited about it because it’s going to bring a lot of very useful and very easy-to-use features.

The provider will be able to create a simple payment link and get paid for anything with just one click. Then, send the invoice to their customer, see all of their payment history and all the payments that are still to be paid. It gives a lot of flexibility. You will not be limited to getting paid for meetings, you can get paid for anything you do – from a digital deliverable to an in-person consultation or a prepayment for a series of consultations – it’s all up to the professionals.

Okay, well, we are looking forward to seeing it! I am going to ask you two personal questions, if I may. A little bird told me that Rome is a special place for you. Would you tell me about the time that you spent there?

Masha: Sure, would love to!

We moved to Rome two months ago, taking advantage of being able to work from anywhere, and not being bound by a physical place as much. So we moved to Rome, where also our CTO, Iskren, lives at the time with his future wife to be.

And it was amazing.

Rome has always been one of my favorite cities to visit. I’ve been there two times before while I was back in high school. And I remember it very vividly.

So one of the best things to do was strolling around the small streets, the fountains, the alleys, and realizing that I’ve been there before, remembering them as if they were yesterday. And also now experiencing Rome without the (literally) millions of tourists is kind of walking through a museum. It really is the Eternal city. I love it!

One last question, do you mind sharing with me why is everyone calling you Masha? What’s the story behind your nickname?

Masha: Sure. My mother is Russian and my dad is Bulgarian. Mariya is a very common name, not only in Bulgaria but everywhere in the world. It is a blessing but also a curse.

Way back in the day to differentiate all the Mariya-s each had to have a different nickname. Mine came from my heritage and it stuck. I actually quite like it.

Thank you for this interview, Masha! As a starting interviewer, I can say that you have made this experience absolutely stress-free for me and it was a pleasure! I wish you luck and I hope you keep sharing the same belief as Albert Einstein that ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun’.

Masha: Thank you so much for this interview, Devi! It has been quite fun!

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The post Meet the Team – Masha (Co-founder & Head of Design) appeared first on 3veta.

From full-time coding at 17 to Caltech and Oxford, to world-class derivatives trading, to co-founder and CTO of 3veta.

Iskren is 26 years old and lives in Rome. But don’t be fooled by his young age – he has A LOT to tell us.

I know you have a lot of previous tech experience. Tell us about your background – what did you study?

Iskren: In high school I was heavily involved in Maths and Physics, going to (and winning) multiple competitions. So for my undergrad, I chose Computer Science and Physics at the University of Edinburgh.

In the third year of my Bachelor’s, I was accepted for the exchange program with Caltech in the US. For an aspiring young physicist such as myself at the time, that was a moment of great recognition. The actual education did live up to the standards. The year I spent there was incredibly busy, but the leap I made in terms of learning was incomparable to anything else. I got involved in machine learning and later into quantum computers (this is the intersection between informatics and physics). In fact, I also did a research project on quantum computers that allowed me to stay in Caltech during the summer. It was a fantastic research experience!

After graduating from Edinburgh, I started a Master’s degree in Computer Science at Oxford University. This was an outstanding social experience with some of the brightest minds in the world from various backgrounds and research fields, and not only tech. My time at Oxford was also a great experience from a scientific point of view. My dissertation on quantum computers was regarded quite highly, and during that same time, I managed to publish in a peer-reviewed journal. That’s where my research journey came to a halt, but it’s never too late to get back to it.

This is some first-rate academic experience! Did you have time to work at all?

Iskren: Oh yes, a lot (well, not in Caltech though). Actually, I’ve been employed full-time remotely since 17. Back then, remote work was already possible, but not many were open to it. So maybe it’s no surprise that I have co-founded a company that helps providers of remote services.

My first job was a programmer’s position in a software company.

The first project we worked on was based on a European Commission assignment. It was an application that could calculate the carbon footprint of any business and give advice how you can decrease it.

Later, I got involved in the main start-up project that the company was working on, which covered the full cycle of a product launch – physical product design, creation of the prototype, software design and coding, everything. It’s called ActivBody (then TAO Wellness) and it is a device for isometric physical exercises. I worked full time on this project during my time in Edinburgh and it’s now a live successful product that sells globally.

I had to take a pause from working while in Caltech but returned to it as soon as I returned to Edinburgh. The new project was a software for non-professional financial traders – helping them to diversify and hedge their portfolios.

Apart from that, I worked on a machine learning course that was later launched on Udemy and was a massive success in a number of countries. As a matter of fact, I am still in touch with the team and we are working on something, but 3veta is my main focus now.

So you have plenty of experience with start-ups! Did you ever get tempted to try a corporate career?

Iskren: I did actually. I wanted to learn what corporate experience would be like. I secured a position in DRW Trading as a software engineer. This was a massively different experience to anything I had done before.

When you work in financial trading, any small change you make to your code has an immediate impact. Derivatives are exciting, but you have no right to make any mistakes. Any small error in the code can cause the company to lose hundreds of thousands of pounds in just a second.

What this taught me is how to genuinely ensure quality. How to really test things. There, I heard for the first time Tony Hoare’s quote about the two approaches to software design – so simple there are obviously no issues, or so complicated there are no obvious errors. It really stuck with me and I am adamant we stick to the former in the 3veta solution.

Sounds like a very enriching role! How did you move on to 3veta then?

Iskren: It happened very naturally. The beginning of my corporate job was very intense in terms of learning. Trading is extremely interesting and I was working with brilliant people so it was all very satisfying.

But with time, I realized I didn’t have any direct impact on people’s lives.

I wanted a job that would allow me to make a tangible difference to our customers. And also to be learning intensively again. When I heard about the 3veta idea, I knew on the spot this was the right thing for me.

Joining 3veta also allowed me to move to Rome. Not having to work at a particular location was an important benefit and certainly is something our customers can understand too.

All in all, it wasn’t an easy decision because I was giving up a very stable job. But I went all in – I quit the very next week and 3veta is where all my energy goes now.

That’s a massive leap! So, what is it like to work as part of the 3veta team?

Iskren: On one hand, I am now back in web development after a pause of about 5 years. Lots of things have changed and I’ve had to catch up. I am also now in charge of the biggest remote product development team I have ever managed. There is a lot of synchronization needed every day and my team’s actions have to be coordinated with the rest of the company. It’s a unique management opportunity for me too.

On the other hand, 3veta is bursting of creativity. We are brainstorming a lot, always on the lookout for product improvements. Daily work is very dynamic, and the team can implement decisions very quickly. Everyone has an input from their own point of view – sales, design, dev team, and it’s exciting to find the intersection between all of them.

We often have to align our views of what the product should offer. The platform is actually quite abstract in the sense that it enables you to do different things according to your needs. So we regularly work on frameworks to ensure that every user story makes sense. This is a must when you are developing a modular product.

What makes you most proud about the 3veta platform?

Iskren: Because our product is modular, our customers can easily opt for either a very simple experience or go in for the full complexity. It is always especially important for me to provide simplicity to our customers and modularity is the way we achieve it. You should be able to do everything very easily and discover depth only when you explicitly look for it – and that’s exactly what we offer.

What makes 3veta technically superior than the other platforms on the market?

Iskren: It’s the security element. This is essential when you work with personal data and payments. The whole system is set up with a lot of automated testing from day one, which means every time we deploy anything, hundreds of tests are run to check for errors. This makes our system a lot more secure than anything else I have seen on the market.

Let’s talk about the industry of online services via video call. Why does a provider need to use a special platform? Can’t they simply use Zoom?

Iskren: There is no simple answer to this because everyone has different needs. But overall, our lives are becoming more and more complicated by the day. This massively increases the value of apps that help you save time and optimize your activities. You can try to do everything yourself, sure, but using 3veta will save you from having to use several different apps.

Keep in mind that WhatsApp and Revolut might work for one customer, but another one might prefer something completely different. The connections between apps take time and many people fall in this time-wasting trap. Having everything under one login offers a massive value.

Our customers don’t need to spend time building systems. They can focus on what they are best at.

What tips can you give providers of online video services when choosing a platform for their business?

Iskren: Many platforms dilute the providers’ identity by promoting their own label. We don’t do that. We are a platform that offers a white label solution – where your name and appearance are leading. The 3veta brand is in the background. If you value your own image, your customers will surely see it.

Another thing is that our customers are providers who have their own client base. They are the ones who own their customers’ data, not us. Some platforms (marketplaces) give you access and, at some point, they start showing your customers ads of your competition. Nobody wants that!

One more tip is not to stick to a solution just because “that’s the way I’ve always done it”. I would advise any provider to experiment with software in order to find out what works best for them.

3veta’s product is specifically designed for providers of online services via video meetings. These services have really taken off in the recent years. How do you see their future?

Iskren: I can totally see services provided via VR. You can already do so many things via holograms, the technology just needs commercializing. VR can transform any space into something really exciting – you could be holding a meeting in a space that is literally a presentation of its own. You could immerse your customer in the actual experience or product you are selling. It can be really interactive and provide a one-of-a-kind impact. The opportunities are incredible.

Your life has always been extremely busy. You must be used to it, but how do you relax when you are not working?

Iskren: Haha, there isn’t much time when I am not working. I am completely devoted to this project.

Prior to lockdown, I used to travel abroad most weekends, which was great because I was visiting new places and I managed to read while on the plane. Lockdown has allowed me to do some new things though. My girlfriend and I now grow our own produce on the rooftop of our flat.

The truth is that time is never there for anything. And time is always there for everything. If you want to do something, you have to make the time for it yourself.

So true! How do you manage to stay focused?

Iskren: The best way to do it is work at night, although this is not so easy anymore. I now have to communicate with a lot of people daily and it’s difficult to focus fully on a single activity. If I have to really direct my brain at one single thing, I just clear up my night and write that code. That is the only way to have some uninterrupted time.

What’s your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Iskren: I’d say Jira. It’s a bit like Trello but allows you to customize your workflow in all kinds of ways. The flexibility is incomparable. You can not only define your own complex process but also specify what part of it you want to view and how. It’s brilliant and I’ve enjoyed using it.

Can you share any secrets about the future development plans of 3veta as a platform?

Iskren: I don’t want to give away too much because things are still in discussion. However, the team’s main priority is improving the customer experience. We do have exciting ideas in the pipeline. That’s all we are working for – there is no benefit in luring people to on-board if we don’t give them the best. The market is competitive, but our product is excellent. The team is exceptionally talented and this has already brought us happy customers!

Thank you so much, Iskren! This was a surprisingly fact-packed interview for such a young man. We wish you all the best and may the tech be solid for many more years to come!

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The post Meet the Team – Iskren (CTO) appeared first on 3veta.