StartUP Venture City Conference 2022




Nov. 30 was awaited by AUBG students because it was the day when the StartUP Venture City Conference 2022 took place. The event, organized by the AUBG club StartUP, began at 7:30 PM in the Dr. Carl Djerassi Theater Hall and sparked serious interest as there was not a single vacant seat in the hall.

 

The Entrance to the Dr. Carl Djerassi Theater Hall Before the Conference. Photo courtesy of Hary Dikov.

 

This was the largest initiative that the club has ever undertaken, which was proven by the invited speakers who are famous entrepreneurs with vast experience in their respective fields.

 

The conference began with a video that featured famous sights from around the world and prepared the audience for the significance of the event. Shortly afterward, the two hosts, StartUP members Ivaylo Todorov and Martin Stoilkov, entered the stage and introduced a great number of sponsors and media partners, one of which was AUBG Daily. 

 

The first speaker was Christo Popov, the founder of 12 startups who has an extensive corporate background lasting three decades as a senior executive with multinational large companies. His project Fast Track is a fast-growing business consulting company that works with over 2000 large and middle-sized corporations from all over Europe. 

 

The main focus of Popov’s speech was on three reasons why startups fail. He began by asking the audience what an entrepreneur is; after having received answers, he defined the term as a person who starts an idea before having the resources to do it. He continued with another question for the spectators, asking what the biggest enemy of an entrepreneur is, the answers being fear, doubt, and perfectionism. 

 

Later on, Popov emphasized the connection between boxing and business and gave examples of multiple occasions when he was asking himself whether a negative event was a “knockout or a knockdown.” He also shared that he did not receive any job offers when graduating, even though he thought being at the top of his class at the University of Cambridge would guarantee that. A valuable piece of advice was that real life is the best teacher and that startups should not be perceived as a business, but rather as a laboratory. 

 

The next speaker in line was Svetozar Georgiev, the co-founder of Telerik, Telerik Academy, and Campus X. He is the Chair of BESCO - the Bulgarian Entrepreneurs' Association, and a board member of “Teach for Bulgaria'' Foundation. Georgiev is currently focusing on developing educational institutions and helping the next generation of Bulgarian entrepreneurs develop. 

 

The topic of Georgiev’s speech was “Culture is key for success in a startup” and he began by providing an example from the first company he ever worked in. In there, a friend of his was fired for providing constructive feedback and this culture was contrary to what he had already formed as personal beliefs. He continued by advising the audience to rotate and spend time with different teams and gave the example of his company Telerik where nobody considered themselves a boss. 

 

Georgiev underlined the importance of having the right people and culture as this means a 90% chance of success. He said that brave, borderline delusional, and disciplined are the traits that every entrepreneur must have if pursuing success. 

 

Hristo Boyadzhiev was the third speaker of the night and he is well-known for being the founder of both Tuk-Tam and Parent Academy. He is a social entrepreneur and has experience in the tech industry as the CEO of the digital product agency Despark.

 

Boyadzhiev shared valuable lessons that he learned during his journey as a social entrepreneur. One of them was that sometimes in life, it is acceptable to take a leap of faith, regardless of the uncertainty that the future holds. Another one was to commit for more than 6 months before taking the decision to leave a company. 

 

The last speaker of the night was Boris Kolev, also a social entrepreneur who has founded numerous companies across both Europe and the USA. He focuses mainly on sustainable development, social responsibility, and social impact startups. 

 

Kolev provided a slideshow that featured valuable quotes for the audience to remember. One of the most memorable ones was “Businesses cannot succeed in societies that fail.” He also advised young entrepreneurs to invest in self-awareness and self-development as these are crucial skills to possess.

 

A number of students shared their impressions of the conference right before the panel discussion started and here is what they had to say. 

 

Konstantin Hadzhiiliev, a first-year student, said he “enjoyed every single moment of the event” and that he thought “the speeches were unique by themselves and full of helpful information and tips.” He also had a message for his fellow students: I recommend to everyone to participate in events of such kinds, because they are amazing.

 

Konstantin Hazdhiiliev. Photo courtesy of Hary Dikov.

 

Pavel Dimitrov, also a first-year student, thought “the event is more than wonderful” and “lecturers were more than amazing.” He also shared that he “learned a lot of new things that I think will benefit me in my future career and my personal life.”

 

Pavel Dimitrov. Photo courtesy of Hary Dikov.

 

Second-year student Antoniya Kamenova also shared a few positives about the event. She liked the organization of the event and the cozy atmosphere that was present throughout. She continued by saying she “liked the panels and how much time they had to speak because it wasn’t too overwhelming when it came to information.”

 

Kamenova also had a few aspects she did not like as much. One of them was that “All of the speakers had very similar topics and I was zoning out a lot during their speeches because they were presenting topics in such a way that I thought I already know this information.” She finished by saying “Those are professionals in those fields that can provide very detailed insights and I feel like they didn’t really do that”, but also stated that she thought the event was overall enjoyable.

 

Antoniya Kamenova. Photo courtsey of Hary Dikov.

 

The second and final stage of the conference was the panel discussion that featured all of the speakers and the hosts who were asking them questions about the future of entrepreneurship in Bulgaria. The main emphasis of the speakers was that it is cheap to start a company in Bulgaria as it is a small market and there is less competition. They also advised the students not to take it easy as this is the biggest mistake they can commit. 

 

After the event had finished, the President of the Club StartUP Blagoevgrad, Martin Stanchev, agreed to share more about the aim of the conference and his impressions of it. “The main change that we made was that we decided to do it during the week which was not the case for every other conference in fact because usually, we organize it on Saturday,” he said.

 

“We wanted to make it more exclusive and that’s why we had tickets, we brought four of the most influential and successful entrepreneurs in the Balkans as a whole so that contributed to the exclusiveness and the value of the event,” Stanchev continued.

 

When asked about the main purpose of the conference, he answered it was “to motivate people and to give them the know-how so they know what are the tips and tricks when starting a business.” As he thinks they have already acquired the motivation and know-how, Stanchev addressed the students by saying “I want them to bring it to the StartUP weekend which is our event that we organize during the spring usually.” He shared that the StartUP team “have some grandiose plans for the StartUP weekend and we want to make it exclusive as well and with much added value.”

 

Martin Stanchev. Photo courtesy of Martin Stanchev.

 

Stanchev continued by saying “the feedback that I received from people after the event and I keep receiving even now, they all say that it has been very inspirational and they have learned, they have heard from speakers some eye-opening statements or advice.” He also stated the main goal was achieved and that “we really wanted to fill the capacity of the theater and that was like our fix-idea and we are very happy that we managed to really do it.” 

 

The President of StartUP referred to something Svetozar Georgiev mentioned in his speech during the conference. “Culture is really essential and I am very very satisfied with the culture that we have built and that we have this year at StartUP,” Stanchev said. He also shared that “we are not acting formal and that is a very typical trait of the culture of StartUP since it has started.”

 

The AUBG StartUP Club Team. Photo courtesy of Hary Dikov.

 

The StartUP Venture City Conference 2022 is going to be remembered for the valuable opportunity it provided to AUBG students to learn more about startups and entrepreneurship as a whole from some of the most notable personalities in the sphere. They also had the ability to speak to them personally and establish significant connections that may change their future and shape their careers.

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