"From a communist country to a London entrepreneur, a female founder's journey" with Irina Georgieva
/Irina is a young and ambitious entrepreneur from Eastern Europe who is building a B2B collaboration platform for entrepreneurs to find business opportunities. Her company's mission is to empower small businesses to grow by enabling them to find new business opportunities quickly and easily. Irina is always eager to meet new people, especially entrepreneurs, and share ideas.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
I was born in Macedonia during the transition from Communist Yugoslavia. The collapse of the Communist regime led to the criminal privatisation of many state-owned companies, and thousands of job losses. My family was also affected. I remember my father worked three jobs and many hours a day so that he could provide for. I grew up in an entrepreneurial household, where my dad was always jumping on business opportunities. This influenced me to go to business school with the ambition to one day be like him.
What inspired you to start your business?
My inspiration is my dad, who risked it all to make his business a success. After starting out as an engineer, in the mid ‘90s he founded his own business and brought TV broadband to the country. By starting a business at a time when people were discouraged to do so, he proved that no-one can stop a determined mindset that has endurance and intelligence. He has immense optimism and massive passion for life. I always looked up to him, imagining someday I will be running my own successful business.
Now I want to help entrepreneurs from around the world to be as successful as my dad was. I am inspired to give small businesses solutions that will save them time and make their businesses more profitable.
Where is your business based?
Most of our management is based in Cyprus but we also have team members working remotely across Europe and whilst I am living in London.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
We needed to solve a problem for a specific target market, so we conducted extensive interviews with small business owners. We then used the information and insights we collected during interviews to define the business problem and opportunities.
This was when we realised there was a gap in the market for services helping entrepreneurs and small businesses get access to business opportunities, such as flexible financing, B2B collaborations, and knowledge pool. Upon identifying our market segment we started working on the MVP of our solution. Simultaneously we hired our first few team members and drafted our project management plans.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
The best way we have been raising awareness for our business has been word of mouth. We rely heavily on our customers to recommend us to their business partners, friends and acquaintances. We have created a great community of business owners who we talk to daily to understand how our solutions are helping them. Additionally we love hearing feedback from our users and take note of all suggestions and ideas they give us. It is key to focus on what your customers think of your solution and make them brand advocates wherever possible. This so far has worked out great for us and we cannot thank our users enough!
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
As a fresh entrepreneur, I've had a challenging time learning how to delegate tasks to partners, employees, and freelancers. Letting go of a need for perfection and control after dedicating hundreds of hours to a startup is understandably tricky. Delegating requires trust, and when you're working one-on-one with people in different parts of the world, trust can be difficult. However I have slowly learned how to trust other people and they have slowly learned how to trust me.
I was able to find a few people to help me with the things I was struggling with, and now that I am not doing so many lower-level tasks, I am able to focus on higher level tasks. This in return led to a better company in the end and exceptional growth.
How do you stay focused?
I'm a big fan of creating lists to stay on track. I'm a digital entrepreneur and running my own business gives me lots of different tasks. Thus it's easy for me to get distracted by things like social media or errands. I now try to make a short list of 5-10 things I want to accomplish each day. Each item is an action that could take anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour or so, depending on how complex it is.
When I am deciding what I want to include in my daily list, I think about how much time each task might take and prioritize accordingly. I also consider what my most productive work hours are and try to plan my more complicated or time-consuming tasks for those times when I will be able.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
The b2b platform is the first and only business platform that enables businesses to publish business deals to which other companies can send proposals. We have a smart algorithm that matches business deals with the companies we have on the platform. This way every business gets their daily suggestions of potential business deals opportunities.
In addition, we are also a mix between directory, marketplace and a social network. Our mission is to create a transparent and collaborative world, where entrepreneurs can connect with each other in order to develop new business relationships. We want to bring business opportunities to entrepreneurs in a quick, easy and effective way.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business? The whole point of a business blog is to establish your brand as an authority.
We have created a knowledge packed business blog which brings us more than 100K readers every month. Through this blog we share valuable business insights, tips and best practices with our readers. The goal of our blog is to be a guiding hand to every business owner and entrepreneurs out there, helping them make their businesses more successful. This strong focus on building our business blog was responsible for our brand to be seen as an authority in our industry.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
As a leader, you need to embrace your strengths and weaknesses. Therefore you must evaluate what you’re great at as well as embrace your weaknesses. Ask the people you work with about what they think you’re bad at. Analyse these and go ahead to hire people who are excellent at those things. This is the best way to successfully manage your company in the future. Build a team with experts that are great at what they do. This goes hand in hand with trusting your team as you cannot do everything yourself.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
I'm a huge fan of Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown. It's an excellent business book that focuses on data-driven growth for companies. It clearly advises to apply the build, measure, learn cycle to always base your decisions on data. The ideas are particularly useful for online companies, as well as any company that wants to achieve growth and have successful digital marketing strategies.
Clubhouse is my favourite app because it helps me learn about new things, and get to know people (who I might not have otherwise). I’m always surprised how many people are on Clubhouse at any given time. I’ve been able to connect with people from all over the world, and it’s been great to see how we can all learn from each other.
I'm always reading the blog, Under 30 CEO. It's a great resource for entrepreneurs. It's a great place to learn about the different types of businesses that people run. It's also great to see people who are successful at such a young age.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Asana is the best project management tool I have used so far. It allows me to keep track of all my projects, and it also makes sure that I don't forget any deadlines. I can keep track of what each person is doing and make sure that nothing is falling through the cracks. I also love how easy it is to share information with my team.
Who is your business role model? Why?
My father was the first person to introduce me to the world of business. He owns a very successful company and has always been my role model. I remember when I was little, he would take me on trips with him to meet with clients and suppliers. He is the most persevering person I know. Every time I see him he is on the phone with someone trying to solve a problem. It's inspiring to see him always trying to find a solution.
How do you balance work and life?
While I love to organize my work, I also make sure to work in a healthy way. It is important for me to balance my physical activities with moments of relaxation. Usually I take an hour or two each week-end to unwind, read a book in a coffee shop or spend time with friends. I avoid over-scheduling myself and like to set priorities. I prefer to work on important tasks first and to delegate less important activities to others.
What’s your favourite way to decompress?
I am a very outgoing person who loves to make new friends. I love to be active and social. When I need to decompress, I find it best to be either with friends or outdoors. I love to connect with nature and take in the beauty around me. I love going for a refreshing run or a walk along the river Thames. It really gets the stress out of my system and gives me some quiet time to think.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
I am excited to announce that in the next six months I will be focusing a lot on growing our partnerships program. We are currently expanding our collaborations with other companies so that we can bring even more value to our customers. This will help us continue to deliver high-quality products and services. This is an exciting time for us here at Enterprise League, and I'm very much looking forward to this next phase in our growth.
How can our readers connect with you?
I am very easy to reach, love connecting with people and collaborating. You can find me on LinkedIn or via email at irina@enterpriseleague.com
Interview title: From a communist country to a London entrepreneur, a female founder's journey
Company website: Enterprise League