Iliya Valchanov is a co-founder of 3veta.com, an end-to-end solution for hosting online meetings and getting paid. He is also a co-founder of 365 Data Science and a data science instructor on Udemy with more than 800,000 students.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

My name is Iliya Valchanov and am a co-founder of 3veta. Going a bit back - I was a Mathematics competitor for 10 years. Later on, I graduated with International Management, Economics, and Finance. Despite that, I was always fascinated with teaching so I co-founded 365 Data Science and became a data science instructor on Udemy with more than 900,000 students to date.

What inspired you to start your business?

The first time around, I joined a couple of friends in their efforts to create online courses. I was taking a gap year, so it made sense for me to take a risk and try my luck. It worked quite well, and we scaled the company from 4 people to 30 people.

The second time around, with my current project, 3veta, I was already an experienced business owner. Therefore, it was much easier to make the decision. We just had a very, very good idea and decided to pursue it. 

Where is your business based?

Our business is registered and based in Sofia, Bulgaria. However, with the current situation (relating to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020), more than half of our team is not actually there at all. Together with the fact that we are a completely online business, our physical location has become irrelevant – a lifelong dream of mine.

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

The very first step was to create a series of sessions in which we could really talk the idea through. We called it a boot camp.

During our first bootcamp, the concept changed a hundred times within the span of a few days. However, by the end of it, we had a very clear idea of what we wanted to achieve.

Every six months, we get together for another boot camp where we can decide the next steps of our business.

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Our business empowers service providers to get online and start providing their consultations online.

As such, LinkedIn has been by far the best place for us to find our target audience and raise awareness.

What have been your biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?

Being a business owner is an eternal challenge.

Historically, the biggest challenges I’ve faced were due to overly optimistic goals. I believe that anything could be achieved with enough passion and perseverance (grit), but time is not always on our side. Actually, it is always against us.

Therefore, my nemesis has always been time. I want everything to happen today, if not yesterday.

To overcome this challenge, sadly, I have learned to be patient.

How do you stay focused?

Usually, I do all my mental-heavy work in the morning and early afternoon. Once my mind becomes exhausted, I start pulling “mindless” tasks from the backlog (e.g. post an article, schedule a post, format some Excel spreadsheet, etc.). I don’t need to be too focused for those, especially because I have many checklists.

If my mind clears up, I reengage in the demanding tasks.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

3veta is fast, reliable, and extremely easy to use. And this is what our customers want.

Ultimately, we have been striving to achieve the lowest number of clicks from sign-up to getting paid (similar to what Revolut did in the Fintech world). 3veta is simply made for online video consultations in 2021. We haven’t used tech from an older product that was later refurbished – no, we are utilizing state-of-the-art technologies. Moreover, when it comes to video, we haven’t simply added “an option to integrate with Zoom”.

Instead, we have optimized any and all parts of the product – with less choice, there is more actual work done on the provider’s part.

Finally – our team. Given a good product and decent funding, having the right people on that team is the only thing that makes the difference between success and failure. We are the five co-founders with very different skillsets, but with one common goal: to make an extremely successful product.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

We have also automated almost any process that could be automated. Most prominently – email marketing, content dissemination (e.g. you post a new article and it gets promoted on all of your social media or even other places), auto-replying chatbots, etc. I am pretty sure that these will be the most effective strategies long-term.

Certainly, there are some channels that are better than others for each company. With 3veta, we know that all of our providers are professionals, so LinkedIn is our most natural match. So that was our most effective strategy so far.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

You can achieve everything you want, as long as you fully devote yourself to it.

Five years ago, I was a Finance graduate with a Mathematics background. Since then, I have hardly used Math or the Finance that I studied. However, I can code, create machine learning algorithms, edit videos, write compelling articles, manage people and projects, run ads, and much more.

Everything I have accomplished has been possible because I have never assumed that I cannot do something, without trying.

Stay open to learning and never underestimate your abilities!

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

App: The Slack mobile app has really changed the way I work from my phone. Therefore, it is on top of my list.

Blog: The one blog I’m devouring lately is Li Jin’s Substack, focusing on the passion economy and how creators are being empowered to make a living from their passion.

Book: There is no single book that can make this list. However, ‘Winter of the World’ from the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett. Why? It’s just a really good book. Reading Ken Follett helps you understand why some people are great writers and others are just… writers.

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

Trello.

I have tried out a dozen different tools to organize my work (Asana, Jira, Monday.com, etc.).

Most of the time, Trello is all that one needs.

So simple, yet so powerful.

If every tool online was like Trello, we would have a perfect world.

Who is your business role model? Why?

I haven’t found a single person that I can call a business role model. I try to internalize as much as possible from different business leaders.

Steve Jobs versus Bill Gates has always been the most intriguing of clashes to me. I like both of them (and dislike both of them). So, the best of these men would be my business role model.

How do you balance work and life?

This one is the easiest. I started working with my sister and wife. Therefore, I no longer have to balance work and life.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Being in a sensory deprivation capsule (flotation pod) is one of my favorites. It is a capsule that you enter naked, you float on top of the water (with a lot of salt) that is the same temperature as your body; it is completely dark; there is no sound. Being in such a pod for an hour or more helps you really get rid of the noise in your life and focus on your inner self.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

I have decided to start a multi-media approach to both the company brand and my personal brand. As such, I am starting a podcast (audio), a LinkedIn series (video), and a Substack (text). I believe that this approach is not only great for our marketing efforts but also a great way to challenge myself in different formats.

How can our readers connect with you?

The best way to find me is on my LinkedIn account[IV1]. However, if you feel like reading, my newsletter will be more appropriate.[IV2] 

If you are interested in providing online services, then 3veta [IV3]  is the place to be.