Mentors

The mentors for the competition 3Challenge, organized by the entrepreneurship club Start It Smart, are people who realize the necessity for young people, with entrepreneurial spirit and innovative business ideas, to be found and supported.

Aleksandra Nikolova

Co-founder of Eventyard

Alexander Kovachev

Managing Director of Red Devil Catering

Alexander Kovachev has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accountance and Finance at UNWE, a Master’s in Economics at UNWE, an EMBA from Sheffield University. He has specialised in Austria, Germany, Spain, and Russia. In the last 13 years he has been a CEO and partner in Red Devil Catering AD.

Angel Lazarov

Founder & Managing Director of NLP Institute

Asparuh Koev

Partner at IntelliCo Solutions

Asparuh is an entrepreneur and part of the Sciant team that was sold to VMware Bulgaria, as well as the founder of a consulting company in the field of transportation. He is currently launching his third project, Transmetrics. He could help start and build B2B companies, from 0 to the first million USD.

Boris Kolev

Managing Director of JT International

Boris is a serial entrepreneur – an adventurer, who started his first business project as early as 15 years of age, as a learning company. At 23, he now has several successful businesses and a bunch of social projects. In 2007, the world business editorial BusinessWeek Worldwide awarded him second place in the “Europe’s Best Young Entrepreneurs” competition.

Boyan Benev

Managing Director of Benev

At 27, Boyan has already had success with a whole bunch of business projects. He has been actively involved with marketing, real estate, he has traded with diamonds and he has always been his own boss. At 16, he started doing business in England, and at 25 – in Bulgaria. In 2007 he was named Best Young Entrepreneur by the British Start Your Business Magazine.

Boyan Ivanov

Managing Director of StorPool

Vassil Terziev

Co-founder & Co-CEO of Telerik

Vassil is a co-founder and co-CEO of Telerik, a global provider of Enterprise ALM and collaboration software. Instrumental in growing Telerik from its humble roots to the global company it is today, Vassil is focused on helping everyone stay true to the corporate promise to “Deliver more than expected”.

Velislav Panchev

Managing Partner of VP Consulting

Veselin Dimitrov

Sales Manager of Franchising.bg

Victor Alexiev

Co-founder at Obecto, Rivinet, PoolTalent.com, SniperAirsoft, and TheSocks.com. Founder and CEO at Innovator

Viktor is a serial entrepreneur, educated in Copenhagen Business School and London School of Economics. His main expertise is in Digital Product Development and Enterprise Architecture. With a strong personal network and experience in over 8 countries, Viktor would be happy to help you develop your international strategy and structure.

Georgi Gavazov

Client Service Director of Saatchi & Saatchi

Georgi Gavazov is a fan of the „Cherno More” football club, of Asia, and of snowboarding. He likes fishing and then eating his catch. When he was little, he graduated university in Berlin, and now he works in advertising in the Saatchi & Saatchi agency in Sofia. When asked about her opinion, his mother described him as a “very good boy”.

Georgi Kadrev

CEO of StockPodium

Georgi Sharkov

Managing Director of ESI Center

Georgi is the lead of more than 10 international software projects in Europe and the USA. Since 2004, he has been Director of the Eastern Europe Center at ESI, and he has supported competitiveness through improving the field’s quality in 12 countries, 50+ companies, and innovative startups. He works with the Carnegie Mellon University for an IT Management program in Bulgaria.

Dilyana Todorova

Manager in Blizoo

Dimitar Karamanchev

Founder & CEO at Meta Reading, founder at Start It Smart

Evgenia Peeva

Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Teach For Bulgaria

Evgenia has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences at Harvard. Since 2008, she has worked as a business consultant at McKinsey&Co. In 2010, she started Teach For Bulgaria, which aims to improve school education through developing inspiring teacher-leaders. In 2012, she was named Woman of the Year and received a Young Manager award.

Ivaylo Hristov

Co-founder & Managing Director of Komfo

Ivaylo has ample teaching experience, and since 2003 he has been a part-time lecturer at Sofia University, teaching IT disciplines and entrepreneurship for IT specialists. He was awarded with the prestigious Young Entrepreneur of 2010 award, as well as the Next Generation entrepreneur award in 2011.

Kalin Kirov

Chief Operating Officer of Online Solutions

Katya Todorova

Marketing Manager of SuperHosting.BG

In SuperHosting.BG (the largest and fastest-developing hosting company in Bulgaria), Katya leads large-scale marketing projects which support the company’s leading position in the sector. Her interests range from digital marketing and online business to computer networking and telecommunications.

Krum Hadjigeorgiev

Founder & Managing Director of Melon

Krum has more than 10 years of experience as an entrepreneur and executive in the software industry. His key specialty areas are general management, strategic business development, sales, marketing, and product development. He also ha an active role in the industry’s development through his seat at the Board of Directors of BASSCOM.

Lyubomir Rusanov

Founder & Managing Director of Superhosting.bg

Lyubomir is the founder and manager of SuperHosting.BG. He has many years of experience in the IT field and he has assumed various leader and executive positions in both Bulgarian and international software companies. At SuperHosting.BG, he is responsible for the strategic planning and the relations with key clients and partners.

Maxim Gurvits

Associate in Eleven

Max co-founded and exited the legal services startup Regeldit.nl in Amsterdam. He is a regular contributor to The Kernel Magazine, and is a mentor at Seedcamp. At Eleven, Max helps teams to focus on their metrics and demo-day readiness, and is buzzing around Europe, connecting with startups throughout the region.

Mariela Ilieva

Co-founder & Managing Director of Saldo.Bg

Mariela is a specialist in accountancy and tax consulting, which are very important for every business. She has been in accountancy for 10 years, and her experience, gained so far, has helped her in her work with both startup and established businesses in various areas of activity. She helps companies and organizations handle the requirements of the tax system.

Maria Shishkova

Managing Partner of AIMS Human Capital

AIMS Human Capital is a leading consulting company in the area of human resources and direct recruitment for senior management positions. AIMS Human Capital is also the official representative of Dale Carnegie Training for Bulgaria – a world leader in involving employees and developing leadership skills.

Metodi Drenovski

Founder & Managing Director of Superhosting.bg

Metodi Drenovski has worked on various Bulgarian and international projects for the streamlining and optimization of e-commerce websites and B2B solutions through the use of innovative technology. In 2005, he created the largest hosting company in Bulgaria – SuperHosting.BG.

Nickolay Andonov

Managing Partner of Mind Mapping

Nickolay has experience with 3 startups, the last of which develops software for sports online bookings. He is the former President and current Chairman of the Board of the Start It Smart entrepreneurship club. His main knowledge is in the field of business modeling, customer development, leadership and project management.

Nikolay Mihaylov

Founder & Chief Editor of CGArt

He has created CGArt.bg – a network for people, who use computer graphics, so they can share portfolios, knowledge, and create relations inside the community. He loves animation, cinema and all creative work for the screen, and he has worked on dozens of projects in these fields. Since 2003 he has been teaching, and he has led courses in four different universities.

Nikolay Yarmov

Founder & Executive Director of CEED

Nikolay has extensive hands-on experience in entrepreneurship, finance, private sector growth, SME development and loan guarantees. During his employment with USAID as Senior Private Sector Advisor, he has developed and implemented a successful $50 million firm level assistance program.

Ovanes Ovanessian

Managing Director of Web & Events

In recent years, Ovanes has carried out many successful events, marketing campaigns, and web projects. Ovanes concentrates his experience and efforts in the development of the first, one-of-a-kind, completely automatic event management software, which will be launched on the global market in early 2013.

Ognian Tomov

Managing Director of TCC

Ognian is a Manufacturing Management consultant with 40+ years of experience with machine-building, electronics, food and beverage, energy. Co-founder of TCC, 42 IDEAS, Member of the Supervisory Board at VAPTECH. Areas of expertise: Production and Inventory Management, Logistics, Supply Chain, Lean Manufacturing, Business Process Reengineering, Just-in-time production, MRP and ERP systems.

Panayot Hristov

Managing Partner of VP Consulting

Panayot has more than 6 years of experience in the areas of finance and accountancy. He is the senior accountant of an investment holding that manages 30 million Euro, he is also a member of the management bodies of two NGOs, former finance inspector at a banking institution, and an assistant-auditor. His key areas include accountancy, finance, tax and financial consulting.

Peter Goryalov

Managing Director of DreamersDo

Petar is a professional coach for executive officers, awarded with the highest praise of the world’s coaching industry – the ICF President’s Award. He is certified as an NLP coach after a 120-hour ASCTH coaching program in the California Institute for NLP and Coaching in the USA. In 2006, he launched the first coaching company in Bulgaria – DreamersDo.

Peter Lefterov

Managing Director of BA Consulting

Petar is a certified business analysis professional (CBAP) and a co-founder of the International Institute for Business Analysis’s branches in Sofia and Vienna. He has run the key project requirements in Bank of Austria, Royal Dutch Shell, Bulgarian Telecommunications Company.

Peter Mitev

Co-founder & Managing Director of Chaos Group

Petar is the co-founder and CEO of Chaos Group. After its founding more than ten years ago, Chaos Group has created a unique set of specialized software applications that are used in film, architecture and advertising projects all around the world.

Peter Sharkov

Managing Partner at Mind Mapping

Petar is co-founder and president at Start It Smart. Also he is co-founder and trainer at Mind Mapping, innovative company about accelerated learning. His professional skills and knowledge in entrepreneurship are:business modeling, customer development, leadership and project management. He use one of the top accelerated learning tools and methodologies such as mind maps, photoreading and suggestopedia.

Richard Smits

Founder and Managing Director CSI

Richard Smits is a Chemical Engineer (PhD) from the Netherlands. In Bulgaria he started CSI, his company that connects foreign companies with Bulgarian scientists for cooperative research projects. He also connects science with business in a number of innovative research consortia sponsored by the European Commission’s FP7 programme on behalf of its Project Officers in Brussels.

Svetlan Stanoev

Managing Partner of Cisco Entrepreneur Institute

Svetlan has a finance professional’s background – a foundation he has seriously built upon with expertise in the areas of management, strategies, and business modeling. He has the precious valuable skill to talk about finances with people, who are not familiar with the field, and a valuable ability to explain business models in layman’s terms.

Svetlin Nakov

Technical Training Manager in Telerik Software Academy

Svetlin Nakov teaches software engineers and IT specialists at Telerik Software Academy. Inspirator in the software industry, lecturer, consultant, innovator and entrepreneur. His dream is to make Bulgaria the Silicon Valley of the Balkans.

Svetozar Georgiev

Co-founder & Managing Director of Telerik

As a co-founder of Telerik, Svetozar has walked the difficult, but infinitely exciting evolutionary path from a small idea to a large-scale global business. He is most valuable in the fields of product strategy, marketing, finance, M&A. He is guided by his urge to inspire young talents through his own example, and through a motivation to develop their business ideas in Bulgaria.

Todor Kolev

Founder and CEO of Obecto, co-founder of SECLive and PoolTalent

A software creator by nature with more than ten years of experience in writing code, software architecture, team leading, project management and UX design. Most of his career is around startups – either as a co-founder or as a consultant.

Trayan Trayanov

Chief Impact Officer of Zaedno v chas

Tzvetelina Teneva