The Recursive Podcast

In this episode of The Recursive Round Table, we explore how AI is reshaping music, filmmaking, and advertising workflows. This isn’t a hype conversation. It’s a real look at what actually works, what doesn’t, and why most people are still getting it wrong.

Composer and sound artist Emilian Gatsov – Elbi, advertiser and Director of Innovation at OM Group Konstantin Yankov, and film director and video producer Andrey Andonov share their perspectives from across disciplines.

We talk about the shift from control to experimentation, why randomness can be a creative advantage, and how AI acts more like a collaborator than a replacement.

One key idea stands out: the quality of output is directly tied to the quality of input.

They discussed:

☑️ How AI changed creative workflows️
☑️ Do you need experience to create with AI?
☑️ Using AI as an enabler (not a replacement)
☑️ AI in film production
☑️ AI in advertising
☑️ Real examples of using AI in projects
☑️ Transparency, copyright & ethics
☑️ Creative jobs, skills & the future of creation

💬 What makes someone a great communicator? Is it talent… or a skill that can be trained?

In this episode of the Recursive Roundtable, we explore the art of communication from multiple perspectives — recruitment, HR, filmmaking, storytelling, and coaching.

Joining the host Teodora Atanasova on this topic are Boryana Borisova (Director of Talent Acquisition @ Delasport; ICF Certified Coach), Konstantin Kunev (Interim CEO @ Future Unicorns Accelerator), and Andrey Andonov, (Video Producer & Storyteller @ The Recursive).

Together they discuss:

• Why communication starts and ends every human interaction

• How vulnerability and storytelling build real connections

• The relationship between personal development and career growth

• Why many people avoid training communication skills

• The difference between personal branding and reputation

• How great communicators manage energy, presence, and adaptability

One idea from the conversation:

“If you become transparent and expose your vulnerability, it’s one of the most powerful ways to connect with people.”

What does it really take to build a successful fintech company in Europe?

In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Svetlin Sabev, Bulgarian fintech entrepreneur and founder & CEO of Afranga, a regulated lending marketplace that connects investors with growing European businesses.

Svetlin shares the lessons from building multiple fintech companies. He talks about the importance of:

- hiring the right people;

- choosing the right co-founder;

- navigating regulation, scaling platforms, and raising investor trust.

He also discusses the future of fintech, the European startup ecosystem, and why founders should stop hiding their ideas and start sharing them.

🔔 Subscribe for more startup and tech conversations.

Last week Dilan Sisu, VC (e2vc) and Etien Yovchev, Co-founder (The Recursive) met in Sofia and decided to film a conversation that turned into a thoughtful discussion about the role of media and influence in venture capital.The discussion jumped from whether VCs secretly care about popularity (and why visibility can be a strategic asset, not vanity) to where the next unicorn founder is more likely to appear: through an AI recommendation 🤖 or at a small, well-curated party 🍸.🎙️ They also explored whether age really matters for founders, whether early-stage teams should invest more in founder personal brands or company brands, when media relations should become a priority for startups, and why more investors are launching podcasts.And then the question every investor quietly wrestles with: how do you distinguish strong founder conviction from pure delusion?Running through all of this is a broader theme: visibility, social influence in venture capital, how VC brands are built, and how meaningful relationships actually form — both online and offline.

Why Raising Too Late Kills Startups? In this episode of the Recursive RoundTable, we unpack one of the most misunderstood topics for founders: fundraising strategy — not just the “how,” but the when, the why, and the who.GUESTS:

• Iliya Valchanov, Co-founder & CEO @ Juma
• Konstantin Bezuhanov, Co-founder & CEO @ Evrotrust
• Stoil Vasilev, Co-founder & CEO @ Paypercut

They share:

💡 why starting your fundraising too late is the #1 mistake seed-stage companies make

💡 how to structure your investor outreach like a sales funnel

💡 what separates “feature AI” from true AI-powered competitive advantage

💡 how to choose the right investor — not just the one with the biggest check

💡 terms, valuation, control and the long game of capital

You’ll hear real stories about:

👉 outreach strategy and KPIs (77 conversations ≈ 1 deal)

👉 managing rejection and staying confident

👉 the importance of building relationships long before you need capital

👉 why a bad partner can be worse than no partner

👉 practical negotiation lessons and term-sheet wisdom

Whether you’re gearing up for your first round or planning Series A+, this episode gives you the mental model and playbook you need to approach fundraising with clarity and confidence.

In this episode of The Recursive Roundtable, we explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping work, companies, and the global economy — and whether today’s AI boom mirrors the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.

More than 50% of recent venture capital investment has flowed into AI, raising inevitable comparisons to the dot-com era, when capital rushed into internet startups before real value was fully proven. We discuss what history can teach us, why hype cycles are rooted in human psychology, and how this time may be both similar — and fundamentally different.

The conversation examines what’s actually changing today:

☑️ why enterprise AI adoption is harder than expected;

☑️ why many pilots never reach production;

☑️ why AI is boosting individual productivity faster than it can transform whole teams or organizations.

We also unpack the growing impact on hiring, junior talent, and the future of technical education.🎙️ GUESTS:

• Svetozar Georgiev, General Partner at Eleven Ventures
• Raya Yunakova, Investor at LAUNCHub Ventures
• Tsvetan Tsvetanov, Lead Software Engineer, Co-Owner at Camplight

Chapters:0:43 AI in Everyday Life: Storytime & Beyond1:45 Is AI the Next Dot-Com Bubble?5:42 AI Changes Teams, Not Just Individuals6:11 Why Enterprise AI Pilots Fail8:05 The Myth: “Everyone Is a Developer Now”9:51 AGI Won’t Arrive in a Single Moment11:27 China vs US: Competing AI Strategies12:25 Why AGI Obsession Hurts Real Products19:33 AI Is Reshaping Jobs & Hiring21:03 No Juniors Today = No Seniors Tomorrow23:34 Vibe Coding vs Production Reality24:24 AI Failures Are Coming (2026–27)25:32 Fear Is the Biggest AI Bottleneck31:56 Why AI Regulation Is So Hard36:34 AI Is Already Everywhere

Can companies really stay safe in a world where attackers only need to be right once? In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Miroslav Naydenov, a cybersecurity expert at Amatas, who has spent years on the front lines of digital crisis management — restoring breached systems, outsmarting attackers, and preparing businesses for threats they don’t even know exist.

We talk about why most companies misunderstand their risk, how attackers operate like sophisticated businesses, and why AI and deepfakes are about to trigger an identity crisis unlike anything the digital world has seen.

What you’ll learn:

🛡️ Why preparation decides everything, and why companies still wait for regulations before taking security seriously.

👥 The real weakest link: people — how employee behavior, misconfigurations, and remote access open the door to attackers long before any technical vulnerability does.

🤖 How AI and deepfakes are rewriting cybercrime — and why distinguishing real from fake will become one of the next decade’s biggest challenges.

🔗 The silent danger of supply chain attacks — why trusted partners can become your biggest vulnerability overnight.

🧠 This episode is a must-watch for founders, operators, IT leaders, and anyone building a digital-first business, especially those navigating remote work, sensitive data, or regulated industries.

Timestamps:

0:00–1:00 – Introduction

1:00–2:30 – Explaining cybersecurity simply & overview of AMATAS role

2:30–5:22 – Cybersecurity landscape in Bulgaria and the region

5:22–8:23 – Talent shortages and early education

8:23–11:14 – Incident patterns, importance of preparation

11:14–16:00 – Why companies get breached

16:00–20:21 – Cybercriminals operating as businesses

20:21–23:02 – How companies should start with cybersecurity

23:02–30:00 – Human factor, deepfakes, and phishing evolution30:00–36:04 – Most frequent and damaging attacks

36:04–39:05 – High-impact cases

39:05–45:03 – Biggest misconceptions

45:03–48:30 – Final advice

Can founders really scale without letting go? In this episode of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Boyan Stoyanov, an entrepreneur and operations strategist with a decade of experience building and running teams across Europe & Southeast Asia.

After leading recruitment and people operations for digital-first companies, Boyan now helps organizations scale sustainably under the VEDA brand — uniting operational design with accounting, payroll, and financial strategy to help founders move from working in the business to working on the business. We talk about his journey from Asia back to Bulgaria, why most companies get stuck small, and how VEDA’s merger with Hireworks is designed to solve the scaling problem end to end.

What you’ll learn:

🏗️ The hardest founder shift: delegating not just tasks but decision-making, and how to build the infrastructure to do it safely.

🏝️ How Southeast Asian business culture compares to Eastern Europe: trust-first relationships, indirect “no,” negotiation norms, and why you need boots on the ground.

📈 Why hiring can hurt capacity in the short term, and how onboarding, process, and performance loops must improve across the whole funnel to truly scale.

⚖️ The case for fractional operational leadership vs. a full-time hire, common mistakes with consultants, and how VEDA’s integrated ops + finance approach accelerates growth.

This episode is a must-watch for first-time founders, scaling operators, and leaders eyeing international expansion, especially those considering fractional services as a smarter path to senior expertise.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

01:39 Boyan's Journey to Startup Founding

04:29 The Crossroads of Employment vs. Entrepreneurship

05:07 Business Culture: East vs. West vs. Southeast Asia

09:49 Hard-Learned Lessons in Asia

15:11 Operational Shift: Moving from Asia to Bulgaria

19:27 The VEDA Merger

25:37 Market Focus and Complementary Networks

26:33 The Future of VEDA and Bulgarian Brands

28:10 Scaling a Company and the Core Team

31:01 Advice for First-Time Founders and the Value of Fractional Services

39:27 Common Mistakes When Using External Services

Subscribe to The Recursive for more founder stories and practical playbooks from the CEE tech ecosystem!

Learn more about VEDA and Boyan:

https://www.veda.works/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/veda-works/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/boyan-stoyanov/

In this episode of The Recursive Roundtable, three practitioners unpack where AI truly adds value — and where it doesn’t. They focus on practical implementation, human judgment, and the guardrails needed to keep quality high.

We examine how to start with AI the right way (individual productivity tools vs. team-wide process changes vs. building ML products, and why not every problem is a fit), how to protect human intent and quality in content and decision-making (avoiding generative sameness, using clear context and strong first drafts), and what AI can and can’t do in product design/UX.

GUESTS

Zamina Ahmad, AI & ML Product Leader, CEO @ shades&contrast

Ioana Teleanu, Founder & Design Consultant, ex-Miro & UiPath @ AI-R Design Studio, ex-Miro

Andrew Mende, Senior Product Manager Machine Learning @ Booking.com

CHAPTERS

00:00 Meet the Guests!

03:07 AI's Role in Content Creation

04:27 Navigating Role Changes with AI

08:28 AI Implementation for Companies

10:50 Is AI a Good Fit for Every Problem?

11:34 The Hybrid Approach to Content Generation

14:28 Addressing AI Slop

17:16 AI-Generated Designs in the Industry

20:55 Utilizing AI Assistants

24:56 Thoughts on AGI

30:07 The Critical Need for AI Literacy and Education in Companies

32:45 Navigating AI: Regulations, Critical Thinking, and Human Uniqueness

35:29 The Power of Intuition and Metacognition in the Age of AI

Fibank’s Chief Digital Officer Vladimir Ikonomov talks about the bank’s digital‑only expansion into Greece and the innovative services it’s bringing to customers. Learn how a traditional bank is positioning itself alongside fintechs and what the future of banking looks like.

☑️ 24/7 localized customer support with native Greek speakers

☑️ Real‑time payments, instant loan approvals and AI‑driven hyper‑personalization

☑️ MyFibank app perks: permanent 1% interest on current accounts, up to 2% on term deposits, and cashback on card transactions

☑️ Competitive strategy against fintechs and plans for further regional growth

☑️ Vision for the next 5‑6 years: voice‑command assistants, instant product issuance, and the evolving role of physical branches

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:47  Vladimir’s role, background and experience at Fibank.

00:03:09  Traditional Banking Embraces Digital

00:04:38  Current Digital‑Banking Trends

00:08:15  24/7 Live Support as a Competitive Edge

00:10:24  Expansion Into Greece

00:12:05  Creating a Local Value Proposition & Competing with Fintechs

00:14:58 FinTech‑Style Benefits from a Traditional Bank

00:16:21  The Critical Role of Localization

00:18:07  Targeting Greek Millennials

00:19:34  Debunking the “Traditional Banks Are Slow” Myth

00:20:21  Addressing Money‑Anxiety

00:21:16  Lesson from Western Europe

00:22:13  AI & Data Science in Practice

00:23:25  Future Outlook: Voice‑Activated Banking & Instant Products