The Recursive Podcast

In the first episode of The Recursive Roundtable series we celebrate the 10‑year anniversary of Endeavor Bulgaria!

Dilyana Haralanova, COO of The Recursive, was joined by Jack Thorogood (CEO of Serbian scale-up Native Teams, Milena Milić (Manager of startup community Garaza), and Max Gurvits (VC investor and partner at Vitosha Ventures) to discuss how the Balkan startup scene has evolved and where it’s headed.

What you’ll learn:

⭐ The biggest hurdles CEE founders faced 10 years ago vs. today

⭐ How EU membership and early government‑backed funds jump‑started regional ecosystems

⭐ The role of diaspora talent and returning emigrants in accelerating growth across the Balkans

⭐ Success stories shaping the region – from early unicorns to emerging AI‑driven scale‑ups

⭐ Future outlook: regional collaboration, emerging specialisations, and the surge of new venture capital funds

From selling mangoes in Venezuela as a kid to building a video agency in Vienna — and now moving to Plovdiv to start a training company, Juan Guerra’s entrepreneurial journey is anything but conventional.

In this episode, we sit down with Juan Guerra, a seasoned agency founder turned scaling mentor. As the founder and CEO of Scaleyard, Juan helps service-based entrepreneurs grow their monthly revenue, systematize their delivery, and build teams that run without them. After nearly a decade of running his own video agency and experimenting with business models, Juan now focuses full-time on helping others scale to $30K+/mo while removing themselves from client fulfillment.

In this episode with Juan Guerra, Irina Obushtarova explores:

✅ How burnout reshaped his business and his definition of success

✅ Why focus beats flexibility when scaling a service business

✅ What it really takes to productize your service and sell it repeatedly

✅ How personal values and family priorities shape sustainable entrepreneurship

✅ The power of being an “outsider” and building from a global perspective

This conversation is for anyone navigating growth, burnout, clarity, and purpose in their business journey.

👉 Whether you're a service founder, coach, or creative entrepreneur—Juan's insights will challenge the way you think about focus, scale, and lifestyle design.

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📍 Recorded during ViennaUp Festival in Vienna, Austria.

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🎙️ #TheRecursivePodcast takes a different turn this time, driven by a pressing question: Who is protecting Europe’s future?

How can we face and overcome today’s growing threats?

Which companies are shaping the future of cybersecurity and defense tech in Central and Eastern Europe?

🛡️ Over the past five years, Europe’s resilience has been tested like never before. And until now, the story of security innovation in the region has been fragmented.

Our latest report on the state of defense and cybersecurity tech in CEE brings those pieces together, offering the first integrated view of a complex and fast-evolving ecosystem.

📥 Download it here: https://report.therecursive.com

To dive deeper into these questions, we’re joined by Ruslan Trad, a Bulgarian journalist and security researcher specializing in hybrid warfare and disinformation. He’s a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, with a focus on Eurasia, Syria, and mercenary groups. 🌍

Trad has reported from the Middle East and co-founded De Re Militari, a conflict analysis journal. He is the author of books on the Syrian civil war and Russian private military companies, and his work has appeared in outlets like BBC and Al Jazeera.

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🙏 Special thanks to Mad Stories for the shooting location: https://madstories.eu/en/home/

Can Games Fix Our Broken Education? 📚 In this powerful episode of The Recursive Podcast, recorded at ViennaUp Festival, we sit down with Yane Frenski, former United Nations innovation expert turned EdTech entrepreneur. Yane is the founder of Vizipedia, a startup using AI and game-based learning to transform how students learn critical skills for the future.

🎮 What you’ll learn:

* Why traditional education systems are failing in the digital age;

* How immersive, game-based learning can improve attention and outcomes;

* What it’s like working on innovation inside the UN for over 14 years;

* How to design education tools for underserved global communities;

* The difference between gamification and 'serious games' in learning;

🧠 This episode is a must-watch for educators, edtech innovators, and anyone worried about the skills gap of future generations.

📍 Recorded during ViennaUp Festival in Vienna, Austria.

🔔 Subscribe to The Recursive for more founder and investor stories at the intersection of tech, sustainability, and systems change.

In this special ViennaUp Festival edition of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Edward Feltmann, Investment and Deal Sourcing Manager at VERBUND X Ventures, to explore how sustainability, energy innovation, and venture capital intersect in the race toward a net-zero future.

Edward Feltmann is a strategic investment leader with a focus on sustainable energy innovation. At VERBUND X Ventures, he leads investments in early-stage European climate tech startups. He also serves as a Board Observer at NECTURE, supporting teams driving technology and impact.

In this episode, Edward shares:

🔹 How sustainability became his personal and professional mission

🔹 Why energy storage is key to both AI and energy transition

🔹 Lessons from building an in-house corporate accelerator and CVC arm

🔹 Opportunities and challenges in CEE’s energy innovation landscape

🔹 What it really takes to make impact-driven investments

📍 Recorded during ViennaUp Festival in Vienna, Austria.

🔔 Subscribe to The Recursive for more founder and investor stories at the intersection of tech, sustainability, and systems change.

Let's dive into what it means to build sustainable systems that are both scalable and socially responsible.

How do you turn a slow-moving, traditional economy into a thriving innovation hub? 🇦🇹 In this special ViennaUp Festival edition of The Recursive Podcast, we sit down with Awi Lifshitz, CEO of weXelerate – Austria’s largest innovation ecosystem – to explore how bold vision, strategic partnerships, and startup thinking can reshape entire economies.

In this episode, Avi shares:

🔹 Why Austria lagged in innovation—and how it's catching up

🔹 Lessons from working with 30+ corporates to drive digital transformation

🔹 The birth of Venture Cake, a co-owned accelerator redefining startup support

🔹 The cultural clash between startups and corporates—and how to bridge it

🔹 How Vienna positions itself as a gateway between Eastern and Western Europe

From personal insights to macro-strategy, this is a must-watch for founders, corporate innovators, and policymakers alike.

📍 Recorded during ViennaUp Festival in the heart of Europe.

🔔 Subscribe to The Recursive for more interviews from the forefront of innovation in CEE.

Dusan Duffek is a serial entrepreneur turned investor and Managing Partner at Zero One Hundred, an early-stage VC fund investing in companies across CEE and the Middle East. As a co-founder of The Doers Company, he drives initiatives like Reflect Festival and Doers Summit. Dusan also co-founded Zero One Hundred Conferences, fostering connections across the European investment landscape. Based in Abu Dhabi, he is passionate about bridging Europe and the Middle East, supporting founders on their journey.

In his conversation with Irina Obushtarova, he talks about:

🌍 the role of "doers" in solving global problems;

🎯 how community sparks a VC vision;

💼 the opportunity for investors in MENA;

Tune in! 📺

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Mergim Cahani is the visionary founder of Gjirafa, which he describes as the fastest-growing tech company in the Balkans.

Founded by Mergim in 2013, Gjirafa is an internet company providing services such as e-commerce, video streaming, online marketing, cloud computing, and entertainment production.

Often referred to as the "Balkan Amazon," Gjirafa makes a remarkable impact in the region. Tune in the episode!

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Thaleia Misailidou is a prominent figure in the venture capital industry. She is an active Angel investor passionate about supporting ambitious founders in deep tech. Thaleia also co-founded the Tech Finance Network, a professional community dedicated to supporting Greek startups.

With seven years of experience as a seed-stage investor at Marathon VC from its early days, she played a key role in driving its exceptional performance in the industry.

Thaleia has a background in mechanical engineering and financial engineering and has a passion for Robotics, AI, and gaming.

In her conversation with Irina Obushtarova, she talks about:

- the importance of women in VC

- approach to angel investing

- the growth of the Greek VC ecosystem

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Lars Rasmussen is a tech angel investor and startup advisor. Lars co-founded Where 2 Tech, which was acquired by Google in 2004, leading to the creation of Google Maps. His journey continued as a Director of Engineering at Facebook, where he led teams in Menlo Park and London.

Passionate about innovation, Lars’ investment portfolio includes standout companies like Canva, Astranis, Chiaro, Neara, and Weav Music — he’s also a co-founder of the latter.

Lars is currently a Founding Board Member at Panathēnea, a not-for-profit festival of innovation in Athens, Greece. He also enjoys sailing the Greek Islands, kite surfing, and savoring a good cup of coffee.

In his conversation with Irina Obushtarova, he talks about:

🔄 Facing failure before success;

💻 The dot-com boom;

📉 Surviving investors’ disinterest;

🗺️ The full story behind Google Maps;🎢 Why entrepreneurship seems like a roller coaster;

🚀 How future generations will work and innovate.

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