Episode description

Next, on The Recursive podcast we welcome seasoned entrepreneur Ilia Krastev. As the CEO of A Data Pro, he’s managing a diverse portfolio of companies in the data and information economy -  the business news provider for Southeast Europe SeeNews, the media monitoring company Perceptica, the business platform for renewable energy - Renewables Now, and the scientific unit, based on AI solutions Identrics.

Ilia Krastev is also the chairman of the Association for Innovation, Business Excellence, Services, and Technology, that aims to be the voice of companies of the high value-added business services in Bulgaria.

In his conversation with Georgi Nenov, Ilia tells the story of how his first student job turned into his lifetime calling. While studying microbiology, he started as a coder indexing news articles, explored different positions within the company and rose to the role of CEO. And he’s been at the steering wheel of A Data Pro for the last 13 years.

Throughout the years Ilia has experimented with different ventures - some very far away from tech, and he says that trying new things and learning about people has been his main focus. 

He owned a restaurant and an agriculture business which taught him much more about listening to people than any corporate training.

In the episode, Ilia talks about:

• How to stay at the top of the game in the ever changing world of data;
• How to develop an intrapreneurial mindset within the company and make sure your organization can adapt fast to changes;
• How to learn to let go of control as a leader and give opportunities to people to lead;