Not Every Founder Is Made for Founder Mode
Moved by, many say, the iconic speech from Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky, one of YC […]
A computer engineer who found his life mission is education. Next on The Recursive podcast we welcome Darin Madzharov, co-founder of the edtech platforms Ucha.se and Eduboom. He dropped his PHD to create an online platform to ignite kids in Bulgaria to learn. Darin Madzharov created Ucha. se a decade ago. The edtech platform offers video lessons and tests for all grades in the public school system in Bulgaria.
Over time Ucha.se turned into a tool for the teachers to inspire kids to study. Now, more than 60% of the schools in the country have a subscription to the platform.
In 2020 Madhzarov created an international version of the platform, called Еduboom. It is available in Romania, Spain, and Italy.
Darin Madzharov says the entrepreneurial mindset was a part of him from a very young age. He was always trying to change the things he didn’t like.
In his conversation with Georgi Nenov, Darin Madzharov reflects on one of the more difficult decisions he had to take with Ucha.se. He decided to upgrade the platform from a free service to a subscription-based sustainable business model. But in that process he had to also change the mindset that you are supposed to pay for educational content online. The founder of Eduboom was ready to face tons of negative feedback but he actually turned this into an opportunity. “The answer is to always focus on giving value to the user”, he explains.
Persistence is key
In the episode, he shares that the quality he values most in the people he works with is proactivity to find and solve problems. “To build something amazing you have to do it for many years and a lot of the days are similar. We have this amazing story that in the lives of entrepreneurs every day is different. You get up, the sun is shining, everything is amazing. Most of the days are similar and you have to really have the persistence and discipline to execute, execute, execute”, Darin says. This is how great things happen, he believes.
This is the same approach he chose for their international expansion with Eduboom. Take it slowly but execute in the best possible way. “We see this as a marathon. We might need to take it slower, but with a very good quality of the content”, Darin adds.
With the growth of the business and the international expansion with Eduboom, Darin Madzharov also evolved from a founder to a leader growing the next generation of leaders in his organization. His job is now focused on product, marketing and team culture.
Watch the previous episode to learn how to measure your success with the co-founder of the OKR management software Gtmhub Radoslav Georgiev.
