Productivity Mastery

In episode #108 of Productivity Mastery, we welcomed to the podcast the dynamic co-founder duo, Mario Calderón & Victor Sánchez. We talked about Making Culture a Priority from Day 1, and also about the origins of SkillMapper! Mario and Victor shared a bunch of practical lessons and stories, including: 💡 Teaming up with the right person - and why, 💡 How they deal with F-ups in the company, 💡 Methodologies vs. Reality, 💡 How to build a company culture that even competitors want to join, and much more! Mario Calderón is the Co-Founder & CEO of SkillMapper, an AI-powered ed-tech building the bridge between education and employment for young professionals. Mario has believed that education is the ultimate equalizer, and has always had an entrepreneurial mindset. Thus, his transition from the corporate world to an ed-tech founder became very natural as the world was amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2021, he co-founded SkillMapper with a mission to empower young professionals to achieve their full potential through education. Before SkillMapper, Mario worked in Data Science and Partnerships for nine years at Meta (former Facebook). He was among the first Peruvians to join this juggernaut in 2012 and worked across various teams during his stints, from operations to partnerships. Mario holds a Double Master’s Degree in Marketing Research and Management from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and BI Norwegian Business School, Norway. Mario was born and raised in Lima, Peru, and resides in Paris, France. Víctor Sánchez is the Co-Founder & CTO of SkillMapper, where he covers all the start-up’s technology and product development sides. Previous to SkillMapper, Victor has worked in TATA Consultancy Services and LATAM Airlines, specializing in strategy, analytics, and operations. Through these experiences, he discovered the world of Data, Business Intelligence, and Analytics. Since then, he has been passionate about surfacing data insights and building architectures for big data projects. His last stints before joining SkillMapper were aligned to what later became SkillMapper’s ethos and AI-driven approach. After completing his Master's Degree, he joined a computer vision start-up as a Data Scientist. Victor holds an Informatic Engineer degree from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Victor used to be an e-gamer in his free moments, and he’s passionate about football and martial arts. Tune in!

In episode #107 of Productivity Mastery, we talk about something that we’re all affected by - the vast advancement in technology from the last couple of years. But luckily, Daniel Sih is here to show us how to become a SPACEMAKER in the Digital Age. He shared a lot of valuable facts and lessons, including: 💡 Keeping base and making space, 💡 What is neuroplasticity and how does technology affect us, 💡 The changes in people’s mentality after 2012, 💡 The importance of daily pauses and good sleep, and much more! Daniel is the co-founder of Spacemakers®, a productivity consulting group for busy leaders. His book, "Spacemaker - how to unplug, unwind and think clearly in the digital age," won the Australian Business Book Award in 2021 for personal development. As a trainer, coach and keynote speaker, Daniel has worked with CEO’s, executives, and other senior professionals throughout Australia and beyond, ranging from global corporations and businesses to universities and non-profits. He is the creator of best-selling productivity courses such as Email Ninja and Making Space (digital wellness training) with more than 20,000 students online and offline. Daniel lives in Tasmania, Australia with his wife, Kylie, and three children, Naomi, Caleb and Jethro. He also keeps fourteen purebred chickens, who eat a lot of grain and lay too few eggs. Tune in!

In episode #106 of Productivity Mastery, we were talking about How Using LEGO Bricks Improves Productivity. Luca Bruschi, Senior Service Owner at The LEGO Group, will trigger your creative side by showing you how Lego can transform your work life. He shared a lot of inspiring information, including: 💡 Problem-solving through Lego, 💡 How to structure your meetings and workshops, 💡 A visual example of how to use Lego to express ideas, 💡 The relation between storytelling, creativity and making connections, and much more! With 20+ years of experience in multinational companies, Luca has matured a strategic vision and pragmatic approach, that allow him to work across the IT and business worlds. He works in a diverse environment, where he is used to dealing with executives and engineers at the same time, with flexibility, prioritization skills, and multitasking ability. He is an experienced leader and business relationship manager who can bring technical information to the business level through an astute combination of creative energy, technical skill, and partner-&-internal-facing credibility. As a Senior Service Owner at The LEGO Group, he is responsible to maximize the IT Support value for all the users at the HQ. He is a strong communicator who brings leadership through public speaking engagements, including Microsoft TechEd, TEDx, and FifteenSeconds. Tune in!

In episode #105 of Productivity Mastery, our guest is the founder of Typerform himself! Many of you probably have come across their software or have read about them in the PERFORM book, but in this episode, David Okuniev shared with us the story behind the successful company and many lessons from the journey, including: 💡 What it’s like to lead a 500 people company, 💡 How to create a culture of accountability ownership, 💡 The moving-fast attitude, 💡 Establishing work-life balance, and much more! David Okuniev is the co-founder of Typeform. He currently heads the R&D team as a product designer/builder in charge of bringing new products to market. His mission to make the digital engagement a little more human resulted in the creation of Typeform in 2012, in Barcelona. With a focus on interaction, UX and UI, David and co-founder Robert Muñoz sought to create a platform that would enable brands to interact with customers in a dynamic, conversational way. David served as co-CEO of Typeform until 2018, during which the company raised more than $52 million in funding and earned more than 30,000 paid customers. David continues to lead R&D efforts to help Typeform shape the future of online interactions. Tune in!

For episode #104 of Productivity Mastery, we welcomed Diana Alice Florescu, a serial entrepreneur with an intriguing quantity of experience. We talked about Navigating Career Changes by Following Your Inner Compass, so this episode is perfect for those who have just graduated and currently stand at the crossroads. Diana shared a lot of enlightening lessons, including: 💡 How to understand your passions, 💡 Preparing yourself for the entrepreneur’s journey, 💡 Finding a job after you graduate, 💡 How to overcome social pressure for success, and much more! Diana Florescu is a serial entrepreneur. She is a founding partner at Grai Ventures, a venture building studio, and a board member at Wolves Summit. In the last decade, Diana held various marketing and strategy roles working with some of the world’s largest accelerators, tech conferences, and innovation consultancies. Diana honed her international experience having worked and studied in the UK, the USA, Qatar, Poland, Romania, and Germany. Diana holds a Master's Degree in Technology Entrepreneurship from UCL. Tune in!

In episode #103 of Productivity Mastery, we talked about a topic that more and more companies are aware of - neurodiversity! Did you know that 1 in 7 people has a neurodivergent condition, and this is crucial to be considered in order to help them do their best at work? Our guest was the incredible Theo Smith, who, being neurodivergent himself, is a leading advocate for neurodiversity and its opportunities that come along. In this episode, hear about: 💡 The importance of understanding neurodiversity, 💡 How to let neurodivergent people use their superpowers at work, 💡 Energy and time management for different types of thinking, 💡 How to achieve happiness at the workplace, and much more! Theo Smith is a leading advocate for neurodiversity. Passionate to raise awareness of neurodiversity, Theo has founded Neurodiversity At Work LTD to advocate the importance of neurodiversity in the workplace. Recently, Theo joined forces with Dynamis Group to help take neurodiversity to the top of organisations agendas via the CEOs and their leadership teams. Formerly, Theo has been the Recruitment Manager for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, enjoying a successful career in HR and recruitment, ensuring organisations had a diverse workforce and thrived. He has also been an advisor for TapIn and host of the Talent Hacks for Scaleups podcast. Sharing his expertise on neurodiversity, Theo helps businesses to have a better understanding of neurodiversity, why it is important and what the benefits of having a neurodiverse workforce can have in business. Spreading the message that an organisation’s employees are their biggest competitive advantage, Theo shares the importance of different skills, strengths, approaches and problem-solving techniques that are evident in a diverse workforce. Known for his love of speaking, Theo is now a popular choice as a speaker for diversity and inclusion-themed events. Sharing his experience of being neurodiverse as a passionate neurodiversity evangelist, Theo has formerly spoken for the likes of Wayfair and is commended for his concepts on neurodiversity in the workplace. Covering topics such as DE&I, neurodiversity at work, neurodiversity recruitment and being ADHD, Dyslexic and Dyscalculia, Theo Smith is the perfect speaker when looking for an expert on neurodiversity. Enjoy the episode! 

In episode #102 of Productivity Mastery, we welcomed Hristo Borisov, the co-founder and CEO of the first-ever Bulgarian Unicorn-status company! Starting a business in this part of Europe can be quite challenging, which has made Hristo’s success even more impressive (by the way, he is on the cover of the Forbes magazine at the time of the podcast recording).  In his conversation with Stoyan, Hristo shared with us a broad range of lessons from his entrepreneurial journey, fascinating stories that lead him to success, and various principles of day-to-day work, including: 💡 Hiring the top 1% of your company, 💡 How to build a customer-success oriented company culture, 💡 A founder’s journey is like a rollercoaster, 💡 How your product is the key to becoming a Unicorn, and much more! Hristo Borisov is the CEO and co-founder of Payhawk. Founded in 2018, Payhawk is a leader in B2B payments and expense management. The company's mission is to become the world's biggest bank without holding a single dollar. Businesses from 27 countries actively use Payhawk credit cards and payment products to save time and money managing their company expenses. With a strong engineering and product background, Hristo spent 11 years leading cloud and mobile products at Progress. Hristo studied both Computer Science and Business Administration at the American University in Bulgaria and has developed a patent-pending technology for declarative programming techniques to create conversational intelligence for a chatbot. Enjoy listening and stay #productive!

In episode 101 of Productivity Mastery, we devoted our discussion to scaling. And since we know this is a topic that most of our listeners take a great interest in, we invited Jure Knehtl - an absolute expert in this field! In this episode: 💡 How to surround yourself with successful people, 💡 The 3 stages prior to starting to scale your business, 💡 Some pretty impressive online advertising tips, 💡 How to create user-generated content, and much more! Jure, the CEO of WeScale, is an expert in scaling e-commerce businesses in the EU. He had scaled 10 businesses from 4- to 7 digits by investing more than €42,500,000 on Facebook and Instagram ads. He holds a record 20,000 products sold a day by winning the hearts and minds of customers with localization in Europe, influencer marketing, and UGC. Having started his first successful business at the age of 21, Jure understands and values all aspects of running a fast-growing e-commerce business and provides partnerships to selected founders in his Wescale ecommerce boutique agency. Tune in!

For episode #100 of Productivity Mastery, we welcomed Anna Liebel, a Mindshifter originally from Ukraine, and we talked about how you can turn perfectionism into something good for you. Anna shared a lot on the topic, including: 💡 Not feeling guilt in troubling times, 💡 4 questions to ask yourself every day, 💡 How to establish a healthy relationship with perfectionism, 💡 How to deal with procrastination, and much more! Anna Liebel is a Mindshifter helping entrepreneurs become better leaders of themselves and others. Prior to working with her, Anna's clients are usually facing the feeling of being stuck or lost, or they know they can have more from their professional or personal life but simply don't know how to get there. In the process, they then go from being overwhelmed to being more open and becoming the true versions of themselves in day-to-day life. Tune in! 

For episode #99 of the Productivity Mastery podcast, we welcomed the amazing German Coppola, who is also one of the contributors to PERFORM: The Unsexy Truth About Startup Success. German shared an impressive amount of valuable productivity tips, including: 💡 How to practice Mindful productivity, 💡 3 Powerful Productivity Tools, 💡 How to use your phone more productively, 💡 A morning routine for self-awareness, and much more! German Coppola is the CEO and founder of Yumiwi, an event automatization platform that is helping organizations and brands capture, clean, and integrate event data so that brands can make better decisions. As a tech entrepreneur who focuses on building people skills above all else, he has successfully created and conceptualized several successful companies which revolve around events, technology, and shared experiences. As the Founder and CEO, he works alongside marketers, designers, and technologists to make sense of the event industry by identifying unspoken users’ needs and trends. He is also a Speaker, Mentor, Course creator, and host of his YouTube Channel and Podcast where he dives deep into Productivity, Mindset, and Technology. German loves reading, music, and spending quality time with his family while teaching his three kids values and strategies of what it is to be and think like an entrepreneur. Brain.fm is an app that uses specially designed music to improve your brain activity, help you focus and relax. Visit Brain.fm/stoyan and take the 20% off after your free trial using coupon code: stoyan Enjoy the episode and stay productive!