1. Worldclass Enterprise Software &
Design Startups in Southeast Europe
Vassil Terziev, Co-founder and CEO, Telerik
European Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Stanford School of Engineering
January 27, 2014

2. Few Words About Me
•
•
•
•
•
Co-founder and CEO of Telerik
Based in Sofia, spending time in Palo Alto
Entrepreneur by chance
Startup mentor and angel investor
Great friends with other co-founders, still
in the company

3. Bulgaria on the Map
Location
•
Southeastern Europe, to the North of Greece and
Turkey
•
Controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East
and Asia
•
Easy access to EU markets
Population and Society
•
Around 7 million people
•
42.3% aged 25-54 years
Government
•
Parliamentary representative democratic republic
•
EU Member since 2007
Economy
•
GDP - $102.7 billion (2012 est.)
•
Lowest Corporate Tax in EU – 10% Flat Rate

4. Great Engineering Talent and Innovators Hub in BG
Leading global IT companies
have regional technology
development centers and
offices in the country
Bulgaria is:
•
One of the first European countries to develop serial production of
PCs in the 1980s
•
6th country in the world to send a man in space
•
Ranks among the first in Europe in terms of IT-certified specialists
•
Bulgarian IT and math students won more than 50 Olympic medals
in the past 10 years

5. The Wonderful City of Sofia
Best of Everything:
Vibrant startup and tech
community
Beautiful, safe city with a lot of
parks
Great places to dine or go out
Events for everyone – from music
and design fans, to science and
technology enthusiasts

6. TELERIK TODAY

7. Bringing Telerik 3.0 to Life

8. Launch of the Telerik Platform

9. What Telerik Does
“Develop experiences”
Telerik empowers developers to create compelling
experiences across web, mobile and desktop applications.
Our end-to-end, adaptive platform uniquely combines
industry-leading UI tools with cloud services to simplify the
entire software development lifecycle.

10. Our Customers
In numbers:
•
1.2 million
developers
•
94 Countries
•
130,000+
customers
•
40,000
organizations
•
450+ of the
Fortune 500

11. TEAM
Over 800 people staying true to our mission to deliver more than expected every day

12. CULTURE
Work hard,
play harder
While Telerik
grows and our
culture evolves,
our values stay
the same:
•
Integrity
•
Trust
•
Respect
•
Team work
•
Hard work
•
Meritocracy
of ideas

13. 11 Offices in 6 Countries on 4 Continents

14. LIFE
We are all
one Family
Life is a
game!
mentality
Make every
day at the
office a fun
one

15. COMMUNITY
DevReach - Bringing Top
Tech Experts to CEE
Celebrated 8th edition in 2013
1,000 people from 25 countries
43 renown speakers
54 sessions in 6 halls
Latest technologies

16. THE BEGINNING

17. From College Buddies to Cofounders

18. First Customer
Telerik Sofia, Bulgaria
(Headquarters)
2002
5

19. First Product, Website and Client
•
•
•
•
Web-based business
model
First Product -r.a.d.Editor
First Client - Urs Tobler
08/28/2002
Validation of product and
online business model

20. The Breakthroughs
•
•
•
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Paid features - our
clients funded our
products’ development
Focus on UX and design
Fanatical dedication to
our customers
Getting stable internetJ

21. First Customer
Telerik Sofia, Bulgaria
(Headquarters)
2002
5
>44
2006
Telerik Boston, USA
First International Office

22. First International Office – Boston, MA (2006)
Then
Today

23. From Lifestyle Business to Professional Business
Still, focus on our colleagues,
culture and work environment to
date remains unchanged

24. GROWTH & EXPANSION

25. First Customer
Telerik Sofia, Bulgaria
(Headquarters)
Summit Partners
Investment
Telerik Germany
2002
5
2008
>44
>124
2006
Telerik Boston, USA
First International Office

26. First Customer
Telerik Sofia, Bulgaria
(Headquarters)
Summit Partners
Investment
Telerik Germany
2002
5
2008
>44
>124
2006
>200
2009
Telerik Boston, USA
First International Office
Telerik Academy

27. Telerik Academy – Innovation in Recruitment and Education
•
12000
Free IT education for all ages (kids, highschool students, university students, and
professionals)
•
12,000 onsite and online students in
2012-2013
•
Telerik Academy Growth (number of students)
35 courses; 1,600+ videos; 1.1 million
views
10050
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
2500
96
1
2009
2010
115
2011
2012
2013

28. >800
2013
Telerik Palo Alto
Telerik Denmark
Silicon Valley Office

29. Silicon Valley Office

30. Startup Scene in Bulgaria is Amazing!
Today
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Lively, supportive start-up ecosystem and entrepreneurial culture
•
Angels, seed funds, VCs
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Amazing start-ups and a strong community around them
•
Incubators, co-working spaces supporting these young startups
•
Numerous initiatives and events taking place daily

31. The Startup Scene – Then & Now
A lot has changed since we started in 2002:
+ Supportive Infrastructure and Incubators
+ Thriving Ecosystem
+ Mentorship programs
+ Educational Initiatives
Yet, some things remain the same
= You still need a great idea and team to make it
= A lot of hard work, dedication, patience and passion
= And a bit of luck to turn your idea into a successful business
But, if others have done it before you, then why can’t you?

32. Vassil Terziev
terziev@telerik.com
www.telerik.com
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vassil-terziev/0/42/242
THANK YOU!