On the 17th of November, TEDxAUBG hosted an interview with Angel Ivanov- founder of Handplayed, co-founder of Skaptobara, establisher of AUBG Daily, and part of AUBG’s 30 game-changers. He joined us for an online interview to share insights into his journey as a successful entrepreneur.
The AUBG experience
When the time had come for choosing a place to pursue his higher education, Angel went to an open house, an experience that convinced him AUBG is the right place for him. “I was pretty sure that I wanted to do a Journalism and Mass Communications major, but I knew that my parents were not going to be happy with me doing this major only,” Angel said, “I took courses in politics, economics, business, and decided that business is what I find the most fitting.”
Work experience during university years and lessons learned
Despite his decision, Angel stayed connected to the world of media — in 2012, he and his friends established AUBG Daily. There were similar outlets in AUBG at that time, but the team saw an opportunity to create one that will be way more active and deliver news to the community faster. “There was not a lot of activity and not a lot of value in the news that was shared with the community and I thought that, for it to be more connected and better informed, we had to post often,” he explained. Because of the team members’ dedication and persistence, AUBG Daily managed to find sponsors quickly and for a long time, the club was able to sustain itself only through advertising. Angel is happy that the organization is still existing and developing- something that he couldn’t predict back then.
As a student, Angel did an internship in a film production company in Sofia. They proposed he continues working for them full-time after graduating. At that time, he also got an offer from Telerik- a major Bulgarian software company. The salary that he was offered at Telerik was much morе, but he still decided to become a junior producer. Angel realized the consequences of the choice he made. “I made a risky decision — going to the cultural sector — and it took some time, but thankfully, it paid off,” he added.
The Skaptobara project
It paid off because by rejecting the bigger salary that would make him feel comfortable, the young entrepreneur challenged himself to go out of his comfort zone and think of alternative sources of income. One day, he and the other co-founder of Skaptobara: Georgi, were drinking beers and discussing that people from the AUBG community do not hang out with each other as much after graduating. This is how Skapto was born as a place in Sofia where AUBG graduates could go for a beer with their fellow alumni. Soon, Angel and Georgi realized that their business model is not sustainable. They updated the Skaptobara concept- to offer American food and enable customers to dive into the American culture and spirit — that was a business that was attractive to a wider audience. From that moment on, the revenue of the company began to increase every month.
A change of direction
Staying connected to the field of moviemaking, in 2015, Angel was admitted to the Sarajevo Film Festival’s “Talents Sarajevo” program as a young producer. Around 120 students from the Balkans were gathered and were receiving lectures from Oscar winners and other famous professionals in the film industry for one week.
During the same year, after working as a freelancer for a year, the entrepreneur realized that his workload was increasing, and he needed some help. That is why Angel hired one employee and founded Handplayed- a production company that has done more than 170 commercial projects in the last six years. The company makes its revenue from advertising, and they are mostly working with commercial companies. “Our job is to take а script and figure out its production costs. The company also works on non-profit “passion” projects, such as music videos and films.
Since this year, Angel, Anton Tonev, and Georgi Staykov (all of them AUBG alumni) are working on Nagledno- an independent media outlet focusing on topics like politics, business, and free time. Their goal is to bring thrift information to their audience. This year, the project got accepted in Elevate, a joint initiative of AUBG and the Bulgarian early-stage VC Eleven Ventures, where the team hopes to gain more popularity organically.
Do you want to watch the whole interview and learn even more? Click here.
