Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Innovation
Conversation. Today we are joined by Gabi Edel.
Gabi, welcome. Hi, thank you for having me. It's
a pleasure. Gabi, would you like to introduce
yourself to the audience, please? Sure. So my
name is Gabi. I'm from Lithuania. I live in four
different countries. It's my first startup that
I'm currently running. I used to live in the
Netherlands and work in a lot of corporates like
Ernst & Young and then I decided that it's not
for me. So that's why I founded my agency now,
which is Capital Boost. I, of course, have to
mention that I used to be a professional athlete
for 14 years in fin swimming and I'm still holding
the record of Lithuania. So this is like, you
know, a rough introduction about me. Okay. All
right. So there's a lot to unpack here. I guess,
you know, you traveled a lot, you worked for
Big Corporate, but you also have the athlete
side to you, which obviously gives you a lot
discipline, I would assume, and great swimming
abilities, right? So yes, I guess what prompted
you to to change from the more corporate world
to launching your business because it's it's
a bit of a risky step, isn't it? Yeah, for sure.
You know, I always hated authority. I just couldn't
work under a lot of so many people. So and I
was always more you know, of a driver. And I
really want to make an impact and innovation
in the world. And I thought that the best way
to do it is, of course, to launch your own thing.
Plus, I have big goals. And I just didn't imagine
myself being an employee long term. Also, I was
quite a shitty employee, to be honest. So that's
what spearheaded me to launch my third startup.
Okay. And was it hard? I mean, making that transition?
How was it? You know, I didn't have a lot of
family support. My friends, most of them at the
time, they were mostly in corporates or employee
employees. So it was not like a really big support
from that end. But my ambition to really go and
do it, you know, it overcame everything, everything
else. Plus, you know, I've been following and
reading a lot of different books about entrepreneurship,
personal development. And I was like, you know,
when the not now. So it was, you know, it was
difficult, but I'm so glad I did it. And every
day, even today, it's like, of course, so many
challenges, you know, some clients always, you
know, it's a big mess, but I love it. And that's
what's driving me because it's a challenge and
I love challenges. So that's, I'm super happy
I did this change and transition. So how does
everything work? Because you moved from Lithuania
to, I guess, somewhere in the Netherlands and
then now in the Czech Republic. So how did this
transition happen? Right. So, you know, Lithuania
was too small for me. I already knew when I was
in teenage years that I'm going to move. you
know, too compact. I wanted to explore. So I
went to the Netherlands to initially study, but
I started working since my first year of studies
and I never stopped since. So, you know, I was
working. I was actually my first job was selling
cigarettes. And then, you know, of course I was
working for different multiple companies. So
yeah, I moved to the Netherlands. I learned how
Dutch people work and I loved it. to this day,
because they're so direct and like they don't
fuss around. They just like tell you what's wrong
straight into your face, which is something like
sometimes quite hard to take it. But now I feel
like I'm equipped to do so. So I was living there
for six years and then I just got fed up of it.
I was living there during Corona time. It was
just, it was too much Netherlands for me, let's
say in that way. And I moved to Rome for a bit
because I wanted some Italian sun. I was thinking
I could do some business there, but I understood
that Rome is more for, you know, it's a walking
museum. It's not really a startup hub. So that's
why I was like, okay, Rome is not for me. I moved
back to Lithuania where I worked at EY because
I also have a little sister that I wanted to,
you know, get in touch with a little more. And
I was like, no, no, no. Okay, no, EY is not for
me. Like big corporates is not for me. And I
moved to Czech Republic and I'm here I think
for nine months already. And I love the culture.
I love like how diverse it is and how beautiful
it is as well. So for now, this is home. Not
sure where it's gonna go next. But for now, this
is home. Was it hard launching a company in the
Czech Republic? It's actually quite easy to launch
a company here. It's not that difficult in terms
of regulations. And, you know, like I'm working
alone most of the time. Of course, I have like
some, some employees that are helping me, but
it's still remote. So it's not that difficult
to launch a company. Of course, you know, in
the entrepreneurship world is sometimes a bit
lonely. That's why I am like... actually from
now like now I'm joining from we work from co
working spaces. So I love co working spaces.
I just try to be surrounded by entrepreneurs.
So I was like, yeah, I'm now my headquarters
are here. It's a good place to be. I mean, we
work they do they also give away a cucumber water
and beer at Friday on Fridays or? Yeah, they
do have beer here on Fridays. Yeah, it's nice.
It's a really collaborative place, also super
cool people. So that's awesome. Interesting.
And how do you get the idea for the business?
Actually, do you want to tell a bit more about
your business, please? Sure. So Capital Boost,
we are an outsourced sales agency and we focus
on tech and SaaS entrepreneurs, founders mainly,
and we help their business idea to move forward.
Simple terms, we are a sales agency. We help
with outreach, with pipeline and management in
that end, and we just help to get more clients
for their businesses. What I've seen a lot in
the market is that there are so many great products,
great technology products, and founders receive
investment. They employ so many tech people.
programmers, engineers, and they get so stuck
on the product that they forget that the most
important thing is actually to sell it. So that's
where I step in and my company steps in and we
help to get into markets, to get more clients
and boost their pipeline with innovative technologies
such as we use a lot of AI as well, high -end
tech, and we leverage what's now in the market
to really push their product through. So that's
basically what capital boost is. The business
model has shifted, of course, in the last eight
months that I'm running the company. Initially,
it was focused more on investors and we moved.
now B2B sales. So that's what Capital Boost is.
That's my strength since sales has always been
my strength. It took me a while to figure out
that it is. So yeah, so now we're going quite
strong. We're 15k MRR and I have quite big goals
for the company. So let's see how that will roll
out. You know, most people actually run away
from sales. All right. Most founders that I know
are always a bit shy and they only focus on the
technical side and they completely ignore that
if they're not able to sell themselves what the
company does, it's not going to work, right?
So it's a big thing. Did you get any investment
or you just, you're self -funding it? It's from
my own capital and I invested 3000 euros and
look at the MRR at the moment. So yeah, you know,
if you know how to sell, you don't really need
an investment. So, of course, there were months
that... Okay, I'm not talking about all the businesses
because it's really hard, like technology and
everything, of course, you need an investment.
But for this business, I think you can just do
it with your own capital. You don't really need
an investor. Nice. Tell me about your plans.
What's next? Are you thinking about growing and
stuff? 100 KMRR, that's the next step. Hopefully
in one year. Let's see how that will go. I really
want to open my own office as well with employees
here in Prague and really make it like a sales
hub for tech companies. And I really have this
vision that we can really do it, especially with
the cutting edge technology there is today. I
have my also personal goals. I want to become
Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneur. So I have still
five years to go. So let's see how that will
go. So yeah. That's quite ambitious. Did you
get any any support from like the local government
when you launched the company or just you did
it all by yourself? Everything by myself. Yeah,
no, no support from neither family nor, you know,
any friends. Just really going and hustling and
talking with the people, talking with the right
people and really giving them the value. You
also have a sports background. I mean, do you
think that played a role in the way you've done
business? 100%. Yes. I think setting what swimming
taught me was setting a goal and really trying
to get it and doing everything in your power
to do so. of course, discipline, like a lot of
people like nowadays, they, you know, go on social
media, and they scroll Instagram, younger generation,
tick tock, even LinkedIn, when you open everything
seems so easily achievable, almost like one day
success. Well, it's not. It's like the combination
of discipline over the days over the months that
you do that actually brings you towards the outcome
you have. The draw, the downside of what I have
in my character is patience. I don't really have
patience. Really. So for me, you know, I also
want to like, you know, go too fast, fast, but
then, you know, you're reflecting like, okay,
we need to do it like good and not like rush
through all the process. So definitely that in
swimming had played a major role in that area.
And swimming is quite lonely sport, I would say.
Like when you go into the... I love it. So my
favorite thing to do is just swim. Yeah, yeah.
And you're just alone in the water and with your
thoughts. So I actually heard this saying just...
like half a year ago. So I never thought it's
a lonely sport, but it is. So it's entrepreneurship.
Sometimes it's like, you know, you don't have
the office that you can go into and mingle around
with your employees and so on. It's, yeah, it's
tough. And how do you deal with that? Because
that's it's, you know, it's complicated. You
do have, I guess, a down moment where you just
feel like, why am I doing this or things aren't
working out today? How do you deal with that?
Well, it's a lot of mental game for sure. I also
have a best friend, Chagipiti. Okay. No, really.
Like sometimes I'm asking like, you know, like
what to do with this or this scenario. Like it's
perfect. Like it's really good tool to use. But
then, you know, when you have these down moments,
you always go back to your initial goal, like
why you are doing it. And also yoga helps me
a lot. I'm going to the gym a lot. I'm going
to yoga a lot to really like put yourself aside
from all of these business things and just like
be with yourself for one hour or two hours and
focus on something different. Other of my hobbies
is painting. I love painting. So then, you know,
you just like put yourself everything up and
you just have the canvas and you do your own
thing, not thinking about the problems that you
have. Also, it's good to talk with your friends
sometimes. Like, you know, if this shit is going
bad, what should I do? You know, so it's also
nice to have a good support system. But yeah,
there are those moments for sure that it's quite
difficult sometimes. And how, you know, when
you have all these new clients and you're growing
so fast, how do you manage it all? Because it
can't be easy, right? Yeah, it's not. But you
know, I love it at the end of the day, like I
found myself like when I was working in corporates,
I didn't want to wake up in the morning. It was
just really it was hard. And now when I have
my own business, like, I want to like, get out
there and help plus I have, you know, all a lot
of my processes are automated. Like, of course,
I have, you know, meetings every day, which are,
you know, face to face or online or in those
lines. But most of the outreach, because of the
innovation, is done through automated systems.
Don't tell the world about that. No, this is
all done personally. What, you're telling me
all those emails I get are not actually sent
by a real person? They ought to be. No, that's
horrible. That's the worst thing in the world.
Well, not all of them, but most of them, yeah.
And I guess, you know, when your clients look
at you, do you think they get scared because
you're young? Or quite on the contrary, they
love your enthusiasm and they say, you know what,
let's go for it. I don't think they get scared
at all because I think my results and my achievements
show more than my age. I don't think I'm that
young anymore. There are literally 18, 17 year
olds making millions of dollars nowadays. So,
you know, age is just a matter. On the other
hand, as I said, results speak louder than words,
and I have made great contributions to companies
who, you know, their MRR skyrocketed. So for
me, that's the main drive and for my potential
and current clients as well is I just know that
I'm great at what I do and they trust me on that
and I give them results. So that's the most important
thing. Nice. And one of the topics we often approach
here in the UK is female entrepreneurship. It's
always a big taboo and it's I'm not going to
say it's hard for me as a man to understand the
challenges, but I know there are differences
and challenges. Have you found it hard to launch
a business as a woman or quite on the contrary,
you never saw that as an issue or no one ever
created any barrier for that? Right. To launch
a business, definitely there is no problem. What
I've actually found from my experience is that
To negotiate a price as a woman is more difficult.
To negotiate a price on like monthly, let's say,
or base or some commissions, it's a bit more
difficult than you would negotiate man to man.
Most of my clients are men. because, you know,
text -based. It's a lot of males, a lot of testosterone.
So it's sometimes quite difficult to negotiate,
you know, the price and they're always, you know,
backing themselves and so on and so on. But I
wouldn't say that I experienced some less treatment
or some less being a woman. Definitely not. Like,
you have to have balls. as a woman sometimes,
and just really say what you want and have this
harsh, sometimes harder character. But of course,
embracing femininity is also a must have. So
it's a balance. But I don't necessarily like
to differentiate between female founders and
men founders. We are the same. We are the same
capabilities. So that's what in the back of my
head is running. Interesting, because they've
done a study Why women still don't make as much
money as men and what they realize was that actually
when it comes on to negotiation women always
go with a low ball figure instead of going for
a high one and that means that when you did this
across you know multiple years and growing your
career you actually end up with a lower figure
than the guy cuz the guy would walk in say yo
i'm worth a hundred k words in the lady would
say. I think I'm only worth 50. So whatever increase
you will get throughout the career will actually
be lower, even though they can obviously work
a lot better. So yeah, it's interesting how you
walk into the room and just manage to close all
these deals. And an interesting question for
me would be, we talked a lot about automation
and stuff like that. How important is it to have
automation and AI on your business, on day -to
-day running of the business? Super important.
Super, super, super important if you don't want
to be If you want to be ahead of your competition,
you must have AI tools running. You must have
your processes automated because you're just
behind of the game. That's my saying 100%. You
cannot not incorporate AI and still compete on
the same level. Interesting. What type of clients
do you normally go for? I normally go for SaaS
clients. software as a service and chatbots,
AI companies. So in that tech space, I offer
it mostly. And then the benefit is that most
of the time you get some chatbot implemented
in your website because you have a client or
some software, you'll get it for free because
you are serving. I work with these types of clients.
I'm thinking of also going beyond that and trying
with insurance. They also need clients. But anything
that has to do with B2B service, I am there helping
you. And these just focus on the Czech Republic
or you got clients elsewhere as well? I have
clients over Europe. So in Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Cyprus, Netherlands, Negotiating a deal now in
the UK, this is more or less what I have right
now, but I operate in Europe mostly. Later in
the US, let's see, at first I want to have everything
settled in Europe because of the time zones,
it's much more easier to work there for now,
but of course higher returns are in the US because
they have just more... Bigger economy. Exactly.
Now, I'm curious about one thing, you know, as
a sports person and as someone who's been in
business, what do you do when times get really,
really hard? Like, where do you get your inspiration
from? Is it the book? Is it just friends and
family? What do you do in those moments? Good
question. Definitely, like books, I'm reading
a lot. Now I'm reading, what is the book name?
The Diary of the CEO. My competition is almost
slightly ahead of my podcast. Yes. Yeah. Yeah,
but it's a really good book. I actually got some
quite good ideas from it. I go to my family.
Like if it's difficult, I'm like, look, this
is shit. And they most of the time push me, which
is nice. I have a family that their love language
is challenging. So it's not like, you know, everything
is going to be fine. It's more like, no, why
did you like reflection? Things like that. I
go to my best friends. I'm fortunate enough to
have a couple that I really do trust. So I go
to them and they also inspire me and remind me
of my goals and remind me that sometimes it's
gonna be tough. And I also like to then go for
a walk. I like to put music, the music that I
like, and I go on a walk with my AirPods and
just, you know, calm down. I do that a lot. Actually,
it's a bit crazy. I read somewhere that most
of the problems are solved by taking a walk,
actually, because you abstain from them and you
can just focus on getting to the solution, I
guess. And, you know, in all these things, what
would you say to yourself a year back? If you
could talk to yourself right now and say, you
know, take the chance, go ahead and start the
business, what would you say to yourself? I would
say do it earlier. Okay, interesting. How come?
Because I think I waited too long. to do what
I'm doing now. Of course, without the lessons
in the past, I wouldn't have maybe the mindset
or the experience I have. But the earlier you
start doing something you love, something you
really think is right for you, you will never
be disappointed that you are doing it. And a
lot of people are having their dreams and they're
waiting on it. But I don't like the word dreams.
Actually, I always say goals. It's better to
have goals than dreams and write them down and
just going and getting them. Like, for instance,
if you want to implement some new habit or start
something new and you're just waiting for that
right moment, it's never going to come. The best
moment is now. So that's the mindset I'm having
and I wish I would have started earlier to do
what I do. I would be interested. where it would
be now. And would you tell someone that was in
your position to actually get started and get
going? Or would you say just stay where you are,
because it's nice and safe? No, I'm always like,
go and do bold decisions and really try getting
out of your comfort zone. Because why not? And
the worst case scenario you can like, I always
tell myself the worst case scenario, I'm just
gonna, you know, be a barista somewhere or like
do some kind of job that I know how to do. I
will start selling cigarettes again. Worst case
scenario, I will just go back where I started.
I don't know. Of course, maybe it's easy for
me to say because I don't have kids yet, for
instance, or I don't have some huge responsibilities
in terms of loans or things like that. So it's
quite easier on that end. But if you do, and
you really have your passion that you wanted
to do so, then I would suggest have a part -time
job somewhere that you know you can pay the bills.
And then half of the time, do something you love
or dedicate the weekends for it or just find
some time instead of watching TikTok or being
like, I don't know why I'm bringing this TikTok.
a TikTok app all the time, but it's just like
so much teenagers spend so much time on it, it's
just insane. So things like that. So you mentioned
something quite interesting, which is a TikTok.
Now, the balance in your life, the balance between,
actually, let me reframe that. As an entrepreneur,
how is the balance between content consumption,
where you spend a lot of time on Instagram and
TikTok and LinkedIn, and content creation? Would
you think the balance should be there? I think
you should be a creator 100 % rather than consuming
content, but it's easier said than done. What
I do is I spend around one hour on social media
every day. I don't know if it's a lot or not,
but I also need this time to rewind and just
watch some stupid things to not think anymore
about everything. Also, that helps. But creating
content, it's much better. It's again, then it's
discipline, then it's thinking about the content,
then it's what production. Like a couple of days
ago, I was creating a video, like a promo video
for my company. It took me three hours to edit
a video. I was going crazy. I'm not an editor.
I know the feeling. Yes, it's a nightmare. Editing
is the worst thing in the world. It's super hard
to do. Yes. Of course, there are now another
AI tools and so on to help, but still. But to
go back to your question, of course, creating
content is key and I'm still also thinking a
little bit about my social media strategy and
what should I post and so on and so on. But yeah,
it's tough. No, it's something that I... I find
in most people is sometimes they're a bit shy
as individuals, right? Especially when you're
launching a business because we always, we as
a species are afraid of failure because we know
that if we fail and if society around us rejects
this, then we won't, you know, we'll get out
of the pack. It's going to be cold. It's going
to be miserable. When you're posting a new content,
when you're creating new strategies, how to deal
with that? Like with that thought in your mind,
do you think you're going to be all alone or
you actually say, you know what, let's just do
it? Let's just do it. Yes. And also not thinking
about other people's opinions. It's again, like
it's easier said. But if you're just going to
overthink about what other people are thinking
of you and if you're saying the right thing,
you will never really move. Maybe you will get
some hate. That's normal. That's part of the
game. But for instance, if I post some new content
on LinkedIn, I mostly try to grow my LinkedIn
platform, maybe Instagram at some point, but
LinkedIn is the professional part. So I post
this post and then it's 10 minutes past and you
get like two likes and you're like, maybe it's
bad. But then you just leave it and you know
also that the algorithm might pick up later.
So yeah, you just leave it. I have deleted a
couple of my posts sometimes because I was too
afraid what others would think, but it's trial
and error, right? Like, yeah, some entrepreneurs
are shy, but I really do believe if you want
to succeed in this era, the founder should be
in content. Like it's quite important, unless
you have a lot of investment in place and you're
really doing some, I don't know, deep tech or
some, you know, this boring businesses, you know,
brick and mortar or something in those lines.
But if you are in marketing, tech, sales, tech,
I mean, the SaaS, the founder should be like
the face of the game. I think it helps sales
as well. It does. I think in sales, we're kind
of transitioning to a founder led marketing solution
instead of the marketing solution where people
just get sent a boring PDF that no one ever reads.
And like, yeah, I'm not going to spend any time
with this as if, but then if we have the founder
and he's on LinkedIn and posts a 30 second clip
of him talking about the product and why it's
actually quite good. People are like, I like
this guy. He sounds okay. Guy or girl. Let me
go and talk with them. So yeah, makes a big difference.
Yeah, for sure. 100%. Interesting. Now, a very
important question, which is if people want to
reach out to you, how can you do so? So on LinkedIn,
I'm going by Gabia Adela. You can search me or
by email gabia at capital boost .io. So Gabia,
just for everyone just listening in, is G -A
-B -I -J -A, right? Yes. Okay, very important
with the J. Gabi, thank you so much for your
time. I really appreciate it. It's been a pleasure.
Thank you so much, Ricardo, for having me. It
was a great discussion. Thank you. All right.
So we're going to click stop.