April 11th, 2024, posted in learning
by Adelina
There are people making waves everyday in the field of technology. Our "Behind the Tech'' series is where we explore the stories of these amazing people. We aim to shed light on their challenges, victories, and invaluable lessons learned. Plus, this is a great way to encourage connections between technology creators and the community.
Join us as we discover the fascinating world behind the tech that shapes our world!
Alex is a curious mind and lifelong learner with an insatiable appetite for knowledge spanning various domains, from cutting-edge innovations to data, marketing, leadership, artificial intelligence (AI), music, neuroscience, sound engineering, and art. Currently he is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Tag Digital, a digital marketing agency specializing in Event PPC.
Alex Velinov’s company, Tag Digital, is a leading digital marketing agency, specifically focused on the event industry. Their expertise lies in developing bespoke campaigns designed to succeed. With a team of certified professionals, they use a combination of data and technology to help clients navigate the challenging paid advertising arena, reduce cost per registration, build data and improve ROI.
1. Who is Alex? Tell us a bit about your previous experience. What makes you successful in your job?
Alex: I have always been involved in tech in one way or another throughout my entire career. It is probably better to say it's an intersection between tech and creativity. I started my career as an audio engineer, moving to project management, digital marketing, and lastly, to AI. I think the one thing that makes me successful in every job I've had is that I never look at any job as just a job. I always do things that I love. For me, working is more like entertainment and excitement rather than a burden. My curiosity also helps me all the time to stay on top of every profession and job I've been involved in.
2. What professional accomplishment are you most proud of? Why?
Alex: I am a humble person and don’t often think about what I am proud of. Putting it slightly differently, I am happy when I have an idea that I can convince stakeholders and clients to try, and it ends up being a successful product or service. That’s something that makes me happy. For example, recently we set up a new Generative AI ads service that was really hard even to explain to our clients, but a few weeks ago, we won an award for innovative creativity. It's always good to be first at something. It's a bumpy road, but it's always worth it.
3. What are some of your biggest tech challenges? How do they impact the business?
Alex: Unfortunately, tech challenges are easy, as it always comes down to 0s and 1s. The biggest challenges are always with people, not tech. People are abstract and unpredictable, and you need to be really careful with communication. Technology can be challenging, but not as much compared to dealing with people.
4. Do you have any examples of a technological change that you have implemented within an organization? What was the outcome?
Alex: Without going into specific details, implementing new systems and software is always challenging, especially with growing teams. You need to know the software well, as well as have a strategy on how it exactly fits your company's business and overall strategy. Implementation can be tedious, especially from a communication point of view. You can also face resistance from the team, as people generally do not like changes.
As a result, you may end up onboarding new software for 6+ months, and the problem is purely in communication, training, and resistance. This can be even more painful with bigger teams. Every new technology is easy to implement in small teams (less than 15 people) and it gets harder, especially in organizations with 50+ people.
5. What was a major people management challenge? How did you solve it?
Alex: Finding the talents that fit culturally in your organization is the biggest challenge. It's even more challenging when you are not operating fully remotely and need to rely on hiring people in specific locations only. In terms of how we solve it - we rely more on cultural fit and cultural addition to the company, knowing that we can train employees in everything. So, we search for the right people with the right attitude and then upscale them when needed.
6. How do you measure your department’s success? What metrics do you have to make sure you are on the right path?
Alex: We are using the OKR system for setting and measuring our success. As key metrics, apart from the obvious financial metrics like Revenue and EBITDA, we solely rely on the NPS score as the main metric for measuring the quality of our work.
7. Are there any resources (book, podcast, etc) you’d recommend to a junior?
Alex: Probably, I will not suggest something expected from a tech person, but I will suggest that everyone first finds their own way of developing their soul. This will help you with everything else, as it creates the best foundation. That's why you need to find a philosophy that fits you the best, whether it is Western, Eastern, or ancient philosophy. I personally read books related to Stoicism and Zen philosophy, as this fits best with my persona. But this is not for everyone. ;)
Books:
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday
Zen: The Art of Simple Living
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Podcast:
Huberman Lab
8. With technology constantly evolving, what trends are you most excited about, and how are you preparing for them?
Alex: AI is obviously going to be the biggest tech trend in the next 5-10 years. We will see a lot of involvement in the field, and this will create the next technological revolution that will completely change society as we know it. To be prepared, you need to stay on top of the latest trends and developments, but also, you need to develop and implement a relevant training program for your team and incorporate new AI technologies as part of your workflows and processes.
Alex Velinov has had many different roles throughout his career, but what stayed consistent has been his passion for doing what he truly loves, be it technology or creativity. He’s shown us that taking a leap forward and trying out new tech things can lead to many rewards - literally. And that managing large teams is quite a challenge, but not an impossible one.
We hope you've enjoyed exploring the world of tech leadership as we come to an end of this awesome conversation with Alex.
You can find him on: LinkedIn | Website
Don't miss out on the insights – keep an eye on our blog for the next “Behind the Tech” interview!
