Our guest today is Martin Markov, one of the three co-founders of Appolica and a retail investor from Bulgaria. Martin developed his own mobile development company more than six years ago, through which he got the chance to work with hundreds of early-stage companies.

Working with startups has stayed a core focus for Martin and his team, which wanted to add value beyond offering standard software development. While working with startups, he was more attracted by the dynamics of building a company.

Let’s discuss this with Martin and find out how working with his founders was a life-changing experience for him and how he made his first steps as a retail investor!

What is Martin’s background?

Martin co-founded Appolica starting with his passion for mobile development and startups. Martin was also selected under the “Forbes 30 under 30” in Bulgaria in 2022, and he is highly motivated by working with smart teams and driven startup founders.

“I have a technical background.

I started as an iOS developer, which is how I connected with my two co-founders. We started a mobile development company through which we worked with different companies and projects, from large enterprises to traditional businesses and startups.”

Appolica was founded to foster a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation, and creativity within today’s society. And through his work, Martin wants to create a friendly and healthy work environment and help companies to find the right way to inspire and engage their teams.

“Throughout the years, we discovered that we’re adding most of the value to startup companies. So, we started adjusting our services to serve this particular category, especially early-stage startups.

Working increasingly with startups, we were drawn into their processes and particularities.

My colleagues and I became interested also in investing in these companies. In my case, I find it fascinating how small companies, like startups, are dealing with real and big problems the whole world is facing.”

Making the first steps in startup funding

We wanted to find out how he decided to invest and how he made his first steps in startup funding.

“I have joined the CEO Angels Club in Bulgaria, a community for local angel investors. I attended a few monthly events, listening to various startups pitching their ideas, and after a while, I decided to make my first investment.

My primary reason for investing in startups is to support founders in fighting these problems and indirectly help people live in a better place.”

Now that we know how he became interested in supporting startups beyond their collaboration, let’s dig deeper into Martin’s investment thesis.

“I am sector-agnostic.

We limit our investment area If we look only at one or two industries. So, I keep my eyes open across different industries.

1. I invest in founders and the power of the founding team. - The core of an early-stage startup is what the founder can execute, their shared mission and vision, and the desire to persuade it.
2. What problems are founders solving? - Is it connected to the market they activate in? Is it a pain? Is it exciting for me as an investor?

I evaluate how prepared founders are for their journey, and I look at things like:

• What’s their motivation?
• What problem are they trying to solve?
• How is their solution going to help potential customers?
• What things are they willing to sacrifice to make their business succeed?”

Fostering innovation through intrapreneurship

"The mission of Appolica had and still have it is to increase the chances of success of early-stage startups and help them build great products. The company is already doing it for many clients, and the team was thinking, why not support our internal employees to go through that journey?

This is how was decided to build an intrapreneurship program right in the company he co-founded and motivate Appolica’s employees to start their own companies."

“My company has a program called 'The Innovation Hub' that allows employees to create a product and start their own company. We developed this program to help them have their first proof of concept and see how the market will react.

The Innovation Hub offers guidance through direct workshops, interviews, educational events, hackathons, and many other activities. We aim to have two founders/year start their company, help them close an external investment, and become a strong scale-up that can live independently.

We launched the project at the beginning of 2023, and we currently work on three ideas that will raise funding in the second half of the year.“

Advice for other retail investors

Before parting ways with Martin, we asked him to share a final piece of advice with other investors from our community, and here are his thoughts.

“My final advice for first-time investors is to invest with their hearts. It’s important to support things you believe in and people you resonate with.

This is my manifesto when I look for startups to invest in.”

Resources mentioned in the discussion:

• Appolica
• CEO Angels Club
• Forbes 30 under 30 Bulgaria