5-Minutes With: Tzvetan Naydenov
5-Minutes With is an interview series where business leaders from Endeavor Bulgaria’s network share their personal experiences, advice, and lessons learned.
Meet Tzvetan Naydenov, a global operations expert and current Chief Operating Officer at Invenda Group, where he leads the company’s hardware division across five continents. With over 15 years of international experience in strategy, consulting, and performance management—including leadership roles at BCG, Selecta, and IQVIA—Tzvetan brings a unique perspective shaped by living and working in 15+ countries.
In this interview, Tzvetan talks about his journey back to Bulgaria, the power of mentorship, and how trying new approaches (even in the snow-covered mountains) can lead to unexpected growth. His biggest advice to founders? You’re not alone. And you don’t have to do it all on your own.
Why did you decide to join the Endeavor Bulgaria network, and how has mentoring impacted your own growth?
Part of why I returned to Bulgaria after many years spent abroad was a desire to contribute to the local ecosystem. Endeavor presented me with an excellent opportunity to do just that and it got me extremely excited to see such amazing highly motivated entrepreneurs who are working hard on starting and scaling great businesses out of Bulgaria. Working with these individuals has allowed me not only to support them with my experience but also to gain first hand insights into the challenges of starting a business here as well as what works and what not in this context.
As a mentor, what’s one piece of advice you find yourself giving repeatedly?
There is no silver bullet or right answer to each challenge. It’s in our human nature to simplify things and expect that there is always a recipe or a right path to solve a problem. However, reality is that there are a wide variety of ways a single problem can be solved.
Hence, we should all be more brave in testing approaches as a means of finding our own individual way.
What’s one surprising skill or hobby you’ve picked up outside of your work career?
I can’t say it’s necessarily surprising, as I have always been an avid outdoors person, but in the past 5 years I started doing ski touring. It is great as it allows me to explore the mountains also in the winter in a way that alpine skiing doesn’t.
What’s one book, podcast, or resource you’re currently reading or listening to that you’d recommend to others?
I love listening to the daily podcast run by the French daily Le Monde. It covers a wide variety of topics and provides a fresh perspective on current events, which is as independent and unbiased as possible.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Don’t be tempted to think that your problems are unique and you are alone in what you are experiencing. Reality is what’s happening to you is probably quite common for an entrepreneur and there are most certainly others who have already gone through the same path. Don’t hesitate to reach out to others to see how they have handled the problem. Get as much advice as you can, however in the end of the day build your own way that is in line with your own convictions. This will allow you to build a strong vision grounded in reality, which will be essential for your long-term success.