Public Republic

Jasmina Tacheva Talks with Web Developer Valentin Alexiev

Валентин Алексиев на церемонията по връчване наградите на есе-конкурса на Виктор Мъжлеков “Портали”

What do you like about the Internet and the development of mobile and web applications?

Technologies attract me and I like that I can let my imagination run free and make many ideas come true. Besides, I can create applications whenever I want and wherever I want, i.e. time is at my own disposal.

What is working in such an innovative area in Bulgaria like?

It’s easy. In this area, one can live anywhere in the world and have colleagues on the other side of the world, and customers who are also somewhere else on the globe.

What are initLab and StartUP?

InitLab is a hackerspace inhabited by very different and interesting individuals. It’s a stage on which everyone can be both a teacher and a student. The people in the Lab have fun, experiment and create software, hardware, systems, and other oddities.

StartUP strives to wake the entrepreneurial spirit in young people in Bulgaria who want to turn their ideas into successful businesses. StartUP’s vision is to create a sustainable ecosystem for start-ups which can create innovative companies.

Through a series of conferences and seminars, StartUP develops an ecosystem of startups in Bulgaria where entrepreneurs can meet with partners, potential customers, business angels and investment funds.

Who are the people and ideas that have made the biggest impact on your thinking and work?

Steve Jobs.

What are the information sources that you follow on a regular basis to keep up with the latest news in the industry?

I follow just a few blogs – Mark Suster, Paul Graham, and MG Siegler.

I don’t use Facebook or Twitter, don’t watch TV, don’t listen to the radio and don’t read news websites.

Why did you choose to join the essay competition Portals created by Viktor Mazhlekov?

I like Viktor’s paintings and philosophy. I want them to reach more people. The essays add new dimensions to what Viktor has expressed visually on his canvases. They enable people to realize that they can find something personal in the paintings.

They shouldn’t try to understand what the author meant, because when he painted them, he hadn’t been thinking, but rather feeling his truths. The truths of each person are true for him or her alone, at the moment when they have been useful to him or her.

What do you think about hitchhiking and hitchhikers in general? Do they have their own mafia in our country? 🙂

Hitchhiking is a journey with one’s own self. The mind stops thinking about the ‘before’ and the ‘after’ and focuses on here and now. One collects all the positive energy within one’s self, brings it to the surface, and becomes able to accept whatever may come one’s way.

Also, while hitchhiking I’ve met many interesting people from whom I’ve learned important things about myself.

What are your favorite pastimes?

I love surfing the web, going to wild beaches and mountains and meeting wild people.

What do you want for yourself in the new 2013?

All beings to be in harmony with themselves.

Thank you! Happy Holidays!