From Finance to Tech: Bojan's Journey to Building a Global Dev Shop

Colors of Web3 & Entrepreneurship

In this 45th episode of Colors Web3 and Entrepreneurship, Lam sits down with Bojan Najdov, founder of Lambda Group, a staff augmentation company specializing in connecting businesses with top tech talent from South Africa and the Balkans. Bojan takes us on his entrepreneurial journey, beginning with his background in finance and his transition to the world of technology. He shares his experiences with cryptocurrency trading and mining, including both the highs of the 2017 bull run and the lows of market crashes and scams. We learn about the genesis of Lambda Group, his transition from a traditional dev shop to a staff augmentation model, and the strategic reasons behind focusing on talent from South Africa and the Balkans. Bojan provides valuable insights on the challenges and rewards of running a fully remote, contractor-based business and how he leverages technology like AI and automation to maximize efficiency and scale his operations. ⌛ Timestamps: 00:00:00 Episode trailer 00:00:25 Introduction to the show and guest - Bojan Najdov, founder of Lambda Group 00:01:26 Bojan's professional experience in banking and finance 00:04:22 Bojan's big-fish, small-pond strategy that landed him in South Africa 00:06:47 How Bojan learned about Web3 00:09:38 His entrepreneurial experience mining Bitcoin and Ethereum 00:14:35 Bojan's experience "surviving" 2 crypto cycles 00:17:57 Bojan’s hobbies outside of Web3 00:22:05 His experience leading the credit and market risk department at a big bank in South Africa before Covid lockdown 00:23:57 Does a bank's department need 250 people? Discussion about productivity at Lambda Group 00:27:08 Deep dive into Lambda Group, from dev shop to staff augmentation 00:30:44 Early challenges, lessons learned, and pivoting the business model 00:33:44 A Web3 project that his company took on 00:35:24 The original founders of Lambda Group and the team behind the company 00:36:36 His rationale for focusing on SME's and not on big corporations 00:42:05 A typical day in of an entrepreneur 00:43:15 The importance of having a strong sales funnel 00:43:48 Discussion about entrepreneurship 00:45:15 Successful marketing strategies: the power of cold emailing 00:49:11 Transferable skills that can be learned from entrepreneurship 00:51:22 Working a full-time job in investment banking while starting Lambda Group 00:54:01 Building a side hustle while holding a full-time job - Having optionality 00:57:01 Bojan's preference on how he prefers to run his business 01:01:58 Leveraging technology and automation to overcome solopreneurs' bottlenecks 01:06:37 Business is all about distribution 01:09:07 Discussion about selling a business 01:11:17 Qualities of a successful entrepreneur: perseverance, a "chip on your shoulder", resourcefulness 01:16:32 Where to follow Bojan online 01:17:42 Episode outro and next episode preview Follow Bojan and his company: Bojan's Twitter/X: https://x.com/bojan_najdov Bojan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bojan-najdov/ Lambda Group website: https://www.lambdagroup.io/ My social media: Twitter/X: ⁠https://www.twitter.com/LamWeb3⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/lamweb3/⁠ Website: ⁠https://lamtrinh.xyz⁠ My latest article: https://lamweb3.substack.com/p/the-importance-of-decentralized-science If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe to stay updated on our upcoming episodes with industry experts and innovators in the Web3 and Entrepreneurship spaces. Thank you for listening!