Enterprenuer
Valentin founded thank box. It’s an easy-to-use online cash collection and group card service.
It allows many people to celebrate the same occasion digitally.
It can be used to celebrate birthdays, farewells, and many other memorable moments.
Valentin moved to Scotland from Bulgaria in 2010 to study computer game programming.
After working in the games industry, he moved to Scotland and became a consultant.
He worked for several companies within the Scottish tech community.
He has always been a startup bug and wants to start his own business.
Since graduating from university, Valentin has been creating his products.
After a few other failed startup attempts, Thankbox became his most successful venture.
Thank box was launched in May 2020 and has since grown to a successful business that supports a small team while bringing joy to others.
What is the story of Thankbox?
As a consultant, I have worked in many organizations.
Each team would use paper cards to celebrate events such as someone being fired, someone’s birthday, or an anniversary at work. You might also find an envelope with cash to collect.
These were a part of the team culture. I have received several of them myself.
The whole process of organizing was frustrating for me.
I had to rush people to sign the card and buy it last minute.
After another such experience, I realized that there must be an easier way.
It was online. After doing some research, I found nothing that covered both the cash collection and card aspects. This is what I could do!
I was forced to work extra hard by the lockdowns around the globe that began in March 2020.
It was the perfect opportunity for Thank box. Everyone was moving remote.
The first version of the software was released in May 2001.
The market immediately accepted it, and I have improved it ever since.
How do you stay productive?
My morning begins with getting my daughter ready to go to school.
My wife and I start our day by doing 15-20 minutes of yoga together while she has breakfast.
After school, I go to my daily meditation. Then, I journal for 10 minutes about the day so far and what I would like to do in the next one.
I use the Sam Harris Waking Up app. It helps me get my day off to the right start.
Two-time blocks of 30 minutes each are allotted to email, project management, and customer service.
One is in the morning, and one is in the afternoon.
Focused work is what I do best. This could include coding new features, interviewing customers, or increasing marketing efforts.
To keep me on track and honest, I have my daily task lists written on a post-it visible on my desk.
I try to take 30 minutes during lunch to jog. It doesn’t always work, but it is a great mental reset that makes me feel refreshed for the afternoon.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Thank box is a consumer product, and I am passionate about making customers’ lives easier.
Many of my ideas are derived from conversations with customers and their common frustrations.
My team and I joke that our new features were born out of a desire to reduce the number of support emails we receive each day.
I make sure to allow for uncertainty. Sometimes I get ideas while jogging and listening to podcasts.
I have to stop, take a quick note on my phone, then continue my run.
I find podcasts and books a constant source of inspiration. I love mixing ideas from different industries.
What’s your favorite trend?
I love the way consumers expect and demand that businesses be more eco-conscious.
Companies will no longer be permitted to ignore the environmental impact of their trade.
People will not be satisfied with that.
Now “carbon negative” companies do not emit any emissions.
They actively work to reverse global warming.
These big players are driving positive changes in the market.
Stripe is my favorite, as they recently announced their Stripe Climate Initiative – wherein they actively invest in carbon capture technologies.
Thank box is my way of doing the same.
We plant one tree for every ten sales and have already planted almost 2000 trees.
We have no offices, no production, and all servers are 100% renewable-powered.
This is why we genuinely strive to be carbon neutral.
What habits make you productive?
It is vital to have a plan for my day. I am easily distracted, so I have worked hard to plan my day and stick with it.
I use a desk Pomodoro to remind me to stay focused when I get distracted. It lasts 25 minutes.
Another great habit is to keep my phone on silent for most of the day and only look at it during breaks.
Phone notifications destroy your focus time.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
You have more chances than you think. You have more opportunities and time than you think.
This is the advice I would give myself as I turn 30 in a year.
My current venture often feels like the “only, most important thing,” when in reality, it will be just one of many things I do in my daily life.
It can be beneficial to get out of your current mindset and look at your entire life.
It helps to reduce anxiety and gives perspective.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
It would help if you didn’t work on weekends. Startup culture demands that founders who are successful in the startup hustle industry work hard on weekends.
That is something I’m afraid I have to disagree with. To function correctly, the mind requires rest.
I take great care of my weekends. It’s also family time for me – long breakfasts, walks, and board games during the day.
A relaxing weekend makes me feel more motivated to return to work Monday morning.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Customers should be listened to and consulted.
Your business exists to make customers happy and help them.
It wasn’t something I did at my previous startup, but I prioritized this one.
Guess what? It’s never stopped paying dividends.
I received as much feedback as possible.
Many of my early users were people I had known since they saw my post on Twitter or LinkedIn about Thank box.
They helped me refine Thankbox and make it an incredible experience today.
Since then, I have been talking to customers all the time – trying to find out their origins and experiences.
This is the only thing founders should do to ensure they clearly understand how customers perceive their product and its performance.
What’s your rich strategy?
We aim to lower the barrier of entry to allow people to get started as quickly as possible.
You don’t need an account to use Thank box.
Create your card and leave your email to begin collecting messages.
I don’t require that users pay for the card at the creation time – they can only pay when they are ready.
Thank box has a high purchase rate due to all of these factors.
Nearly 80% of users who create a free card purchase it.
This is one of my favorite features, and it helped us establish a strong foothold on the market.
How do you overcome Failure?
My last startup was Curated a social media platform. It took me two years to complete it, and I learned many hard lessons when starting my first startup.
These include building before it was validated and not having a clear strategy for user acquisition or monetization.
It took my cofounder and me almost a whole year to build it, and even then, we had difficulty finding users.
It was a costly lesson, but it made me realize that there was much more I could learn about startups.
Thank box was my first venture. I applied all the lessons from that venture to Thank box.
I built an MVP quickly, had a clear monetization strategy, and set precise requirements for success.
This is what any entrepreneur can achieve, I believe.
Each year you make fewer mistakes than the previous year, and eventually, you will be successful.
Can you share a business idea?
I have been researching cryptocurrencies and Web3 technology in general.
Although the developments in this space are unique, it is still largely only tech professionals that understand them.
The best companies that simplify and democratize this space so that everyone can participate will be the most successful in the next decade.
This is where I’m actively following the progress and would recommend it to any new tech entrepreneur.
What’s your recent best buy?
I enjoy listening to music when I work and podcasts while running.
The Cambridge Melomania Earbuds are high-quality in-ear Bluetooth headphones.
These headphones are small and lightweight, which I don’t like.
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
Helpscout has changed the way I manage customer service.
I used to drive my customer service via my inbox, but I was not keeping up with the task.
Helpscout makes it easy to work efficiently through the list. Their saved replies also feature a time saver.
I appreciate their little motivation messages when the queue is empty.
It makes me feel like a pro, and I have gotten through everything.
Which book would you recommend?
Donald Miller, Building a Story Brand was an excellent guideline for me to build Thankbox into a brand.
The book’s most important lesson is that customers should be treated as heroes on a journey, and brands as wise advisors help them reach their happy endings.
Brands often are heroes (“look at how amazing we are”), but they forget that the customer is the main focus.
This is a book that I frequently refer to, and I highly recommend it to entrepreneurs.
What’s your favorite quote?
“You are the ordinary five people with whom you are most associated.”
It doesn’t matter if you realize it or not.
The people around you have an impact on how you think and the decisions that you make.
It would help if you surrounded yourself with people who inspire, are curious, and support you.
People with a positive outlook on the world will drain your energy instead of charging it.
TL;DR by Valentin Hinov
- Your customers should be treated with genuine curiosity.
- You should have downtime, no matter how short it is. But make sure that you take at least one day per week to rest and relax.
- There are more shots than you think. You can always try again.
