About
What I believe, and what I build because of it.
I'm Viktor Stojanov, currently an Engineering Manager at Babbel, writing here about engineering leadership in the AI-native era.
I've spent over a decade in engineering, building products and leading the teams behind them. I still build things myself, because I'd rather practice what I write about. Colloquies and Activities Matter, both shipped under Stojanov Ventures, are how I do that now.
What I believe
Technology is a tool.
It can serve the people who use it, or it can extract from them. The apps I build and the teams I lead come down on the first side, on purpose.
Privacy is the default.
The apps I build keep your data on your device or under your key. Colloquies is end-to-end encrypted. Activities Matter keeps the journal local. Living and building in the EU, I treat data residency like architecture, not marketing.
Depth over breadth.
A lot of software is sold first and built later, then squeezed for whatever value it can extract. I'd rather start with a small, real problem and build the best version of the solution. Colloquies and Activities Matter are both that.
Slow is good.
Closeness is built in cadence, not bursts. Colloquies sends one question a week. The newsletter goes out every other Sunday. Both work because of the wait.
AI is a tool.
AI is doing a lot of the typing in my work now. The thinking, the taste, the choices about what to build and what to refuse, those are still mine. We're still humans building for humans.
What I build
- Colloquies , a friendship and relationship app for small, trusted circles.
- Activities Matter , a calm app for tracking what you actually do with your time.
What I write
The full archive lives at /writing. If you'd like the next one in your inbox, the form below is the way.
Off the keyboard
I train for triathlons. The long rides are the only stretch of the week where my brain stops trying to optimise. I cook for people I care about. I read a lot of behavioural science.