Innovantage Podcast

Sales and recruiting rarely get discussed together, even though they shape each other constantly. This episode, Max sits with Edvin Vosylius, founder of European Sales Headhunting Agency, a Vilnius-based recruitment agency focused specifically on sales talent, to unpack how those two functions collide in practice.

Edvin brings 19 years of hands-on sales experience to the table, having worked as a rep, a head of sales, and a chief sales officer before building a business around placing salespeople for a living. That path, including a failed corporate venture and a startup collapse, shapes everything he now looks for when hiring or advising others in the field.

In this episode, hear about mid-market versus enterprise sales, the mechanics of building a profitable recruitment agency, the traits recruiters look for in top salespeople, and how AI is reshaping CVs and interviews.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:00 How Edvin founded a recruitment agency
3:56 Why mid-market deals beat enterprise sales
9:27 Is the agency business still relevant?
15:00 What companies get wrong about hiring salespeople
21:07 Different types of salespeople explained
24:41 How to identify a great salesperson?
29:31 Why great salespeople fail in new industries
33:16 Do you really need to start a business?
51:06 How recruitment agencies actually make money
56:11 Advice for salespeople and hiring managers
57:48 AI in sales
1:03:30 Where to find Edvin

Connect with our guest
Edvinas Vosylius – https://www.linkedin.com/in/edvinasv/  
HEMES – https://www.wearehemes.com/ 
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
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What does it take to build a defense tech startup, raise €1.1 million, and manufacture drone technology in Europe? In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, Elvinas Kukys, CEO and Co-Founder of Luna Robotics, shares how the Lithuanian hardware startup is building advanced vision systems for unmanned platforms without relying on Chinese supply chains or unnecessary AI.

Drawing on his military background and startup journey, Elvinas explains how Luna Robotics grew from an idea into one of Lithuania's emerging defense tech companies, developing dual-use technology designed for both military and civilian applications.
Learn what investors actually look for, how to become better at pitching, when bootstrapping becomes a mistake, and why building a hardware startup requires a different mindset than chasing the latest AI trend.

Introduction 0:00
Luna Robotics and Elvinas' journey  0:31
How AI hallucinates drone camera images  05:51
Why Luna Robotics is China free  07:34
Manufacturing hardware in the Baltics  09:52
How Luna Robotics raised €1.1 million  15:34
Mastering the art of startup pitching  21:41
Why you shouldn't bootstrap too much 27:13
Building a startup with dual use technology  33:33
Never build custom features for only one customer 38:15 
What metrics investors actually pay attention to 46:20
Lithuania's defense tech boom and AI's future  50:23
Advice to my 20 year old self   56:33
Where to find Elvinas 57:37

Connect with our guest
Elvinas Kukys – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekukys/ 
Luna Robotics – https://www.lunarobotics.eu/ 
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
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Why do 70% of mergers and acquisitions fail after closing? 
In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, integration strategist Sabine Janssens shares what separates successful M&A integration from value destruction, why the first 100 days are critical, and how companies can turn acquisitions into long-term growth.

Sabine Janssens has led more than 40 M&A integration projects over the past four years and developed a pragmatic 100-day integration model used in buy-and-build environments. Drawing on decades of strategic marketing and integration experience, she works with acquiring companies to align strategy, operations, technology, and people after the deal closes.

Rather than treating integration as an operational checklist, this episode explains how to preserve business value, avoid the mistakes that derail acquisitions, manage IT integration without disrupting customers, and keep founders, employees, and leadership aligned throughout the transition.

0:00 Introduction
0:29 Sabine's journey into 40+ M&A integrations
4:51 Which industries see the most M&A activity
6:37 Why only 30 percent of acquisitions succeed
12:46 Early warning signs an integration is failing
16:27 Why the first 100 days matter most
21:52 Common challenges when integrating IT
26:03 Biggest IT integration mistakes
31:28 What founders experience after selling
45:56 The hidden cost most companies underestimate
54:14 The biggest misconception about M&A
56:50 Where to find Sabine

Connect with our guest
Sabine Janssens – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabinejanssens/ 
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Innovantage Podcast.

Can AI actually fix your skin or just feed your insecurities? On this episode, the founder of System Akvile breaks down how a skincare app reached 900K+ users by letting data, not assumptions, drive the product.

Akvile Ignotaite is a PhD data scientist who moved from corporate finance and M&A into founding System Akvile, an AI-powered skin-health platform now used by more than 900,000 people across Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Her path ran through economics in Lithuania, an MBA in Germany, and a forced detour into statistics and coding during her PhD, all of which now shape how she builds for a Gen Z and Gen Alpha audience.

Akvile gets specific about what worked and what failed: why the original medical-grade app flatlined on user acquisition, how launching a pimple character on TikTok before writing a single line of code validated demand, and why staying disciplined on data rather than chasing big-tech features keeps a lean startup alive.

0:00 Introduction
0:25 From corporate finance to founding a skincare startup
3:17 How TikTok taught us what our audience wants
6:00 Inside "System Akvile" - the app for skin health
10:58 How AI killed our endless calls and meetings
13:25 Why the Indian skincare market is booming now
17:54 The blind spots hiding inside skincare tech
21:13 What ayurveda actually means for skin health
24:42 How to adapt one app for every country
28:26 Finding the balance between trends and education
35:55 How a pimple became a skincare influencer
45:08 Can AI really predict your skin patterns
49:37 The one piece of advice every founder needs
58:05 Where to find Akvile

Connect with Our Guests
Akvile Ignotaite – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-akvile-ignotaite/ 
Connect with Max (Host)
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
TikTok: @innovantage / @sigliofficial

Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
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Can AI transformation actually make a company faster, or is it just hype? In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, we go inside Wix to find out what real AI transformation looks like when you're running engineering sites across Europe.

This is the latest episode in our ongoing series with BMI Executive Institute, spotlighting leaders who put business theory into practice.

Joining Max is Monika Laukaitė, a senior operations and site leadership executive at Wix and a current EMBA participant at BMI Executive Institute, who oversees R&D and engineering sites across Lithuania, Berlin, Amsterdam, London, and Dublin while scaling teams and folding AI into daily operations.

A practical look at how to roll out AI without forcing tools teams don't understand, what genuinely breaks as a company scales across markets, and how to measure whether a transformation is actually working. 

Introduction 0:00
What does Monika actually do at Wix 0:48
AI transformation at Wix 04:12
Why do AI transformation? 06:56
How AI makes you more efficient 08:30
How do you measure a successful transformation? 10:58
Is AI just hype, or real? 14:40
AI transformation - where to start? 17:16
When business leaders force AI they don't understand 21:51
Monika's unusual career path to Wix 24:38
Why Lithuanian tech giants don't compete with each other 29:22
Scaling a company across cultures 32:47
The first thing that breaks when you scale 37:48
How leadership has to change when scaling 40:00
The career ladder is broken - what to do now 47:47
Max almost got scammed by a fake Zoom call 52:03
Why networking is a must 55:43
Does AI transformation ever actually end? 58:16
Where to find Monika 1:03:10

More about the episode partners: www.bmiinstitute.com  

Connect with Our Guests
Monika Laukaite – https://www.linkedin.com/in/monikalaukaite/ 
Connect with Max (Host)
Max Golikov – https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  
🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
TikTok: @innovantage / @sigliofficial

Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Innovantage Podcast.

What does real innovation look like in 2026 — inside a 160-year-old state railway and a modern AI-first startup? We continue our series with BMI Executive Institute, sitting down with two guests from two different worlds to explore how innovation, AI adoption, and the future of work actually play out on the ground.

We cover the startup vs enterprise mindset, the project management triangle of speed, cost and quality, the EU AI Act, AI anxiety, and whether humans are still relevant when AI can do most of the work.

Our guests are Jonas Valuta and Vidas Vasiliauskas. Jonas, participant of the EMBA programme at BMI Executive Institute and the head of Asset management and Sales from Lithuanian Railways, one of the country's largest state-owned organisations, where modernising systems that have been running for over a century means navigating security, compliance, and change management at scale. Vidas is the CEO of Teamhood, a project management tool for teams that have outgrown simple software but don't need the full weight of enterprise platforms — and he is currently rebuilding it from the ground up with AI as the foundation, not a feature. 

Introduction 0:00 
Why Vidas calls himself a product creator 1:07 
Running asset management at Lithuania's national railway 2:43
How big corporations actually approach innovation 4:22
How startups innovate when competition is global 8:30
Fewer stakeholders means your team moves faster 10:24
Balancing speed, cost and quality when building products 14:30
Is AI overhyped? 21:37
What the EU AI act means for businesses 32:23
Are humans still necessary when AI does the work 43:00
Why AI is giving everyone anxiety and FOMO 53:02
Where startups and big companies are headed with AI 56:36
Where to find Jonas and Vidas 1:03:20   

More about the episode partners: www.bmiinstitute.com  

Connect with Our Guests
Jonad Valuta – https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonasvaluta/ 
Vidas Vasiliauskas – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidasvasiliauskas/ 
Connect with Max (Host)
Max Golikov – https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  
🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
TikTok: @innovantage / @sigliofficial

Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Innovantage Podcast.

This episode marks the beginning of our special series in collaboration with BMI Executive Institute, where we explore the intersection of business, leadership, and technology with standout entrepreneurs connected to the BMI network.
We kick off the series with Bas Kooijman, tech-to-finance entrepreneur, CEO/co-founder of DHF Capital, and participant of the EMBA programme at BMI Executive Institute
AI is no longer a future concept in finance — it’s already trading real money.
Bas built and sold telecom businesses operating across 35 countries before transitioning into professional trading and asset management. Today, he leads DHF Capital, where AI-driven systems and automated strategies actively manage capital across global markets.
In this episode, we discuss:
• Why AI trading is already outperforming humans in efficiency
 • How 187 AI agents operate inside a single hedge fund
 • The negotiation tactics used against him during acquisition
 • How currency automation boosted margins beyond industry averages
 • Why younger investors increasingly trust AI with their money
 • Whether jobs are disappearing — or simply evolving
 • The real risks of AI in finance and how to secure data properly
If you want to understand where trading, entrepreneurship, and AI are heading — this conversation sets the stage.
Is AI the ultimate competitive edge or the beginning of full automation in finance?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

#AI #Trading #Finance #Entrepreneurship #BMI #Automation #Investing #techinnovation 

Introduction 0:00 
From Telecom founder to AI Hedge Fund CEO 0:28
Why tech now controls modern finance 2:11
Professional traders tech stack 2:49
From algorithms to self improving AI trading 4:01 
How to spot a trend? 6:10
The telecom business journey 9:51
How to identify the best offer 17:20  
How currency automation unlocked massive profit 20:19 
AI is not a trend anymore 28:57
How AI agents can run teams 38:14
Why younger investors already trust AI with all money 47:44 
How to secure data while still using AI 55:04 
Skills you need now to stay relevant in AI age 59:06
Where to find Bas 2:02:02  

More about the episode partners: www.bmiinstitute.com  

Connect with Our Guest
Bas Koojiman – https://www.linkedin.com/in/baskooijman/ 
DHF Capital – https://dhf-capital.com/ 
Connect with Max (Host)
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  
🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
TikTok: @innovantage / @sigliofficial

What if mixed, unused LEGO bricks could become complete sets again — at industrial scale?
Ilya Malkin, founder of Sort A Brick, is building an AI-first automation company that does exactly that. Using computer vision, machine learning, and custom-built hardware, his team identifies, cleans, and sorts over 100,000 unique LEGO elements by shape, color, and print, turning chaotic brick bins into rebuildable sets.
After nearly 20 years in consulting, Ilya pivoted into hard-tech to solve a problem most people overlook: making large-scale LEGO refurbishment economically viable.
In this episode, we unpack the technology, the business model, and why AI-powered reuse could unlock a massive secondary market in construction toys.

Introduction 0:00
Meet founder and CEO of Sort A Brick Ilya Malkin 0:52
“We иuilt the world’s first industrial LEGO sorting machine” 8:08
From consulting to hardware tech business 15:43
How to find the right tech people for your startup? 19:11
Raising €2M for AI LEGO sorting 28:54 
How kidults are changing the toy business 37:31 
How does the technology work behind Sort A Brick? 45:25
Competing with LEGO or helping them? 55:07 
Brutal lessons from building a hardware startup 1:02:15 
Where to find Ilya 1:05:39

Connect with Our Guest
Ilya Malkin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyamalkin/ 
Sort A Brick – https://www.sortabrick.com/en-de 
Connect with Max (Host)
Max Golikov – https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  
🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
TikTok: @innovantage / @sigliofficial