Asketic Podcast

Luis grew up fourth of 11 children. He studied agriculture at UC Davis, then got a PhD in computer science at Berkeley, then built AvantPage, a language company that is now 30 years old with 127 people in 23 countries.He sat down with Miķelis in Riga to talk about why a company is a club and not a family, what a mother of 11 teaches you that no business book will, and the day they found out one of their remote hires was a North Korean operative.On surviving every tech shift since the Apple II, hiring people you may never meet, and why success is just leaving things a little better than you found them.Full episode 70 on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcastsenjoy

Violeta Brenčeva founded Skolas Vārds while pregnant with her first child. Started publishing school books with no experience, in a market that was already taken.She and Kristīne joines us to talk about why balance is a myth, and why a growing company behaves exactly like a newborn.On building fast in a slow industry, why you should never make a decision out of fear, and what it costs a child when the books never arrive.enjoy

We welcomed serial entrepreneur John Airaksinen to Riga to share his journey building a company with his AI co-founder, Julius.On finding your unique, personal and human edge in the age of AI, and using technology to make people feel seen.enjoy.

Marta never planned to start a company.What began with homemade beard oil for her husband has grown into Silmachy, a natural skincare brand selling across Europe.In Episode 67 of the Asketic Podcast, Miķelis Baštiks sits down with Marta to talk about scaling a small business, paid advertising, content, and growing without investors.

Asketic Podcast #66 with our co-founder Miķelis Baštiks and Pärtel Vurma, CEO of Velvet, Estonia's largest design agency.We talked about the business of design, how AI is changing creative work, what clients actually pay for, how agencies approach sales, and why empathy remains a competitive advantage.A conversation about design, business, and the future of creative services.Enjoy.