From Boardroom to City Hall
Conversation with Vasil Terziev, Mayor of Sofia
At the CEO CF Summer Summit we welcomed a leader who lives at the intersection of entrepreneurship and public service: Vasil Terziev, the recently‑elected Mayor of Sofia.
“Sofia is one of Europe’s best‑kept secrets”
A lifelong builder who has founded and scaled companies from scratch, Terziev looks at his city through a founder’s lens: not as a problem to administer, but as a canvas for possibility.
Purpose over Power
“Successful people need to be the most responsible,” he told us. Terziev did not enter politics in search of status; he entered to protect opportunity. He wants his children, and an entire generation of Bulgarians, to grow up in a country they do not need to leave.
When Politics Feels Like a Startup
“There are moments in politics that feel just like scaling a startup, high‑stakes, relentless, and full of learning. But I feel alive doing it,” he said. The learning curve is steep, but the mission energises him.
Rejecting Cynicism, Reclaiming Accountability
Terziev warned against surrendering public life to “the power‑hungry or the unqualified.” Leadership, he argues, belongs to people with vision and integrity. His personal test: What decision would I make if today were my last day in office? Thinking on a 20‑year horizon, he acts as a statesman, not a tactician.
The Business of Politics
Whether serving citizens or customers, value must be delivered. Terziev applies the disciplines of business, clear value propositions, efficiency, and long‑term thinking, to city hall. The transition has required thicker skin and forensic fact‑checking, but, he says, it has also “improved my quality of life” by anchoring him to a larger mission.
A Call to Action
“Don’t be selfish with your success,” he urged. Building a great business matters, yet so does investing skills, capital, and energy in the public square. Not everyone needs to run for office, but everyone can contribute.
In an era defined by division and populism, Terziev reminded us that politics can still be a noble pursuit, one worthy of the talent, creativity, and moral imagination of the business community.
Vasil Terziev is the co-founder and former CEO of Telerik, which he scaled into a global developer-tools company before its record-setting US $262.5 million sale to Progress Software in 2014 —the largest exit in Bulgaria’s tech sector at the time. A prolific angel investor and mentor, he has backed more than 60 startups, among them Payhawk, Quantive and SMSBump, helping to power Bulgaria’s growing innovation ecosystem. In 2009 Terziev launched Telerik Academy, an intensive training hub that has prepared well over 10,000 people for tech careers, and in 2018 he co-founded Campus X, now one of Southeast Europe’s largest tech incubators supporting 70-plus ventures. Terziev was elected Mayor of Sofia on 13 November 2023 and, in February 2025, assumed the rotating presidency of the B40 Balkan Cities Network, championing deeper cooperation among more than 70 Balkan municipalities.
