{"id":12820,"date":"2025-02-14T10:02:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T04:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/?p=12820"},"modified":"2025-02-14T10:02:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T04:32:04","slug":"meet-pavel-zapolskii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/2025\/02\/14\/meet-pavel-zapolskii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future Of VC Investing With Glancing: Pavel Zapolskii"},"content":{"rendered":"

We recently had the privilege of interviewing Pavel Zapolskii, Co-founder and CEO of Glancing<\/a>. A seasoned business mathematician, Pavel finds deep satisfaction in devising solutions that perfectly blend sophisticated technology with practicality. With Glancing, Pavel helps clients discover and negotiate with promising founders they might otherwise overlook.<\/p>\n

The platform offers real-time, AI-based, founder-focused deal sourcing for VC investors, helping identify and engage with top talent before they even launch their startups. Unlike other private market data solutions, Glancing goes beyond company data to help investors understand the most crucial factor in early-stage investing.<\/p>\n

The Beginning<\/h2>\n

We started the interview by asking, \u201cCan you tell us about your professional journey and what led you to your current role?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pavel Zapolskii shared, \u201cAll my conscious life, I have perceived myself as a mixture of two conceptions\u2014a mathematician and an innovator. I have always had to overcome complexities and solve inefficiencies throughout my education and career. Inefficiencies can arise in unique situations within global markets, where I have solid career experience, from investment banking and brokerage to HFT funds. Solving such cases can be highly rewarding.<\/em><\/p>\n

Another example is inefficiencies caused by pain points in product-led IT companies. Identifying and addressing them by creating a new foundation can sometimes be extremely challenging, which is why creativity is essential. Blending these conceptions led me to the venture market. <\/em><\/p>\n

The data-driven approach is actively being implemented in the VC pipeline, equipping each partner and analyst to identify the most successful deals. All of this forms a complex puzzle that Glancing is solving.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing Apart From The Competition<\/h2>\n

We were interested to learn how Pavel has ensured Glancing has a unique position in the market. So, we asked, \u201cWhat sets your business apart from competitors in the industry?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pavel Zapolskii replied, \u201cModern VC investing is increasingly competitive, yet investors largely identify promising deals only after they have already gained traction through limited personal networks. This has led to countless missed opportunities without improving access to the best founders and deals before they become widely known and highly contested.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most VC funds, venture builders, and accelerators have defaulted to some combination of network-based pipeline generation approach that is unscalable and limits deal flow, and data intelligence solutions that lack crucial founder and project-specific context. <\/em><\/p>\n

And this is where Glancing comes in. Glancing provides real-time, automated founder-focused deal sourcing for VC investors, helping you identify and engage with top talent before they even launch their startups. Unlike other private market data solutions, Glancing goes beyond company data to help you understand the most crucial factor in early-stage investing \u2014 the founding team<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Triumphs At Glancing<\/h2>\n

To learn more about the success of Glancing, we asked, \u201cWhat has been your business\u2019s biggest achievement to date?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe truly value talented and ambitious individuals, even if they do not come from prestigious backgrounds like MIT or Google. We refer to these individuals as hidden gems. Our platform, Glancing, helps our clients discover and negotiate with promising founders they might otherwise overlook. I see this shift of capital towards unique and promising entrepreneurs as our greatest achievement.<\/em><\/p>\n

On the other hand, we face challenges in transforming the mindset of venture capitalists by using data-driven analytics. By crossing the chasm of inequality between tier-3 and tier-1 VC funds, we aim to empower our clients to uncover exceptional deals<\/em>.\u201d He mentioned.<\/p>\n

Leading By Doing: Setting The Right Example<\/h2>\n

We further asked, \u201cHow would you describe your leadership style?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first and main idea is to find people you can trust and who believe in you and your ideas. What describes my management style is the phrase – you need to know everything, but not everything is the best. <\/em><\/p>\n

It is my firm conviction that, as a leader, you should actively contribute to the product in meaningful ways\u2014setting an example for others\u2014while also ensuring focus on important strategic decisions.<\/em>\u201d Pavel reflected.<\/p>\n

Fostering A Healthy Work Environment<\/h2>\n

Eager to understand how Pavel encourages a healthy workspace and empowers his team, we asked, \u201cWhat strategies do you use to motivate and develop talent in your organization?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pavel Zapolskii responded, \u201cI enjoy the rule \u2018everyone in the same boat\u2019 that helps talents feel their responsibility and needs. It can be achieved by the simplest method to connect the financial aspect of the awards with the company’s success, whether through options or performance-based bonuses. Another even more efficient way to inspire employees is to ensure they find joy and purpose in their work. When people are passionate about and believe in their tasks, each minor achievement in development or sales can significantly energize the entire crew<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Role Of AI In Transforming Businesses<\/h2>\n

Fast-paced technological advancements have been playing an undeniable role in businesses across industries. So, we asked, \u201cWhat role do you see Artificial Intelligence or technology playing in this industry?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cUndoubtedly, AI technology is the core of our product. Hard to imagine how Glancing’s products might be realized using \u2018ancient\u2019 NLP methods, it would be at least a few times worse quality for sure.<\/em><\/p>\n

The crux of the matter is high-quality signals that can help venture companies find future unicorns. It requires complex neural network architecture to reach proper precision and freshness<\/em>.\u201d He added.<\/p>\n

Envisioning The Future Of SaaS Companies<\/h2>\n

Regarding his views on the future of his industry, we asked Pavel, \u201cHow do you envision the future of your industry?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pavel Zapolskii stated, \u201cHere, I would refer to a well-known Nadella statement – The next generation of SaaS companies won’t sell software at all. They’ll sell intelligent agents. AI will become the central driver of enterprise software.<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, we are going from SaaS to AaaS (Agents as a Service). <\/em><\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s important to note that a generic AI providing vague industry insights won\u2019t meet anyone\u2019s needs. What people truly require are specialized agents that understand their specific workflows, grasp their business intricacies, and address their unique challenges.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Navigating Through Challenges<\/h2>\n

Challenges are a part of every business. To learn how Pavel overcame the phases, we asked, \u201cWhat have been some of the most significant hurdles you\u2019ve encountered in your business, and how did you address them?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pavel Zapolskii explained, \u201cThe secret sauce of Glancing’s product is a proprietary algorithm that gathers and analyzes business- and academic-related data, combined with AI models to assess it.<\/em><\/p>\n

In my view, the real world and people themselves are too complex for a comprehensive black-box analysis of everything and everyone. The key question is how to extract 80% of the advantage with only 20% of the effort\u2014overcoming challenges such as determining which sources of information require more attention, how to achieve data completeness, and identifying the biggest factors influencing the chances of becoming a successful IT startup. Finding answers to these questions is not easy and demands both strong technical skills and deep domain expertise from the Glancing team.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Advice That Lasted Long<\/h2>\n

We asked, \u201cWhat is an excellent piece of business advice you ever received?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNever underestimate the significance and complexity of go-to-market (GTM) and sales: despite the brilliance of ideas and products, you will need to dedicate a significant amount of personal time to finding and executing the best sales strategy.<\/em><\/p>\n

For me, as someone with a product mindset, it was essential to take on a new role and, at times, even reprioritize the urgency of technology development in favor of GTM.<\/em>\u201d He replied.<\/p>\n

The Art Of Balancing Business Requirements<\/h2>\n

We ended the session by asking, \u201cHow do you balance investing in up-to-date ideas with ensuring ongoing operations remain successful?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSustainable growth is impossible without a huge time investment in the operational part of work. But depending on the industry, problems your business solves, tools, and stack you are using, the point of equilibrium may be significantly skewed. <\/em><\/p>\n

As far as I\u2019m concerned, cutting-edge startups like Glancing must make the same amount of effort in researching up-to-date ideas to remain quick, effective, and flexible in such a volatile market. (You know how much AI news comes through us every week). <\/em><\/p>\n

If we had not used the most contemporary AI algorithms and had not applied new techniques to work with data efficiently, we would not be as attractive in terms of costs and uplift we are giving to enhance our clients\u2019 portfolio<\/em>.\u201d Pavel concluded.<\/p>\n

Follow Pavel Zapolskii on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Find Glancing on LinkedIn<\/a> and visit their website https:\/\/glancing.io\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Also Read :-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Victor Ariyibi-Oke\u2019s Snaarp Questions the Prevailing Order in Cybersecurity\u2013Leaves the Solution in Your Pocket<\/a><\/p>\n

Empowering Women Worldwide: The Story of Colleen Thalia Jamias of Creo LifeZtyle & COCO COLLEEctioN<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We recently had the privilege of interviewing Pavel Zapolskii, Co-founder and CEO of Glancing. A seasoned business mathematician, Pavel finds deep satisfaction in devising solutions that perfectly blend sophisticated technology with practicality. With Glancing, Pavel helps clients discover and negotiate with promising founders they might otherwise overlook. The platform offers real-time, AI-based, founder-focused deal sourcing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entrepreneurmirror.com\/staging-site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}