3rd Space Bucharest

Anastasia Lucinschi was born in Russia, grew up in England, and now leads marketing and business development at Supertree, a coworking and business hub in Pipera. Anastasia also grew up with an Amazon green parrot that lived 25 years and could handle words with rolling Rs, which is more than some of us can say after years of Romanian lessons. The real story is what happens when a do-everything mar...

Elena Perry co-founded Wiggle Room, a calm play-and-development space for babies, toddlers and their parents near Piața Romană. Before that came ten houses in ten years across three continents, and then a move back to Bucharest so the kids could grow up with the language, the food and the family. Running it turned out to involve a lot more than the brochure promised: mopping floors, doing the soci...

Bogdan Sandu started the Design Your Way blog back in 2008 and now runs Upcut Studio, where he scales client websites to hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors. His early companies were registered in Hong Kong and Paris rather than Romania — and not for tax reasons. Clients in the US and Europe hesitated at Romanian entities. Hong Kong, for whatever reason, didn’t raise an eyebrow. He’s also ch...

Mirela Mateescu runs Vin Oriunde — wine, anywhere — and she means it literally. She’s hosted tastings in a car showroom, a beauty clinic, a hair salon, and, her favorite, on top of Arcul de Triumf. Her argument is that where you drink it and who you’re with are as much a part of the wine as the wine is. She also insists that a “good nose” isn’t a gift you’re born with — it’s just practice, which i...

Laura Balan is a Bucharest-based mindset coach, and she runs on one rule that does a lot of heavy lifting: never negotiate with your inner critic. Spot the unhelpful thought, ask whether it’s getting you anywhere, throw it out. No debate, no three-hour internal committee meeting. She’s also refreshingly unimpressed by toxic positivity — her take is that your nervous system knows when you’re lying...

Some people build companies. Others build communities. This week I sat down with Ioana Ioanăș , who somehow manages to do both while leading one of Bucharest's Rotaract clubs, organizing charity projects, and helping young professionals prepare for an AI-powered world. We talk about why volunteering is one of the fastest ways to grow, the surprising lesson she learned at the U.S. Embassy, why...

What do balloon animals, London street performances, and mortgage loans have in common? Antonela Vulpe , apparently. Before helping Romanians buy homes, she spent 15 years in the arts, making balloon giraffes for kids on the streets of London (and somehow making a surprisingly good living doing it). In this short conversation, we talk about why people often buy houses they can't actually affor...

What if the best networking trick wasn't networking at all? This week I sat down with Livia Ioniță , who accidentally discovered something while planning her own wedding: strangers can feel like lifelong friends in just a few hours—if you create the right environment. We talk about why people are tired of performing, the invisible psychology behind memorable events, why dancing is secretly gre...

What do corporate executives and detectives have in common? According to Steliana Moraru, quite a lot. In this short conversation, we talk about why Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot would probably make a great business strategist, how she evaluates startups, and why founder chemistry matters more than most people realize. We also discuss her signature sarmale recipe, the surprising gap between...

Most CEOs spend their free time reading business books. Dimana Vlaeva spends hers thinking about Ancient Egypt, science fiction, and how people make decisions. In this short conversation, we talk about why she'd most like to meet Ramses II, what debt recovery has taught her about responsibility, and why she thinks people spend far too much time worrying about the past. We also discuss moving f...

Most people struggle to finish one startup. Tiberiu Andrei has started ten. In this short conversation, we talk about building an AI that plays Mortal Kombat, why completing a Half Ironman was easier than building a company, and why he believes too many people are becoming "AI slop creators." We also discuss the startup idea he would build if he had to start from zero tomorrow, the Roman...

After spending three years in South Korea, Mihaela Mărănițu returned to Romania with a few unexpected habits: eating with chopsticks whenever possible and occasionally bowing to senior colleagues without realizing it. 😄 In this short conversation, we talk about the culture shock of arriving in Seoul, why she still prefers tennis over padel, her surprising love for Michael Jackson, and what life i...

Most founder stories sound impressive on LinkedIn. But after interviewing dozens of entrepreneurs, Maria Despa , co-founder of Ideas Chat , discovered that the most memorable stories are usually the most human ones. In this short conversation, we talk about: 📹 What founder interviews and wedding films have in common 😊 Why business success and happiness aren't the same thing 📖 The "Book...

Most people join communities hoping to meet the right people. But according to Andra Ghibutiu , they stay for a different reason: They feel like they belong. In this short conversation, we talk about: 🤝 Why the best communities create safety before opportunity 🧠 The danger of becoming a "know-it-all" 👂 Why listening might be the most underrated business skill 🚀 What makes today's...

Lawyer. Bar owner. Student. New parent. Adriana Spataru somehow manages to be all four at the same time. In this short conversation, we talk about: 🍸 Why she left the legal world to help build a bar ( @cameralirica) 🇸🇪 The recycling habit she brought home from living in Stockholm 👶 How becoming a parent changed her definition of success 💭 Why she's stopped chasing perfection and started foc...

This episode starts with honey extraction technology for beekeepers… and somehow ends with running laps inside Dubai airport to avoid breaking a 1,000-day running streak 😄 My guest is Daniel Deaconu — founder of The Simplifier and one of the smartest B2B LinkedIn strategists I know in Romania. We talk about: 🍯 helping launch a Kickstarter campaign that generated $48K in 2 days 🏃 why he ran insi...

After 14 years in the corporate world at Amazon and Honeywell, Roxana Jianu traded meetings and spreadsheets for padel courts and community building. In this episode, we talk about what happens when your career no longer energizes you — and how one sport unexpectedly changed the direction of her life. Roxana shares the story behind building Padelmania, why people may show up for padel but stay for...

What happens when 25 people in Bucharest buy tickets to something that isn’t networking… isn’t dating… and isn’t dinner? In this episode, I break down the very first paid 3rd Space Bucharest event — what worked, what surprised me, what flopped (yes, the QR code), and why shared learning and small group conversations changed the energy of the room. From breakfast icebreakers to mini TED-style talks...