Pollo Digital

Author: pollodigital

  • Multilingualism is the most underpaid skill on the job market 

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    pollodigital
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    I grew up monolingual, only with Russian. When I was 14, I started learning English When I was 20, I seriously started learning German But it all really started falling together when I moved to Berlin when I was 20 y.o.. By the time I was 25,I was speaking English and German, on a very…

  • The Emotional Intelligence Tax for Professionals Moving to the West

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    I moved to Berlin from Novosibirsk in 2010.  Nobody is telling you this when you move to the western bubble – what emotional intelligence means in those countries. How you will most likely not get promoted if you don’t show signs of high emotional intelligence. How networking is key. How being in harmony with your…

  • I beg for more privacy from OpenAI and Meta, but less from each other.

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    pollodigital
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    I saw this “keep everything private” advice and had to disagree with almost all of it (except 6 – never share others’ secrets). While we’re all posting advice about protecting our “privacy,” we’re feeding our entire lives to big tech companies. We’re having deep conversations with ChatGPT instead of real people. We’re lonelier than ever.…

  • Grit won’t solve everything and I learned this the hard way

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    I’ve been noticing something in founder culture that bothers me – this obsession with grinding through everything. Work weekends. Just grit your way through. And I get it. When it’s yours, it’s easier to keep working through holidays. The urgency is real. You’re behind, you don’t have a co-founder yet, you’re not full-time. So you…

  • The trust collapse

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    The article “The trust collapse: Infinite AI content is awful” by Arnon Shimoni’ is brilliant.  His core point: In 2024: A credible-looking cold email cost real money and human labor → you could trust most of them. Pattern recognition worked ~80% of the time. In 2025: It costs ~0€ → you can trust none of…

  • I just moved back to Berlin after two years in Southern Spain.

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    As a Russian-born founder, here’s what I learned about where (and how) I can actually build… Professionalism Takes Different Forms 🇩🇪 Berlin incubator: program was scheduled months in advance , smooth digital application, structured program you can plan your work around. German efficiency at its best. 🇪🇸 Málaga incubator ran on WhatsApp voice notes, application…

  • On writing

    On writing

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    pollodigital
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    So I have this coach.  When I seriously started pursuing my founder career, he told me – start a 30 days learning in public challenge. I did that – using Claude to help me learn, summarise and write. Next step was when I hit my big first founder paralysis that led to a burnout, he…

  • On Berlin – my personal story

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    I’ve experienced Berlin from two sides. In a way, the sides are polarised.  When I arrived in Berlin 15 years ago from Novosibirsk, I had no emotional intelligence, bad English and German, no emotional support, very damaging self image and experiences from home. Back then, I was broke, struggling with German (and frankly everything) in…

  • When does it finally click? 

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    pollodigital
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    It is curious that so much information I’ve consumed before never landed.  Some classical novels I’ve read in my teens, all the enlightening truths about being in charge of your life and true presence in the moment.  All this stuff about being in charge of your own life, your own actions, your own reactions –…