The IT sector gets more and more attractive to young Bulgarians – it is the fastest developing industry here with an annual growth of two digits, a zero level of unemployment and even a lack of HRs… The salary is several times bigger than what’s average for this country and there are different stimuli for keeping the experts with their companies. That is why it is a surprise to come upon ITs, willing to quit their well-paid jobs and ready to move on to something completely different, even risky. That is the case with the seven people of Dextrophobia Rooms – Petar Kostov, Angel Naydenov, Alexander Grozdanov, Bozhidara Zaharieva, Dimitar Petrov, Mariela Levieva and Svetlin Garbatov. Obviously they are encouraged by the fact that their age is only 25, as well as by the wish to do something on their own and to work together. The seven friends are among those, who bring the new wave of entertainment to Bulgaria – the so-called puzzle-room. Petar Kostov explains how it works:
“People get locked for an hour inside a premise and the goal is to find their way out. The exit is at the end of a series of riddles and challenges. Team work is essential. We provoke mainly their ability to generate new ideas, to listen to each other. There are no physical challenges; we do not test their encyclopedia knowledge… The room was meant to stimulate their creativity and to bring in powerful emotions. Surprise is a substantial element. We take them into a certain atmosphere, they step into a character’s shoes – it is like a movie, half-made by us and half-made by them, as every following team is different.”
The idea of this type of fun does not belong to the Dextrophobia team. The rooms come from the USA and recently appeared in Europe, too. The seven went to Hungary to see the idea in practice. They returned with the strong feeling that they could turn it all into an even more memorable experience. The creation of the room took them around 8 months and the initial guests were welcomed on 10 June last year.
“We funded the creation of the first room, as our main investment was labor and free time,” Petar says. “We all worked 8 hours per day at companies from different spheres. What helped us was the fact that we were friends, but we opted for the creation of something, instead of drinking beer or playing cards in the park…”
Petar explains further that their initial investment was not big – some EUR 5,000. They started it all as a joke, hoping at least to return their investment, but the business proved to be successful. Their company even attracted the interest of the Eleven accelerator venture fund. It provided funding in exchange of a share of their business and included the team into its mentor programs. Thus some of the young people quitted their permanent job, developing further their ideas. At the moment they are working on the second puzzle room that is expected to open doors in the spring. Around 7,000 fans of adventure at all ages have gone through the room since its unveiling. There were quite many foreigners among those as well. Dextrophobia Rooms also enjoys positive feedback on the TripAdvisor travelling website. The 7 young enthusiasts consider the attraction of more foreigners, even though their schedule is full for a month and a half ahead.
English version: Zhivko Stanchev
