"Connections persist through time, proving invaluable in networking for partnerships."
Maria Gmyzina, head of Global Expansion at Flowwow, tech enthusiast with a 12-year of leadership experience in business development and scaling new businesses across geographies. With a team, develop a glocal (global + local) marketplace that brings ultimate joy to your loved ones around the world.
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We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Maria Gmyzina: Thank you for inviting me. I am the Head of Global Expansion at Flowwow and a tech enthusiast with a 12-year leadership experience in business development and scaling new businesses across geographies.
With my team, we develop a ‘glocal’ (global + local) gifting marketplace that helps you bring joy to your loved ones around the world. Launched a decade ago, Flowwow now hosts 14,000+ local brands from 1,000 cities and operates in 30 countries.
I started my career as a construction project engineer after receiving a postgraduate degree at the University of Queensland. It was later that I directed my tech knowledge towards business development for AEC, IT, and ed-tech projects.
My passion for innovation drives me to work with key performance indicators, increasing user engagement, LTV, and other KPIs. I think my ‘hidden’ talent is the ability to bring the right people together – from teammates to consultants, mentors, and investors. This interest also manifests itself in areas I am passionate about outside of work, such as coaching, psychology, mental health, and well-being.
I joined Flowwow in 2022 and started my journey with the company by creating an international sales team. Together, we attracted 250+ active sellers in 5 countries and showed a 20x monthly sales growth in just a year.
At the same time, I dove into the operational processes to localise our product on these markets, covering legal, finance, and business operations too.
Through JTBD (Jobs to be Done) and customer development interviews, my team and I collected valuable insights and identified key metrics that then shaped product localisation on the UAE, Spanish, and UK markets.
How has the significance of networking evolved over the past decades?
Maria Gmyzina: Decades follow one another, but the power of connections remains timeless. Networking has consistently proven extremely valuable in helping to connect with reliable business partners, suppliers, and subcontractors.
From a broader viewpoint, building connections can also aid in nurturing creativity and innovation – a concept recognised as early as in Ancient Greece.
The Greeks believed that engaging in philosophy was most effective when done in a social environment: Socrates himself would eagerly share his thoughts with anyone willing to lend an ear.
In today’s business landscape, networking has become even more crucial as many companies are venturing into the global market and rapidly scaling their operations.
This growth brings a multitude of new challenges to address, and effective networking becomes an efficient tool for achieving success and connecting your business to the right opportunities and resources.
Can you share a personal story where one networking interaction led to unexpected doors opening, and how it highlights the ripple effect of networking?
Maria Gmyzina: Upon becoming a part of the Flowwow team, I brought a personal address book that contained 4,000+ contacts from 20 different countries.
This extensive network offers our business a great chance to leverage social connections and cultivate mutually beneficial opportunities.
In my role at Flowwow, I have utilised my social capital to attract talented individuals from diverse backgrounds who would be an excellent fit for our team.
It has also enabled us to onboard freelancers based in various countries as well as professionals with specialised skills.
Each new addition to the team has brought a unique perspective and expertise that has enhanced our business performance. This example can be aptly described as the ripple effect of networking.
What are some common networking mistakes people make, and how can they pivot to turn potential missteps into learning experiences?
Maria Gmyzina: It is crucial to remember that networking isn’t just about the contacts you have but also about being known by others. To ensure people remember you, it’s vital to maintain connections, stay up-to-date, and engage at professional events, be it virtual or in-person.
Sometimes, individuals may underestimate the significance of fostering relationships, which can lead to a missed opportunity.Another common error is neglecting the power of our connections and the value of the social network we already have.
The truth is, each person is a natural networker due to our social nature: we’ve got colleagues, business companions, friends, workout buddies, and a plethora of other social ties.
This web of connections forms a strong social capital that can provide the resources you may require, from helpful information and professional guidance to an introduction to the right person.
Being unafraid to reach out to your network for necessary support can help you utilise your connections most effectively.
Common mistakes of underestimating the existing connections – by lack of maintenance or in fear of reaching out – can negatively affect your networking. However, there also are things you can do that will improve your results.
Authentic networking that occurs naturally is always the healthiest and most beneficial. It thrives on sincerity and genuine connections, free from forced or excessive interactions.
It’s important to seize the opportunity, make a lasting impression, and differentiate yourself from the crowd: giving a memorable elevator pitch will likely make you stand out more than a well-rehearsed conference presentation.
When meeting someone new, make the effort to learn about their background, goals, and interests – this will help you establish proper common ground.
Maintaining a harmonious exchange of generosity is important in the realm of networking. Taking initiative by offering something rather than making direct requests can be a strategic approach towards achieving your long-term goals.
Gift-giving is a tool that might be quite helpful too: it serves as a universal form of communication, yet it’s crucial to consider regional subtleties to avoid sending unintended messages.
How do you see the future of networking evolving with the rise of AI, VR, and other technologies?
Maria Gmyzina: Networking used to be about exchanging business cards; now it’s about building genuine connections in a digital world where the number of LinkedIn requests has long outgrown the number of actual, in-person handshakes.
AI technology is already being used to simulate human interaction with LinkedIn leads, blurring the lines between genuine and automated communication. Thinking long-term, it’s quite plausible to envision negotiations and meetings being conducted by AI avatars embodying the digital personas of participants, each with specific objectives to be reached.
In this context, humans would be responsible for defining the goals and desired outcomes of the networking scenarios rather than actively engaging in them. In a future where all digital interactions, including those on LinkedIn, are automated, nurturing genuine human connections – and doing so in person – will become invaluable.
Rapid technological advancements have created both new opportunities and unseen challenges. On the one hand, barriers like language differences are disappearing with the introduction of real-time earbuds capable of translating 30+ languages, which is a step towards facilitating in-person communication.
AI, the greatest tech advancement of the last year, undoubtedly enhances efficiency – however, it also raises ethical and security issues that require collective human wisdom to address. Collaboration, rather than competition, is essential for tackling these important issues successfully.
Networking serves as a valuable tool for fostering collaborative thinking by building bridges instead of barriers. Through networking, I believe we can collectively progress towards greater innovation and evolution.
Brooke Young, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Maria Gmyzina for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Maria Gmyzina or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
