Interview with Entrepreneur Iza Sia Login

Iza Sia Login was born in Slovenia but currently lives in Cyprus; she has an MSc in Computer Science and has held project management positions at Microsoft and Novartis as well as running her own holistic center.

Along with her husband, Samo Login, and team, Iza founded Outfit7 Limited – one of the fastest-growing media entertainment companies in the world, where she served as Deputy CEO. Outfit7 Limited is best known for its Talking Tom and Friends app and media franchise.

In 2013, she established the Login5 Foundation with her family, with the purpose of creating, ‘A World with Pure Air, Pure Water, and Pure Consciousness’.

Iza has been actively working on Login5 Foundation projects since the sale of Outfit7 in 2017 and their primary focus is on providing a better future for humankind, in the most sustainable way.

Published on 1^st March, Iza and Samo’s book 7 Unicorn Drive focuses on how to build modern teams and organizations that can achieve extraordinary results with the goal of giving everyone the opportunity and knowledge to build a better world.

It’s wonderful to interview Iza here.

Describe a typical day for you?

I try not to use an alarm clock to wake up so I can start my day quietly with some morning meditation. A long walk or profound yoga practice follows and my morning routine ends with fruit and a high protein breakfast. The rest of the day is usually defined by my calendar, where I have a lot of team meetings for all of the projects I’m currently working on.

I have one calendar entry that sets some time aside for lunch as well – I usually prepare it together with my husband, Samo, and it includes a lot of organically grown local veggies.

I try not to work too late in the evenings so I can spend some quality time with my husband and kids. I also like to do some video calls with friends, and attend some online courses as well (healing with crystals, painting, singing). My weekends are usually free and I adore walking along high cliffs next the shores of Cyprus. When I’m in Slovenia (where I was born), I try to spend as much time as possible with my family and friends.

What do you feel are your greatest achievements?

Despite my husband and I building a start-up and selling it for a billion dollars in seven years, I feel that my greatest achievement is raising two kids with strong values including empathy and the drive to help co-create the vision of our Login5 Foundation, which we founded together as a family.

I also love helping to build successful teams with a strong and creative culture at their core. I have already managed to do this a few times in the past, and every project since then has brought a new element to my team-building approach.

We’ve just published a new book, 7 Unicorn Drive, that explains our different approaches and ways to build and run a highly motivated, successful team.

We combined all our best practices in the Unicorn Drive Method, which we’ll share in a series of programs starting in the early summer of 2021. Our aim is to build a community where entrepreneurs and leaders don’t just learn the methods we use but share their experience and knowledge with one another too.

What’s in your handbag/ satchel?

My handbag is like a Mary Poppins handbag – I am often surprised by how many useful (sometimes extremely heavy!) items I find in it. There are always some crystals or stones inside and of course, my mobile phone, wallet, a few lipsticks, perfume, packet of tissues, a notebook, many pens, a couple of sunglasses, at least one chocolate bar, a small bottle of water or matcha latte, and sometimes even my MacBook. As you can imagine, none of my handbags are small!

What are your ambitions in life?

I try to live every moment of my life in harmony. If I manage this, I can be creative, successful, fulfilled, and happy. I enjoy spending my life with people that share the same philosophy, and this way we can co-create the goals we set: a peaceful world where we all have the chance to live a free and prosperous life, full of purpose and love; a world where nature is abundant and it’s normal to choose to help others as well as ourselves, and to celebrate our collective progress.

What do you wish you’d known at the start of your career you now know?

I was already quite ambitious and successful in my early years but I didn’t know how to consciously manifest and plan my life. Knowing this technique would have spared me many hours of hard work. The greatest power of manifestation is that the optimal way to achieve our goals is usually quite straight forward. Namely, the most important part of manifestation is clear and bold goal setting – if there is enough passion added to it, success is guaranteed.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

For the last four years, our family has been running the Login5 foundation with the following purpose: pure water, pure air, pure consciousness. When thinking about the long-term survival of humanity, we must think about our planet first. If we do not take care of it, we don’t stand a chance. We are working to create a world where everyone is free to prosper and live with purpose and love, where we act in the interests of nature, as well as ourselves.

Our current projects focus on sustainable food production and development as well as conscious leadership. In Serbia, we run a huge farm with the vision of building a model for large-scale sustainable farming. We’ll share the findings, models and software tools for free non-commercial and commercial use. We also work with universities (Harvard and Oxford), research centres, and like-minded companies around the world. So our goal is to keep progressing with this for the next 5 years and beyond!

What advice would you give a budding tech entrepreneur?

It’s so important to know your purpose before starting a new business – ask yourself the question, ‘why am I doing this?’ If the answer addresses real needs of the present time, you already have more than a 50% chance to succeed. Too many new projects are started only to answer the question, ‘what are we doing?’. Only the rare and most successful ones know why (the purpose).

Establishing a clear purpose will also make it easy to inspire your colleagues. With properly set values, your teams will be able to build a strong and powerful business culture. So, when you implement the vision and strategies, the foundations are laid for a successful business. I follow this exact order for all of my projects.

Another key factor to remember is that people are always the most valuable part of any organisation. If you treat them well, taking their feelings and personal needs into account, rather than seeing them purely as assets to the business, their value will be immeasurable. If the market doesn’t understand your products, it is not their fault, but yours – be agile, make changes, and become more approachable to users.

What advice would you give to a new parent?

I think parenting is the most important life role we have and it shouldn’t be neglected at all. I always to try make my kids my priority but as all working parents know, it’s impossible to watch over them all of the time so value quality over quantity time together. For every hour that you do spend with your children, be fully present. My friend (a stay-at-home mom) once said to me when our children were younger: ‘your kids get more from you than mine do, even though you work such long hours and I spend all day with them!’

I think it’s important to find balance – if you enjoy your job as well as spending time with your kids, and can find a way to balance the two, it’s easy and fulfilling.

Another thing to keep in mind is that small kids are like sponges, soaking up everything they feel and see. It’s not the amount of data they know or number of activities they do after school that will make them happy and successful when they grow up, it’s their ability to express love and respect towards others.

Finally, happiness is…

Having a loving relationship with everyone and everything.