Olga Svitelska is the Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Wunderdogs, a brand consultancy that partners with companies to elevate their creative strategies through comprehensive approaches in strategy, design, and technology. Since joining Wunderdogs, Olga has played a pivotal role in guiding the company’s collaborations with over 140 start-ups and 30 venture capital firms, all aiming to address global challenges with innovative solutions. Under her leadership, Wunderdogs has received multiple accolades, including awards for outstanding client work in brand design and digital platforms.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- [3:56] How growing up in post-Soviet Ukraine shaped Olga Svitelska’s entrepreneurial drive
- [9:00] Olga’s transition from waitressing to fashion and costume design work in Ukraine
- [13:07] Lessons Olga learned from working under President Zelensky
- [15:10] Navigating a new life in the US with limited support and no clear roadmap
- [24:36] The founding story of Wunderdogs
- [28:36] Bridging the gap between creative and tech teams through brand storytelling
- [30:46] Helping start-ups raise over $1B by clarifying positioning, messaging, and value
- [34:39] Why AI is a powerful tool for experienced creatives but a threat to junior roles
In this episode…
Breaking through the noise is one of the biggest challenges for early-stage start-ups, especially when trying to attract investors. How can a company with a complex product or deep tech solution communicate its value clearly and compellingly enough to raise millions?
According to Olga Svitelska, a seasoned brand strategist, the key is clarity through storytelling. She highlights that many start-ups struggle not because their ideas lack merit but because they can’t express their value in a language investors understand. Olga emphasizes the importance of strong brand foundations, clear positioning, messaging, and identity in dramatically improving a start-up’s fundraising success.
In this episode of the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, host John Corcoran speaks with Olga Svitelska, Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Wunderdogs, to discuss how start-ups can raise millions through strategic branding. They explore how to bridge the gap between tech and storytelling, how Olga transitioned from fashion to branding, and why AI is a tool, not a replacement for creativity. Olga also shares lessons from working under President Zelensky earlier in her career.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- EO San Francisco
- EO Accelerator
- Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
- John Corcoran on LinkedIn
- Rise25
- Olga Svitelska on LinkedIn
- Wunderdogs
Quotable Moments
- “If you give AI just like a junior person, it will do 70%.”
- “I found every job I had myself.”
- “I still think that that’s probably one of the best things that happened to me.”
- “We take underdogs, right? Like do some wonders and then help them to become big dogs.”
- “He is very hard working, like a crazy hardworking person.”
Action Steps
- Build a brand narrative that speaks human: Translating complex products into relatable language helps investors quickly understand value and potential.
- Start with positioning before visuals: Crafting a clear value proposition first ensures that design elements support business goals effectively.
- Ask bold questions to get noticed: Proactively pitching ideas or asking for opportunities can open unexpected doors and create career-defining moments.
- Use AI as a creative accelerator, not a replacement: Leveraging AI for drafts while keeping human judgment ensures quality and originality in branding work.
- Bridge creative and technical teams: Acting as a translator between design and development fosters alignment, efficiency, and better final outcomes.
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Episode Transcript:
Intro: 00:02
Welcome to the Rising Entrepreneurs Podcast, where we feature top founders and entrepreneurs and their journey. Now let’s get started with the show.
John Corcoran: 00:13
All right. Welcome everyone. John Corcoran here I am, the co-host of this show. And you can check out our archives for lots of great previous episodes with smart CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of different companies. I’m also the co-founder of Rise25 and a long time EO San Francisco member.
Well, not long time, about four years now, three and a half years in the EO accelerator program before that. And as I said, co-founder of Rise25, where we help B2B businesses to get clients referrals and strategic partnerships with done-for-you podcast and content marketing. And this episode is brought to you by EO San Francisco, which is the Bay area chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization, which is a global peer to peer network of more than 20,000 influential business owners across 200 chapters, about 60 countries. And if you are the founder, co-founder, owner or controlling shareholder of a company that generates over $1 million a year in revenues, and you want to connect with other like minded, successful entrepreneurs. EO may be the right fit for you, so if you want to learn more, you can go to EO network org slash San Francisco.
All right. And my guest here today is Olga Svitelska. I think I’m saying that right Olga I’ve known Olga for a number of years now but not mastered pronouncing her last name. But that’s okay. My last name is not easy to pronounce either.
She’s the founding partner at Wunderdogs, and we’re going to talk about her whole story or her whole story first, starting with Olga. Pleasure to have you here today. You and I first got to know each other through the EO Accelerator Program, which we both started in. And you actually grew up in Ukraine. You were born in Ukraine.
And I love to ask people about what types of entrepreneurial hustles they had as a kid and things like that. You had an unusual one. Your grandmother got into selling funeral arrangements. sounds a bit traumatic. So you as a kid were were selling funeral arrangements as a kid.
Tell tell me a little bit about that.
Olga Svitelska: 02:07
Yeah. So I was that was my first job that I actually got paid for, and I was helping her on every step of the process. So she was not just selling them, but she also she was making them. So I did the whole material sourcing with her. Then, like she made those paper flowers that she used for the arrangements.
So like we were like making flowers together. Then we did the assembly and then we did like marketing and sales. Right. So like a very final step and I had a very special role. I also was assigning the, the ribbons, you know, like black ribbons that you put on.
I was like signing them with like a golden marker, like saying in a memory of forever. So yeah, that was my my first job. And then I had many, many more. So I started to work when I was I would say 15. So like this summer I will celebrate my 20 years work anniversary.
And I was like selling theater tickets. I was working as a teacher in like a summer camp. I like I was a waitress, I did, I worked with like fashion designers. So like many different.
John Corcoran: 03:34
A lot of different jobs, a lot of different hustles. And was it I’ve heard that Ukraine is actually a very entrepreneurial country place, very kind of up from the bootstraps independent, fiercely independent type of place. How much do you think that’s shaped your journey into entrepreneurship?
Olga Svitelska: 03:56
I think it shaped it a lot. Just because I was born a couple of years before Soviet Union collapsed and like when Ukraine regained its independence. So it was a very uncertain times overall. But like in terms of the job market. So like it was like all different, right?
Like the rules were like changing on the fly. People were like going from unions to, like, working independently and like starting their own businesses, like replacing like big, like factories or something. So, like, people were like, hustling in different ways and like, this is how a lot of businesses were started. And I think, like my family was not very different from like majority of families in Ukraine. So like my mom, she had a stable job.
So like she was working at, like at a lab and like she actually worked at the same place, like through her, like old life. But my dad, he was like hustling from being a scientist and like an engineer. He then pivoted to become a business owner, just like as a scientist. He was not able to to make enough money to support, like our family. So he was like trying this and that and like, doing, like, different companies and different businesses.
Like when I was a kid, like one of the things that he did was assembling computers, if you remember, like back like. Yeah. So it was.
John Corcoran: 05:29
Back when people, yeah, had to assemble the computers. But rather.
Olga Svitelska: 05:35
Than being like, that was like our.
Like every weekend we would I would help him assemble computers that he was making for other people. And I still know how to do it. So I think like this is where I’ve, I’ve started. And it’s like for me it was always like this.
John Corcoran: 05:51
You know, it’s it’s easy for us to forget what a massive change that was from the Soviet Union. This communist system where everyone was provided with a job, everyone gets a job. You don’t have to like, go out and find a job or create a company for yourself to, you know, a system afterwards where, you know, people have to shift from that. And that’s a massive change. Do you remember, like hearing about that, you know, from your parents, you said you were really young when that happened, but you remember hearing stories about that from your grandmother?
Olga Svitelska: 06:25
Yeah. So yes, this is how my grandmother actually ended up selling funeral arrangements, right? So, like, she had all her life, she had a job at a factory. And then, like, after Soviet Union collapsed, factory was closed. And like, she was in a position to, like, find something to do.
Right, like. And this is how she ended up doing what she was doing. And it’s like for me, even like when I started, like, looking for for my first job and like, second and third, like, actually like every job that I had, I found myself through just, like, asking for it. So I remember, like, one of my first jobs was like, I worked as the as the waitress in a very, like, high end restaurant. And I just remember I was like, walking on the street, like passing this place.
And I was like, oh, it looks amazing. Like, I kind of like want to work there. So I just like, went upstairs and like, I asked the hostess, I’m like, can I speak to your manager? And she was like, well, okay. Like she didn’t know, like who I was like what I wanted.
So like, maybe she saw that I was like a friend or like someone. And the manager came out and she was like, how can I help you? I’m like, oh, like, I’m Olga. And like, I just, I’m looking for a job. I like, really like your place.
Can I work here? And she’s like, how old are you? I’m like 16. and she was like, oh, like, this is the age of my daughter. Like, I’m not sure that it’s the like a good age for this, but like, let me think about it.
And I was like, if you give me a job, I will not disappoint you. And like, then she called me like a week later and said, okay, you can come and like start the training. And then I end up working there for a couple of years.
John Corcoran: 08:13
And were you actually 16 or were you younger?
Olga Svitelska: 08:15
No, no, I was 16. But it’s. Very young.
John Corcoran: 08:18
Yeah. You hear those stories sometimes about people doing that. So that’s interesting background. And then in 2012, you and your husband decided to, like many, before you look for new opportunities and you end up coming to the United States, and you actually got an EB one visa, which is for individuals with extraordinary abilities, which sounds like something I certainly would never qualify for. So impressive that you you did. And you first of all, before we get to that, you had worked in fashion design, costume design and actually had worked.
Your boss was the now President Zelensky. Talk a little bit about working for him.
Olga Svitelska: 09:00
Yeah, so I think I exited from my restaurant journey in 2008 when the financial crisis happened, and I was one of two people, like, laid off. And to date, I still think that that’s probably one of the best things that happened to me that like, I finished my waitress career at the age of 18 and I was graduating from the university at that point of time. So I have a degree in interior design and and landscape design. I never worked a day following my degree, but I, like all of my jobs later were like somehow related to design and like and art and like different forms. So but I got really interested in in costume design and like fashion styling.
So after I was laid off from my previous job, I started to look for like for another opportunity and I got a place in the like a fashion design studio. So like where like designer was, she had her own brand and they needed a person that would, will do like small things here and there. You like buying fabrics, you buying like sinks, you like sending invites to the fashion show. Like all of those like little like admin slash management tasks that like a studio needs. So this is how I ended up working in in fashion.
That was like my entry to to that area. And after that I was I started to do like a styling jobs here and there for like a music video, for I Don’t Like a TV show and like what a sad and like one after another. I was invited to do like a like one, a TV series with the fertile 95. So it’s basically the the company that was run by by the current President Zelensky. And it was at the time when he was a general producer of like one of the biggest like TV channels in Ukraine.
So he was invited to restructure the channel to update the, the programming and like everything there, and we did that like show very successfully that we were invited to work with the team full time. So and that was my like next three years and like basically like my final position and job in Ukraine, I was working alongside the team on one hand Upgrade like restructuring the channel and also like doing like variety of like TV shows, concerts. We did movie production, many, many different things. So like my final project was actually the most technically challenging. So it was an underwater shooting for, for the advertisement for the for the TV, for the channel.
I had 30 actors and we were like shooting underwater for like two, 2 or 3 days. And I think that we wrapped up the the day at 2 a.m. and like at 6 a.m., I landed in the like, I went on my flight to New York.
John Corcoran: 12:32
Wow.
Olga Svitelska: 12:33
So that was my my final day as a as a fashion stylist slash costume designer.
John Corcoran: 12:40
And last question on Zelensky. I mean, sure, no way you could have predicted that he ends up getting elected president, that he ends up, you know, being the leader of the country in this, you know, now two plus year war. But is there anything looking back on your experience, you know, working under him that is, you know, that that indicated that he was destined for some kind of, you know, greatness in the future? You know, what were your impressions of him?
Olga Svitelska: 13:07
I mean, he is on the one hand, he’s a very good manager. So now, like looking back and having like 20 years of career behind my belt, I can say that he was probably one of the best managers that I worked with. He is very hard working like crazy, hardworking person. So like, you know, like when we did shootings, sometimes it would be like 28 hours of shooting in a row, like, and everyone would be just like falling from their feet. And he would just, like, change clothes and go to the channel to continue meetings and stuff.
So like really probably one of the most, like, hard working people I’ve ever met. And he’s also a very, like a good human with very strong personal values that like, lead him through, like through his life. So I don’t know if he knew that it would be it would happen. Like we definitely didn’t know that. But at the time he built a like, you know, like a lot of news articles like and articles like saying, oh, he was like a comedian, like how he can run a country.
But usually those people who like writing it, they like missing the point that he actually built one of the biggest and the most successful, like, movie production company in the country, right. That like, had like thousands of people employed and like did like many, many projects and like being an actor was like more a hobby for him Versus. But like, he was like a 90% CEO and like 10% actor in in that setup.
John Corcoran: 14:52
Yeah. Talk a little bit about after that you landed in the United States. It’s 2012. Did you have family here? Did you have friends here?
How did you get on your feet in those like in the first few months or so?
Olga Svitelska: 15:10
So we had like my best friend from high school was here. She moved a couple of years before. And like also we had some some other friends that relocated from Kiev to, to New York. And there was my dad’s like old friend who lived here for like decades who like met us at the airport and like we stayed at his place for, for a couple of weeks before we rented an apartment. But it was like a lot of, like, majority of it was just like how?
Like figuring things out, you know? And so it seemed like we were just, like, trying different things, like, we we lived in New York for the first year, then we moved to San Francisco and I got into college. My husband found his first job. So like, and we were just like solving things like day by day and slowly we got to where we are now. So like, I can’t say that we had a tremendous amount of help and it was like really hard and like it’s still hard time to time.
But yeah. So I think like our. Getting like work visas probably was like the the longest project we did just because like it’s, it was like 800 pages of like different like proofs and like photos and screenshots and stuff like to be liable to get that type of visa.
John Corcoran: 16:51
And how long did it take you to get the work visa?
Olga Svitelska: 16:54
I think it took us. It’s also like you waiting and like stuff. I think it’s a couple. It was a couple of years.
John Corcoran: 17:00
Wow. So what do you do in that time?
Olga Svitelska: 17:05
I mean, like, we were liable to work, so it was easier, but like, like to get it to the final, final stage. This is how long it took.
John Corcoran: 17:13
Got it, got it. Yeah. Yeah I’ve seen I’ve seen that before. It just seems such a difficult slog for people. So you end up starting.
So your husband actually had some. He had a background also in clothing. Not costume design, but. But clothing brands. Correct.
Did he end up starting a clothing company in the US also or bringing it over?
Olga Svitelska: 17:37
No, he he has an interesting story. So like he had three brands back in Ukraine like one was a couture brand, one was like a streetwear and one was like basic wear. And so like, we built this first ecom store in Ukraine, like selling the, the items. So like I think like all the way till 2013, basically when the revolution happened in Ukraine, we still were like getting income from the business back in Ukraine. So like it was easier for us to to settle.
But like while he was building those like three brands, he actually he figured out that there’s no good like ERP system in place that would actually satisfy all of his needs. And like he tried working with like different people and different specialists, but like, he wasn’t able to solve like what he needed for and like it was hard for him to explain to people what he wants to do so, he ends up learning how to code himself and then like it just consumed him. Like he was like so like excited and inspired by by this, that he actually converted to be a full time developer.
John Corcoran: 19:02
And what about your journey? What did you you ended up starting Wunderdogs? I think it was 2017, which is about five years after you landed in the United States. What did you do in the interim?
Olga Svitelska: 19:13
So I also started to learn how to code, and that probably was my year one two. So I got to the point where I had like a decent understanding of, like how to build front end and, and back end. And I was at the event. It’s also like a my style of story. I was at the event where a CTO of a gap was giving a presentation, and I think I was hosting that event as like part of like my school or something.
So I just came to him after and I was like, blah, blah, blah, like I have like, this is my background. Like all of my like my background is in, in fashion. And I have this idea on how how the e-commerce experience can be changed for for people to be more satisfied with, like, their purchases and like to reduce the return rate by showing like a shopping bag, like different body types, and also like presenting like different options of like combinations for the same item. Just like to increase the value in like in customers eyes. So basically we’re not just like showing you a sweater, but like we’re showing how you can use the sweater for for picnic for work event, for for like a party and like whatever, right.
So like it basically tells you, oh, like that’s a versatile item. I will use it a lot. So like you actually like may make a decision like in purchasing. And he was like, oh, it’s a great idea. You need to pitch to gap CMO.
And he’s like, let’s find time.
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