Persone Nadia Neytcheva

Nadia's Telemedicine

09 Jan 2025, by Camillo Papini, translated by Alex Foti

Co-founder of Doctorsa, a startup, she has set her life on the path of change and innovation: "Going from business idea to scalable reality requires absolute dedication," she explains, speaking of the world of young and innovative firms. "It can take several years before finding the right way to enter the market"

Before starting elementary school, she moved from Bulgaria to Italy. She followed her family in various places in Piedmont but, at the age of 18, she went to live on her own and graduated from high school in Turin. Then it was the turn of Milan and Bocconi; after that, her debut in professional employment in the startup environment.

Nadia Neytcheva's story is one about change and the search for new challenges and consequently of innovation, but also of "the instinct that leads us to build a professional and personal career that satisfies us," says the alumna who is now co-founder and CEO of Doctorsa, a company founded in January 2020 that specializes in remote medical assistance for those who travel.

Is she the role model of the female entrepreneur? “I have never thought of representing a role model. If I am, it’s completely involuntary. After all, the path to one's fulfillment is never linear. To me what’s important is the drive, fundamental for every young woman, to seek your own independence, your own path. Whatever your life choice, I believe that it is always possible to start a new path,” replies the young manager with an undergraduate degree in Economics and Management of Innovation and International Markets and a graduate degree in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology. “The important thing is to strive for what makes us feel good overall and, to pursue this direction, it is essential that each of us knows how to recognize our own personal need for change. Changing is not easy but it is a question not only of concrete possibilities, for example from an economic point of view, but also and above all it is a matter of courage.”

Neytcheva admits that, at the end of her studies, she felt a bit disoriented about how and where to enter the world of work. “I confirm that I relied on my instinct. I already had a propensity for everything that was innovative and so I started working for a company that was small at the time but was rapidly expanding. I grew professionally there and stayed happily for four years,” she recalls. “But afterwards I developed the need to reach new goals and moved to Boston to work at a startup.”

Speaking of instinct and feeling, there was the encounter with Francesco-Maria Serino, co-founder of Doctorsa and current Chief Operating Officer, which was timely, right at the start of the project. “It was immediately clear to me that I wanted to participate,” adds Neytcheva, who today follows the telemedicine service offered to travelers in all its aspects (from the diagnosis of individual pathologies to more complex reports to be presented to local health services). “I have no particular second thoughts. Of course, there have been intense moments of great tiredness, which, in the case of startups, must be taken into account because moving from a business idea to a scalable entrepreneurial reality requires absolute dedication. It can take several years before you find the right way to enter the market. In my own experience, once you get past the stage where burnout seems almost inevitable, you discover an extraordinary persistence and a state of focusedness that allows you to face every challenge with readiness and determination.”

After all, from the beginning of her story, it was like the start of a new game for Neytcheva. After high school, considering Bocconi and Milan, “I noticed the Economics and Management degree because it studied innovation and international environments. Already during my Master of Science, with classes in English, half of my course mates were not Italian and this represented confirmation both of my propensity for change and of my idea that we are all human beings, all citizens of the same world. I bring with me my Bulgarian and Italian cultural baggage, a family one where women and men can have the same expectations of freedom and, last but not least, I have always had the full support of my brother. But every woman, in a different way, has her own enriching story and does not have to worry about social pressures or expectations. Instead, I recommend focusing on your own desires to build a happy life.”