Stoyan Yankov keynote speaker

Stoyan Yankov is a global keynote speaker, productivity and performance coach, author and entrepreneur who helps leaders and organisations build stronger teams, improve productivity and create cultures where people can perform at their best. His work combines practical performance systems with leadership, team culture, communication and personal effectiveness.

Stoyan has worked with 300+ companies and spoken in more than 30 countries, sharing stages with internationally recognised thinkers including David Allen, Guy Kawasaki, Salim Ismail and Deepak Chopra. His work has taken him from startup environments to established organisations, giving him a practical understanding of the performance challenges faced by teams at different stages of growth.

At the heart of his work is the PERFORM Methodology, a practical framework developed with entrepreneur and Startup Wise Guys CEO Cristobal Alonso. Designed to help organisations strengthen culture and performance, the methodology grew out of years of workshops, coaching and conversations with successful founders and business leaders. Stoyan says he has personally coached more than 400 teams across 30+ countries, while the methodology has been applied by hundreds of teams globally.

Stoyan and Cristobal captured these lessons in their book PERFORM: The Unsexy Truth about (Startup) Success. Rather than looking for shortcuts to success, the book focuses on the fundamentals behind effective organisations: leadership, culture, planning, people, communication and consistent execution. Its development incorporated interviews with more than 50 entrepreneurs and thought leaders.

They subsequently expanded their work with PERFORM in Times of Crisis, examining how leaders and teams can remain effective when circumstances become difficult and unpredictable. The project draws on examples from business leaders and entrepreneurs and explores areas including leadership under pressure, effective planning, resilience and navigating uncertainty.

Stoyan’s path to performance coaching is unusual. After studying finance, he moved into film and video production, working on more than 500 productions with European talent and Hollywood industry veterans. He credits this experience with shaping his approach to storytelling and communication on stage. Eventually, he left his production business to focus full-time on productivity, performance and professional speaking.

He is also the host of the Productivity Mastery podcast, where he explores the habits, systems and leadership approaches of entrepreneurs, executives and thought leaders. Guests have included Reebok founder Joe Foster, Getting Things Done creator David Allen and The ONE Thing co-author Jay Papasan.

As a speaker, Stoyan brings together high energy, storytelling and immediately applicable tools. His sessions are particularly relevant for organisations that want to move beyond simply keeping employees busy and instead create teams that are focused, collaborative, resilient and capable of delivering meaningful results.