Getting Real with Tatiana Soldatova — Syllable Design

28 Jan 2026 · 37 min
Episode

28 Jan 2026 · 37 min

0:00

Podcast episode (May 9, 2021) in which Bill Gallagher interviews Tatiana Soldatova, founder of Syllable Design (Toronto). Tatiana describes running an interior design + architecture practice focused on retail, corporate and multi-unit residential work; her path from practitioner to entrepreneur; growth challenges (cash flow, underpricing, permit-related billing delays) and concrete fixes learned in the EO Accelerator/Scaling Up program (Cash Day, moving from milestone to monthly/time-based billing, increasing upfront payments, 48-hour proposal turnaround). She also explains systems/process work (Asana, cloud storage, checklists) to scale from ~1–5 people to ~10, team distribution (Toronto + Vancouver), notable wins (55,000 sqft office project with anthropologist-led research, 300% revenue growth in 2018–19, first corporate job $125K to later $10M, 12 awards), and personal leadership work (completed a 3-month MBSR course). Sponsors/read ads for Doxa(doxatalent) and Align/Scoreboard are included; production and show-note credits close the episode.

Questions this episode answers

May 9, 2021.

In business with a partner for eight years; full-time for the last four years.

300% revenue growth (2018–2019).

A 55,000 square foot office project.

First corporate project ~ $125,000; later corporate work reached $10 million.

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