# ANDREI SEMEN
Enterprise Renewals | Investing | IdeasRenewals • Investing • Ideas • Books & culture • Artisan jewellery • About

Nice to meet you! I'm Andrei Semen, an enterprise renewals and recurring-revenue professional with 16+ years of experience in enterprise technology.By day, I work at the intersection of customer relationships, commercial strategy and predictable recurring revenue. I write about renewals, leadership, investing, AI, books and the principles that connect work and life.This is my personal vault: a home for the ideas, projects and lessons worth keeping.

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Predictable retention • Multi-year deal structuring • Commercial rigourOver 16 years specialising in enterprise IT support contract renewals, I build predictable recurring revenue frameworks, proactively manage churn risks and secure multi-year commitments for mission-critical software.Core focus areas
• Renewal mechanics: Multi-year contract structuring, commercial negotiation, and margin protection.
• Churn mitigation: Early warning indicator systems, value-realisation turnarounds, and account health recovery.
• Executive alignment: Connecting post-sales support outcomes directly to customer business objectives.Featured Writing
• 16 Years in Enterprise renewals: 20 lessons that stood the test of time
Unfiltered rules on trust, client relationships, commercial discipline and acceptance after 16+ years in the field.
• The Golden age of AI and the art of un-optimised living
A reflection on using AI to multiply professional efficiency while protecting offline spaces, presence and analog depth.Read more articles on LinkedIn →↑ Back to top | ↑ Back to main page

Building financial resilience • Core engine & satellite discipline • Real-economy moatsTracking a disciplined, long-term approach to wealth creation designed to become financially unbreakable. I focus on capturing broad global compounding while managing controlled satellite exposure across quality real-economy businesses, AI infrastructure, and security layers. My framework is governed by a strict Investment Policy Statement (IPS): zero day trading, no short-term market timing and no chasing speculative, pure-hype AI bubbles.Core Investment Principles (IPS-aligned)• Retirement & global core (The Engine room): Broad, low-cost global equity exposure serves as the primary long-term compounding engine. The core is insulated from behavioural mistakes, market noise, and macro headlines.
• Strategic satellites (Look-through discipline): Targeting differentiated economic engines across AI infrastructure, semiconductors, physical power grid demand and cybersecurity perimeter defence. Satellites are governed by strict look-through rules to prevent accidental duplication.
• Risk management & capital allocation: Prioritising liquidity, simplicity, and strict concentration ceilings. Focused on durable cash flows, high moats and disciplined execution over short-term performanceFeatured writing & investment memos• Becoming financially unbreakable: My investment policy Statement
The core operating system: why resilience beats theoretical optimisation and how to build a portfolio that survives setbacks.Follow all my other notes on X (@pennylanduk) →Personal notes, not financial advice↑ Back to top | ↑ Back to main page

Comparative poetry • Enduring books • Logic & artisanal heritageBeyond enterprise strategy and investing, I explore timeless human ideas through literature, structured deduction and traditional craft.

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The Great conversation in 30 poemsA comparative literary exploration bridging 30 Romanian and British Isles poems across 10 universal human themes.Why I Started This Project: What happens when the greatest Romanian poems are placed alongside landmark poems from the British Isles? Not to classify, rank or build a rigid literary hierarchy, but to let them speak to each other, addressing the same fundamental human questions from different cultural shores.I started this project as a personal exploration across the two poetic traditions that shaped my life. The challenge was never about finding direct translations or historical influences; it was about discovering thematic resonance. How does Mihai Eminescu’s cosmic longing respond to Lord Tennyson’s stoic endurance? How does Lucian Blaga’s reverence for natural mystery mirror William Wordsworth’s spiritual connection to the landscape?This is a curated collection of pairings that, in my experience, deeply reward the time you spend with them. Cultivating even a modest side-passion for poetry has a subtle way of broadening your perspective, sharpening your attention and keeping you grounded amidst the pace of modern work.Thirty poems, two distinct traditions, looking at the same human questions from opposite shores. 🇷🇴 🤝 🇬🇧---Theme I: Cosmic Longing & Romantic Isolation
1. Luceafărul (Mihai Eminescu) ⇄ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (S.T. Coleridge)
Cosmic isolation, immortality, and romantic longing.
2. O-ramâi (Mihai Eminescu) ⇄ Locksley Hall (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
The pull of nostalgia and the inexorable march of time.
3. Dorul (Lucian Blaga) ⇄ Endymion (John Keats)
Unfathomable desire and quest for transcendent beauty.---Theme II: Transience, Nature & Mortality
4. Gorunul (Lucian Blaga) ⇄ Ode to a Nightingale (John Keats)
Mortality, silent nature, and the awareness of decay.
5. Vara (George Coșbuc) ⇄ To Autumn (John Keats)
Abundance of nature and seasonal transition.
6. Noapte de vară (George Coșbuc) ⇄ Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey (William Wordsworth)
Solace in landscape and evening quietude.---Theme III: Preserving Mystery vs. Analytical Dissection
7. Eu nu strivesc corola de minuni a lumii (Lucian Blaga) ⇄ The Tyger (William Blake)
Embracing existential mystery vs. analytical dissection.
8. Lumina (Lucian Blaga) ⇄ The Lamb (William Blake)
Primordial innocence and spiritual illumination.
9. Inscripție pe o ușă (Tudor Arghezi) ⇄ The World Is Too Much With Us (William Wordsworth)
Sacred threshold vs. industrial alienation.---Theme IV: Existential Heaviness & Decadence
10. Plumb (George Bacovia) ⇄ The Hollow Men (T.S. Eliot)
Existential heaviness, spiritual isolation, and cultural decay.
11. Lacustră (George Bacovia) ⇄ Dover Beach (Matthew Arnold)
Psychological erosion, rising waters, and retreat of faith.
12. Nervuri de primăvară (George Bacovia) ⇄ The Waste Land (T.S. Eliot)
Sterile seasons, melancholy, and urban paralysis.---Theme V: Ancestral Legacy, Land & Craft
13. Testament (Tudor Arghezi) ⇄ Digging (Seamus Heaney)
The pen as a physical ancestral tool and labor of heritage.
14. Noi vrem pământ! (George Coșbuc) ⇄ The Deserted Village (Oliver Goldsmith)
Peasant grief, agrarian justice, and displacement.
15. Plugarii (Octavian Goga) ⇄ The Solitary Reaper (William Wordsworth)
Dignity of field work and quiet endurance.---Theme VI: Passion & Sudden Transformation
16. Leoaică tânără, iubirea (Nichita Stănescu) ⇄ Leda and the Swan (W.B. Yeats)
Love as a sudden, violent, and transformative force.
17. A doua elegie (Nichita Stănescu) ⇄ Sailing to Byzantium (W.B. Yeats)
Transcendence of the flesh and art as eternity.
18. Cântec (Nichita Stănescu) ⇄ A Red, Red Rose (Robert Burns)
Pure lyrical devotion and elemental emotion.---Theme VII: Spiritual Agony, Faith & Conscience
19. În grădina Ghetsemani (Vasile Voiculescu) ⇄ The Collar (George Herbert)
Spiritual conflict, sacrifice, and surrender to divine will.
20. Iisus în celulă (Radu Gyr) ⇄ Invictus (William Ernest Henley)
Inner sovereignty, spiritual dignity, and resilience under oppression.
21. Psalm (Tudor Arghezi) ⇄ Batter My Heart, Three-Person'd God (John Donne)
Doubt, divine wrestling, and desperate faith.---Theme VIII: Cosmic Time & Human Vanity
22. Scrisoarea I (Mihai Eminescu) ⇄ Ozymandias (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
The collapse of empires, cosmic time, and human vanity.
23. Glossă (Mihai Eminescu) ⇄ If— (Rudyard Kipling)
Stoic detachment, moral clarity, and self-governance.
24. Memento Mori (Mihai Eminescu) ⇄ Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (Thomas Gray)
Rise and fall of civilizations vs. quiet rural graves.---Theme IX: Modernity, Memory & Everyday Fragments
25. Totul (Mircea Cărtărescu) ⇄ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (T.S. Eliot)
Postmodern fragments, memory catalogs, and modern alienation.
26. Poema chiuvetei (Mircea Cărtărescu) ⇄ The Flea (John Donne)
Mundane objects elevated to grand romantic metaphors.
27. O motocicletă parcată sub stele (Mircea Cărtărescu) ⇄ In a Station of the Metro (Ezra Pound)
Urban imagery fused with cosmic stillness.---Theme X: Death, Rebirth & Memory
28. Mai am un singur dor (Mihai Eminescu) ⇄ Crossing the Bar (Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
Peaceful surrender to death and maritime transition.
29. Moartea căprioarei (Nicolae Labiș) ⇄ The Death of a Naturalist (Seamus Heaney)
Loss of childhood innocence through the harshness of nature.
30. Riga Crypto și Lapona Enigel (Ion Barbu) ⇄ La Belle Dame sans Merci (John Keats)
Mismatched realms, fatal attraction, and cosmic incompatibility.↑ Back to top | ↑ Back to culture section | ↑ Back to main page

The Immortal authors
Status: 31 / 200 Books tracked • (Current reading ledger)---* The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh / Old Testament) — Ancient Canonical Text (600 BCE)
Theme: Spiritual and Existential
Key Takeaway: Covenant, law, historical memory, and the enduring human search for divine wisdom.* The Holy Bible: New Testament (RO, EN, FR, Latin) — Canonical Gospels & Epistles (70 CE)
Theme: Spiritual and Existential
Key Takeaway: Transcendental grace, moral rebirth, and the universal call to compassion.* Meditations — Marcus Aurelius (180 CE)
Theme: Ancient Foundations
Key Takeaway: Focus on internal sovereignty, mastery over perception, and stoic duty.* The Qur'an — translated by Abdel Haleem (650 CE)
Theme: Spiritual and Existential
Key Takeaway: Divine oneness, moral accountability, and social responsibility.* Il Principe (The Prince) — Niccolò Machiavelli (1532)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Pragmatic realism, statecraft, and the mechanics of political preservation.* Ceaslov — Deacon Coresi (1577)
Theme: Spiritual and Existential
Key Takeaway: The sanctification of time, canonical hours, and early Romanian linguistic heritage.* L'Étranger (The Stranger) — Albert Camus (1942)
Theme: Literary Classics & Philosophical Works
Key Takeaway: The absurd, existential detachment, and confronting an indifferent universe.* Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)
Theme: The Human Mind
Key Takeaway: Seeing essential truths through the heart rather than superficial adult eyes.* Animal Farm — George Orwell (1945)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Totalitarian decay, corruption of language, and betrayed ideals.* 1984 — George Orwell (1948)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Psychological control, surveillance, and the fragility of historical truth.* Atlas Shrugged — Ayn Rand (1957)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Individual agency, rational self-interest, and the mind as the engine of society.* Watership Down — Richard Adams (1972)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Leadership, community resilience, myth-making, and freedom against tyranny.* Shōgun — James Clavell (1975)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Cultural immersion, honor codes, and multi-layered political strategy.* Eye of the Needle — Ken Follett (1978)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Tension, wartime espionage, and individual resolve under extreme pressure.* In the Company of Giants — Rama Dev Jager (1997)
Theme: The Human Mind
Key Takeaway: Key lessons on vision, resilience, and scaling from tech industry founders.* Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone — J.K. Rowling (1997)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Friendship, choice over ability, and the archetypal hero's journey.* The Secrets of Vesuvius — Caroline Lawrence (2001)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Historical immersion, mystery, and youth resilience in ancient times.* Kafka on the Shore — Haruki Murakami (2005)
Theme: Literary Classics & Philosophical Works
Key Takeaway: Surrealism, fate, subconscious memory, and navigating personal trauma.* The Great Explorers — Robin Hanbury-Tenison (2010)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Human curiosity, endurance across unknown horizons, and discovery.* A Monster Calls — Patrick Ness (2011)
Theme: The Human Mind
Key Takeaway: Grief, emotional truth, and processing complex human loss through stories.* The Second World War — Antony Beevor (2012)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Grand global conflict analyzed alongside harrowing human-level accounts.* Wonder — R.J. Palacio (2012)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Empathy, kindness over correctness, and overcoming social adversity.* Țara cu un singur gras — Adelin Petrișor (2013)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Journalistic observation of authoritarian isolation and state propaganda.* Only Remembered — Michael Morpurgo (2014)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Memory, sacrifice, and the enduring human legacy of World War I.* Never Split the Difference — Chris Voss (2016)
Theme: The Human Mind
Key Takeaway: Tactical empathy, active listening, and high-stakes negotiation psychology.* It Ends with Us — Colleen Hoover (2016)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Breaking cycles of abuse, personal courage, and complex emotional choices.* If We Were Villains — M.L. Rio (2017)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Obsession, theatrical tragedy, ambition, and the weight of secrets.* Al Ferasa: The Art of Face Reading — Wael Abdul-Hamid (2018)
Theme: The Human Mind
Key Takeaway: Ancient observational skills, non-verbal communication, and character analysis.* Hades — Mark Knowles (2019)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Mythic retellings, ancient heroism, and classical narrative pacing.* As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow — Zoulfa Katouh (2022)
Theme: Modern Fiction
Key Takeaway: Hope, survival, and mental resilience amidst human conflict.* Palestinians and Israelis: A Short History of Conflict — Michael Scott-Baumann (2024)
Theme: Understanding Power and Society
Key Takeaway: Dual narratives, historical context, and the complexities of geopolitical conflict.* The 5 Types of Wealth — Sahil Bloom (2025)
Theme: The Human Mind
Key Takeaway: Balancing time, physical, health, social, and financial capital for a full life.↑ Back to top | ↑ Back to culture section | ↑ Back to main page