Creating a UX company step by step
This year, the UIDG turned 10 years old, in honor of which we decided to describe the history of the creation and establishment of the company in a series of posts that caused a certain interest. Therefore, it was decided to summarize their experience and reveal a couple of new facts in a special way. Under the cut, the founders of UIDG will talk about starting a business, overcoming difficulties, expanding and entering the international level and future plans. Go!
Disclaimer : Fasting is experimental because the narration is conducted, one can say, simultaneously on behalf of the three main characters - the leaders of the UIDG. Suggestions for improving the style and correcting errors write in the comments or in personal messages.
The founders of UIDG Group, Platon Dneprovsky and Alexey Kopylov, have been acquainted since 2000. Both of them worked in the field of interface design, and initially there were no plans to create a joint business.
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Both Plato and Alexey for some time acted as independent consultants (in fact, freelancers, retaining the main work), sometimes performing such projects, and then, when orders became larger, and the work intensity increased, they decided to work on orders together.
Platon Dneprovsky - co-founder of UIDG
By that time, the Usethics company had been living for about half a year and its example — the friends and colleagues of UIDG had created a usability agency and were successfully working for themselves.
Clients were searched for, as they say, “head on”: they wrote letters to those companies that, in appearance, usability services were needed especially explicitly. They even made a preliminary analysis of the products and planned solutions. But, beyond a few meaningless correspondences, it never went.
All the same projects, and quite large, sometimes found. Thus, in the spring and summer of 2003, friends took part in designing several modules of the internal system for Rosgosstrakh, and fully and very actively, with field observations, large project meetings, etc.
Once again, luck smiled at a young company, when Alexey, at one of the forums on the Internet, came across a discussion of a request from a well-known company Intel to conduct usability tests in Russia. At that time, few people imagined what it was all about, and the UIDG startup, which at that time was only one of the founders, was glad to offer its services. And, surprisingly, received this order.
The project was large even by today's standards - in 2 visits, tests were conducted involving almost 100 respondents. There was a lot of fuss, sometimes there were overlays due to a large number of intermediaries in the formulation of tasks, but they coped with the order successfully and on time. The great benefit of participating in this work was that the UIDG team, as the Russian part of a global international project (and the tests took place in 7 countries), gained access to the methods and formats of the results of foreign colleagues. At that time, this very strongly “tightened” our expertise in terms of the quality and organization of such projects.
So 2003 passed and 2004 began. Projects appeared and disappeared, but by the beginning of 2004, the founding teams of UIDG had a relationship with Aplana Software, for whose clients, in fact, work was being done. The fact is that American customers explicitly insisted on a dedicated interface design, while Aplana didn’t have such experience and staff at that time - so they attracted Alexey and Plato to the project.
And by the spring of 2004, having looked at these plans, and also having listened to the proposal of the Aplana directors to go to work with them, the friends decided: it’s time to quit, and “to stir up business in full growth”. Moreover, in the process of negotiations with Aplana Software, an agreement arose: Alexey and Plato rented out half of the room, and Aplana itself is ready to provide a certain load on projects. In March 2004, the legal entity appeared, Plato and Alexey finished all their business in previous jobs, and finally sat down together in their first "office".
Alexey Kopylov - co-founder of UIDG
It would seem that everything is super - Aplana has provided an office in half the rooms, the company management has made promises to ensure constant loading of projects. But the first serious difficulties were not far off.
In a similar mode, the company existed until the end of the summer of 2004. The black line ended at the moment when a large order from ForexClub came to Plato and Alexey, which became the first significant client. It was from this event that the progressive development of the UIDG began. At the end of 2004, another significant event happened: Natalya Kirillova joined the company as a partner. Natasha graduated from the HCI program at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands and trained at Philips. At UIDG, Natalya promotes the company internationally and oversees the development of the self-government system in our team.
Natalia Kirillova - UIDG partner
Life was getting better, new orders kept coming. In mid-2005, new challenges emerged. Now they seem ridiculous, but at that time the situation was incomprehensible and difficult. At the same time there were two problems. The first is organizational: the company had to look for a place to work for the first time. It would seem that it may be easier to find a convenient office. But there is no experience, a lot of work, time is sorely lacking. As a result, we chose a room on Ozerkovskaya Embankment, not far from the Novokuznetskaya metro station. This is still the closest to the center office the company has ever had.
The second difficulty is more psychological: the size of the company needed to be increased in order to cope with the ever-increasing flow of orders. But to decide and invite new people to the team was not easy. The memories of the “hungry” summer of 2004 were too fresh.
One of the most difficult periods in the history of the UIDG was the 2009 post-crisis year. In 2008, the number of orders dropped significantly, customers had no time for the development of new interfaces - to make ends meet. Some clients even broke up active contracts, it was hard and unpleasant.
The second option was chosen: to hold out at the expense of internal reserves and to do without layoffs - and managed to do it. In general, it can be said that the UIDG crisis has benefited - fresh ideas have appeared for improving the work of the entire company, and a new round of its development has begun.
As a result, starting from the winter-spring of 2010, various approaches and elements of self-government began to be tested and implemented in the UIDG. This process is actively continuing now, and Plato told about the first successes and failures in the report “how I got tired of working as a leader” at the 404fest Samara festival (you can watch this performance here ).
Periodically, starting in 2003, the UIDG received requests for carrying out certain works from foreign companies. Sometimes these requests even grew into full-fledged projects, but this happened quite rarely. Of course, every such project was a whole event for the company. During the first year of cooperation, the trial period continued, at the end of which the UIDG was given the status of “full partner” (this is the highest status in the organization), the holder of which gets access to all partner data and the opportunity to influence the development strategy of the alliance.
The first Marathon was held in the form of offline seminars. Subsequently, the conference moved to the Internet, was held in the form of webinars and received international status. At the moment, there have already been 5 such Marathons.
One of the results of cooperation with UXalliance was the holding of another international conference in the fall of 2012 in Moscow - UX Masterclass. This event was a big event for the whole UIDG team. It turned out quite well - many foreign and domestic experts came, and, judging by the reviews, many liked the conference. Report from this event can be found here .
Work, projects - all this is interesting, but I also want some kind of creativity. In many ways, this is why in 2013 we launched our own podcast “Metric” (and therefore all photos of the founders were made in the studio). Excellent specialists come to visit us and very interesting people (in more detail in the digest ) - we hope it turns out interesting and not boring. Listen to the podcast recordings here .
This is how our path looks like. We will be glad if it inspires someone to accomplish or strengthens faith in their own strength. Thank you all for your attention and good luck!
Disclaimer : Fasting is experimental because the narration is conducted, one can say, simultaneously on behalf of the three main characters - the leaders of the UIDG. Suggestions for improving the style and correcting errors write in the comments or in personal messages.
Startup
The founders of UIDG Group, Platon Dneprovsky and Alexey Kopylov, have been acquainted since 2000. Both of them worked in the field of interface design, and initially there were no plans to create a joint business.
')
Both Plato and Alexey for some time acted as independent consultants (in fact, freelancers, retaining the main work), sometimes performing such projects, and then, when orders became larger, and the work intensity increased, they decided to work on orders together.
Plato : “I still remember how it was: I was sitting at work in the evening, discussing a new order with Lesha on ICQ, which fell on me, but I didn’t have enough hands. And at some point I realized that it was necessary to act in such cases together, under a single sign. What we immediately agreed to continue to work on orders together. It was January 30, 2003, this is the day we decided to consider the birthday of the company. ”
Platon Dneprovsky - co-founder of UIDG
By that time, the Usethics company had been living for about half a year and its example — the friends and colleagues of UIDG had created a usability agency and were successfully working for themselves.
First customers
Clients were searched for, as they say, “head on”: they wrote letters to those companies that, in appearance, usability services were needed especially explicitly. They even made a preliminary analysis of the products and planned solutions. But, beyond a few meaningless correspondences, it never went.
All the same projects, and quite large, sometimes found. Thus, in the spring and summer of 2003, friends took part in designing several modules of the internal system for Rosgosstrakh, and fully and very actively, with field observations, large project meetings, etc.
Once again, luck smiled at a young company, when Alexey, at one of the forums on the Internet, came across a discussion of a request from a well-known company Intel to conduct usability tests in Russia. At that time, few people imagined what it was all about, and the UIDG startup, which at that time was only one of the founders, was glad to offer its services. And, surprisingly, received this order.
The project was large even by today's standards - in 2 visits, tests were conducted involving almost 100 respondents. There was a lot of fuss, sometimes there were overlays due to a large number of intermediaries in the formulation of tasks, but they coped with the order successfully and on time. The great benefit of participating in this work was that the UIDG team, as the Russian part of a global international project (and the tests took place in 7 countries), gained access to the methods and formats of the results of foreign colleagues. At that time, this very strongly “tightened” our expertise in terms of the quality and organization of such projects.
So 2003 passed and 2004 began. Projects appeared and disappeared, but by the beginning of 2004, the founding teams of UIDG had a relationship with Aplana Software, for whose clients, in fact, work was being done. The fact is that American customers explicitly insisted on a dedicated interface design, while Aplana didn’t have such experience and staff at that time - so they attracted Alexey and Plato to the project.
And by the spring of 2004, having looked at these plans, and also having listened to the proposal of the Aplana directors to go to work with them, the friends decided: it’s time to quit, and “to stir up business in full growth”. Moreover, in the process of negotiations with Aplana Software, an agreement arose: Alexey and Plato rented out half of the room, and Aplana itself is ready to provide a certain load on projects. In March 2004, the legal entity appeared, Plato and Alexey finished all their business in previous jobs, and finally sat down together in their first "office".
Aleksey : “We have been allocated 4 tables made together. There were also 8-10 tables in the room at which Aplana employees sat. And many of them did not even suspect that we are a separate company, and not just strange colleagues with our problems. It was ridiculous - they shared cakes with us during birthdays, and also ate our cakes. ”
Alexey Kopylov - co-founder of UIDG
Difficulties
It would seem that everything is super - Aplana has provided an office in half the rooms, the company management has made promises to ensure constant loading of projects. But the first serious difficulties were not far off.
Plato : “Aplana failed to fulfill its promises for various reasons, and we did not wait for the flow of projects. The summer of 2004 was a difficult time for us. There is no work - we have already quit our previous jobs by this point, so we had to live for a while on the remnants of our previous earnings, and there were very few of them. Moreover, just before the summer, we invited our first hired employee to work based on the flow of orders, and we had to keep promises in front of him. It was Alex Kalenyuk, thank him so much for the help and support then. "
In a similar mode, the company existed until the end of the summer of 2004. The black line ended at the moment when a large order from ForexClub came to Plato and Alexey, which became the first significant client. It was from this event that the progressive development of the UIDG began. At the end of 2004, another significant event happened: Natalya Kirillova joined the company as a partner. Natasha graduated from the HCI program at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands and trained at Philips. At UIDG, Natalya promotes the company internationally and oversees the development of the self-government system in our team.
Natalia Kirillova - UIDG partner
Company growth
Life was getting better, new orders kept coming. In mid-2005, new challenges emerged. Now they seem ridiculous, but at that time the situation was incomprehensible and difficult. At the same time there were two problems. The first is organizational: the company had to look for a place to work for the first time. It would seem that it may be easier to find a convenient office. But there is no experience, a lot of work, time is sorely lacking. As a result, we chose a room on Ozerkovskaya Embankment, not far from the Novokuznetskaya metro station. This is still the closest to the center office the company has ever had.
The second difficulty is more psychological: the size of the company needed to be increased in order to cope with the ever-increasing flow of orders. But to decide and invite new people to the team was not easy. The memories of the “hungry” summer of 2004 were too fresh.
Plato : “We really suffered morally. The flow of orders increased, and we were only a few people. But suddenly it will end and there will be no new customers for long? As a result, we dropped doubts and took several new guys at once, which we never regretted. ”
Crisis time and big changes
One of the most difficult periods in the history of the UIDG was the 2009 post-crisis year. In 2008, the number of orders dropped significantly, customers had no time for the development of new interfaces - to make ends meet. Some clients even broke up active contracts, it was hard and unpleasant.
Natalya : “We had a choice: to reduce the staff or to try, tightening the belts, to keep the employees, each of whom was expensive both as a specialist and just as a person. After all, we, like in almost any small company, have developed a rather close relationship. ”
The second option was chosen: to hold out at the expense of internal reserves and to do without layoffs - and managed to do it. In general, it can be said that the UIDG crisis has benefited - fresh ideas have appeared for improving the work of the entire company, and a new round of its development has begun.
Natalya : “In the second half of 2009, quite by chance (although I don’t believe in it :)), the book of Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Semler, who described a fantastic experience of introducing self-management practices in his business, came into my hands. Inspired by his ideas and feeling that the traditional management model limits our growth, we decided to restructure the company. ”
As a result, starting from the winter-spring of 2010, various approaches and elements of self-government began to be tested and implemented in the UIDG. This process is actively continuing now, and Plato told about the first successes and failures in the report “how I got tired of working as a leader” at the 404fest Samara festival (you can watch this performance here ).
Entering the international level
Periodically, starting in 2003, the UIDG received requests for carrying out certain works from foreign companies. Sometimes these requests even grew into full-fledged projects, but this happened quite rarely. Of course, every such project was a whole event for the company. During the first year of cooperation, the trial period continued, at the end of which the UIDG was given the status of “full partner” (this is the highest status in the organization), the holder of which gets access to all partner data and the opportunity to influence the development strategy of the alliance.
Platon : “Having become a company with international status, we decided that it would be cool to share with our domestic colleagues not only our experience, but also the experience of our foreign friends and partners. Therefore, in 2008 we held the first UX Marathon - a conference with the involvement of foreign speakers. ”
The first Marathon was held in the form of offline seminars. Subsequently, the conference moved to the Internet, was held in the form of webinars and received international status. At the moment, there have already been 5 such Marathons.
One of the results of cooperation with UXalliance was the holding of another international conference in the fall of 2012 in Moscow - UX Masterclass. This event was a big event for the whole UIDG team. It turned out quite well - many foreign and domestic experts came, and, judging by the reviews, many liked the conference. Report from this event can be found here .
Podcast
Work, projects - all this is interesting, but I also want some kind of creativity. In many ways, this is why in 2013 we launched our own podcast “Metric” (and therefore all photos of the founders were made in the studio). Excellent specialists come to visit us and very interesting people (in more detail in the digest ) - we hope it turns out interesting and not boring. Listen to the podcast recordings here .
This is how our path looks like. We will be glad if it inspires someone to accomplish or strengthens faith in their own strength. Thank you all for your attention and good luck!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/184870/
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