The history of the startup and its subsequent transformation into an outsourcing office
Greetings, habrozhiteli!
In the light of the events of anonymous Santa Clauses , the time has come for my first article.
Fortunately, I did not have to write for a long time about what to write. I believe Habr is ready for another post about a post-Soviet startup and good experience with friends in business.
I ask in advance not to complain about the presence of names in the article. She is for me too.
A couple of years ago, resting from the dull everyday life in a colorful country on the ocean, a wonderful thought came to my mind that I was completely unaware of the entertainment and food offered by the hotel. To do this, one would have to go to the lobby, ask the staff, find out prices, details. It would be nice to have everything on your phone or mobile device - it seemed. It turned out that the hotel has a wide range of services and a restaurant menu, the variety of which was also pleasing. It was very cool to reflect on the success of the future application and the single menu system for all devices and establishments. Returning home to Kiev, I began to smoothly think about the idea and draw it in my head. It should be noted that the profession of a freelance programmer framed my whole being. As a result, the side effect was the availability of few means for creating the application and the web part. And extensive contacts among developers.
Indeed, the enthusiasm was only taken away. Faith in a bright future was combined with ingenuous naivety. Happy state, nothing to say. Having called a friend Sergey and having received from him the sincere support of our initiative, we with fearlessness began to put the idea into practice. I assumed the full technical implementation, and left him marketing. The business plan was simple - two races in production and to monetize the product as soon as possible. And it went - specifications, mocaps, first sketches and implementation. It was decided to do a web part on symfony2, and to cut applications for iOS and under android. I would deal with the web on my own, but in the mobile part there was no practical experience at all. For this business he attracted his comrades - with one of them they were engaged in music, and with the second they worked in the same desk. Both demanded payment for their work. Let it not at market prices, but also tangible. The iOS programmer received even 10% of the profits in the future.
')
In quietly the project began to materialize. I wrote admin panel and API for iOS & android. The difference in the format of sending information on iOS (plist) & android (json) has become interesting. The iOS mobile programmer riveted a great prototype in a month, which we finished another three months. Long played with the speed and smooth scrolling table view (this is where the list of all products with pictures). As a result, we have achieved smooth loading and rendering when scrolling down and up when there are even more than one hundred elements on one screen. Then the prog began to work under the android. It should be noted that later it was quite simple and quick to patch up the version for tablets on the android with the hands of an experienced programmer. The web part of this time has expanded the roles of the administrator, restaurant, waiter. It was already possible to fully order food or service directly to the hotel room, and the waiter, having received the order, could easily recognize this information and put the order in for processing. Happiness knew no bounds. Well, then, came the harsh reality.
Marketing, meanwhile, was full of presentations and bright eyes. Seryoga began his attack on the hotels of the capital of Ukraine. But at the same time there were acquaintances in one bar-restaurant in the center of the city. It was decided to introduce our system into their network (from two institutions). So far, maybe damp, but I already wanted to start with something, and see how it works.
I did not have to wait long. It has already been issued LLC, a small share capital. It was enough to buy 100 plastic coasters and for the printing press of advertising materials placed on these plastic transparent coasters. The plan was this: the visitor comes to the restaurant, looks at the stand, sees the QR code and the simple URL from which the call was redirected to the application, downloaded / installed the application. He opened the application, the menu of this restaurant (magic) was automatically loaded, he looked at a bunch of categories, then menu items, clicked the “+” button where he wants to add a dish to the order, clicks on his order, clicks “Order”, enters his number table and presses “Done”. Then, in the columns of the restaurant, the well-known grunt from ICQ sounds and the waiter receives this order on his screen in the browser, and lets it go. Elementary, after all. No sooner said than done. All the tables were filled with plastic coasters with a blue ad on the app, a QR code, a password and a WiFi password.
We waited for him for a long time. I do not even remember how he was. The waiter's page was updated once a day in the hope of seeing the real order of the visitor. So a week has passed. And then another one. And two more. Meanwhile, the waiters and restaurant management tried to drive a bunch of their dishes into the menu. It is also necessary to mention that in order to compile the menu, we brought together their cooks, the photographer, and quietly take pictures of the entire range of dishes (except alcohol and drinks). The menu turned out great, but no one needed. Of course, it would be much more pleasant to realize that your creation is in demand. But somehow it turned out to be wrong, at least in this restaurant.
The next thought was that the idea originated in the hotel, and attempts to introduce it wherever possible could not work. Need a target audience. Indeed - in the hotel and people stay longer, and the interest in the menu is much higher because you can have tea and breakfast in your room. No sooner said than done. One large hotel showed willingness to cooperate with us, thanks to Serege. Yes, and for the money. Something around $ 50 / month. A new influx of enthusiasm brought us the presence of new functions in the system: notification by SMS for waiters, new design of podstavochek, and an order for these in 250 copies. It was very cool to sit and unpack these 5 drawers with stands, and shove into them fresh booklets brought from the printing house.
We spent about $ 1,250 on the integration of an international hotel in Kiev in order to test the entire system in its 250 rooms. Stands stood wherever possible. At the reception, in each room. 1 order per week - the maximum that could be achieved by our forces. After some time, the failure to implement the idea became clear. The harsh truth about the lack of experience and features of this business was fully realized.
Good experience and good to take lessons from him. Over time, freelancing became nauseous. Then I was in the remote staff of the team of web programmers site chess.com. Good guys. I really liked them. But work at home, lack of discipline made itself felt. Character played with me is not a malicious joke. It was November 2012 ...
Having gathered the closest friends of Sergey, Gleb in a heap, it was decided to do big business. At the same time, it should be different from programming, because it suffices. They took a small office and started going there every day. I invited “walk to the office” of one of the best front-end progers in Ukraine, Pasha, who also worked at home on the exercise.com project. Gleb while still teaching at the university. Chose the direction of the external economy. Export. Fortunately, you can export from Ukraine a lot. Agents, I mean. Well and rushed: alibaba, prom.ua, all.biz. It should be said, I continued freelancing. A month later, a delegation of Italians came to us to buy (!!!) a couple of million tons of such fertilizer as urea. Khimprom works well for us, and no one just would have sold us so much raw materials and would not even begin to talk. And the Italians needed not just bulk (bulk), but in their branded bags, which had to be made with us. Great, we rented a conference room in the already mentioned hotel, negotiated through an interpreter (they did not understand English). This is the first thing that alerted me. Then, at the end of the negotiations, they began to show their photos with Italian celebrities, actors, etc. It would be fair to say that only a businessman arrived with his son. They told about the processing of chemical substances at their plant in Morocco, and behind us, it was necessary to realize only an understanding of the local mentality (which in itself has no great value), contact for direct sale of fertilizers from plants and nothing more. Anyway, after their merciless bargaining with prices, it became obvious that apart from the intention to buy a thousand or more tons of facilities in order to try to push in their region, they did not have. And we, in turn, could not even turn this. Why all? Because there was no understanding of the subject area at all. And what was the understanding? In programming!
At the same time, there were several leftists from foreign customers, and we started for them. Whether quickly, smoothly, Serega began working in the state office for the evaluation of goods. Gleb and Pasha together with me began to engage in outsourcing. At first it was a joint freelancing, not outsourcing. A couple of customers from the states, a mediocre budget - all that was needed was just food for themselves and office rent. It was a harsh March 2013 in Kiev with snowfall and no other entertainment. After some time, the rampant coding of customers became a little more, thanks to labor exchanges, such as odesk. It became clear that it would be time to take a couple of programmers, otherwise it would be hard. Gleb quickly naynil two students from NAU (Aviation University), which he once taught. It went smoothly. The guys quickly joined the work, although they worked for half a day. After three months, we already had 5 employees, not counting Pasha and Gleb and me. The office of 30 squares began was too small, and the funds appeared. Moved to the office on 45 squares, but not calculated. After 5 months, we were about thirteen and had to move again. And so, a month ago we were already in an office of 160 squares and we are more than 15 people.
Strictly speaking, I was very lucky with the team that I have. Without them, this would not have happened.
The main conclusion of this year was the conviction: you need to do what you do best.
And inspiration for the post came the following case. I received information from Gleb that one of our employees has been throwing ideas with him for a long time. The ideas were mediocre, but the last of them turned out to be the gold that people were looking for in the Meska during the gold rush. My task as a manager in this situation is to support this initiative and give the green light to the development of the product with internal resources. To tell the truth, I myself considered this guy at the beginning of my journey with the application for the hotel menu. It remains for me to continue to cherish my dream of a grocery company that will grow out of outsourcing in a bright future, and I hope that the guy will not surrender confidence to the very end.
PS If you do not think that Habr is full of materials about outsourcing and customer-performer relations in the context of the development team, I will gladly share my experience.
In the light of the events of anonymous Santa Clauses , the time has come for my first article.
Fortunately, I did not have to write for a long time about what to write. I believe Habr is ready for another post about a post-Soviet startup and good experience with friends in business.
I ask in advance not to complain about the presence of names in the article. She is for me too.
Menu? Where is your menu?
A couple of years ago, resting from the dull everyday life in a colorful country on the ocean, a wonderful thought came to my mind that I was completely unaware of the entertainment and food offered by the hotel. To do this, one would have to go to the lobby, ask the staff, find out prices, details. It would be nice to have everything on your phone or mobile device - it seemed. It turned out that the hotel has a wide range of services and a restaurant menu, the variety of which was also pleasing. It was very cool to reflect on the success of the future application and the single menu system for all devices and establishments. Returning home to Kiev, I began to smoothly think about the idea and draw it in my head. It should be noted that the profession of a freelance programmer framed my whole being. As a result, the side effect was the availability of few means for creating the application and the web part. And extensive contacts among developers.
The goal is - I see no obstacles!
Indeed, the enthusiasm was only taken away. Faith in a bright future was combined with ingenuous naivety. Happy state, nothing to say. Having called a friend Sergey and having received from him the sincere support of our initiative, we with fearlessness began to put the idea into practice. I assumed the full technical implementation, and left him marketing. The business plan was simple - two races in production and to monetize the product as soon as possible. And it went - specifications, mocaps, first sketches and implementation. It was decided to do a web part on symfony2, and to cut applications for iOS and under android. I would deal with the web on my own, but in the mobile part there was no practical experience at all. For this business he attracted his comrades - with one of them they were engaged in music, and with the second they worked in the same desk. Both demanded payment for their work. Let it not at market prices, but also tangible. The iOS programmer received even 10% of the profits in the future.
')
Tao Toyota and production process.
In quietly the project began to materialize. I wrote admin panel and API for iOS & android. The difference in the format of sending information on iOS (plist) & android (json) has become interesting. The iOS mobile programmer riveted a great prototype in a month, which we finished another three months. Long played with the speed and smooth scrolling table view (this is where the list of all products with pictures). As a result, we have achieved smooth loading and rendering when scrolling down and up when there are even more than one hundred elements on one screen. Then the prog began to work under the android. It should be noted that later it was quite simple and quick to patch up the version for tablets on the android with the hands of an experienced programmer. The web part of this time has expanded the roles of the administrator, restaurant, waiter. It was already possible to fully order food or service directly to the hotel room, and the waiter, having received the order, could easily recognize this information and put the order in for processing. Happiness knew no bounds. Well, then, came the harsh reality.
How is nobody needed? And maybe all the same?
Marketing, meanwhile, was full of presentations and bright eyes. Seryoga began his attack on the hotels of the capital of Ukraine. But at the same time there were acquaintances in one bar-restaurant in the center of the city. It was decided to introduce our system into their network (from two institutions). So far, maybe damp, but I already wanted to start with something, and see how it works.
I did not have to wait long. It has already been issued LLC, a small share capital. It was enough to buy 100 plastic coasters and for the printing press of advertising materials placed on these plastic transparent coasters. The plan was this: the visitor comes to the restaurant, looks at the stand, sees the QR code and the simple URL from which the call was redirected to the application, downloaded / installed the application. He opened the application, the menu of this restaurant (magic) was automatically loaded, he looked at a bunch of categories, then menu items, clicked the “+” button where he wants to add a dish to the order, clicks on his order, clicks “Order”, enters his number table and presses “Done”. Then, in the columns of the restaurant, the well-known grunt from ICQ sounds and the waiter receives this order on his screen in the browser, and lets it go. Elementary, after all. No sooner said than done. All the tables were filled with plastic coasters with a blue ad on the app, a QR code, a password and a WiFi password.
First order.
We waited for him for a long time. I do not even remember how he was. The waiter's page was updated once a day in the hope of seeing the real order of the visitor. So a week has passed. And then another one. And two more. Meanwhile, the waiters and restaurant management tried to drive a bunch of their dishes into the menu. It is also necessary to mention that in order to compile the menu, we brought together their cooks, the photographer, and quietly take pictures of the entire range of dishes (except alcohol and drinks). The menu turned out great, but no one needed. Of course, it would be much more pleasant to realize that your creation is in demand. But somehow it turned out to be wrong, at least in this restaurant.
Hotels ?! Where are the hotels?
The next thought was that the idea originated in the hotel, and attempts to introduce it wherever possible could not work. Need a target audience. Indeed - in the hotel and people stay longer, and the interest in the menu is much higher because you can have tea and breakfast in your room. No sooner said than done. One large hotel showed willingness to cooperate with us, thanks to Serege. Yes, and for the money. Something around $ 50 / month. A new influx of enthusiasm brought us the presence of new functions in the system: notification by SMS for waiters, new design of podstavochek, and an order for these in 250 copies. It was very cool to sit and unpack these 5 drawers with stands, and shove into them fresh booklets brought from the printing house.
The harsh reality.
We spent about $ 1,250 on the integration of an international hotel in Kiev in order to test the entire system in its 250 rooms. Stands stood wherever possible. At the reception, in each room. 1 order per week - the maximum that could be achieved by our forces. After some time, the failure to implement the idea became clear. The harsh truth about the lack of experience and features of this business was fully realized.
Cloudless reality.
Good experience and good to take lessons from him. Over time, freelancing became nauseous. Then I was in the remote staff of the team of web programmers site chess.com. Good guys. I really liked them. But work at home, lack of discipline made itself felt. Character played with me is not a malicious joke. It was November 2012 ...
Give urea! Or a tale about friends in business.
Having gathered the closest friends of Sergey, Gleb in a heap, it was decided to do big business. At the same time, it should be different from programming, because it suffices. They took a small office and started going there every day. I invited “walk to the office” of one of the best front-end progers in Ukraine, Pasha, who also worked at home on the exercise.com project. Gleb while still teaching at the university. Chose the direction of the external economy. Export. Fortunately, you can export from Ukraine a lot. Agents, I mean. Well and rushed: alibaba, prom.ua, all.biz. It should be said, I continued freelancing. A month later, a delegation of Italians came to us to buy (!!!) a couple of million tons of such fertilizer as urea. Khimprom works well for us, and no one just would have sold us so much raw materials and would not even begin to talk. And the Italians needed not just bulk (bulk), but in their branded bags, which had to be made with us. Great, we rented a conference room in the already mentioned hotel, negotiated through an interpreter (they did not understand English). This is the first thing that alerted me. Then, at the end of the negotiations, they began to show their photos with Italian celebrities, actors, etc. It would be fair to say that only a businessman arrived with his son. They told about the processing of chemical substances at their plant in Morocco, and behind us, it was necessary to realize only an understanding of the local mentality (which in itself has no great value), contact for direct sale of fertilizers from plants and nothing more. Anyway, after their merciless bargaining with prices, it became obvious that apart from the intention to buy a thousand or more tons of facilities in order to try to push in their region, they did not have. And we, in turn, could not even turn this. Why all? Because there was no understanding of the subject area at all. And what was the understanding? In programming!
Outsourcing - yes!
At the same time, there were several leftists from foreign customers, and we started for them. Whether quickly, smoothly, Serega began working in the state office for the evaluation of goods. Gleb and Pasha together with me began to engage in outsourcing. At first it was a joint freelancing, not outsourcing. A couple of customers from the states, a mediocre budget - all that was needed was just food for themselves and office rent. It was a harsh March 2013 in Kiev with snowfall and no other entertainment. After some time, the rampant coding of customers became a little more, thanks to labor exchanges, such as odesk. It became clear that it would be time to take a couple of programmers, otherwise it would be hard. Gleb quickly naynil two students from NAU (Aviation University), which he once taught. It went smoothly. The guys quickly joined the work, although they worked for half a day. After three months, we already had 5 employees, not counting Pasha and Gleb and me. The office of 30 squares began was too small, and the funds appeared. Moved to the office on 45 squares, but not calculated. After 5 months, we were about thirteen and had to move again. And so, a month ago we were already in an office of 160 squares and we are more than 15 people.
Strictly speaking, I was very lucky with the team that I have. Without them, this would not have happened.
The main conclusion of this year was the conviction: you need to do what you do best.
And inspiration for the post came the following case. I received information from Gleb that one of our employees has been throwing ideas with him for a long time. The ideas were mediocre, but the last of them turned out to be the gold that people were looking for in the Meska during the gold rush. My task as a manager in this situation is to support this initiative and give the green light to the development of the product with internal resources. To tell the truth, I myself considered this guy at the beginning of my journey with the application for the hotel menu. It remains for me to continue to cherish my dream of a grocery company that will grow out of outsourcing in a bright future, and I hope that the guy will not surrender confidence to the very end.
PS If you do not think that Habr is full of materials about outsourcing and customer-performer relations in the context of the development team, I will gladly share my experience.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/202350/
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