The story of one IT-company that did not come to success
Often there are articles on the topic “what is needed to create a successful IT business”, “fundamental factors for the success of an IT company” and all in the same spirit. Some are convinced that the start requires investment, others focus on the team. There are one hundred and five hundred tips and the same number of "success stories." For this reason, I had an idea to tell the story of one company (real names and names will be changed in order not to poke fingers). The story looks more like a failure, despite the presence of most of the factors that were supposed to lead to success, but not all benefited.
In most cases, it all starts with the school or student bench — this story is no exception. Several like-minded students, in the future turned out to be one of the brightest minds not only of the city N, but also of the country as a whole, decided to improve their financial situation. The team consisted of 4 people, all coders, but someone needed to play a managerial role and deal with issues outside of development, and that’s how it turned out to be 3 virgins and 1 manager. All had the appropriate education, common interests and a common goal. Scraping the bottom of the barrel, not much was needed to start up, purely server resources and small expenses, but they were ordinary students, so I had to try harder. Here everything was the best possible.
What is available:
')
Joint work ignites such rage of accomplishment in people as they rarely can accomplish alone. © R. Emerson
The newly minted manager took upon himself the money questions, all the rest quickly did biz on crutches, washed down all the houses, on the knee, as the car was intended to cut down the money trees. No hired employees are out of the question here. All on free bread.
So, the question of where the "raisins". The origins of this story are in 2008, and as many know 2004-2008 are considered the era of doorways, it was during this period that new IT multimillionaires were born, a lot of millionaires, and an infinite number of “dollar thousanders”. All money trees were felled right then, now dora are of no value and all participants, it remains only to enjoy their success, give advice, conduct master classes, or! invest accumulated in something more profitable (more on that later). In general, raisins nakyryali enough.
At this stage, the team works together, there is a clear leader - the only manager who has acted as an organizer and financier since the early days. It was he who invested his personal pockets, accumulated and employed under his own name, even if crumbs, but I will call him “CEO”.
What is available:
It is necessary:
The first rule of business is to make money, no matter how other rules interfere with this. ©
Then comes the era of antivirus 2008-2011, which also raised its generation of successful.
The maxim above perfectly describes what happened next. The guys had time for both “trains”, but they were in no hurry to celebrate, the question of the division does not rise and the whole team was motivated perfectly for work in one treasury, hence the investment only in business.
It took the expansion of the team: HR, a financier with banking experience, sales, designers, + more coders - in the future architects, the opening of his remote center support (about 24 people).
It was at this time that the project billing, which was created purely for your needs, is born, accounts are opened in banks known to the world.
In the same period, the employees (already employed) joined, who completed the backbone of management. Most of them did not have a narrow profile education, but turned out to be extremely intelligent and efficiently mastered everything that they came to hand.
What is available (for 2010):
It is necessary:
Let your team consist of professionals of various qualities. Mix specialists with generalists, encourage friendly competitiveness, and you will see how many new ideas will appear. © Andrew Sobel
Comfortable office, corporate parties, gifts from the company on the DR and on any other holiday. Collective trips to various events, conferences. Team building at the height, there was a feeling of family comfort, many employees were not just colleagues, but good friends. (here it is worth noting that some of the staff come from other cities, which rallied them even more). Camping in the cafe after work, sharing experiences and thinking about the introduction of new technologies. A dream, not a job.
Yes, and in this barrel of honey had its own fly in the ointment. Current issues:
- How can you make a full-fledged company out of spontaneity in actions?
- How to whiten a business, make it crystal clear and increase revenues already publicly and openly?
These questions did not leave our CEO and all hired employees. Naturally, all employees were impatient to share their successes with their friends and relatives, and ... in general, it was impossible, this fact did not have a negative impact on the team spirit, but light discomfort began to appear.
Against this background, ideas about further actions and development strategies began to appear.
CEO actively cultivated the team spirit, encouraged the initiative. He made it clear that all ideas expressed by any employee have the right to life, and if they are lucky, they also have to invest on his part.
That is why many employees “slept and saw themselves” at the head of a successful company or its part. Managers were full of energy, self-motivated and in every possible way tried to develop in their own directions.
Needless to say, the standard of living has improved for almost all employees employed and not very
Someone less, someone more - but not the point. There was still a welcoming atmosphere, an incredibly gifted energetic team, millions of ideas and, of course, branching independent projects.
Already at this stage, some hired employees preferred to receive less profit with the expectation of the prospect of their particular direction (project). This practice was introduced by our CEO, according to the principle “if you want here and now, then this will be your usual salary, if we don’t take out of business and invest a piece of your earnings, then you are already a co-investor and, of course, you will get more or share in business. "
About any official earnings until there was no question, just as no one also thought about signing a contract. Payment was made on time, without any bureaucratic burdens and in a pleasant for the eye currency.
In the same year, it was decided to “pull up” key remote workers to the office of the city of N from other cities, as part of the team still worked at home. The conditions they were offered were above the market, which had a positive effect on their decision. ZP + payment of housing + assistance in moving, etc., etc.
At the same time, the team was looking for a larger office, as if symbolizing the beginning of a new white and clean life.
What is available (for 2011):
It is necessary:
PS In general, since the story is quite long and I would like to describe all the actions that led to its current state of affairs, I had to be divided into 2 parts.
In the next part I will describe:
Team
In most cases, it all starts with the school or student bench — this story is no exception. Several like-minded students, in the future turned out to be one of the brightest minds not only of the city N, but also of the country as a whole, decided to improve their financial situation. The team consisted of 4 people, all coders, but someone needed to play a managerial role and deal with issues outside of development, and that’s how it turned out to be 3 virgins and 1 manager. All had the appropriate education, common interests and a common goal. Scraping the bottom of the barrel, not much was needed to start up, purely server resources and small expenses, but they were ordinary students, so I had to try harder. Here everything was the best possible.
What is available:
- 4 people in a team
- idea
- enthusiasm
- the goal is to make money
')
Investments
Joint work ignites such rage of accomplishment in people as they rarely can accomplish alone. © R. Emerson
The newly minted manager took upon himself the money questions, all the rest quickly did biz on crutches, washed down all the houses, on the knee, as the car was intended to cut down the money trees. No hired employees are out of the question here. All on free bread.
So, the question of where the "raisins". The origins of this story are in 2008, and as many know 2004-2008 are considered the era of doorways, it was during this period that new IT multimillionaires were born, a lot of millionaires, and an infinite number of “dollar thousanders”. All money trees were felled right then, now dora are of no value and all participants, it remains only to enjoy their success, give advice, conduct master classes, or! invest accumulated in something more profitable (more on that later). In general, raisins nakyryali enough.
At this stage, the team works together, there is a clear leader - the only manager who has acted as an organizer and financier since the early days. It was he who invested his personal pockets, accumulated and employed under his own name, even if crumbs, but I will call him “CEO”.
What is available:
- 4 people in a team
- work scheme / idea
- the goal is to make more money
- expandable technical architecture
It is necessary:
- office space
- state expansion
- search for a new earnings channel
Investments 2
The first rule of business is to make money, no matter how other rules interfere with this. ©
Then comes the era of antivirus 2008-2011, which also raised its generation of successful.
The maxim above perfectly describes what happened next. The guys had time for both “trains”, but they were in no hurry to celebrate, the question of the division does not rise and the whole team was motivated perfectly for work in one treasury, hence the investment only in business.
It took the expansion of the team: HR, a financier with banking experience, sales, designers, + more coders - in the future architects, the opening of his remote center support (about 24 people).
It was at this time that the project billing, which was created purely for your needs, is born, accounts are opened in banks known to the world.
In the same period, the employees (already employed) joined, who completed the backbone of management. Most of them did not have a narrow profile education, but turned out to be extremely intelligent and efficiently mastered everything that they came to hand.
What is available (for 2010):
- working business
- rather big capital
- working fin. instruments
- rented office
- strong motivation
- about 14 people hired employees
- 24 people remote supporters (this also includes center call operators)
- project billing
It is necessary:
- space for a larger office
- state expansion
- whitening business (+ new channel for earnings)
Thoughts about the future
Let your team consist of professionals of various qualities. Mix specialists with generalists, encourage friendly competitiveness, and you will see how many new ideas will appear. © Andrew Sobel
Comfortable office, corporate parties, gifts from the company on the DR and on any other holiday. Collective trips to various events, conferences. Team building at the height, there was a feeling of family comfort, many employees were not just colleagues, but good friends. (here it is worth noting that some of the staff come from other cities, which rallied them even more). Camping in the cafe after work, sharing experiences and thinking about the introduction of new technologies. A dream, not a job.
Yes, and in this barrel of honey had its own fly in the ointment. Current issues:
- How can you make a full-fledged company out of spontaneity in actions?
- How to whiten a business, make it crystal clear and increase revenues already publicly and openly?
These questions did not leave our CEO and all hired employees. Naturally, all employees were impatient to share their successes with their friends and relatives, and ... in general, it was impossible, this fact did not have a negative impact on the team spirit, but light discomfort began to appear.
Against this background, ideas about further actions and development strategies began to appear.
CEO actively cultivated the team spirit, encouraged the initiative. He made it clear that all ideas expressed by any employee have the right to life, and if they are lucky, they also have to invest on his part.
That is why many employees “slept and saw themselves” at the head of a successful company or its part. Managers were full of energy, self-motivated and in every possible way tried to develop in their own directions.
Needless to say, the standard of living has improved for almost all employees employed and not very
Someone less, someone more - but not the point. There was still a welcoming atmosphere, an incredibly gifted energetic team, millions of ideas and, of course, branching independent projects.
Already at this stage, some hired employees preferred to receive less profit with the expectation of the prospect of their particular direction (project). This practice was introduced by our CEO, according to the principle “if you want here and now, then this will be your usual salary, if we don’t take out of business and invest a piece of your earnings, then you are already a co-investor and, of course, you will get more or share in business. "
About any official earnings until there was no question, just as no one also thought about signing a contract. Payment was made on time, without any bureaucratic burdens and in a pleasant for the eye currency.
In the same year, it was decided to “pull up” key remote workers to the office of the city of N from other cities, as part of the team still worked at home. The conditions they were offered were above the market, which had a positive effect on their decision. ZP + payment of housing + assistance in moving, etc., etc.
At the same time, the team was looking for a larger office, as if symbolizing the beginning of a new white and clean life.
What is available (for 2011):
- big enough capital
- working business
- working fin. instruments
- strong motivation
- solid team
- emerging affiliated projects
- lack of bureaucracy
- spontaneity of development
It is necessary:
- whitening business (+ new channel for earnings)
- formalization of tasks + search for corporate tools
- of staff clearance
- social security packages
PS In general, since the story is quite long and I would like to describe all the actions that led to its current state of affairs, I had to be divided into 2 parts.
In the next part I will describe:
- what was the company
- what projects were started
- how did you enter the market
- what techniques used
- that implemented
- and how it all ended.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/290578/
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