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The story of one IT-company that did not come to success (Part 2)

The origin of the company



The main benefit of capital is not to make more money, but to make money for the sake of a better life. © Henry Ford



... the beginning of 2011 and the middle of 2012.



The current scheme of earnings gradually came to an end to the “genetic code”, namely, to the end of the era of the “golden woodcutters”. The best solution seemed to take all the subsidiary services that were used for their own purposes and bring them to mind by remaking them under the external market. Otherwise, you have to lay everything in the farthest corner and leave it to rot and be covered with dust.

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The team, unchanged, had a crazy working capacity of 12-14 hours of work - the norm, trying to squeeze out the last juices from the gold mine. For all the time of work, since the distant 2008, few have been on vacation, not because they were not allowed, but because of their own choice, well, it’s still impossible to replace oneself with someone. One important point - the level of salary and all sorts of bonuses for closing the project were based on the principle “as who agreed”, everyone believed in the existence of “karma”, its influence and deep conviction that everyone would be appreciated. There was no habit to measure your income, there were no questions. Existed in the unwritten rule "the issues of the RFP are not accepted to discuss."



The CEO was preparing for the moment of transition to a new level, complete stopping of work under the current scheme, and was considering options for the development of events. Of course, it was possible to dissolve everyone, burn their old things, sell an apartment and go far to the Bahamas and drink juice there all my life, eat coconuts, but ... then the story would have ended, but not too easy.



Let me remind you that almost all the employees, mostly managers, tried to develop their services at interruption, seeing the real perspective of each of their areas absolutely different in character.



Project Hosting







PM of this direction is quite decisive and very enterprising employee.



This project was born not by chance, but as a result, the necessary component based on the needs of the existing business. At that time, the architecture was heavy and the loads were quite impressive, so the hardware was bought / rented in packs without thinking. It was easy to organize your own data center, but for some reason this did not happen.



A year earlier, the manager had brought several large clients to the company, which increased the capital by a couple of three zeros, for which he was given a weighty bonus of crisp bills.



In the previous part, it was already said that no one took their money out of business. The further it went, the harder it was to do. Harder for reasons of human greed and desire to become financially independent. Indeed, in the future it was possible to get much more, and to save money within the company is better than “under the pillow”. Also, the prospects of becoming a co-investor in the project increased the manager’s share, and therefore the exhaust in the future.



At some point, the manager noticed that in the “iron” affairs the marketplace bought-sold rule easily works, immediately offered to make a separate project for the external market. The CEO was not enthusiastic about this proposal - he did not see the future in it and didn’t see much money there either, so he refused to participate financially. The manager was not a timid one; in terms of an entrepreneurial spirit, everything was in order, and he decided to separate from the company with his own separate project. It is clear that we were talking about the money earned, which was necessary for the development of his own company.



Negotiations led to the following agreement: the manager does not withdraw all the money, but now receives a minimum payment (from the 1/15 series), is further protected by the CEO, uses the office for free (cookies, coffee, etc. also includes here), receives a certain number of man-hours of necessary specialists of the company, enjoys jur. tools of the company (company, accounts). On this and decided.



In a short time, the manager, already within his company, managed to find one "fattest" client + now all the hardware, domains, and so on. it was bought through it, only not as a company manager, but as a separate organization. This was not reflected in the amount of supplies for the company, it even sometimes came out cheaper, but there is a certainty that he earned good money here too.



We are curious and create.



Project Billing







Earlier it was repeatedly mentioned, now I will tell a little more.



This project was born due to the need to process your service. During his work since 2008, he has grown to an independent and full-fledged project. Its further development in the CIS countries was hampered, as it fell on the time of raids and total checks of similar services.



Employees already had tremendous experience in practice, it was enough for a clear understanding of where to go next.

On board the project, 6 employees worked: 2 architects (one of them was a system administrator), a manager with banking experience (previously worked in a bank), 2 signor virgins, 2 mid-junior, 1 head of a remote support department (call center, ticket / chat center About 24 people in total. To enter the foreign market you need:



Step 1

Finish those part and prepare it for the external market. Quite a lot has already been implemented, including 3-D secure, online fraud detection, real-time stats, API integration, and so on. It was necessary not to forget about E-commerce, for which it was necessary to bring beauty to the outside and simplify the connection processes to “izi-pizi”.



Step 2

What was missing was PCI DSS certification , which is necessary for work in this niche. Began to study the requirements for the system as a whole, data storage and security.



Step3

In these difficult times to find banks ready to cooperate with us.

Small remarochka. All previous contacts were not suitable for entering the foreign market, since all the partner banks and processors with which they had previously worked, had problems with the law and went deep underground.



Project Caliper







Customer support was carried out on its own, in part, this is the key to the former success of the billing project and the business as a whole. Any financial institutions do not like charge backs, and their large% could lead to the closure of accounts. Caliper center, just performed a preventive and rescue function, in every way trying to convince customers, or intercept them on the way to the bank for a return.



The count center was based in India, this fact significantly reduced the cost of its maintenance. It was originally planned to do everything remotely. An owner of a stake center was found with the necessary equipment and already with hired agents, but in order to organize the whole thing properly, I had to go to India and personally interview the operators, which turned out to be quite a difficult task - they changed almost everyone. The first stumbling block was the language barrier, the obligatory requirement was English. Then, the quickness of action outside the instructions and minimal knowledge of the PC.

Ticket / chat center - agents worked remotely, but already Russian-speaking, with good knowledge of English.



For the support center, they even somehow attracted an MBA specialist “from the outside,” a fairly charismatic and wise person with a corresponding foreign education, to optimize the processes and increase productivity. The result of his work was a huge package of documents, unfortunately, not applicable in the framework of an existing model. The expert told how everything should be built, but in fact all his methods gave only additional fin. load, but eliminated the possible risks.



Benefits of the MBA: they learned how to create beautiful presentations, think constructively, analyze situations into the smallest details, look for dependencies, develop KPIs and create formalized documents. This experience was more like a one-time expensive master class from a professional.



As for equipment, then all ATCs raised their ATCs, numbers were bought, CRM was added, various desktop solutions were “written” to help remove the human factor and precluding the love of remote workers for “Philon-work”. All these tools were molded into a single system and could well be in demand on the external market. To enter the market you need:



Step 1

To study the market, its competitors. Understand how cost-effective product in its current form.



Step2

Remove unnecessary architectural pileups. All that has been written on the knee, make a usergrand and fix bug. Not all the tools taken as a basis and sawn under themselves were licensed, it was also necessary to take this moment into account and legalize it.



Step3

To make a presentation. Initialize customer search.



Below is one of those ideological projects that were born spontaneously.



Project Marketplace







The first project from scratch was the project of the trading platform of templates, like the current themeforest , envato, but with elements of social. network and ranking. I want to note here that there were no similar competing services at that time. This idea visited the designer in the course of work, as he said: “This is just the name of such a single exchange with templates, icons, and cliparts that I don’t have enough for quick work,” and I managed to convince the CEO of the need for this service. The idea was approved and thrown into the development.



Step 1

The designer, who is essentially the creator of the project, made the layout of the marketplace on his own, in one week. Then gave the CEO for consideration. Almost all the employees took part in the refinement of this service, “popped” and expressed their wishes - such a focus group for themselves. In addition, the designer performed his production tasks. There were no problems with the load, so I combined them.

The whole process of collecting feedback, took about 3 weeks, as before all the processes were very chaotic and decentralized.



Step 2



The CEO was going to do everything step by step, for the first time to try to do something according to all the outsourcing canons. Most likely he had thoughts about further development as an outsourcing company, I will not say anything here.

Writing FZ. It was from that moment that some difficulties began. Almost none of the managers had previously had experience in any of these areas. Unfortunately, the necessary experience was not acquired by them, with the exception of a single employee and then already acting head of the support department (see Billing). EO preferred not to hire an additional employee for a while, but decided not to hurry, as far as employment time allowed, to do everything on their own. Combines This factor has considerably delayed the time ... for 1.5 months.



Step 3



Writing TK was much faster, since this issue has already been addressed directly by those. project. Hike writing those tasks, the project has undergone significant changes according to the recommendations of the developer and the results of research activities.



The design of the project was naturally ready in time, even earlier than the Federal Law was written, with modifications to the functional, and here too, drastic changes were made .... + another time.



"We wanted the best, it turned out like ...."



I will return to this project a little later.



At this time ... the inevitable appearance of the project is marketing. Why the inevitable? The fact is that all people from the era of doorways and antiviruses are directly related to this niche. Traffic is their all. The old solutions were replaced by new ones, no less “gold-bearing”.



Project X







Under this case, a separate office was rented and under the “secret” flock of small “newly hired” gnomes they washed a little gold. All allegorically, but partly true. Software> bundles> instal - everywhere we were, everyone we know. Sin does not take advantage of the results of the work done long ago. The technical part began to be cut almost from scratch, with a sense of action, because they had quite a wealth of experience. Traffic is good and yours is even better!



The question arises why this project is being developed separately, the “elders” of the company have heard about it and naturally those who are involved in it are aware of it. All because, according to the creator, this “money virus” should not have infected everyone else and ... yes, the CEO is still attempting to build a crystal clear business.



For a while we forget about this gray spot, move on.







Clear sheet



The prospect shines in the rays, but a dense path leads to it. © Georgy Alexandrov



It is time for a change. Change of office. Doomsday offensive is a day when work with a previously successful earnings model is being rolled back. Waking up, all the staff working on it, felt the emptiness and ambiguity in the future. (I do not mean a designer who did his best to work on his sales). For a while, there was a sweep of everything that connected the company with its former life. ancel all server resources, the complete disbanding of the caliper, the suspension of billing, the closure of accounts and companies, the formatting of stationary computers, laptops and ... consciousness.



The understanding comes that the white path is thorny and long, almost everything was new - I had to sweat in order to master, now in my opinion, elementary things.

Positive news was not long in coming. Official registration of the company, official employment and social security. package, this included paid sports and food - all as expected. It was this step that reassured some employees who were not ready to stay.



There have been cardinal perezrubatsii. Everyone has found a “lossless” application and even more; the rest of the key employees in the city N. are being pulled up.



The project billing is preparing for PCI DSS certification - hiring additional employees to help (2 system administrators).



This stage in the history of the company is a turning point.



What is available:



It is necessary:









Incubator



Making a lot of money is courage; to preserve them is wisdom, and to skillfully expend is art. © Auerbach Berthold



As you probably understood, the CEO was directly involved in all projects, he did not decide to delegate anything, so he was guided by the principle “if you want to do something well, do it yourself”, but he himself didn’t have much experience. It was necessary to gather the missing knowledge from "experienced" specialists.



It is time to attend various events, seminars and reading "smart" books. From here come the knowledge and thoughts about the future.



The company carries out reforms in order to make it more and more formalized. A work schedule is introduced (quite flexible), everyone learns planning and analytics from the words of the CEO. While this is just an experiment, no one is forced to become an analyst. Almost all innovations are advisory, but not mandatory. Weekly progress reports are being introduced, there is still no one to show them, for too few people, but everyone is learning for the future, with the thought of the unimaginable growth of the company and the flow of new personnel.



A research department is opened (consisting initially of one employee). The head of the department is the former head of the support department. This innovation was dictated by the need to study market trends, competitors and promising niches. Its functions included not only fulfilling the tasks set such as a comparative analysis of competitors, but also the search for new directions, existing successful solutions for further investments (possibly external). Nobody dared to claim exclusiveness and high quality of research - “they did what they could.”



A small digression:

At this stage of studies and searches, the thought of a terrestrial business is a project of indoor / outdoor advertising. Running a lot ahead, I’ll share that for this project there is a hired PM (having no experience in IT, but quite successful in the local business world). Initially planned to enter the foreign market, over time, the illusions evaporate. Then attempts to press on the CIS market. I will not go into the details, I don’t want to distort the facts due to ignorance of the whole situation. Therefore, I will say only one thing; after 3 years, quite large sums have been invested (for the most part these are salaries + absorption / purchase of one of the major competitors). From IT here: CRM, admin panel, some specialized equipment and ... this project is still alive. Moved from the research and development stage to real actions, not very visible, but already something. In my opinion, he will not be able to “discourage” investments for at least another 5 years.



Returning back to the company's activities, 2 more managers migrate to the research department. Projects require various studies and benchmarking. They all go through the same stages at the same time.



The company acquires the outlines of the new-fashioned term "incubator", and in fact, they decided on the concept of the company itself.







The work on all projects is in full swing, a whole bunch of word docks are being stamped and various kinds of ekselek (we already know how), while we are not close to real development. Studying competitors, several times change development strategies, goals and ways to achieve them. For the most part, the projects (with the exception of the marketplace project) were not innovative. Workplans / niches were taken as a basis for a long time, there were existing shortcomings in them and their copies were created with modifications in new wrappers. The CEO, having no real development experience, in all understandings, a startup, saw only this way. Time passed, and new projects as “things are still there”.



Billing - mired in the "imperfections" of its own architecture and vulnerabilities. The project managers could not find a suitable exit to the foreign market, the old contacts do not work, there is no real external portfolio. Small customers are not considered at the insistence of the CEO. The goal of the search is a large boulder that will make multi-zero revolutions per day.



Flow costs: salary, external legal advice, equipment, and of course, preparation for already long-suffering certification.

Looking ahead, I will say that certification was successful. Received a license for a year, a prerequisite is its confirmation (+ several K). In the future, the auditor will have to come a couple of times and ... check. In general, everything, school is over, it's time to “adult” life.



Caliper - time has passed a little while, while the defects of the available tools (still unlicensed) on the market, like mushrooms, have been eliminated, more convenient and customized solutions have begun to appear.

The bottom line: everything turned down, postponed, forgotten. BUSTED!





Marketplace - there are some changes in the design template market. Successfully grows the main and so far the only competitor themeforest . He is still far from perfect and the PM is persistently trying to convey this idea to the CEO. The idea that it is time to start with the shortcomings as it is, otherwise we'll be late for all time. The CEO has a different point of view: the product must be perfect before release, otherwise it may lose its entire audience and earn a bad reputation at the very start.



Another couple of projects in pursuit of Peer-to-peer and hosting2. The research department finds another promising direction torrent trackers. Monetization is familiar to us, still from the old experience, how to bring the product into the light, in theory, represented. Therefore, we started its planning and creation.



Hosting 2 - And again he, updated and already in new faces. The reason for which the project acquires a new life - the need for server resources has not disappeared anywhere, while its focus is only on the provision of internal projects of the company.



What is available:



It is necessary:





Startups



To spend money wisely, you need to spend money first on the mind. © Leonid Sukhorukov



In parallel, new sections of the incubator are opening. In addition to research, there are departments: design, backend design (I mean layout), QA and admin.



Each department had its own manager appointed. Become the head of the design department, awarded our designer PM Marketplace, he is also part-time and head of the layout. He was hired to help only one newcomer.



And so ... the first problems appear.



problem number 1



With the load, everything is very bad ... the research department is not only directly involved in research, but is being transformed into a research, marketing and analytical center, with 3 people still working there.

It forms some units engaged in: analysis, advertising, development strategies, usability, content (this includes copyright, rewriting, language translations) writing legal. documents (Terms, EULA, Privacy Policy, etc.). In general, almost all tasks not related to development were dumped here, they asked any questions, as if referring to the only measure of all things.







Such a number of projects going through the same stage could not be served, and applications could not be processed purely physically.



The search for new employees is impossible, for several reasons: there are no ready-made specialists on the market, there is no time to train them. : - , . > > . , — .



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In the meantime, the CEO has tied up investment processes, fin. questions, making any decisions, up to the purchase of cookies (exaggerated). This concerned not only the "incubator" company, but also all projects. Any action of project managers and departments, clearly controlled and apruvilos them personally. Even the period of the server purchase apruva, now represented a big temporary hole; and that is not the fact that with a positive outcome. No wonder that everything does not have time, and it happened - nothing had time.



Managers began to sink in the amount of documentation needed for apruvov, reports, presentations ...







Double standards



Money in your pocket is not wings yet, but the walk is changing. ©



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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/290810/

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