Teamdesk launch history: how I looked for the project founder
I often have an overwhelming desire to do something. Sometimes it is so strong that I can not control it. Often people complain that they cannot quit their jobs and start their own business, they cannot change anything in their lives, they cannot start going to the gym. I usually do the opposite - I want to do too much, but I don’t have enough time and energy for everything.
And with Teamdesk (ticket support system) everything turned out just that. Only if many of my Wishlist have a small scale, then the new project (and in fact, a full-fledged business) is already a whole “problem”. But the idea to make the # 1 help desk in Russia persistently did not leave me. And I began to think, think a lot. When the dollar exchange rate exceeded 65, and the Federal Law 152 about Pers data and servers in the Russian Federation was discussed with might and main in the Runet open spaces, it became clear that it was impossible to postpone. Now or never. But how?!
')
If I worked for my uncle and could just quit, everything would be much simpler (at least for me). I know that some of my friends who are employed, go to work, get paid, do the necessary minimum (not to be fired), and develop their own startup. But I was and remain CEO of Copiny with Napoleonic plans in Russia, with no less ambitious plans in the States. I have a lot of operational work and big tasks, in the end this is my company and I cannot afford to work even for 99% of the possible.
But in one place he continues to fly, and his head continues to think: “How? How? How ?! ”And then I turned to Oscar Hartman for advice, he wrote me a short letter, the key phrase of which was:“ The team is first ”. And then I realized that for me the only way to implement this project can only be the search for a full-fledged founder, a person with an entrepreneurial nature (albeit without experience), with the same passionate desire for his business.
And I found it! At this time, Sasha was already working as a programmer, he constantly tried various "topics" and was looking for "opportunities" for his business. He liked my idea and we started the work. For myself in the company, I took the role of an investor and "chronicler." In fact, I transferred the knowledge and experience I had accumulated in SaaS over 5 years, I sponsored the development and in our blog from 0 to 1,000,000 rubles / month I told how the project is doing.
At the regular meeting with Copiny investors, I announced openly that I was launching a new project as an investor and remain a CEO (of course) in an existing project and nothing, in general, changes. Just not to say it was not fair, but I can not. Noise, I tell you, was a lot. And investors' anxiety is understandable - what will happen to their investments if the founder falls from the company or is out of focus? Nothing good! However, our investors are excellent (if anyone is interested, these are the funds of Vestor.IN , Softline VP , Impulse VC ), therefore, some disagreements or problems did not happen.
Like any fairy tale, this ended pretty quickly. At one point, Sasha said he did not want to continue to engage in the project. He has lost interest and partly faith in him, besides with another comrade he wants to try another project. It was a low blow that could put an end to the whole project. My head earned with a new force, and the question was already different: Who?
We need a new CEO, but this time we need a person who does not just like the idea, he must be passionate about it, he must also believe in it, just like me, he must be ready to sacrifice something. I quickly began to sort out my contacts, be interested in friends and acquaintances, and just google. And a week later, when I was returning home from the office, I accidentally remembered how, a year or two ago, my former colleague from the institute asked me about investments, our experience in Copiny, etc. HM interesting!
When he got home, first of all he began to search for contacts and a history of correspondence with this comrade named Nikolay. Having dealt with Kolya, I find out what happened to his past project and what was its essence - he had been killed for him for almost a year, but it took off. I find out where he is now and how things are generally - things are fine, he is a technical director at one of the companies in Bryansk. And immediately I propose to be a CEO in Teamdesk ...
Everything happened very quickly: we meet, discuss, plan and consider. Kohl reads tons of content on SaaS, Internet marketing and sales, startups in a couple of weeks. Eyes burn - great! When it comes to current work, he readily reports that he quits and fulltime will take on the project. When he asked whether to sell real estate to invest in a project - I realized that he was the one I needed! Do you know a lot of people who are ready to invest their apartment and retire from work like this in an “alien” project? Me not! As it turned out, he also postponed the wedding to the next year .
Yes, Kolya has no significant entrepreneurial experience, no knowledge and sales skills, no established contacts, etc. But this is not the main thing now for a new project. At this stage, much more important is the belief in the project, the motivation, the desire to do something really cool and meaningful. The resulting partnership is exactly the case when the formula 1 + 1 = 11 works. It is very important for me that a partner feel not a hired manager with an option, but a full-fledged CEO of his company. How did we achieve this?
This is no big secret. I gave a few tens of percent, while leaving control, in case of "force majeure." At the same time, in the future I am ready to share more interest when the planned indicators are reached and attract investments (if necessary) only at the expense of my share (without blurring Nikolai’s share).
So, half a year from a simple idea and an irresistible desire to make a project, without the opportunity to make it yourself, a new business grew with big plans. This is how the partner’s dream of his business came true. This is how several hundreds of Russian companies have the opportunity to organize a convenient support service in 5 minutes. Of course, this is far from Happy End, but we are on the right track.
PS Friends, if you like the story, subscribe to our blog on Megamind !
PPS Who guessed what house in the picture at the beginning of the post?
And with Teamdesk (ticket support system) everything turned out just that. Only if many of my Wishlist have a small scale, then the new project (and in fact, a full-fledged business) is already a whole “problem”. But the idea to make the # 1 help desk in Russia persistently did not leave me. And I began to think, think a lot. When the dollar exchange rate exceeded 65, and the Federal Law 152 about Pers data and servers in the Russian Federation was discussed with might and main in the Runet open spaces, it became clear that it was impossible to postpone. Now or never. But how?!
')
If I worked for my uncle and could just quit, everything would be much simpler (at least for me). I know that some of my friends who are employed, go to work, get paid, do the necessary minimum (not to be fired), and develop their own startup. But I was and remain CEO of Copiny with Napoleonic plans in Russia, with no less ambitious plans in the States. I have a lot of operational work and big tasks, in the end this is my company and I cannot afford to work even for 99% of the possible.
But in one place he continues to fly, and his head continues to think: “How? How? How ?! ”And then I turned to Oscar Hartman for advice, he wrote me a short letter, the key phrase of which was:“ The team is first ”. And then I realized that for me the only way to implement this project can only be the search for a full-fledged founder, a person with an entrepreneurial nature (albeit without experience), with the same passionate desire for his business.
And I found it! At this time, Sasha was already working as a programmer, he constantly tried various "topics" and was looking for "opportunities" for his business. He liked my idea and we started the work. For myself in the company, I took the role of an investor and "chronicler." In fact, I transferred the knowledge and experience I had accumulated in SaaS over 5 years, I sponsored the development and in our blog from 0 to 1,000,000 rubles / month I told how the project is doing.
At the regular meeting with Copiny investors, I announced openly that I was launching a new project as an investor and remain a CEO (of course) in an existing project and nothing, in general, changes. Just not to say it was not fair, but I can not. Noise, I tell you, was a lot. And investors' anxiety is understandable - what will happen to their investments if the founder falls from the company or is out of focus? Nothing good! However, our investors are excellent (if anyone is interested, these are the funds of Vestor.IN , Softline VP , Impulse VC ), therefore, some disagreements or problems did not happen.
Like any fairy tale, this ended pretty quickly. At one point, Sasha said he did not want to continue to engage in the project. He has lost interest and partly faith in him, besides with another comrade he wants to try another project. It was a low blow that could put an end to the whole project. My head earned with a new force, and the question was already different: Who?
We need a new CEO, but this time we need a person who does not just like the idea, he must be passionate about it, he must also believe in it, just like me, he must be ready to sacrifice something. I quickly began to sort out my contacts, be interested in friends and acquaintances, and just google. And a week later, when I was returning home from the office, I accidentally remembered how, a year or two ago, my former colleague from the institute asked me about investments, our experience in Copiny, etc. HM interesting!
When he got home, first of all he began to search for contacts and a history of correspondence with this comrade named Nikolay. Having dealt with Kolya, I find out what happened to his past project and what was its essence - he had been killed for him for almost a year, but it took off. I find out where he is now and how things are generally - things are fine, he is a technical director at one of the companies in Bryansk. And immediately I propose to be a CEO in Teamdesk ...
Everything happened very quickly: we meet, discuss, plan and consider. Kohl reads tons of content on SaaS, Internet marketing and sales, startups in a couple of weeks. Eyes burn - great! When it comes to current work, he readily reports that he quits and fulltime will take on the project. When he asked whether to sell real estate to invest in a project - I realized that he was the one I needed! Do you know a lot of people who are ready to invest their apartment and retire from work like this in an “alien” project? Me not! As it turned out, he also postponed the wedding to the next year .
Yes, Kolya has no significant entrepreneurial experience, no knowledge and sales skills, no established contacts, etc. But this is not the main thing now for a new project. At this stage, much more important is the belief in the project, the motivation, the desire to do something really cool and meaningful. The resulting partnership is exactly the case when the formula 1 + 1 = 11 works. It is very important for me that a partner feel not a hired manager with an option, but a full-fledged CEO of his company. How did we achieve this?
This is no big secret. I gave a few tens of percent, while leaving control, in case of "force majeure." At the same time, in the future I am ready to share more interest when the planned indicators are reached and attract investments (if necessary) only at the expense of my share (without blurring Nikolai’s share).
So, half a year from a simple idea and an irresistible desire to make a project, without the opportunity to make it yourself, a new business grew with big plans. This is how the partner’s dream of his business came true. This is how several hundreds of Russian companies have the opportunity to organize a convenient support service in 5 minutes. Of course, this is far from Happy End, but we are on the right track.
PS Friends, if you like the story, subscribe to our blog on Megamind !
PPS Who guessed what house in the picture at the beginning of the post?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/291902/
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