CEO LinguaLeo told how the service managed to survive the crisis

Dmitry Staviskiy was appointed General Manager of LinguaLeo, an online service for learning English in June 2014. In May 2015, the LinguaLeo service planned to reduce staff by 30%, Megamind reported . This decision was due to unfavorable economic situation. Some employees, including the CEO, were going to cut wages. The company's founder, Aynur Abdulnasyrov, refused his salary altogether. But the project still lost half the staff.



The CEO told Roem.ru about how the company was in crisis, about the strategy for its further development and self-sufficiency.



Megamind selected the most interesting quotes from the interview .

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On the current situation in the company

Yes, everything was getting better some time ago. Therefore, now open several vacancies.

We began expansion in the expectation of investments that did not materialize in the new conditions [of the crisis], so we decided that we need to develop with our own funds. They figured out how much we can earn, and made a balanced budget for which it was necessary to cut costs in half. And for a company like us, reducing costs is primarily a reduction in staff, which we had to do.



Before we laid off people, we froze paid marketing, starting with foreign markets. Cut a little marketing in Russia. We moved to a new office, it was a significant savings - the old one was expensive. Optimized hosting on Amazon.



Since July we have a balanced budget. We went to self-sufficiency, all that we earn immediately we invest in the product.

July and August, if we look at sales in rubles, is better than last year. This is good: we see that, despite the crisis, the demand for high-quality and inexpensive training remains.

On the investment received and the possibility to do without cuts

Not. If not for those investments, it would be even worse. Because we have a very seasonal business. And the difference between January and summer - at times. Therefore, we needed money to cover the cash gap.

When there were reductions, we already knew that there would be this money. The plan was based on that. There was Social Discovery and a bit of Runa Capital .

About unsuccessful entry into the global market

Well, if everything was good in the world markets, then everything would be fine here too. About the fact that they were not active enough. We were just not ready. There were no resources.



There is an interconnection: if the product is very cool, then you can get a very low price; and if the product is not ready, then we need serious marketing, for which we had no money. Therefore, now the international expansion is paused, and focus on the product.

Finalize the product - back to conquering the universe.

About finding new investments

Now, with investments in Russia it is very difficult, we will return to this topic in late autumn or in winter. We spoke quite actively with investors, and it became clear that in order to get serious investments, you need to balance the budget and finalize the product. That is the same as for organic growth. Therefore, we are now temporarily talking to investors froze.



After a couple of iterations of work on the product, we will again begin this conversation. In general, we can hope for investments, but do not count on them. While growing organically. We are quietly developing organically, with our own [money]. If we manage to raise money, we will develop faster, that's all. What is desirable, we are not alone in the market.

About competitors

No straight lines. But learning languages ​​in general and English in particular is a big market. The online and offline language learning market is about $ 60 billion, of which two thirds is in English. So far, no one has tried this approach right here. Someone does a very narrow workout, one skill pumps. Someone makes a video, distance learning with a teacher is a good service, but this is a completely different economy, the service is expensive.



Someone has a focus on quite beginners, but all possible language pairs. And we have a focus on English, because it is two-thirds of the market for learning the language, we have the widest possible set of language skills and a small price. We are building a massive affordable service.

About the most effective way to learn English

We do conveniently and efficiently. And for those who are already engaged, we are not trying to tear them away from other ways of learning, but give an additional tool. We believe that the most effective way to learn English is with a teacher, somehow - in the classroom, via Skype - plus LinguaLeo. You will not study with a teacher seven times a week, except for some exceptional circumstances. In reality, it is two to three times a week for 45–60 minutes.



And with LinguaLeo, you can practice more often - for 5−10 minutes, standing at the bus stop, sitting in the subway, in line. We qualitatively complement the teachers for those who can afford it, or we give a tool for self-study.