Hardcore startups. Part 1: How to make your dream come true

7 years ago, an idea settled in me and I could not imagine what I would have to go through in order to realize it. At that moment I was a co-owner of a successful online store in Moscow, we just got out of the crisis, and the business was booming.

Today we can sum up the first results. On the way, I had a lot of NO, a few YES, and three choices, which, however, need to be done almost every day.

NO # 1 - from my best friend

I shared with a partner ideas. He liked her, especially the monetization model, but somehow he didn’t really like to start something new.
It didn't upset me. I plunged into this sphere with my head, and in the evenings I sat down to study the resources of neighboring countries and world giants. Always loved to look for the cons and pros in each product. So, night after night, I began to create my own product and carry a new business plan.
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NO # 2 - logic won the heart

Hooray, that day came when I broke up with my old partner and was able to start realizing my dream. I returned home to Minsk and I had a choice: to start a business in e-commerce (what I did in Moscow) or implement my idea.

I understood that I could make an online store successful, since Minsk was 2-3 years behind Moscow, but I was not sure about the dream: there was little experience. The cold calculation of reason won out over the striving of the heart.

NO # 3 - hostage to your success

The online stores of climate technology were rapidly gaining momentum, the business was growing before our eyes. The staff and turnover of the company went up. But the dream did not give rest.

And then I realized that I could not leave it and go to make a dream. My condition could be described as if I was married according to the calculation and live with a rich wife that I cannot leave.

Now, when I will create something, I will think 10 times! It is necessary to immediately be guided by the desire of the heart, since there is nothing more permanent than temporary.

NO # 4 - hired director’s rejection

I decided to get rid of the addiction by shifting responsibility to a hired top manager. A lot of interviews and conversations, for which you realize that, probably, you will never find a person who you like and you entrust your business to him. It's almost like to entrust a child or wife!

I was almost desperate, but suddenly I found him. Resume and experience are just brilliance, and we shook hands. Delight did not last long, since I created a business for myself, with my own specifics and culture. The man simply did not accept the team, and a rejection occurred.

NO # 5 - crowd opinion

I did not know where to put myself and went to study at the Executive MBA. When writing a graduation project, I gathered class guys from the group to my team to develop an idea. But then they jumped off, following the opinions of other people. In the group, not everyone liked that I, the youngest (25 years old), tell them that I am doing a project with a capitalization of more than $ 100 billion. You should have seen their faces!

NO # 6 - do not be like ALL

We continued to prepare for the first defense, when the Executive MBA program director saw my calculations about capitalization and laughed. She treated me rather biased, as it seemed to me. I did everything in accordance with academic requirements and was allowed to defend the project in Warsaw.

Teachers are used to listening to local level defenses, but we need to learn to think in terms of global companies and resources.

NO # 7 - sell or give away, just to stick out

I decided to sell the business to competitors. Dozens of meetings and hundreds of letters about anything. No one is interested in the local market in a small country (Belarus). Local businessmen are not ready to absorb and aggressively develop, they are engaged in the development of their often first business. And there is almost no category of investors in the country, since after the collapse of the USSR only the first generation of owners grew.

NO # 8 - the sharks ate and didn't notice

Since I could not sell the company or move away from its management, I tried to take it to the leaders and start my project with the money I earned. The strategy was to open the offline technology stores through its own franchise throughout the country.
Here I made a mistake. He got into the "scarlet ocean" - a divided market already formed, in which he could not find new opportunities.
Initially, my business started in the “blue ocean” of e-commerce, and I swam in a growing market. He pulled me at his speed. There was no need to try to seize the traditional business, in which I understood little and in which a bloody battle for each client has been going on for a long time.

NO # 9 - fire people or die

My experiments ruined me, there was no money, no dreams. A lot of working capital was washed and I came to the point of no return. It was necessary to solve something.

Having considered three development scenarios, it turned out that the best option is to close all retail (fire people of a chain of stores and one office) and focus on what makes a profit.

Dismissal is not recruiting when everything is fine. This decision is difficult to take when you rallied the team for a long time and pumped people to active development. And then dramatically changed the strategy. I had to do it, although I could lose the whole company.

YES # 1 - reboot

I decided to take a break for the summer, because I did not understand where I was and how to move on. I was like a beast in a cage, which beats in different angles and does not know how to get out of this situation.

Rest restarted and updated me. The dream began to burn again in my heart, and I realized that the time had come. It was 2014.
I gave the company to my colleague and friend who had worked with me for a long time and managed to grow. He put his shoulder, took the company and led her into a bright future.

YES # 2 - no money, but ember is burning

We rented an apartment for your new project. It was like laying the first stone at the beginning of construction. The money was only a month in advance. However, I had a firm belief that everything will work out.

NO # 10 - pressure inside and outside

At the very beginning, I felt serious pressure and attacks from various sides. The old company worked in the minus. Family health, project finance, team building, physical fatigue ...

My sister was admitted to the hospital, then I was informed that my mother had fainted. I told myself that this was a test of strength, and no matter how hard it was, I would still follow my dream.

neither yes no no

We finished making basic mockups and draft TK, and it was necessary to select a contractor to complete the order. Considered a couple of Belarusian and one Ukrainian company.

On the technical side, they were all similar in the tools and methods of project implementation, but financial requests were extremely different and even caused a smile. The cost of development ranged from 50 to 230 thousand dollars! Without options, we agreed to work with the Ukrainian office, it was the cheapest of all.

YES # 3 - a miracle in the studio

To start a startup requires significant funding. However, at the beginning of the year I did not know where I would get the money from. The first steps were based only on faith.

Then in my climate company a contract appeared with the Turks, which was the answer to our prayers. It was obvious, since the company had not even made commercial applications for such amounts for 5 years. We first worked with such a large order ($ 1 million!).

YES # 4 and YES again - to the dream team

I came to the conclusion that we risk a lot if we continue to make the product outsourcing:
The contractor can run a similar resource.
This is a growth constraint when investing.
This leads to unjustified risks: if after the development period the product fails to work, all the responsibility for this will still be on you.

Therefore, I started an active search for a team of programmers in my Minsk. And somehow I remembered the post of my acquaintance of a successful IT entrepreneur on Facebook on this topic (he is now vice president of new products for Mail.Ru Group):

When the time comes to die, and a crowd of grandchildren will surround me, and the eldest will ask: “Grandfather, tell me the most important thing,” I will gather my strength and say:
- Never, never, and never again, my dear grandchildren, do not give your projects to the development to the outsourcers.
And all they will be fine. (c) Yury Gursky

YES # 5 - your intuition

I understood an important point for myself. If I am a carrier of an idea, and the idea and logic of a resource could fit in my head, then it can also fit in the heads of my users. Of course, you need to listen to criticism in your address, but you also need to have firmness and trust yourself, as most people are accustomed to thinking pattern.

Here in the theme of the words of Jack Ma, the creator of Alibaba.com:

If at the meeting ninety percent of the participants vote for a proposal, I’m surely send it to the ballot box. The reason is banal: when all these people so simply noticed this opportunity, then most likely many other companies are already working on this and we are unlikely to belong to the leadership.

NO # 11 - forget everything you knew before

Working in a startup team, I noticed how my management style has changed.

The complexity of a startup is that you create an intellectual product in uncertain conditions, and the usual management style does not work. Lead works. People have to take risks with you. Are they ready to work without salary for several months or 16 hours a day? They should be as burning an idea as you are. And you can not always plan even a month in advance.

Choice # 1 - To be or not to be king in the village

Where and how to run? What is the strategy to choose? To conquer a small market of a single European country or go immediately to a large market, which will enable rapid development. The CIS market in the eyes of the west is a grain of sand, therefore there is no right answer, and everyone makes their own choice.

Selection # 2 - Reaction and Adaptability as a Way to Survive

I know that I know nothing. (c) Socrates

How many wrong assumptions and punctures in the plans during this time! Three times postponed production, as they did not know how long it would take for many tasks. During this time, none of my plans have been realized as I had intended. I am a horrible planner, but this is not the most important thing.

It is important to always maintain the basis (values ​​and principles), move forward and be ready to change methods and tools. I think that many fell into such traps when they planned to spend an hour, but it turned out a few days.

Choice # 3 - keep on following your dream ... and our updates

Stop, so what's the idea then? Author! Follow the next series of start-up hardcore chronicles, I'll tell you everything soon.