Igor Sheludko, FSPro Labs: “Working as a tracker, I see the evolution of many ideas
This spring, the on-site conference of IT-exporters ISDEF Spring will be held in Rostov-on- South IT-Park . We asked the most active conference speakers to talk about what the South IT Park does and what it does for the development of the industry.
The first to respond was ISDEF activist from Taganrog Igor Sheludko, head of FSPro Labs , a part-time tracker at Southern IT-Park. Igor is not afraid, in contrast to many, to share in his cases not only successes, but also to analyze failures. This year, he will talk about the experience of selling desktop B2C products by subscription.
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I.SH: I have been developing products since 2001. These were utilities for home users who simply want to protect their data from other computer users. In those days, quite often at home and at work several people used the same computer with Windows 95/98. The first products were sold on the shareware model, but very soon the main model was what is now called Freemium. I deal with this business together with Mikhail Karsyan. There were more guys in our team, but over time they chose to work for large companies. Mikhail often attended ISDEF conferences, starting with the very first. I have been involved since 2014. I prefer the format of spring conferences. There are reports and a lot of informal communication. On all ISDEF'ah that I visited, spoke. And spring ISDEF Spring 2018 will not be an exception. I will talk about our experience in selling B2C-based desktop products by subscription - about the problems that have arisen, our solution and, of course, the benefits compared to traditional sales.
I.SH: I was interested in the development of the IT business community for a long time. I personally helped a few guys take the path of entrepreneurship. In 2015, Mikhail Filippenko introduced me to the first team of the Southern IT Park - Rostov-like entrepreneurs who found the time not only to engage in their own business, but also to develop the IT community with the support of the regional administration.
At the beginning of 2016, I completed the program of acceleration of the Southern IT-park already with the new team, headed by Evgeny Poluyanov and Andrey Batrimenko. Also passed the program of correspondence acceleration of IIDF . Acquaintance with Lean Startup and Customer Development methodologies helped streamline my life experience, I found explanations for our business successes and failures.
In the summer of 2016, I studied at the trackers school of the Southern IT-Park and from the 3rd accelerator set I work in the tracker team. Now we are working with the 6th accelerator set. During this time I managed to benefit 11 projects as an individual tracker. Group tracking and activities allow me to help all projects undergoing acceleration.
I.SH: We have several strong universities, which annually produce new specialists. Many different research institutes have been preserved here, including those working in the defense industry. On this basis, many private enterprises emerged, known not only in the Russian Federation, but throughout the world. There are both product companies and outsourcing developers of various suits and calibers.
In Taganrog, they joke that there are more Taganrozh developers registered on Upwork than from the rest of the SFD. This joke is very true. The number of employees of the 20 largest Taganrog outsourcing companies receiving orders for Upwork exceeds 1,000 people. And the guys often have work and personal accounts.
As such, a single IT-community a few years ago did not exist. There were a lot of IT people, but they were all on their own, talking in small circles. Food sharavarschiki developers, gathered a couple of times a year since 2000. Outsourcers were friends in their own way.
In this regard, I want to mention Trofim Zhugastrov, who gathered a large community a few years ago - IT61 , which publishes news, offers communication in Slack and Telegram, holds regular meetings.
With the advent of the Southern IT Park, more and more events are being held at its base - both organized by the Southern IT Park itself and by the IT61, GDG Rostov, RND.JS, AgileKitchen, etc. communities. I would especially like to note the hackathons "47 hours", which are organized twice a year by Alexander Konovalov. Jubilee - the tenth, was held in November 2017. In April 2018, ISDEF Spring will be held within the walls of the Southern IT Park.
I.SH: The main areas of support are the accelerator and investment sessions. South IT Park Accelerator works with projects starting from the idea stage. The fundamentals of modern entrepreneurship are not taught in universities, so one of the most difficult stages in the life of a budding entrepreneur is to learn to test ideas with minimal losses. Lean Startup and Customer Development methodologies help in this, in which the team of the accelerator of the Southern IT Park is well versed.
I.SH: To get into the accelerator, it is necessary to fill out a large application through the website of the FRIA Pre- accelerator. Then applications are sorted out by our friendly team and the most promising projects are invited to start intensive training that takes place over several days.
At the start of training, the founders listen to lectures on the most basic topics, do homework, which are then discussed in small groups with trackers, and also participate in business games. After that, looking at the founders of the projects live, we discuss who should be invited to the accelerator. Projects are distributed among the trackers and the work begins weekly cycles. Traction of projects consists of two main events - on Saturdays there are group tracking on which project founders publicly report their success for the week and set themselves tasks for the next week. Among the weeks - usually on Wednesdays, the trackers conduct individual tracking with projects, during which tasks can be adjusted.
I.SH: Usually, the first month is spent on finding the target audience and confirming problems. The second month is spent on developing a value proposition and first sales. Then comes the turn of modeling the economy, developing the MVP, testing the channels and confirming the convergence of the economic model. By the middle of acceleration, a third of the projects fall off, because it discovers that their intended product has no demand and could not invent anything new. Investment sessions in previous years were held twice a year and were the end of the acceleration program. This year, April 12-13, the South Demo Day will be held - a big event that is scheduled to be held annually.
I.SH: I have long wanted to help beginning IT entrepreneurs on a regular basis. Our guys have great potential, but they lack knowledge and mentors. Personally, my work as a tracker gives me the opportunity to share experiences and help young people. I would love to work in a university, but the curricula do not pay due attention to the development of entrepreneurial skills. For more than 6 months I have been negotiating to participate in the project training program for SFU students. Negotiations continue to go on in "once every 2 months met, talked and nothing more." Very strong bureaucracy.
Unlike educational institutions, Southern IT Park is a very progressive and fast organization, thanks in large part to its leaders. The efficiency, foresight and intelligence of Andrei Batrimenko makes me admire. It's great to see how your useful suggestions are almost immediately incorporated into the workflow, and for unsuccessful offers you get motivated feedback. I believe that many processes in the accelerator of the Southern IT Park, thanks to Andrei’s efforts, are much better structured than those in the IIDF Accelerator.
I.SH: Working as a tracker, I see the evolution of many ideas. Of course, ideas are often repeated, but nonetheless, observation at close range allows you to accumulate experience in different directions much faster than independent attempts to accomplish something. Working as a tracker, I also accelerated as an expert.
Now I am perfectly aware of how to check the viability of almost any idea in 1-2 weeks. I began to better understand how different channels of promotion work. I can evaluate the prospects of the project and predict its future, after talking with the team for 15 minutes.
I hope to find projects that will be useful in their further development, I will become part of the team, I will help multiply to grow. I also do not exclude my development in the direction of investment analytics.
I.SH: Southern IT-park provides excellent opportunities for the development of business ideas, and those guys who listen carefully to the recommendations and work intensively, are making progress. Unfortunately, we cannot force everyone to work intensively - this is a personal matter. And not all people are able to listen, to draw the right conclusions from communication with experts. The desire to believe in your idea, contrary to the facts, is inherent in many people and passes only with experience.
I don’t see any disadvantages of the IT park. The existing problems are rather the problems of our country and society. I would like young entrepreneurs to have more, because we are far from the limit and could accelerate twice as many projects. If there were more projects, we could choose stronger teams for acceleration. The low popularity of entrepreneurship is rather a consequence of the education system.
Promising projects with the help of the Southern IT-park receive advice from regional and federal experts, support to the regional administration, assistance in obtaining grants and investments.
The first to respond was ISDEF activist from Taganrog Igor Sheludko, head of FSPro Labs , a part-time tracker at Southern IT-Park. Igor is not afraid, in contrast to many, to share in his cases not only successes, but also to analyze failures. This year, he will talk about the experience of selling desktop B2C products by subscription.
')
Organizing Committee: Igor, a few words about you.
I.SH: I have been developing products since 2001. These were utilities for home users who simply want to protect their data from other computer users. In those days, quite often at home and at work several people used the same computer with Windows 95/98. The first products were sold on the shareware model, but very soon the main model was what is now called Freemium. I deal with this business together with Mikhail Karsyan. There were more guys in our team, but over time they chose to work for large companies. Mikhail often attended ISDEF conferences, starting with the very first. I have been involved since 2014. I prefer the format of spring conferences. There are reports and a lot of informal communication. On all ISDEF'ah that I visited, spoke. And spring ISDEF Spring 2018 will not be an exception. I will talk about our experience in selling B2C-based desktop products by subscription - about the problems that have arisen, our solution and, of course, the benefits compared to traditional sales.
How did you get acquainted with the Southern IT-park?
I.SH: I was interested in the development of the IT business community for a long time. I personally helped a few guys take the path of entrepreneurship. In 2015, Mikhail Filippenko introduced me to the first team of the Southern IT Park - Rostov-like entrepreneurs who found the time not only to engage in their own business, but also to develop the IT community with the support of the regional administration.
At the beginning of 2016, I completed the program of acceleration of the Southern IT-park already with the new team, headed by Evgeny Poluyanov and Andrey Batrimenko. Also passed the program of correspondence acceleration of IIDF . Acquaintance with Lean Startup and Customer Development methodologies helped streamline my life experience, I found explanations for our business successes and failures.
In the summer of 2016, I studied at the trackers school of the Southern IT-Park and from the 3rd accelerator set I work in the tracker team. Now we are working with the 6th accelerator set. During this time I managed to benefit 11 projects as an individual tracker. Group tracking and activities allow me to help all projects undergoing acceleration.
What is the IT community of the South of Russia?
I.SH: We have several strong universities, which annually produce new specialists. Many different research institutes have been preserved here, including those working in the defense industry. On this basis, many private enterprises emerged, known not only in the Russian Federation, but throughout the world. There are both product companies and outsourcing developers of various suits and calibers.
In Taganrog, they joke that there are more Taganrozh developers registered on Upwork than from the rest of the SFD. This joke is very true. The number of employees of the 20 largest Taganrog outsourcing companies receiving orders for Upwork exceeds 1,000 people. And the guys often have work and personal accounts.
As such, a single IT-community a few years ago did not exist. There were a lot of IT people, but they were all on their own, talking in small circles. Food sharavarschiki developers, gathered a couple of times a year since 2000. Outsourcers were friends in their own way.
In this regard, I want to mention Trofim Zhugastrov, who gathered a large community a few years ago - IT61 , which publishes news, offers communication in Slack and Telegram, holds regular meetings.
With the advent of the Southern IT Park, more and more events are being held at its base - both organized by the Southern IT Park itself and by the IT61, GDG Rostov, RND.JS, AgileKitchen, etc. communities. I would especially like to note the hackathons "47 hours", which are organized twice a year by Alexander Konovalov. Jubilee - the tenth, was held in November 2017. In April 2018, ISDEF Spring will be held within the walls of the Southern IT Park.
What role does Southern IT Park play in supporting startups?
I.SH: The main areas of support are the accelerator and investment sessions. South IT Park Accelerator works with projects starting from the idea stage. The fundamentals of modern entrepreneurship are not taught in universities, so one of the most difficult stages in the life of a budding entrepreneur is to learn to test ideas with minimal losses. Lean Startup and Customer Development methodologies help in this, in which the team of the accelerator of the Southern IT Park is well versed.
Is it difficult to get into the accelerator?
I.SH: To get into the accelerator, it is necessary to fill out a large application through the website of the FRIA Pre- accelerator. Then applications are sorted out by our friendly team and the most promising projects are invited to start intensive training that takes place over several days.
At the start of training, the founders listen to lectures on the most basic topics, do homework, which are then discussed in small groups with trackers, and also participate in business games. After that, looking at the founders of the projects live, we discuss who should be invited to the accelerator. Projects are distributed among the trackers and the work begins weekly cycles. Traction of projects consists of two main events - on Saturdays there are group tracking on which project founders publicly report their success for the week and set themselves tasks for the next week. Among the weeks - usually on Wednesdays, the trackers conduct individual tracking with projects, during which tasks can be adjusted.
What takes the most time?
I.SH: Usually, the first month is spent on finding the target audience and confirming problems. The second month is spent on developing a value proposition and first sales. Then comes the turn of modeling the economy, developing the MVP, testing the channels and confirming the convergence of the economic model. By the middle of acceleration, a third of the projects fall off, because it discovers that their intended product has no demand and could not invent anything new. Investment sessions in previous years were held twice a year and were the end of the acceleration program. This year, April 12-13, the South Demo Day will be held - a big event that is scheduled to be held annually.
Why did you come to South IT Park as a tracker?
I.SH: I have long wanted to help beginning IT entrepreneurs on a regular basis. Our guys have great potential, but they lack knowledge and mentors. Personally, my work as a tracker gives me the opportunity to share experiences and help young people. I would love to work in a university, but the curricula do not pay due attention to the development of entrepreneurial skills. For more than 6 months I have been negotiating to participate in the project training program for SFU students. Negotiations continue to go on in "once every 2 months met, talked and nothing more." Very strong bureaucracy.
Unlike educational institutions, Southern IT Park is a very progressive and fast organization, thanks in large part to its leaders. The efficiency, foresight and intelligence of Andrei Batrimenko makes me admire. It's great to see how your useful suggestions are almost immediately incorporated into the workflow, and for unsuccessful offers you get motivated feedback. I believe that many processes in the accelerator of the Southern IT Park, thanks to Andrei’s efforts, are much better structured than those in the IIDF Accelerator.
How can the tracker work to help your own product development? Results? What happened and did not work?
I.SH: Working as a tracker, I see the evolution of many ideas. Of course, ideas are often repeated, but nonetheless, observation at close range allows you to accumulate experience in different directions much faster than independent attempts to accomplish something. Working as a tracker, I also accelerated as an expert.
Now I am perfectly aware of how to check the viability of almost any idea in 1-2 weeks. I began to better understand how different channels of promotion work. I can evaluate the prospects of the project and predict its future, after talking with the team for 15 minutes.
I hope to find projects that will be useful in their further development, I will become part of the team, I will help multiply to grow. I also do not exclude my development in the direction of investment analytics.
What does Southern IT Park give in terms of support for startups?
I.SH: Southern IT-park provides excellent opportunities for the development of business ideas, and those guys who listen carefully to the recommendations and work intensively, are making progress. Unfortunately, we cannot force everyone to work intensively - this is a personal matter. And not all people are able to listen, to draw the right conclusions from communication with experts. The desire to believe in your idea, contrary to the facts, is inherent in many people and passes only with experience.
I don’t see any disadvantages of the IT park. The existing problems are rather the problems of our country and society. I would like young entrepreneurs to have more, because we are far from the limit and could accelerate twice as many projects. If there were more projects, we could choose stronger teams for acceleration. The low popularity of entrepreneurship is rather a consequence of the education system.
Promising projects with the help of the Southern IT-park receive advice from regional and federal experts, support to the regional administration, assistance in obtaining grants and investments.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/352652/
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