History of moving. Part 1
Now, when everyone has become accustomed to numerous technological startups, there is a developed infrastructure in order to deprive a novice entrepreneur of problems with the search, rent and expansion of office space. A lot of technology parks, coworking centers, business incubators are waiting for their future Google, Epply and other Facebook. But 20 years ago, when the ABBYY company was created, none of this happened, and we had to regularly look for solutions to the above and many more, sometimes quite unexpected, problems with working areas. And if Microsoft called its Start-up School “Start in Garage”, then we could call, for example, “Develop in Kindergarten”. If you are wondering why - welcome under cat.
The first office of the company (then “BIT Software”) can be considered a corner in the Central pavilion at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements. There then was another Physics and Technology firm, the Initiative, which sold computer equipment and also became the first major dealer of our company. In our first office there were both R & D and production right away: while two or three people were working at landlord computers, one of the employees was engaged in buying plastic bags, putting floppy disks with the Lingvo dictionary in them and sealing the bags with a soldering iron. But after half a year it took more room and BIT Software moved to the ... hotel!
')
It was perhaps the most mobile office of the company. Here is what David Yang (Chairman of the Board of Directors and founder of the company) tells about this development period of ABBYY: “We rented a two-room suite, lived there and worked there. But according to the law in one room it was impossible to live more than 10 days. Therefore, we moved every 10 days. In another room. Sometimes to another floor. Our farm was small - 4-5 computers, books, papers ... We took all this in our hands and moved. After some time we got so good at it that the whole process took no more than an hour. ”
The next place of "registration" of the company was a two-room apartment. According to eyewitnesses, she was small and crowded, because 10-15 people worked and communicated in her constantly. Three worked in the kitchen, drank coffee there, two worked in one room, four in the other. Due to crowding, some employees worked at home or in a dorm. But from time to time everyone met at this apartment and discussed work issues.
When it became very crowded, they moved to a three-room apartment in Southern Izmailovo. Life in this apartment was remembered by the fact that they consumed eggs and Canadian pizza in large quantities. In those rather difficult times when there was nothing, the first Russian-Canadian pizza production appeared in Moscow. She was bought in two nearby stores and ate. At that time it was very tasty and was considered chic.
Even in that apartment there lived a black cat who “communicated” with the first customers.
When all employees no longer fit into this apartment, the company rented a part of the kindergarten located right in the courtyard.
The fact is that the birth rate in the early 90s was very low, kindergartens were empty and often leased their premises. It was in kindergarten that the first FineReader was written. As Vadim Tereshchenko (Financial Director of ABBYY Group of Companies) says, “we had a middle group, and everyone joked that if they worked well, they would be transferred to a senior group.”
The group had a corridor and two rooms (with a total area of ​​about 100 square meters). In the hallway sitting reception. The first room was divided by cabinets into two parts: in one was the top management and there was a showroom, in the other part there was a dining room. In the second room are located programmers.
Then the company has already worked 25-30 people. However, there was not enough computers at all, so a schedule was drawn up, and some of the employees worked in shifts. All work took place on a network drive, so you could work from any computer.
Many, as students, worked on weekends.
Almost everyone remembers life in kindergarten with nostalgia. Everything was very soulful and family-like. Around the building - greenery, blooming flower beds. Many working questions were solved during walks along the paths around the kindergarten, and the sandbox was a classic place for reflection.
From the household details, the kindergarten toilet was the most memorable for the staff. First, he was alone, without division into "M" and "F". Secondly, there were tiny toilet bowls in it. And two in the booth. Especially joyful impressions remained after his visit to the company's customers :)
When the company grew even more, the marketing department moved to the office at m. Elektrozavodskaya. However, the work was uncomfortable. Began to look for a larger room. Found and moved again.
Tatiana Danielyan (deputy director of technology development), who participated in all the moves, said that “it was the coolest move. Then the company did not have that kind of money to hire someone, so we did everything ourselves - we cleaned everything, packed it, prepared it. Each employee was preparing the office for the move. All the property fit on one truck. "
Further moves were associated with global repairs and restructuring of the premises and the corporate network, so the second part of our travel history will be with more technical details and comments from our system administrators.
Tatyana Panferova,
Corporate Communications Service
The first office of the company (then “BIT Software”) can be considered a corner in the Central pavilion at the Exhibition of Economic Achievements. There then was another Physics and Technology firm, the Initiative, which sold computer equipment and also became the first major dealer of our company. In our first office there were both R & D and production right away: while two or three people were working at landlord computers, one of the employees was engaged in buying plastic bags, putting floppy disks with the Lingvo dictionary in them and sealing the bags with a soldering iron. But after half a year it took more room and BIT Software moved to the ... hotel!')
It was perhaps the most mobile office of the company. Here is what David Yang (Chairman of the Board of Directors and founder of the company) tells about this development period of ABBYY: “We rented a two-room suite, lived there and worked there. But according to the law in one room it was impossible to live more than 10 days. Therefore, we moved every 10 days. In another room. Sometimes to another floor. Our farm was small - 4-5 computers, books, papers ... We took all this in our hands and moved. After some time we got so good at it that the whole process took no more than an hour. ”The next place of "registration" of the company was a two-room apartment. According to eyewitnesses, she was small and crowded, because 10-15 people worked and communicated in her constantly. Three worked in the kitchen, drank coffee there, two worked in one room, four in the other. Due to crowding, some employees worked at home or in a dorm. But from time to time everyone met at this apartment and discussed work issues.
When it became very crowded, they moved to a three-room apartment in Southern Izmailovo. Life in this apartment was remembered by the fact that they consumed eggs and Canadian pizza in large quantities. In those rather difficult times when there was nothing, the first Russian-Canadian pizza production appeared in Moscow. She was bought in two nearby stores and ate. At that time it was very tasty and was considered chic.Even in that apartment there lived a black cat who “communicated” with the first customers.
When all employees no longer fit into this apartment, the company rented a part of the kindergarten located right in the courtyard.
The fact is that the birth rate in the early 90s was very low, kindergartens were empty and often leased their premises. It was in kindergarten that the first FineReader was written. As Vadim Tereshchenko (Financial Director of ABBYY Group of Companies) says, “we had a middle group, and everyone joked that if they worked well, they would be transferred to a senior group.”The group had a corridor and two rooms (with a total area of ​​about 100 square meters). In the hallway sitting reception. The first room was divided by cabinets into two parts: in one was the top management and there was a showroom, in the other part there was a dining room. In the second room are located programmers.
Then the company has already worked 25-30 people. However, there was not enough computers at all, so a schedule was drawn up, and some of the employees worked in shifts. All work took place on a network drive, so you could work from any computer.
Many, as students, worked on weekends.
Almost everyone remembers life in kindergarten with nostalgia. Everything was very soulful and family-like. Around the building - greenery, blooming flower beds. Many working questions were solved during walks along the paths around the kindergarten, and the sandbox was a classic place for reflection.
From the household details, the kindergarten toilet was the most memorable for the staff. First, he was alone, without division into "M" and "F". Secondly, there were tiny toilet bowls in it. And two in the booth. Especially joyful impressions remained after his visit to the company's customers :)
When the company grew even more, the marketing department moved to the office at m. Elektrozavodskaya. However, the work was uncomfortable. Began to look for a larger room. Found and moved again.
Tatiana Danielyan (deputy director of technology development), who participated in all the moves, said that “it was the coolest move. Then the company did not have that kind of money to hire someone, so we did everything ourselves - we cleaned everything, packed it, prepared it. Each employee was preparing the office for the move. All the property fit on one truck. "
Further moves were associated with global repairs and restructuring of the premises and the corporate network, so the second part of our travel history will be with more technical details and comments from our system administrators.
Tatyana Panferova,
Corporate Communications Service
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/99900/
All Articles