Reflecting on My Startup Experience, Part 1

The First Time

I have worked at several startups. My first experience goes back to 2021, when a friend recommended me as a founding engineer to the founders of Uma, a platform where stylists could promote curated wardrobes and earn money through referral links. It was built for stylists and their clients. Building it was fun: we got feedback and watched people use something we had made.

At the time, I was a second-year student at HSE. The combined workload of studying and working was draining my mental and physical health. I took academic leave because I believed I would learn more through work and practical experience.

Leaning back from my laptop while working on Uma Holding my face while working on Uma Resting my chin on my hands while working on Uma Leaning against my laptop while working on Uma

I learned a lot about software development and how startup teams work, especially the dynamics between product, engineering, and business development. It was the first time I had built a production system, hired developers, and mentored them.

Eventually, I began to feel that we were not going to make it. We could not keep up with the goals we had set for ourselves and our investors. The main bottleneck was the original idea itself: to see a wardrobe curated by a blogger, followers had to open the link in the blogger’s Instagram bio. Without constant promotion, the conversion rate approached zero.

So I decided to leave. I also decided to move closer to business and decision-making while staying connected to a technical team. That led me to make what turned out to be a big mistake: I started looking for an analyst position. What I should have done instead was learn to communicate and argue my case more effectively with business stakeholders, backing my position with facts and numbers. But anyway.

Here Comes the Money

With experience in development and working with product owners, plus an earlier business analyst internship at Russia’s largest digital bank, I had no trouble getting a job at Hice Bank. Hice was a fintech startup building a minimalist but comprehensive banking experience for solopreneurs.

Although I now see moving into analytics as a mistake, working at Hice itself was great. I learned a lot. Rodion, my analytics lead, was excellent; the team was young and sharp; and the pace of working alongside other talented people felt exciting. I learned about banking infrastructure and how to design reliable systems, where bugs and optimistic, happy-path-only thinking have no place.

At the Hice office holding a plush pillow

After almost a year, I decided to try returning to university. Once again, I could not keep up with both and started to struggle at work. I made promises I could not keep and underdelivered. After some time working this way and a couple of one-on-one conversations about my performance, I was fired.

An empty chair in the Hice office after I was fired

That experience taught me to focus on delivering results on time and, just as importantly, managing expectations and communicating early.

Can’t Stop

I then worked at Mobile TeleSystems, which I did not really enjoy. Later, my friend Vova invited me to join RealWeb Group. After some time in a relatively peaceful role, I was invited to work on RealAI, a startup founded by RealWeb’s founder.

At first, I worked part-time because I was still at RealWeb and remained skeptical of startups after my previous experience. But my love for the zero-to-one stage and building something from scratch won out. I joined RealAI full-time and began working with the team I am still part of today.

Two RealAI teammates standing on the roof of a car stuck in a lake

Part 2 is coming.