The journey of starting a business
Mark learned how to put together business plans in an economics-focused school. Even at that time he realized that he wanted to become a businessman.
When he worked as a programmer in a high-level defense company after university, Mark was determined to come up with a business idea. Alongside his daytime job he began brainstorming and evaluating ideas for his future enterprise.
Mark saw an opportunity in the realm of online businesses. Unlike their offline counterparts, online businesses are easy and comparatively inexpensive to set up. He had been looking for such a business idea for about a year when he found it on a walk.
Mark would often help his classmates with math in school, and later other university students would pay for his assistance in their studies. He would do all the work himself while advertising his services on free online platforms. Referrals brought new clients. When all these facts came together, the idea of an online student assistance service was born.
The initial number of customers fell short of expectations. Mark started mastering all sorts of business skills: from promotion channels to budgeting, playing all the roles in his project. Before the third month after its launch was over, the service was already in the black.
At first Mark feared that someone would steal the idea, so he wouldn’t let anyone but family members be a part of his business. Over time he tamed his fears and started building a team of professionals to grow and scale his project. Mark hired people for remote work from the start, as he wished for freedom of movement and flexible working hours.
Mark had his first web service coded and designed by a professional. The first stage took about nine months. At launch it had many bugs, and Mark personally checked the code and debugged it together with the developer.
In April 2012, the web site of «Vse sdal!» was launched.
This is how the project «Vse sdal!» came to life.
At the beginning, Mark thought he would launch another project in a year, based on his business success story, but it was no sooner than 5 years later that his next two services came into being.
In tandem with his team Mark developed a unique startup testing and launching technique and refined their business promotion strategies. He gained invaluable experience of building professional project teams.
Today the web service «Vse sdal!» dominates the market, helping over 100 thousand students with more than 300 thousand assignments every year.
Mark has founded a digital ecosystem «Profilance Group», which brings together ideas, teams, and investments. They bring projects up from idea to profit.
His portfolio already includes four IT projects, two of which are market leaders. He constantly explores new ideas and launches new projects. His aim is to enter the international market and to build a unicorn startup in the next few years.