Silicon Valley video interview. Ilya Semin: “I do not need investors” - how to build a business in IT without attracting investments


    With you is a new issue of informative interviews and reports from Silicon Valley. This time, the interview was not with Rock Star, which we are probably a little tired of , but simply with a talented entrepreneur from the Valley who recently managed to build a successful business and assemble a team of 8 people. Ilya Semin, a former Nokia developer, once decided to quit his job at the company and move across America from Boston to Silicon Valley to build his company there. Ilya created an application that, by the principle of a search engine, bypasses millions of sites and looks at which Internet technologies they use. Based on this information, customers can, for example, see when a competitor’s product appeared on one of the sites, and, taking advantage of the moment, “intercept” the client from the competitor.

    For example, if a company makes an advanced version of Google Analytics, then Datanyze will help it track those who use this technology and, thus, give a list of potential customers who can offer the service. As Ilya himself says: “Datanyze is a tool to offer your product at the right time to the right company. We give information about who to offer, when, their contacts and all the necessary information about the company (how many people work, what is their profit, funding, year of foundation, etc.). ” In an interview, Ilya Syomin explains why he quit his job at Nokia, how he created the company, why he is not looking for investments, and will also share the secrets of marketing on Twitter and LinkedIn. Under the cut more information and interview questions.

    (Another example: a company makes a plugin for WordPress - through Datanyze you can keep track of who just moved to WordPress and offer them your plugin. Another example: you’re a consultant for a company, for example, Salesforce - again, you can watch as soon as anyone someone started using a competitor's product - offer your own. The whole list of technologies that Datanyze monitors is very large, you can see it here )

    Interview questions:
    • Tell us why you left the Nokia office in Boston, made such a long journey across America to Silicon Valley to make your startup here
    • What did you do at Nokia?
    • How does it work in your own startup?
    • Can you give a specific example?
    • At what stage of development is your startup? Many clients?
    • How did the idea come about and why did it capture you so much that you decided to quit your job at Nokia?
    • Do you have any investors?
    • Do not even consider attracting investment to spur growth and development?
    • That is, you are more interested in investing in the form of clients and experience than just money?
    • Do you have any mentors now?
    • What advice can you give to beginning entrepreneurs who still want to get an investment?
    • What are some of the best ways to attract customers for you?
    • And on Twitter, who did you contact?
    • Did you have a problem with mass following on Twitter? The account is not banned?
    • And on LinkedIn, you didn’t use the InMail function, but just guessed the email? (Mentioned Rapportive plugin )
    • Is there any community of Russian-speaking entrepreneurs in the Valley? ( Talking about AmBAR )


    Thank you for your attention and for the positive feedback. Subscribe to the channel to follow the video updates (reports and interviews). If someone wants to help with decryption, it would be great. Unfortunately, I simply do not have time for this.

    PS: the next interview will be with Igor Scheufot , a well-known serial entrepreneur, investor and representative of the TMT Investments investment fund in Silicon Valley, who, among others, also invested in Virool, whose interview I recently posted . Write in the comments what questions you would like to ask Igor.

    Previous Posts:
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    Video interview from Silicon Valley. Sergey Burkov - serial entrepreneur, mentor 500 Startups, the first head of the Google development center in Russia
    Video interview from Silicon Valley. Members of SovDir AmBAR, the largest US business association of Russian-speaking high-tech professionals
    Report from Silicon Valley. Blackbox - American startup accelerator focused on non-American startups
    Report from Silicon Valley. Hacker Dojo Tour - Free Coworking Center
    Video Interview from Silicon Valley. Max Skibinsky - Serial Entrepreneur, Business Angel, and Incubator Mentor 500 Startups

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