Founder Tips. Victor Koch, Slinky



    “Founder’s Tips” once again introduces Megamind readers to the stars of the Russian IT market, the founders and managers of their own business.

    Victor Koch is the founder of Slinky.me , the largest repository of GIF files and a search engine for them. Victor managed to work in large companies, including Google and Pinterest, in order to gain experience and at one point move towards creating his own business.

    Do not be lazy to talk about your product where appropriate


    Behind me, the launch of more than 5 mass products and each of them developed from discussion with people. This kind of approach solves the problem that you feel the need of people for this product. Sometimes you know how ... people create empty products that no one needs, and then such entrepreneurs end their lives with suicide or alcoholism. Talk about the product to your colleagues, friends, girl (often a girl who does not work in the IT business will ask exactly the same questions as everyone else ... of course, if you have a good relationship). The main thing is to take a measure, otherwise you will tire everyone with your ideas about improving the world, and then you will be considered a rare balabol.

    If you have funds, then invest them in your own development and in your own reputation.


    By this I mean not getting the left crust from Vasya Pupkin, but a full-fledged development for a personal understanding of things. Only when you can feel the market, you will feel its importance for it. Without this understanding, in principle, it is not worth doing anything serious at all, because the chance that something new and interesting will turn out is extremely small. On average, this kind of evolution should take at least ± 6 years, and even more it all depends on your tenacity with desire. Money will also be required, so set aside at least 2,000,000 rubles for all experiments and searches for yourself.

    Make the product sexy so that everyone thinks that leadership is felt in this team


    At this point, there are a lot of nuances and one of them comes from the leader (the founder of the product), because if you are a dull “poop”, then it’s hardly worth risking everything (money, time and yourself) to get to the goal. Just go to work at the bank and other places where you are waiting. As practice shows, only 1 person out of 1 million is really adapted to create products from scratch.

    Keep your head in a mental order and be ready for punches in the groin


    This point I consider the main and most important. Over the past 8 years, I have seen so many things that it is time to take sedative pills. I'm not joking, because went through several stages of rise and fall, which completely knocked me out of the rut in which I was. It was this terrible experience that made me move carefully (sometimes I feel like a panther) and not start my mental state.

    Again, if you do not adapt well to stress, then you absolutely should not start a startup. The tech market is the heaviest and outstrips the industrial market by 6-8 times. If you are not a patient person in life and simply cannot work through “I do not want”, then the conclusion is unlikely to comfort you. Look at yourself and ask your girlfriend / wife how stress-resistant you are in the worst situations. If you do not have such a rod, then I’m afraid you will be soaked like a flea right after release. Criticism will destroy you and destroy your motivation.

    Believe me, but people hate smart people, and even more so those who are trying to change their habits. Get ready for death every day and you just have to swallow it without a single deviation. You seemed to live and live, and then again: “You are the enemy! You freak! You're a thief! You are a liar! ”Pay attention to how people react when they take their toothbrush (this is the weakest comparison). On a subconscious level, something similar happens in people's heads.

    “Who am I in the system?” Or personality deformation


    Everyone knows that any work leaves a mark, but there is no stronger influence than from processes when you create a product that initially seems amazing to you, and then it fails with a bang. A huge number of people lose heart and give up after the first failure. According to the statistics of such entrepreneurs, about 98%. I will give an example.

    You invest all of yourself. It’s like you are raising a child. You do not spare yourself. You see the future. but one day you realize that you’ve made a mistake. Only 1 tech company out of 10,000 lives more than a year. Awful yes? Scared? If so, then it's time to drink the poison.

    I can say to myself that after the first disappointment I was so depressed ... and there was no one around me who could support me. As a result, this led to my psychological deformation. Only by the will of fate and other factors of self-destruction I came to what is called self-control. In this regard, I read a lot of materials and learned for myself the terrible truth that severe depression in a mix with stress, disappointment, and personal defeat cuts out almost everything that is living inside, so keep your finger on the pulse. The higher the rise, the more serious the fall. You can fall and break, and it will be impossible to repair a person.

    From the Editor: if you have a desire to participate in the Founder's Tips rubric, write to us at editor (at) megamozg.ru

    Also popular now: