Teamdesk launch history: how I looked for the founder of the project

    I often have an irresistible urge to do something. Sometimes it is so strong that I can’t control it. Often people complain that they cannot quit their jobs and start their own business, cannot change anything in their life, and cannot start going to the gym. I usually have the opposite - I want to do too much, but I don’t have enough time and energy for everything.




    And now with Teamdesk(ticket system for customer support) everything turned out just like that. Only if many of my Wishlist have a small scale, then a new project (and, in fact, a full-fledged business) is already a whole "problem". But the idea of ​​making help desk number 1 in Russia persistently did not leave me. And I began to think, think a lot. When the dollar exchange rate exceeded 65, and the Federal Law 152 on Persian data and servers in the Russian Federation was discussed in full on the Internet, it became clear that it was impossible to postpone it. Now or never. But how?!

    If I worked "for my uncle" and could just quit, then everything would be much simpler (in any case, for me). I know that some of my friends who work for hire go to work, get paid, do the necessary minimum (so as not to be fired), and they themselves develop their startup. But I was and remain the CEO of Copiny with Napoleonic plans in Russia, with no less grandiose plans in the States. I have a lot of operational work and big tasks on me, in the end it's my company and I can not afford to work even 99% of the possible.

    But in one place he continues to twist, and his head continues to think: “How? How? How ?! ”And then I turned to Oscar Hartman for advice, he wrote me a short letter, the key phrase of which was:“ The team is first ”. And then I realized that for me the only way to implement this project can only be the search for a full-fledged founder, a person with entrepreneurial nature (albeit without experience), with the same passionate desire for his work.

    And I found him! At this time, Sasha was already working as a programmer, he constantly tried various “topics” and looked for “opportunities” for his work. He liked my idea and we started work. For myself in the company I assigned the role of investor and “chronicler”. In fact, I transferred the knowledge and experience that I have accumulated over 5 years to SaaS, sponsored the development, and on our blog from 0 to 1 000 000 rubles / month told how the project is going.

    At the next meeting with Copiny investors, I announced openly that I am launching a new project as an investor and remain CEO (of course) in the existing project and nothing, in general, is changing. It’s just not to say it was not fair, but I can’t. There was a lot of noise, I’ll tell you. And the anxiety of investors is clear - what will happen to their investments if the founder falls off the company or is out of focus? Nothing good! However, our investors are excellent (if anyone is interested, these funds are Vestor.IN , Softline VP , Impulse VC ), therefore, there were no disagreements or problems.

    Like any fairy tale, this ended pretty quickly. At one point, Sasha said that he did not want to continue to engage in the project. He lost interest and partly believed in him, and besides, he wants to try another project with another comrade. It was a blow below the belt, which could put an end to the whole project. My head worked with renewed vigor, and the question was already different: Who?



    We need a new CEO, but this time we need a person who will not just like the idea, he should be passionate about it, he should also believe in it, like me, he should be ready to sacrifice something. I hurriedly started sorting through my contacts, asking my friends and acquaintances, and just googling. And a week later, returning home from the office, I accidentally recalled how a year or two ago my former comrade from the institute asked me about investments, our experience in Copiny, etc. HM interesting!

    When he got home, the first thing he started to look for contacts and history of correspondence with this friend by the name of Nikolai. Having written off with Kolya, I find out what happened to his previous project and what was its essence - I killed him for almost a year, but took off. I find out where he is now and how things are doing - things are fine, he is the technical director at one of the companies in Bryansk. And right off the bat I suggest being a CEO in Teamdesk ...

    Everything happened very quickly: we meet, discuss, plan and consider. For a couple of weeks, Kolya reads tons of SaaS content, Internet marketing and sales, startups. Eyes are burning - excellent! When it comes to the current work, he readily announces that he will quit and full time will take up the project. When he asked whether it was necessary to sell real estate for investment in the project, I realized that he was the one I needed! Do you know a lot of people who are ready to invest their apartment and quit their job in a “foreign” project? Me not! As it turned out, he also postponed the wedding until next year .

    Yes, Kolya has no significant entrepreneurial experience, no sales knowledge and skills, no established contacts, etc. But this is far from the main thing now for a new project. At this stage, faith in the project, motivation, the desire to do something really cool and meaningful are much more important. The resulting partnership is just the case when the formula 1 + 1 = 11 works. It is very important for me that the partner does not feel like a hired manager with an option, but a full-fledged CEO of his company. How did we achieve this?

    This is not a big secret. I gave several tens of percent, while leaving control, in case of "force majeure". At the same time, I am ready in the future to share even more interest when achieving the planned indicators and to attract investments (if necessary) only at the expense of my share (without blurring the share of Nikolai).

    So, in half a year, a new business with big plans has grown out of a simple idea and an irresistible desire to make a project, without the opportunity to do it yourself. This is how the partner’s dream of his business came true. So, already several hundred Russian companies have the opportunity to organize a convenient support service in 5 minutes. This, of course, is far from Happy End, but we are on the right track.

    PS Friends, if you liked the story, subscribe to our blog on Megamind !

    PPS Who guessed what kind of house is in the picture at the beginning of the post?

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