Personal experience: what Ukrainian and American businessmen can learn from each other

Charlie Lambropoulos is an American entrepreneur and mentor. Over the past ten years, he founded four companies and successfully sold three of them. A few years ago, Charlie opened an office in Kharkov and collaborates with Ukrainian developers. MC.Today talked to Charlie about his failures at the start of the business, the lessons he learned from them, and the differences in the thinking of Ukrainian and American businessmen.

Photo: Facebook UNIT.City

My biggest mistakes in business: what they taught me

When I was younger, I was great at college football. My trainer said that the only person in the world who will take care of you is your mother and no one but her. Therefore, no need to feel sorry for yourself, because no one will try to help if something goes wrong.

In difficult situations, I begin to feel sad, plunging in thought, but this is a big mistake. If you do not correct the situation yourself, then no one in the world will help you. And unfortunately, even your mom.

The first of the big mistakes I made during the launch of the company LYFE Mobile - a platform for advertising on mobile devices.

Before that, I had a profitable service company called Ocean Park Interactive. We helped advertisers to attract customers and increase sales through automated purchases of online advertising.

Then one day someone showed me a great app with augmented reality on your phone. 2011 was standing in the courtyard for a year, and I thought: why not create a new generation advertising platform? We already had a service for the purchase of advertising for desktop computers, and the thought came to mind: why not use the same advertising infrastructure for mobile?

Thus, I spent about six months and $ 75 thousand to create this platform. But most importantly, I did not ask if someone needed her. It turned out not.

After some time, I realized my mistake. I just liked to create something that, in my opinion, was cool, but really - damn stupid.

The second mistake happened after I sold LYFE Mobile to RhythmOne. One of the points of the agreement was that if I worked for a year in my former company, I would receive an extra $ 200 thousand for it. I didn’t even have to do anything there, just sit on a chair and get money!

It was a good offer, but I wanted to do something new. Then I decided to quit work and start a new project.

Looking back, I understand that I could start this new project, working in the old place and just getting money. I made an irrational decision that was dictated by more emotions than logic. After all, when someone gives you money for almost nothing, you do not appreciate it.

Now I try to be more logical and not to take emotional decisions. They usually lead to bad consequences.

When I first built a large company, I learned a lot along the way. For example, having to look for a couple of months in advance. Once, we and a co-founder of the company looked at our bank account and saw that we would run out of money in 18 days.

There were many such stories. Every week I thought that the company was about to close, but we were blown away. I am sure many entrepreneurs have a similar experience.

Emotional decisions are the way to disaster.

I often make mistakes when I am guided by emotions, and not by reason. Therefore, the best thing I can do is not to make a decision immediately, even if I think I know the answer. It is better to wait one day - the next will be more clarity in thoughts.

I also try to consult with people I trust before I decide whether to do it or not. This helps to avoid making emotional decisions. I think for most people, emotional decisions are the way to disaster.

How to understand that business has no future

My partner and I invested $ 400 thousand of our own money in LYFE Mobile for three years. We have created really cool software for many users. But our income did not grow fast enough, and I understood that our company would never be big.

I realized this after two years of time and investment in this company. I was lucky that I was selling technology, did not burn too much money and was able to save the team.

Three years later I was able to sell the company for $ 5 million. My main conclusion from this situation is this: if you see that the company is not successful, then it is. The point is not that you came up with the wrong strategy or did something wrong. It's not about you at all. Just this business is non-working, that's all.

The most valuable thing you have is your time, and the more you spend it on something that does not work, the less it is left for a business that can really shoot.

What Ukrainians and Americans can learn from each other

The main aspect of American business culture is income generation. When you create a company, first think about the financial outlook and the viability of your business.

In Ukraine, many companies are much more focused on the product and its benefits than on how to sell it. It is often not clear what the commercial supply or benefits for the client.

I believe that before starting a business, you need to immediately decide on what you will earn. I am sure that, being in Ukraine, one can easily find articles or lectures on how sales in the USA are arranged, what is business-oriented thinking and what makes business viable.

In America, financing is the basis of business culture. First, we seek to attract investment, and then we do something.

In Ukraine, on the contrary: entrepreneurs often develop a project with a limited budget, save. I am sure that the Americans can take it into service - a business can be built without raising funds.

In Ukraine, I met people who repair their cars themselves if they break or repair an elevator in the house. In America, this culture does not exist, to solve any problem, we call a specialist. I think this is a valuable skill, and Americans can learn from Ukrainians to be more self-sufficient.

About business in Ukraine: pros and cons

A few years ago, my friend and I from Kharkov, who previously worked at the GlobalLogic office in Los Angeles, created the video platform vLoop.io.

Subsequently, we sold the business, but after the sale, we still have a developer office in Kharkov, and we are still cooperating. Ukraine has a high level of education and talented IT specialists, most of whom are fluent in English.

Therefore, the old team has become part of my new company ScrumLaunch, which is engaged in grocery design and development, helping start-ups to create cool software.

Now our team is working with seven American startups. In a team from 15 to 25 people, their number often changes depending on current needs.

One of the main advantages in the development of business in Ukraine is the absence of taxes. In America, if you hire a full-time employee, you need to pay 30% federal taxes for each of them.

This difference makes it possible to pay developers in Ukraine more, and this is more cost-effective than hiring American specialists. And for Ukrainians, this is a great opportunity to work with American companies and gain experience.

I see that now Ukraine is developing abruptly, and I constantly meet many talented guys. In Ukraine, there are many opportunities to start a business, Ukrainians create a lot of cool things, they want to start companies, and this is inspiring. I was pleasantly surprised by their enthusiasm, the quality of products, technologies and innovations.

On the other hand, Ukrainians often say at the reflex level that it is impossible to earn money in Ukraine. I believe them, but I would be curious to analyze the numbers. It seems that people are just disappointed in the economy.

One big disadvantage of Ukrainian companies is the inefficiency of sales at the international level. Ukrainians have yet to learn how to sell their products in Europe and the USA.

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