Russian startups told why Americans are different, and why this is not bad

A few months later I started my startup and moved to Florianópolis, the island city from which they were trying to make the South American Silicon Valley at that time. It was a transportation application with bus routes, something like Citymapper. In 2013, I arrived in Sochi, which was actively preparing for the Olympics, and realized that there were also problems with public transport (taxi services were not so developed then). I saw this as a great opportunity and decided to stay for a while and launch the application. That was a mistake.

- Great app, what do you need?

- Schedule public transport.

- Why are you doing this?

- Application is paid. Worth $ 2.

- Oh, so you're going to make money on this? And what will we get?

They did not care that the bus routes and the timetable were public data, they were indifferent to the cool service that could have turned out in the end. For comparison, in Brazil, the deputy mayor of Florianópolis contacted me via the feedback form in the application, invited me to the meeting, and the entire municipality helped us in every way.

I myself was surprised when I realized that in Brazil, with all its drawbacks from a business point of view, I was much more comfortable working than at home. Yes, there is a monstrous bureaucracy - for example, in comparison with Moscow, everything is done there very slowly. If they say “I will do it tomorrow”, it means in a week, and if they say “in a week”, it means never. They need to kick endlessly. There is no such hell in Russia, but in Brazil they really want to do something and improve. This is more important to me.

In 2014, taxi services began to truly change the industry and the quality of urban life. It was very interesting to me and, as a result, I found myself in Moscow Gett. It was a move more than any optimization of public transport. In 2014-2015, we really changed the mind and habits of people in moving around the city. Making taxi a part of public transport seemed like an incredible task. But I think we did it.

After the displacement of this tectonic plate, the stage of transferring experience to other cities and the growth of the current model began. Which, by the way, is also not easy, but not so exciting. Gett began to turn into a corporation, and the bank with pickles did not go away.

If you are motivated enough, you can move mountains. I find the motivation in my demand and necessity - I can’t walk well and prove my usefulness to people. It's clear that you need to sell yourself everywhere, so I decided that it would be better to do this in a truly competitive environment - in the USA. In Latin America and Russia, you can do something more or less decent and take off. In the states - no. Making it cool is a necessary factor, but not enough. They already realized that the model MVP (Minimum Viable Product) does not work, need MLP (Minimum Loveable Product). You can not open a candy store and say: "I will make cakes, but for now, two cakes, buy." You have to make a cake! And so that the cherry was on it, and the cream. Then it will be able to sell. Such a product requires a lot of investment, time, team faith. You need to be frenzied, fanatically believe in yourself and your product.

Photo: Facebook / Eugene Antoshkin

The idea for a startup came when I came to New York in 2015 for a couple of months. From time to time I wanted to play football on street grounds; it is called pickup games - you do not pay contributions and do not undertake to act for the team, but simply come to the field when you want. There was no clear and structured information about such communities, and I realized that I needed to make a tool. It turned out to be in demand. They began to ask me: “You play football on Saturdays in that park, it’s too far for me, and you don’t know where else they are going?”.

It turned out that a similar idea was born to my friend. Without thinking twice, we decided to do a startup. So appeared Sportimity. For almost two years we have been working on sheer enthusiasm, constantly borrowing money from friends and relatives. I do not have close people who I should not. Now I have leveled the situation and slowly begin to give, but it was not easy. In September, we finally moved from the “have MVPlooking for money "in the stage of" doing MLP". We now have more 45 partners (running clubs, workout communities, and so on), investors, a fulltime team.

Of course, the approach to business in Russia and the United States is completely different, and I had to seriously re-educate myself. I made a lot of mistakes and continue to do them and learn. For example, at first I was misled by the American culture of politeness. There will never be called your idea bad, even if they really think so. Instead, they will say, “Well done, good luck!” And, in addition, will introduce you to someone who does something similar. But to get to the point, you have to wait long and patiently.

The standard investor story is when you are told: “At this stage there are too many risks for us, but we are waiting for you at stage A” (the stage of active growth of a startup. - Esquire.). In half the cases, it means “I don’t need you at all, not interesting” - such a polite refusal.

Photo: Facebook / Eugene Antoshkin

The difference in mentality is palpable, and this has played a cruel joke with me several times.

I, as a Russian person, it is important to agree to the smallest detail and, so to speak, hit on the hands, and only then - the paper and everything else. Here it is accepted to send documents immediately. The investor either accepts them or suggests corrections - and you negotiate everything together. It happened with one investor: I wanted to discuss the details further, so I delayed sending the documents. He was alerted. After a couple of months of active negotiations, he refused the deal, because I have never fixed our agreements on paper. For them, this is an indicator of frivolous intentions and generally a suspicious sign.

Plus, we in Russia are used to the fact that if you agreed with one person, you are not looking for another on the side. What for? Everything suits me. It is even somehow indecent, not in our way. But here the opposite is true: the lack of competition is suspicious. If you are an investor and you do not have a competitor for a share in a startup, then this project has some kind of trick. That's what they think.

In Russia, we are used to working in a narrow circle of people who know each other well and have friendly relations. The principle is such that less is better. Here - the wider the funnel, the greater the chance. While in Russia you are building relationships with one person (who has changed his mind once in a while 10), in the US you can involve 20 in your project.

Here you need to constantly meet new people and expand the funnel around them. In another way, if you want to achieve something. With all my openness and experience of living in different countries, at first it was difficult for me. But when I saw the first results, the discomfort began to evaporate. Constantly communicating with people and not hesitating to ask for help, you even begin to think differently: there is no problem for you anymore, but there is a task and a phone number - start calling and writing. Here they joke that a person should do networking, even when dead, and his funeral should also be networking. It does not condemn the use of connections and dating, here condemn, if you do not.

Photo: Facebook / Eugene Antoshkin

In Russia (I take the country as a whole) there is no networking. There is loyalty, fraternity; have their own, for which they harness, regardless of the situation, and there are strangers who are not something that will not help, but also put sticks in the wheels.

About Americans often say that they do not know how to be friends, criticize them for their insincerity. But I noticed another feature of their culture - the so-called “chiring” (from English to cheer). Support each other here is just in the genes. At first, I didn’t understand why 10 had more spectators at the New York Marathon than participants. Stand aside and watch strangers running around you, somehow strange, right? But when I first came to look at the participants of the Boston Marathon, I realized what a cool atmosphere the viewers are creating. People come to support others in the challenge they set themselves. It is important for them, and you help them to reach the goal and this makes you feel involved. You helped someone to become better. This is a national trait, about which they do not particularly speak.

Even the recent story of Michelle Carter, who this summer was convicted of 2,5, for driving her young man to suicide. By their correspondence, it is clear that at first the girl dissuaded the guy and suggested that he turn to psychologists. When he declared that 100% decided to commit suicide, she switched to the “Chira” mode and began to motivate him. At the last moment, his instinct of self-preservation worked, but the girl, as expected, did not let him give up and persuaded to reach the end. This, of course, is a peak case, wildness, but it works like this. I had a period of deep depression associated with a startup, when I did not leave the house for weeks. Russian friends supported, helped, but realizing that the matter was bad, they shrugged their shoulders - they say, the strong guy will figure it out. Americans just won't leave you alone, they really get to the bottom: what happens? what about a startup? why no updates? where are the users?

I like the business environment in America. Previously, the condescending attitude of American startups to European ones seemed to me snobbery. But, having traveled last year to WebSummit in Lisbon, where there was venture capital and start-ups from all over Europe, I saw this gap between the US and EU markets. From Russia this is not visible. It's like in Night Watch - a low-level magician cannot determine the level of a stronger mage. Well, or as with foreign languages, you can appreciate a person who speaks worse than you, but those who speak the language better are equally good for you.

Of course, there is a bundle inside the States. For example, San Francisco startups do not understand why they are doing projects elsewhere. People often ask me why we are based in New York and not in Silicon Valley. But since our startup has an urban bias, our market is the metropolis. Not only is the population of New York ten times the size of San Francisco, the density is also one third higher. Not to mention that in the Valley, as well as throughout America as a whole, it is impossible to live without a car. This, of course, is also a large and interesting market, but the initial task is to organize a sports outdoor-life in walking distance from home or work.

We should also note the New York City Parks Department, which contains more than four thousand sports facilities in excellent condition and is actively developing. For example, over the next two years 50 of new football fields will open in the city. I do not think that in any other American city in general there is so much. Yes, Silicon Alley (the so-called New York start-up market) is several times smaller than the Valley, it’s harder to find investments and a team - especially if it is not a traditional New York-based startup related to advertising, financial technology and fashion. But, as trite as it sounds, if you can make it there. So I believe that sooner or later I can make sport rock and roll, even in Russia.