Myriad Opportunities: How To Create A Startup And Bring It To The International Market, A Founder’s Story with Alex Pospekhov
Alex Pospekhov, founder and SEO of relotech company Missiontech.co, VP of strategy at space tech startup Mission Space, will be interesting for you. Alex has helped more than 180 startups (including Zelf, Fixar, Marine Digital, Mission Space, Point-X, D2D, etc.) to relocate and scale up in the EU and rise more than 20M EUR of investments. Together with Mission Space, he scaled the startup up from the idea to the closing of the round with an advance payment of 5M EUR in Luxembourg and the capture of all possible accelerators.
Tell us about your childhood and where you grew up
I had a very interesting childhood. I was born and grew up on the outskirts of Moscow. My area was quite harsh and tough, and there were often showdowns and fights. Despite this, I was lucky to get into an elite humanities school, where I received a good education. Since high school, I have been interested in economics. I was very enterprising, I had many ideas. For example, I created a small business about tobacco and pipes, because at that time it was an ideal market for making money. By the way, the combination of fundamental education with life in a not very favorable area was in fact quite beneficial. It planted in me the conviction that unfair advantage is the most important thing in business. If you are smart and courageous enough to find and implement it, competitors will never be able to beat you. Now I often use it in business.
How did you get started as an entrepreneur?
I was born into an entrepreneurial family, so the desire to follow in their footsteps was in my blood. At 17, I started working in telecommunications developing digital services for mobile. We built systems analogous to iTunes and the App Store before those platforms had become widespread. Afterward, I had a company that did mobile development on commission. We created iPad magazines, interactive mobile services, and lots of fintech projects. When Revolut first launched and the PSD directive was issued in the European Union, people started coming to me for advice about the mobile field. I could easily imagine the kinds of programs that existed in Europe since my business already had European fintech clients. This motivated me to study European regulations, after which I created my own fintech marketplace. At the same time, numerous startup programs were launching in the EU and I decided to relocate my project to Latvia. After a successful launch, people began asking me questions about the finer points of startup visas, company registration, and taxes. I saw a real demand for that kind of help, and that’s what inspired me to launch Missiontech.co.
What is one business lesson you would tell a startup founder?
My advice is to let bygones be bygones, and not waste your time preparing for battles that are already in the past. Many startup founders, having survived the crisis, are closing themselves off from the world and from new opportunities. They become defensive and focus on anticipating any negative events and protecting their capital. Of course, this is a good strategy as you always have to be rational and safe. But it shouldn’t overstep the bounds. Otherwise, there is a chance to miss great opportunities. Founders should always be in the present moment and focus on future opportunities, not on past problems.
