Roman and Stacy founded Awesomic, a program that pairs design tasks to help entrepreneurs with the best designer. They have 27 designers on staff and have completed more than 2,000 design projects for more than 250 businesses globally. They met on Tinder five years ago and started thinking about creating a business together after two years of dating. Their first project was Shopify apps, but they abandoned it due to lack of experience and a step-by-step strategy.
Awesomic is a program that pairs design tasks with the best designer; it was founded by Roman and Stacy. They presently have 27 designers on staff, and in the previous year, they finished more than 2,000 design projects for more than 250 businesses globally.
What are you currently working on and who are you?
Good day! We are Roman and Stacy, the creators of the software Awesomic, which matches design tasks with the most suitable designer. Stacy is the chief operational and marketing officer, and I am the company’s chief executive.
We utilized cutting-edge high-end design and the shared economy concept to launch Awesomic. This gave us the opportunity to collaborate with companies and qualified designers so that we could satisfy all of the busy entrepreneurs’ design needs in a single app, saving them time. And our consumers have given us good reviews!
What is your background, and how did you come up with this idea?
Before we met, Roman had over eight years of experience as a software developer for multinational corporations.
Stacy worked in marketing and communications. She started her career as a PR manager for an Olympic medalist and is currently the CMO of an online retailer with over 100 global markets.
We met thanks to Tinder because its algorithms connected us five years ago, which may sound funny. The story’s breathtaking opening scene.
We started thinking about creating a business together after two years of dating since we were clearly fit for it. We continue to giggle and say that it was the ideal complement for not just us but subsequently for a great deal of other people as well.
The building of Shopify apps was our first project. We abandoned the project after releasing two plug-ins since we quickly discovered that we lacked the essential experience and a step-by-step strategy.
We also graduated from the Y-Combinator startup program around this time, which was a huge progress step. It assisted us in deciding where we should go next and how to fix our mistakes.
In the process of working on our first contract, we learned how difficult it was to find a skilled developer in Ukraine. We made the decision to start Doge Codes, an online developer school, using Roman knowledge.
It was going quite smoothly. We graduated more than 200 students in just two years, becoming the first Github representatives in the CIS. As part of our “learning by doing” philosophy, students developed their app development skills while making a real application.
But Doge Codes had one major drawback: it was a regional project. And even while we were happy with how well our pupils were doing, we still wanted to work for the global market.
Here is our first realization: if you want to make anything large-scale, you must do so right away since it could be difficult to subsequently manufacture a giant chair out of a small piece of wood.
One day, we realized we were running low on cash and that Roman would need to find “proper” job if we didn’t devise a new business strategy.
We suddenly realized that everyone need a design subscription.
Small businesses and startups like Doge Codes typically face the same design dilemma. They still need marketing graphics and website graphics, but they don’t have enough work to hire a full-time designer. They like to deal with independent contractors who occasionally behave badly and perform below par.
After a quick search turned up no models, we made the decision to try it. This turned out to be a really great idea.
How did you turn a concept into a finished product?
We’ve been hard at work nonstop. After 10 days of hard effort, we had a working company plan and two designers ready to start working as soon as we found clients. Unexpectedly, Tilek asked for our help with startup branding. He was our very first client.
We chose to test our concept at the coworking space we were renting at the time after obtaining preliminary confirmation that it makes sense.
Because we intended to validate the idea with at least five to ten successful cases before development, there was no website at first. Roman really remarked, “I won’t develop a single line of code unless we understand its worth.
Email communications with customers lasted for two months. Eventually, managing the entire process without a platform got unacceptable, so we started creating one. Roman participated in a hackathon that included food delivery and energy drinks, and the web application was finished in three days.
As a result, this is our second learning: constantly test your ideas, pay attention to them, and don’t be afraid to change your mind if something doesn’t work.
What marketing techniques did you use to grow your company?
in relation to idea testing. Excellently, this guideline also applies to marketing.
We started by confirming the Awesemic business idea in our neighborhood, which is near to our target market. This is perhaps the reason why recommendations and word-of-mouth have been so successful for us from the start.
However, a straightforward handkerchief was our preferred and most successful method of advertising. One day, a sizable conference was held at our coworking space, and several projects stuck their attractive business cards on the board in the elevator. What could be more eye-catching than a regular napkin with the words “design from $399” and a poorly spelled website address?
We were able to gain our first clients thanks to this simple step, and no other marketing strategy received as much positive feedback.
To be honest, we had a huge advantage over the competition. Our previous corporate name was Pizdata, which in Ukrainian means “f**king awesome.” This allowed us to get media attention, create buzz, and go viral in CIS countries. People started to show interest in what we were doing, which motivated us more.
We also collaborated with a number of media channels, watched television shows, and did interviews to raise brand awareness. However, the pivotal moment came when we signed up for Product Hunt since we had effectively penetrated the international market. It was unparalleled!
Our Growth team recently combined our Marketing and Sales teams. This enables us to coordinate our efforts and observe the entire funnel at once.
Our third lesson is to keep a list of hypotheses and to keep testing them. As a result, you will identify the product-market fit and never pass up the chance to improve your project.
What are you doing right now? What are your long-term goals?
We’re doing fantastic. acquiring new customers, hiring designers, and steadily growing. We now have 27 motivated experts on board, including 20 designers and 7 other specialists:)
In the previous year alone, we finished over 2,000 design projects for more than 250 businesses globally. Reface, Outtalent, People.ai, SilviaTerra, Redtrack, Snov.io, and MN2S are a few of them. We are thrilled to work with such forward-thinking companies and organizations that are expanding quickly and providing real value.
We also secured a round of funding in 2020 from many angel investors who help us in different ways. Since everyone participating has a wealth of expertise starting and running businesses, the partnership has been successful.
We intend to increase our staff by up to 100 daily app-based designers by the end of 2021. We want to create a design network for European experts, but for now, let’s keep things under wraps.
In terms of long-term goals, our organization’s global vision is to change the design freelance and outsourcing sector into a new way of life that helps entrepreneurs and companies throughout the world.
What have you discovered to be your most significant lessons since starting Awesomatic?
The most significant lesson we discovered along the way was essentialism, which is the act of staying concentrated and cooperating as a team to achieve a single, core goal.
You must focus on the main objective until it is finished. then move on to the next. Nothing will work well if you try to concentrate on several goals at once.
Verifying different assumptions and scaling from the beginning are two other lessons that we have already covered. Think big, but don’t be afraid to fail!
Find a community that will aid in your growth and evolution, and lastly.
What were the toughest obstacles you overcame? What were your biggest mistakes?
We came to the conclusion that challenges must constantly be anticipated and overcome.
Due to our personal circumstances, there was a high danger of failure in our instance. Running a business with your spouse is never easy. Conflicts are essentially unavoidable in an equal partnership since there are two leaders and two perspectives.
Sometimes, this can lead to a deadlock, but thankfully, we’ve found a solution. We divided our domains of influence from the beginning. Roman also has a veto authority, makes the ultimate decision, and is responsible for it in his capacity as CEO.
We’ve learnt to plan things out beforehand, monitor our development, and identify any potential dangers. Because running away from difficulties will prevent you from succeeding.
What equipment and sources would you recommend?
We have already tried so many things! While some of them were successful, others weren’t. Therefore, we will only endorse those who assisted in the creation of Aweosmic.
1) The initial course at Y-Combinator. Every venture creator should read it since it offers all the information they require. The best part is that Y-Combinator’s YouTube channel also provides free materials.
2) Course at the University of SaaStr. This one was just as entertaining! Excellent scaling techniques that can be used with most contemporary company ideas.
Camp for Salto Development 3. Top businesspeople from a range of sectors provide their wisdom and guide you to avoid their mistakes. It sounds fantastic, no? Additionally, it helped us locate our first angel investors.
There are a ton more, including newsletters, articles, and podcasts. We continue to grow as people and as Awe-Inspiring by learning something new every day.
For further information
For additional details on Awesomic, visit our website. For a set monthly charge, we would gladly help you with all your design needs.
We gather unique business case studies from all over the internet, to inspire you with a wide range of business ideas. This case study was supervised by our team and it definitely caught our interest. You can find other inspiring business stories here.
English 
German 
Spanish 