Are there any mistakes in the outgoing year that you would like to mention?

There are certain mistakes. As Churchill said: “The path to success is the road from one failure to another, with increasing optimism.” Perhaps the main mistake was placing excessive hopes on certain team members. It cost us a lot — we lost time. But I can’t stop believing in people.

 

It is customary to look for advantages in a bad experience. What lesson have you and the team personally learned from mistakes?

It’s hard to say. Whether I learned a lesson from this, the future will show. I want to believe that yes. The main problem in our work is making decisions on priorities. But even after a while, it is difficult to say how it would be right. The decision to make a kernel was wrong. We lost 8 months on its development.

 

Last year, the company was trying to find an investor around the same time. Should we expect such steps in the coming year?

We are getting closer and closer to the point where it will become necessary. It is possible, of course, to bring the project to completion in the current funding situation. But it will be a very long way. We are in a moment when time is playing against us. But do not think that we will be able to find investors easily enough. It is incredibly difficult to find an investor with a strong position who will believe in a project of this kind and will not be afraid of risks. Although the amount of investment we need now is comparable to the cost of a business class car. Something like that.

 

What do you think is the problem of finding investments for such an ideological project?

Now the trends are such that 95% of investors invest in projects at the last stage. This way they increase the investment ratio and minimize risks. At this stage, we just might not be interested in them. And for the remaining 5% the problem of “blurred” vision is characteristic. That is, they receive hundreds of requests every day. And our project is not something that can be explained in a minute. In a minute it will be perceived as “some guys are going to move the giants of the IT industry.” Naturally, we get lost among hundreds of requests coming to a potential investor.  Recently I saw the news that a very considerable amount was invested in a startup that develops a device for feeding a dog. You press the remote control and this tool feeds the animal. And I am tormented by the question: is there no more problems in our world if we invest millions in such things?

 

In your opinion, how much has the project grown this year?

From the user’s side, there is no growth of the project. As I said above, we lost about 8 months due to problems in core development. This has shifted our priorities a lot this year. But, despite this, we managed to implement most of our plans. In addition, the team has become more cohesive, and the work has become better. During the year, we wrote and rewrote a total of 7 services.

 

How has the team changed during this period? And why?

There were no big changes in the team this year. And those that were, because the salary in our project is lower than the market, and you need to work 2 or 3 times more.  Not everyone understands why he needs it. Moreover, not everyone can withstand such a pace of work. We have a very long and difficult path, with an unguaranteed result at the end. The need to go through it is not obvious to everyone.

 

At what stage is the project now?

Something in between alpha and beta. From the point of view of investors — preseed. According to our developers, we can no longer just go but go. That is, we are reaching the stage when writing code should not cause sudden problems. But I approach assessment with caution.

 

The user cannot yet use SFERA in full. What is the reason for this?

We admit that we have not been able to implement a part of our plans this year. This is because we corrected the mistakes of competent, as it seemed to us, people in the code. That is, we have completely rewritten the client and server parts in the application. After that, we returned to the main tasks according to the plan. Despite this, I am still proud of our work. Since, despite the problems on the backup, we were able to implement another service – VideoS (alpha version), we almost added Find Friends (friend search service) and Work & Business. Having a budget 3 times less than necessary, a team 2 times less than necessary, we were still able to meet our expectations, albeit partially.

 

There is an opinion that startups need at least 5 years to form. Is that so, and what do you think about it?

On average, it takes about 5 years for a startup to enter an IPO, it’s true. This was stated by one of the most respected investors — Ilya Strebulaev (Professor of Finance and venture capital at Stanford Graduate School of Business). I believe that everything is combined here: gaining competence, experience by trial and error, finding investors, and so on. But I would not like to calm myself with this since we do not have these 5 years.

 

What are the app development plans for the coming year?

V2 version for all sub-applications, pre-release versions. Plus the introduction of Find Friends, Work & Business, SFERA Feed sub-applications. Efforts will be focused on improving their functionality and stability.

 

You wanted to open a company in America. Why is America and how are things with the opening?

The corporation is open. If we are talking about SFERA as a global phenomenon and interaction with investors, then America has 90% of the market. Therefore, opening a company there is an absolute necessity.

 

Is there a chance that you will sell the project to some larger company in the same America, if the team does not find an investor?

I don’t intend to do that. And this thought is even disgusting to me to some extent. I can’t be responsible for the other co-founders. They are free to do whatever they want with their share. But for me, as I said earlier, this is possible if the money from the sale is spent on something even more ambitious and useful. But again, such an outcome is almost impossible. I will emphasize once again that I am doing this project not to earn money, but to change the world for the better.

 

What would you like to say to the team at the end of this year?

This year has been very difficult, and the next one will be even harder. I wish us all perseverance, only it can lead to something grand. I believe in the team. Many people have been here since the very beginning of the project, for them, this path is as difficult as for me. I am proud to be able to work with such people and create history.

 

Karen, Product Manager

“There were many events in the outgoing year 2021, both positive and negative. The negative ones, I can note that we are faced with the problem of responsibility of some team members. Fortunately, they are no longer part of it. Our guys lacked experience in some tasks, and we made mistakes that cost us money and time. A lot of physical and emotional resources were spent. On the positive side, we are preparing well for the recruitment of users. This is a job for the future. But already now we are actively attracting an audience in social networks and on other resources. Our small team of developers managed to almost completely rewrite the client and server parts of the application. But, of course, I would like to have more significant success in technical terms. Therefore, I hope that in the new year we will make even more efforts for a more stable operation of the application.”

 

Aubakir, tester

“In 2021, a tremendous amount of work was carried out on the development and development of the project. A sufficient number of mistakes have been made, and many successes have been achieved. We have learned valuable experience from mistakes, learned important lessons for the launch of a rocket called SFERA. Thanks to every member of the team and people who are not indifferent to the project.”

 

Vladimir, backend team leader

“I wouldn’t want to be verbose. I’m only good at writing code 🙂 I can say one thing: the outgoing year was interesting. The tasks in the project are complex and diverse. I even remembered something I hadn’t done for a long time. As for the project, the team and I have already outlined ambitious plans.”

 

Konstantin, backend developer

“This company became my first place of work in the IT field. I’m glad I started my job as a programmer in this company. There is a great team and excellent professionals here! This is a valuable experience for me. I see my growth through overcoming mistakes and difficulties, and I want to move on. Over the past six months, the whole team has done a tremendous job! It is fascinating to watch the development of the project and be a part of it. I wish everyone not to stop there!”

 

Alexander, backend developer

“I am very happy to work in such a team where everyone is interested in the success of our company. Where we work as a single mechanism complementing each other. Yes, something did not work out, but together we always found solutions and answers to problematic questions. I want to say that this year we have gained tremendous experience. And I am very interested in what awaits us next year…”

 

Alexey, IOS developer

“The past year has been difficult, but we have coped with many tasks, there is even more work ahead of us, new achievements, successes and possible failures, we must be strong before the coming challenges and  not be afraid of difficulties, only then we will succeed and comprehend all our dreams!”

 

Andrey, IOS developer

“This year the project has undergone drastic changes. Almost all sections of the application have been rewritten. There has been the formation of a team that will expand, as we have grandiose plans for the coming year. In our team, you can try almost the entire range of technologies for application development that are available on the market.”

From the plans

– improve UX/UI

– increase the audience to 10-100k

– implement a VR sub-application

– embed Apple clips under the application

 

Edgar, android developer

“I joined SFERA in March of this year. During this time, we have had both falls and achievements. And yet we are steadily moving forward. The experience that we have accumulated this year will be implemented next year. Every day we get closer to the goal. I would like to wish all our team and those who believe in our success and harmony in 2022 to believe in themselves and keep moving forward! And dreams will come true.”

 

Sofia, android developer

“The outgoing year was very busy. There were many difficult and crisis moments both for the team and for the whole project. Nevertheless, we have successfully solved most of the problems and made significant progress in the development of the application. I think that now the team has the most dedicated people who sincerely believe in the project and always try to make every effort to implement it. The coming year should be a breakthrough for the project. The main areas of work have already been identified for the team and an action plan has been built. The main goals are to achieve stability in the operation of the current functionality of all sub-applications and to improve it. In parallel, we will be engaged in the implementation and implementation of new sub-applications. We believe in the project and our strength! We will try to do everything to make our application as useful and user-friendly as possible for users.”

 

Julia, UI/UX designer

“Having spent almost a year in the “SFERA”, I can say that the team has done a lot of work. It is very cool and exciting not only to observe how the project is getting better but also to take a direct part in it. Next year I would wish the project not to slow down on the way to the goal, and then everything will work out.”

 

Elena, video editor

“SFERA is a project that brought together people from different cities and countries. Completely different people with their interests are united by one goal. Even if sometimes it was difficult for us, something did not work out, something constantly had to be redone. But we know that we are doing everything possible to change the world around us for the better. And even if you need to rewrite the code for this… May the new year be a year of new joint achievements and successes in the project. It will give a lot of strength and energy to implement original fresh ideas!”

 

2021 is coming to an end. This year we have overcome many difficulties, gained new experience and are moving towards our goal. We knew it wouldn’t be easy. But the idea is to create a product that will make people’s lives better, stronger than obstacles! We wish you perseverance and self-belief!