I’m inspired by people’s reactions as well as by their support and praise. I have an achievement-oriented personality, I am constantly comparing my accomplishments against other people’s: who has attracted investment and how much of it, who has a higher volume of business and a larger client base. Besides, I really like to get attention, but you need achievements to get in the spotlight (I’m joking, of course).

Our parent-clients say thank you for the opportunity to not have to get up at 5:30 a.m. and not have to drive around town all day with their child.

I was sent the link by an acquaintance. Five years ago, there would not have been so many top-notch female IT entrepreneurs, their number has significantly increased in the last three years. The contestants for the award included some very worthy and promising young women! It’s a great honor to be among the top three winners.

I hosted a finance and political talk show on television. 90 percent of the speakers were male. No-one said to my face that I was a dumb blonde, but this attitude could be seen in numerous gestures. A typical situation would look like this: when I came over to the guest speakers before going on air to say hi and have a coffee, they treated me like a pretty lady in a red dress, using a pet name to address me. After a tough broadcast with my razor-sharp questions about politics and finance, they would change their tone and addressed me formally by my full name. There was a huge difference in attitude before and after the event.

Our team had to show we were able to keep up with the best of them.

I was advised to send in a man from my team as a stand-in for myself. I answered that either they talk with me or the meeting is off. If he’s not interested, then no partnership will work. This hasn’t happened now for the last three years.

In Moscow and St. Petersburg, some children may need pick-ups and drop-offs to get to 4 or 5 places during the day with their nanny driver: school, swimming pool, English or ballet class. The children live a full life and absorb a lot of knowledge. But in the suburban areas near Moscow the picture is different and there is no great demand for nanny driver jobs.

Four or five companies entered the market this way, but they all went belly up after 2-3 months. At first I was mad, but then I realized that this was helping to get the market going. Everyone thinks that this business of driving kids around is a walk in the park, enjoyable and lucrative. But logistically it is a huge challenge. In actual fact, we created the profession of nanny drivers from scratch. Currently, we do have a major competitor in the United States; but there are no comparable players in Europe.

Now I’m considering a relocation. I’m planning to pivot my startup, change the business model, and enter the global market. Now we are working to create an investment-attractive company without too complicated an operational process. I came to this decision during my burnout period in mid-2021. I wrote a Facebook post inviting people to talk with me about relocation. Three weeks later, that post snowballed into an event involving investors and a discussion about effective strategies for entering foreign markets.

The plan is to make a super app for finding and booking nanny drivers. We have the tech specification ready and are all set to launch a new product. Of course, we won’t be able to cover all the costs, but we can get started with the launch.