'In Business, Not Having Optimism Could Be the Death of You'
You don’t have to invent a new business model, but can simply take one and use it on an existing market with a smaller project that will work for the benefit of the Russian economy. This is what HSE alumnus Pavel Mokrushin, the owner of the café chain Brusnika (Lingonberry), did. He tells Success Builder why he studied at HSE after Moscow State, as well as how what he does is better than the warm chair of a clerk and how the small café is able to survive among the 66 restaurants on Maroseyka Street.
'We Shouldn’t Be Afraid to Admit When We Aren’t Yet Capable of Doing Something'
If you can explain why your project will be a success, investments in your business are guaranteed under any conditions. HSE alumnus and chairman of the board of directors at the 'R-Pharm' group, Alexey Repik, told 'Success Builder' what how to phase out of imports properly, how the government can help entrepreneurs, and how to turn extending people’s lives into a business.
'We Directly Applied Our University Knowledge to Business'
Projects rarely become profitable right away, but if one learns from their mistakes and does not give up, success is sure to follow. In its six years of existence, the Timepad project has had its ups and downs, but in the end it became a market leader. Timepad’s creators – Ludmila Pavlova, Daria Ustyuzhanina, and Artem Kiselev, all HSE alumni – told Success Builder about the advantages of the Russian market, how to avoid spending money on advertising, and how to earn over 100 million rubles without selling your idea.
‘We Are Not Ecologists at All – And That’s a Huge Plus’
The Recycle project began as an online journal about living an environmentally friendly lifestyle in the city, but in less than a year it went offline into real life. Now its staff members organize recycling collection points, give lectures at large companies and battle the myth that sustainability always has a tinge of craziness. In this edition of ‘Success Builder’, Recycle cofounder Elena Barysheva tells about people’s willingness to change, Wi-Fi enabled recycling centres and inexpensive environmentally friendly products.
'I Create Beautiful Clothing for Beautiful Women'
Is it easy being a Russian clothing designer when factories cost, China sews, and discounts on cheap foreign brands can reach 70%? Everything is in authorship. HSE alumna Luda Nukishina tells Success Builder why business must be done in Moscow, how a Russian designer is better than H&M, and how to make things that people will definitely buy.
'The City Is the Most Complex Thing Anyone Has Ever Thought up'
Urban studies is a new field of study for Russia that is devoted to the sustainable development and use of city space. As part of the Success Builder project, Egor Korobeynikov, who is the creator of UrbanUrban and an HSE alumnus, talks about how he turned into an urbanist from a bank teller, and also about why Moscow should not be made into Europe and what officials need to be told.
'Journalism Is a Very Simple Profession'
In November, Ilya Azar, a journalist and graduate of the Higher School of Economics, won the HSE Alumni Awards in the category ‘Fourth Estate’. In this edition of Success Builder, Ilya speaks about how to get a job in the media, what journalistic ethics are, and how to survive in the hot spots without body armour.
'The Worst Thing You Can Do in Launching a Project, Is Think about Money'
A great idea is not enough for a startup; you have to be persistent in your search for investors, never give up, and find talented engineers ready to solve random technical issues for the sake of an ‘idea.’ Grachik Adjamyan, who is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM) and the creator of the projects Budist.ru and Wakie.com, tells Success Builder how he overcame a number of hurdles in building his startup and headed to Silicon Valley to find investors.
'Life Insurance – As a Concept It's Nothing New, It's Just Been Forgotten'
According to Maxim Chernin, director of Sberbank Insurance and HSE graduate, you need to be a good psychologist when proposing life insurance to a client. He tells us what it's like to work in the business of 'human life', whether creativity has any place in insurance work and how to inculcate a culture of medical check-ups.
'Money Is Far from the Most Important Thing in Cinema if People Are Motivated'
In November 2014 the film 'The Son' about the problems of choice in a typical life and death existential situation went on general release in Russia. It is independent filmmaker Arseny Gonchukov’s third full-length feature film. In the 'Success Builder' series he talks about how to shoot and promote auteur cinema on a minimal budget and win film festival prizes.