Starting a business is not as easy as it may seem. You need to build start-up capital first, then choose a promising market segment, file company registration paperwork, assemble a team, and find clients and partners. Andrey Monosov knows about all these steps more than others. He is the creator and CEO of IA Tech, an IT company that develops enterprise software.
What sets the businessman’s biography apart is the fact that he did not use external investment to start his company. He did it all with his personal savings. Moreover, the entrepreneur had no influential relatives or friends to help him out — every step of the way, he could rely only on himself and his team to build his business.
Biography of Andrey Monosov
Many business success stories have one thing in common — they start with future entrepreneurs growing up around relatives who ran their own companies and laid the foundation for success in the younger family members. Andrey, however, had a completely different life experience. He admits that he had a happy childhood. But his parents were never involved in any kind of business activities.
Childhood of the Future Entrepreneur
Andrey Monosov was born in Moscow. He attended an average secondary school and was interested in sports. He was always an academically gifted student. Even as a kid, Andrey was interested in programming and computer technology. He studied, participated in sports activities, and achieved success in almost all his endeavors.
His father, Leonid Monosov, often mentions Andrey’s old hobbies in interviews. He says that his son developed an interest in programming when he was still in high school. The young man’s parents had every reason to believe that he would become a developer or choose another profession related to computer technology. But the young man had another opinion on the matter and opted for an entirely different major.
Getting an Economics Degree
Andrey Monosov says that his decision concerning his future profession had nothing to do with teenage rebellions — it was never his intention to defy his parents. Moreover, they themselves never insisted on him choosing a specific major or university.
“We just wanted our son to do what he loved most,” says Leonid Monosov. “And it seemed to us that he was serious about programming. But Andrey said that he wanted to start a business some day. Getting an economics degree was his way of acquiring at least some of the skills he would need to pursue this goal.”
Years later, Andrey Monosov successfully defended his thesis and graduated from a prestigious economics university. He interned in several Moscow banks during his studies. This made him believe that he would be able to quickly build a career in this field and gain experience and earn money to open his own business later in life.
Career of Andrey Monosov
The entrepreneur has always been a determined and highly responsible person. Andrey Monosov understood that his lack of experience and money might become an obstacle on his way to building a successful business. And so, he decided to find a job and work there for 3-5 years.
Career in Banking
Andrey Monosov’s goal was to gain managerial experience. He also needed sufficient income to save up enough money for start-up capital. That was why he decided to get a banking job in the capital.
However, while his employer offered him a decent salary, the situation with career prospects there was less optimistic. Andrey did not want to waste time on a long-term career in the banking industry. In the end, he decided to switch his professional field. This turned out to be the right decision.
Work Experience in Consulting
His retraining did not take much time. Andrey was familiar with consulting since his university days and knew the ropes of the industry well. What mattered most to him was that the company that hired him was willing to invest in its employees and encouraged their career progress.
Andrey Monosov started to get one promotion after another and soon became the head of a major department in the company. While in this position, he:
- Recruited key domain experts who were in shortage in the company for many years.
- Changed the employee motivation system and, as a result, increased worker efficiency.
- Signed contracts with multiple important partners, significantly increasing the company’s profits.
- Automated business processes, reducing labor costs — for example, he fully transitioned the department to EDI.
- Optimized the budget, cutting unnecessary expenses and noticeably increasing ROI.
However, after some time, Andrey Monosov decided to leave the company. Its CEO did not want to lose such an efficient manager, but the future entrepreneur was adamant about his decision. He refused to take over a large branch of the company, which could have multiply his income at the time. He did it all for a chance to run his own business.
Founding of IA Tech
Andrey Monosov dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur since he was a child. However, his lack of seed capital and useful connections forced him to be someone else’s employee for more than five years. He had to do it to gain management experience and to avoid inviting third-party investments.
Business Planning and Registration
IA Tech was founded only in 2017. Andrey Monosov spent a lot of time searching for a promising market segment, going through bureaucratic processes, and building the initial team. He did not want to rush things, as he understood that there would be no second chance from him. It took the entrepreneur too long to make enough money to start his company, as he did not want to become dependent on third-party capital.
At the beginning, the businessman dealt with many tasks by himself — including those unrelated to management. The CEO of IA Tech personally handled the paperwork, looked for contractors, and interviewed job candidates. At one point, he even cleaned the office space himself, trying to save money on cleaning services. Andrey says that he was willing to work 24/7 to achieve success.
Crises
The entrepreneur’s dedication eventually paid off. Soon, he managed to sign major contracts with several clients at once. Other clients followed suit. Their number grew, and naturally, more and more projects were coming in. Andrey Monosov says that when his company began to make big profits, it threw him off his stride.
The entrepreneur was pursuing his goal for so long that he could not bring himself to miss the opportunity to sign new contracts. However, the workload became too heavy for his team. By outsourcing some of the tasks, Andrey only aggravated the problem; one of the contractors let him down and the company almost lost an important client.
This situation was like a cold shower for the entrepreneur. Andrey Monosov began to take measures to manage the personnel crisis. He decided to increase the starting salaries of his developers and improve the incentive system. Soon, he was able to hire dozens of new programmers.
Achieving Success
Andrey Monosov admits that to this day his company makes sure to rely on work quality rather than quantity. Nevertheless, the staff continues to expand, and the number of clients is growing accordingly.
IA Tech managed to achieve excellent results:
- signing contracts with large companies;
- launching its own licensed software onto the market;
- significantly increasing employee efficiency;
- ranking high among the largest companies in the segment;
- building an impeccable reputation.
Today, the company is a recognized leader in its market segment. Andrey Monosov continues to run it single-handedly and does everything in his power to keep it independent from third-party capital. The entrepreneur believes that the most valuable asset for the company is its team and strives to constantly improve the employee motivation system.
Personal Life and Philanthropy
Andrey Monosov is a married man. He and his wife are raising three kids. He considers himself a happy person and says that the only thing he can complain about is that he does not have enough free time. However, he still finds time to travel together with his wife or attend music concerts and other cultural events.
Andrey Monosov also donates to nonprofit organizations. However, he never advertises this part of his life. The entrepreneur emphasizes that he does not need this sort of PR. In his opinion, public charitable activities impose too much responsibility on a person, as other people may decide to follow his example. The businessman is not ready for this kind of responsibility yet.