The business hit a ceiling
More effort produces more activity, but not the next level.
Find the constraint →FOUNDER COUNTERPART · BUSINESS OPERATIONS · STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS
See what has to change. Make it happen.
I work with founders and leadership teams when a business is stuck or entering a new stage. We find the real constraint, choose a direction and turn it into operating change - in the model, team, management system or partnerships.
Start with independent advisory. If the situation needs an operator inside the business, I can join the team and own the implementation.
Maybe the business has stopped moving.
Maybe you've outgrown the way you used to run it.
Maybe a pivot is overdue.
Maybe you have a new project in mind, but cannot choose the direction or the first move.
Maybe you already know exactly what needs to happen - and still haven't done it.
Private work: $300 USD / hour. Time and focus agreed in advance.
Founder counterpart · business operator · 20 years of professional experience.
KIRILL - FOUNDER COUNTERPART
20
years of professional experience
6
ventures from zero
80+
people in teams led
S/P/E
strategy · partnerships · execution
RECOGNITION BEFORE ADVICE
Does any of this feel familiar?
The visible problem is not always the real one. You do not need to arrive with a clean diagnosis.
The role that got you here doesn't fit anymore
You can still perform it. The harder question is whether you should.
Founder vs CEO →A decision has been waiting for months
You keep doing useful work around the decision instead of making it.
You don't know whether to pivot
The current direction feels wrong, but changing it has a real cost too.
Test the pivot →Everything looks reasonable
The plan, team and numbers make sense on paper. Something still does not move.
You already know what to do
Clarity exists intellectually. Effective action still has not happened.
You don't need to diagnose the problem before talking to me. That's part of the work. If the kind of support is unclear, compare the available roles.
Tell me what's stuckTHE SYSTEM, NOT ONE HALF OF IT
I don't work on the business without the founder.
Consultants usually look at the business. Coaches usually look at the person. I look at the relationship between the founder, the business and the decisions connecting them.
HUMANFounder
DECISIONS · ROLE · REAL CONSTRAINTWhat actually has to change?
OPERATING REALITYBusiness
Structure problem?
Maybe you need structure. Maybe delegation. Maybe a CEO. Or maybe you are trying to become a CEO you never wanted to be.
Pivot problem?
Maybe the strategy is wrong. Or maybe an exhausted founder is trying to escape a situation that still has a strategic answer.
Growth problem?
Maybe the bottleneck is acquisition. Or product. Or the founder role and decisions that worked at the previous scale.
Diagnosis before prescription.
The founder makes the decision. The founder doesn't have to think alone.
Founders operate at the edge of uncertainty. There is rarely complete information or one obviously correct answer.
Your team, investors, partners and family can all be valuable - and none of them are fully neutral. Each person has their own role, incentives and emotional stake.
I know from my own difficult stages how useful it is to have another human who can withstand the ambiguity, challenge the story and still leave the decision where it belongs: with you.
Someone who can challenge you without taking the decision away from you. Someone who understands the human being and can still open the P&L.
HOW I WORK
From fog to effective action.
Not a proprietary framework. Just a practical sequence for getting out of circular thinking and into a real next move.
Reflect
Tell me what's happening - including the parts that do not fit neatly into a slide.
See
Separate symptoms, assumptions and noise from the actual constraint.
Decide
You choose what needs to change. I bring perspective, challenge and operating experience - not borrowed certainty.
Act
Turn the decision into a concrete next move. Clarity is only useful if something happens next.
WORKING INSIDE THE TEAM
Sometimes the change needs an owner, not another recommendation.
I can join the leadership team, take a permanent executive role and carry the work with the people already inside the business.
Launch a new direction
Turn an opportunity into a business model, team, priorities and a route to market.
Business transformation
Find the constraint, redesign the operating model and move the company through the transition.
Rebuild management
Clarify ownership, decision rights, planning and leadership cadence without adding process for its own sake.
Develop strategic partnerships
Connect senior relationships, partner needs, product constraints and delivery into commercial work that can actually run.
EXECUTIVE ROLES
Permanent responsibility is on the table.
I am open to full-time leadership roles. I prefer office or hybrid work and am open to relocation for the right role.
TRUE LAB · 2019
Build a regulated game provider from zero.
- Situation
- A new provider had to be built across two international offices and meet regulatory requirements.
- My responsibility
- I built the team and production system, aligned product, engineering, commercial, legal and compliance work, and personally led the regulator dialogue and MGA audit.
- Result
- The studio launched its first reference-quality product and passed the Malta Gaming Authority audit.
ARKADIUM · 2016-2017
Change the operating model during a platform transition.
- Situation
- A 10-person team had to move a portfolio from Flash to HTML5 while shipping more than one product.
- My responsibility
- I shifted management from process completion to outcome ownership, introduced data-informed development and reorganized the team into parallel micro-groups.
- Result
- Three projects ran in parallel. Bridge Online surpassed the previous version in revenue.
BLACK WING FOUNDATION · 2017
Stabilise the business and remove the delivery gap.
- Situation
- Operations were unstable, the key project was 20% behind plan and the business needed a route to profit.
- My responsibility
- I restructured the team and development setup and introduced a predictable planning and reporting pipeline.
- Result
- Costs fell 50%, the company reached operating profit and the 20% project delay was removed.
77-BIT · 2022-2025
Turn an unusual pitch into a long production relationship.
- Situation
- An ambitious browser MMORPG arrived through Nord Beaver as a pitch that was easy to dismiss.
- My responsibility
- I took the founder call, turned the first conversation into a working relationship and stayed with the project through three years of staged development.
- Result
- The first Bithub launch attracted more than 150,000 users over its opening weekend.
FOUNDER TRANSITIONS
The work usually starts when the old answer stops working.
These are not service case studies. They are examples of different constraints hiding behind familiar founder problems.
Better thinking, not borrowed answers.
- Starting point
- Slava had hit a scaling ceiling.
- Our work
- We examined his business, approaches, assumptions and fears. He did not adopt many of my specific recommendations; the conversations helped him reflect and make his own decisions.
- What changed
- During the period we worked together, his company grew roughly 9x in revenue. The decisions and execution were his.
The goal was never obedience to my plan. It was better founder judgement.
I spent months trying to become better at a job I didn't want.
About a year ago, one of my companies was close to falling apart. I became obsessed with whether I was structured enough to be the CEO the business needed. A mentor helped me see that the real problem was the role itself. I did not want to own every CEO process. The work I want is broader and more practical: understand the opportunity, shape the direction, build the relationships and stay responsible for execution.
Sometimes the problem is not “How do I become better at this?” but “Why am I trying to do this job at all?”Read: founder vs CEO
When the core concept stops working, a large team still has to move.
At Nival I led a 60+ person team through a core-concept pivot into Early Access. The work was not only choosing a new direction; it was carrying a large organization through uncertainty and execution. During that period we also reduced business-unit costs by roughly 50% while maintaining output.
A pivot is not a slide. It is a decision that a whole operating system has to survive.Read: when a startup needs a pivot
Ideas are cheap. Prioritization is the work.
At Kujo AI my role includes catching creative hypotheses, fitting them into strategy, prioritizing them and carrying them toward launch. Co-founder Mikhail Badelin describes it simply: “Nine ideas out of ten die in conversations - with Kirill, they ship.”
Reflection without action becomes another form of avoidance. The point is to make something happen in reality.
WORK WITH ME
Your situation. Our starting point.
Bring the decision, the business problem or the role you can no longer make sense of. We work through it together.
A working conversation, founder to founder.
We look at the business and your place in it, test the assumptions and choose a concrete next move. I bring perspective and operating experience; the decision stays yours.
- A clearer question. What problem are we actually solving?
- A choice you can assess. What are the options, trade-offs and assumptions?
- A next move. What will you do or test after the conversation?
Start with one working conversation and continue when useful. We agree the time, focus and cost before paid work begins.
Advisor or project partner?
Tell me what's stuck
Most work starts as independent advisory. If a project calls for deeper operating involvement, we discuss that separately: scope, role and mutual fit are never assumed from the first conversation.
PRIVATE WORK
$300 USD / hour
One hourly rate. No packages or subscription.
First, a 30-minute introduction
You give me the short version of what is happening. I ask questions, reflect what I see and say honestly whether I can help. If we both want to continue, we agree the focus, time and $300 USD hourly rate before any paid work begins.
Choose a time for an introductionWHEN THE OLD ANSWER STOPS WORKING
Three situations where an independent counterpart helps.
A difficult decision, a change of direction or a role that no longer fits. Explore the situation closest to yours.
FOUNDER ADVISORY
A decision you cannot delegate
For a founder who needs an independent strategic thinking partner across the business, the decision and their own role.
Explore founder advisoryPIVOT & STRATEGY
A direction that no longer works
For a business that has hit a ceiling, a model that no longer works or a direction that must be tested before the whole company moves.
Explore pivot workROLE & LEADERSHIP
A role you have outgrown
For the moment when the company changes faster than the founder's role - including founder versus CEO questions.
Explore role transitionsABOUT
I understand the system and stay responsible for the result.
My operating history matters because strategy stops being abstract when payroll, cash flow, people, partner commitments and delivery sit inside the decision.
I bring 20 years of professional experience across technology, gaming, digital products and AI. I have worked as an operator, executive, founder and co-founder, built ventures and business lines from zero, led teams up to 80+, and owned P&L and cash flow.
My strongest work starts where the direction is not obvious but the outcome still matters: a new business line, a transformation, a management redesign or a strategic partnership. I connect market insight, senior relationships, product constraints, delivery capacity and commercial logic, then stay with the execution.
With founders I can remain an independent counterpart. Inside a company, I take responsibility for turning the decision into operating change with the team.
The objective is not more advice. It is better judgement, clear ownership and a concrete business result.
SELECTED OPERATING HISTORY - Nord Beaver · Nival · True Lab · Black Wing Foundation · 77-bit · Mind Meal · Kujo AI · 1inch / DeFi Racer · Mail.ru Games · Game Insight · Arkadium · Belka Games
BASED IN BELGRADE, SERBIA
FAQ
Before the first conversation.
The category is unusual. These are the distinctions that matter.
How much does it cost?
Private work is $300 USD per hour. We agree the time and focus in advance. You can start with one conversation and continue when useful, without buying a package or subscription.
Is this coaching?
Not exactly. Sometimes the useful work is reflection. Sometimes it is strategy, numbers, organization, product, a role decision or a very practical operating problem. I use whatever lens helps us understand the real constraint. I do not sell a universal coaching framework.
Will you tell me what to do?
I have opinions and I will challenge a plan when it does not add up. But the objective is not obedience. The founder makes the decision. My job is to help you see more clearly, test the story and make a decision you can actually own.
What kind of founders do you work with?
Founder/co-founders with meaningful responsibility for an operating business, especially around a scaling ceiling, pivot, role transition, business-model change, team transition, loss of clarity or an overdue difficult decision. Industry is secondary to the transition.
What happens in the first conversation?
The Calendly link books a 30-minute introductory conversation about your situation and whether I can help. You do not need a deck or a polished diagnosis. For paid work, we agree the time, focus and cost in advance at $300 USD per hour. In a working conversation, we examine the problem, weigh the options and choose the next action or test.
Is this therapy?
No. This is not psychotherapy, clinical treatment or mental-health diagnosis. We may talk about fear, identity, exhaustion or other human parts of founder decisions when they are relevant, but the work stays connected to the founder's judgement, role and operating reality.
FIRST MOVE
What's stuck?
You don't need to diagnose it. You don't need to prepare a deck. You don't even need to know whether the problem is the company or you.
Send me 3-5 sentences:
- What is happening?
- What have you already tried?
- What question or decision keeps coming back?