Not many people are brave enough to start a business in a little-known niche market with minimal initial capital. Andrey Monosov is a Russian entrepreneur who managed to not only build his own company without raising outside investment, but also turn it into a leader in its segment.

The biography of the businessman was filled with dramatic events. But step by step, he moved towards his goal and eventually achieved it at a fairly young age. Today, Andrey continues to run his own company and work on its development. The entrepreneur still owns 100 percent of the business; he decided against inviting outside investment from the very beginning, and today, he has no need for it at all.

Andrey Monosov: Biography

The entrepreneur was born in 1988 in the family of a doctor and a teacher. His hometown is Moscow. He went to an ordinary secondary school and was interested in mathematics, history, and literature. He also had a passion for technology and programming.

The father of the future businessman, Leonid Monosov, worked as a teacher for many years; however, he had to switch careers and start working as a driver to be able to provide for his family.

Early Interest in Entrepreneurship

Andrey confesses that he has always looked up to his father and admired his selflessness. He saw that his parents worked too hard and because of that started to take interest in entrepreneurship early on. Even as a teenager, the future businessman understood that he wanted to support his parents financially and provide for them. Starting his own business seemed to him the best way of achieving these goals.

Andrey Monosov started working at a young age. During his school years, he repaired mobile phones and computers and installed various software on them. For the average high school student, he made fairly good money at the time.

Education

Andrey’s parents were confident that their son, who was passionate about technology and programming, would choose a fitting profession. However, this was not meant to be; Andrey Monosov chose an economics major and got a scholarship in a state university.

His father, Leonid Monosov, says that Andrey’s choice came as a complete surprise to his loved ones. He recalls, “My wife and I thought that his passion for business was just a childhood dream. But he consistently moved towards his goal. He always knew what he wanted and was prepared to work as hard as he could to get things done.”

Building a Career

The idea of ​​starting his own business came to Andrey Monosov’s mind right after he graduated from university. However, he was well-aware that this endeavor required at least small start-up capital and good managerial experience. His solution to the problem was to find a job that would allow him to gain the necessary knowledge and make enough money for a start-up.

Career in Banking

Andrey Monosov’s goal has always been to start his own company. With this goal in mind, he looked into the most promising jobs in terms of rapid career progression. Getting a job in banking seemed to him like the best idea at the time.

“That tuned out to be a big mistake,” Andrey admitted later. “The managers saw me as an eternal junior specialist. It was at this level that they had the biggest worker shortage due to the high turnover rate. And leadership positions, the way I see it, were reserved for someone else entirely.”

Realizing the futility of working in banks, Andrey Monosov decided to change his professional focus. He looked through different options, but ultimately settled on the consulting industry. At the time, it was rapidly growing and could provide fast career advancement for young and ambitious employees.

Management Position in a Consulting Company

It was the right choice to make. Having joined a consulting company in 2009, four years later, Andrey Monosov found himself the head of one of its major departments. He had only his own talent, dedication, and ambition to thank for his rapid career progression. The young worker did not have anyone to pull the strings for him.

Under the leadership of Monosov, the department:

1. Optimized the budget.
2. Changed its personnel policies.
3. Attracted new major clients.
4. Strengthened partnerships with market leaders.
5. Improved the staff motivation system.

Andrey admitted that he felt like he was the right man for the job. And it was not easy for him to part with the team that had been there with him on his almost six-year-long journey in the company. However, it was time to leave — new prospects and a growing salary demotivated him and pushed him further away from building his own business.

“I realized that it was either leave now and work on starting a business, or forget about this idea entirely,” the entrepreneur noted. “To be honest, I didn’t have a single rational reason to quit a high-paying job with great career prospects. But I still chose to follow my dream.”

Creating a Business

From 2015 to 2017, Andrey Monosov was busy with business planning. He chose to enter the IT market, which he considered the most promising field. After the initial funding period was over, he rented an office, recruited his first team of 5 people, and launched the operations.

IA Tech: Creating an IT Company 

Andrey admitted that he had spent too much time planning. Nevertheless, the year 2017 was marked for him by the launch of IA Tech. The company quickly found its first clients. The demand for its services began to grow.

“And then I made a foolish mistake,” the entrepreneur recalls. “We had a shortage of developers and I decided to outsource some of the tasks. They let us down with the deadlines. And we almost lost our best client. Then I realized that we should outsource only accounting and legal team functions. But never the software development tasks.”

Pressing Problems and Quick Solutions

For a long time, Andrey Monosov, as the CEO and founder of the company, was forced to solve all problems on his own. Over time, he found out that hiring qualified developers on the fly was an extremely difficult task.

Andrey decided to mobilize all available resources to resolve this issue. He spared no expense hiring experienced HR professionals, and they lived up to his expectations; within a year, 20 new programmers joined the IA Tech team. During the same period, the company changed its incentive program and introduced a profit-sharing plan for the key employees, which ultimately improved their work performance.

Business Growth and Achievements

The head of IA Tech managed to achieve phenomenal results. Despite its modest, by modern business standards, initial investment, the company quickly became a leader in the market. Its brand awareness and client base were constantly increasing.

Today, the company:

• has contracts with major Russian companies;
• offers a huge range of enterprise software development services;
• sells licenses for its own software;
• is constantly increasing its presence in the market;
• is rapidly expanding its staff.

Andrey Monosov says that his business is not just a source of income for him. He does not see himself doing anything other than running his own company. And he cannot imagine a situation where someone else would have a say in his life’s work. That is why, he deliberately refrains from accepting any third-party investment.

Personal Life

Andrey Monosov was born in Moscow; this is where he spent his childhood and youth, and met his future wife. Today the couple is raising three kids together.

The entrepreneur enjoys music, plays sports, and travels a lot. He admits that he cannot imagine his life without his family and his business. According to his relatives, the businessman does a lot of charity work, but never talks about it publicly. The entrepreneur himself prefers to leave questions about his philanthropy without an answer — he says that he does not need to use good deeds as PR and will continue to donate to charities anonymously.