Alina Hryhorian

From my own experience studying abroad to building an education business

I am Alina Grigoryan, an entrepreneur, founder and CEO of the international education company StudyGRI. We help students gain admission to leading universities around the world and develop an academic strategy—from building a strong profile and personal brand to choosing an educational institution and planning their future development.

My entrepreneurial journey began with my own experience studying abroad. At the age of eight, I moved outside Ukraine and lived with a host family. That period taught me independence, responsibility and how to adapt quickly to new circumstances. Later, I launched a startup in Australia. An investment offer from an accelerator helped me start thinking bigger.

I built my business practically from scratch—with no investment, mentors or ready-made solutions. There was a lot of intuition, experimentation, mistakes and constant searching. I completely rebuilt the business model four times before finding a formula that worked consistently.

The idea for StudyGRI grew out of my own experience studying abroad and my understanding of how to build an academic track and personal brand from childhood, so it is easier to adapt to new professions and technological change in the future.

Later, this experience evolved into a product and business model through partnerships with universities. I helped students with admissions, and universities paid a commission for each student who enrolled.

Today, I am responsible for the company's strategy, product development and launching new areas of work. What excites me most is creating something new, finding unconventional solutions and scaling a business.

Priorities matter more than an endless to-do list

What key skills helped you launch your business?

My intuitive understanding of customers and products helped me, as did my ability to launch new areas of work quickly and find solutions to unconventional challenges.

I would also single out the ability to prioritize. Working with a mentor helped me move from endless to-do lists to focusing on what truly affects results.

Another important skill was the ability to create a value proposition from scratch, strengthen it, raise the price and scale sales.

And, of course, resilience in the face of failure and financial losses. I simply keep moving forward when others stop.

Four business model overhauls before finding a stable system

What were the 3 most difficult challenges you overcame in your first years in business?

The first was building a business without initial resources. I started with no investment, mentors or ready-made solutions. I had to test everything through my own experience. During that time, I completely rebuilt the business model four times before finding a formula that worked consistently.

The second was monetization and scaling. At the start, the average spend was only 375 euros per client, so scaling the company and achieving substantial financial results was challenging.

Despite this, we managed to build a network of more than 4 000 partnership contracts with educational institutions around the world and earn leading international accreditations.

The third was putting processes in order. The company was growing quickly, but its internal processes couldn't keep pace. We had to build coordination between teams, define areas of responsibility and gradually bring order to every process.

The pandemic, cash-flow gaps and a business area we had to close

What crises has your business faced, and how did you overcome them?

One of the most difficult crises was the COVID-19 pandemic, when the international education market came to a standstill for a long time. In addition, the company experienced cash-flow gaps during a period of rapid growth and faced an incident in which employees attempted to steal from the business.

The most acute internal crisis happened about a year ago. After one of my business reviews, I began developing a new area that took up to 70% of my time. The problem was that the company's internal processes were not yet ready for that kind of scaling.

While all my attention was focused on the new project, the core business began to lose stability. At a certain point, I realized the company needed a different solution, and I closed that area.

Emotionally, it was a very difficult period that led to severe burnout.

The main lesson I learned was that even the best advice from others needs to be adapted to the actual state of your business. Mechanically applying someone else's solutions without taking your own company's specifics into account can do more harm than good.

Streamlining, delegation and stronger sales

Which decisions proved most effective in growing the company?

First, streamlining processes. We brought all the departments together, identified the main problems, agreed on areas of responsibility, documented our agreements and introduced a common set of working rules. I rewrote the procedures myself because I believe the leader is the person who best understands how the system should work.

Second, delegating operational management. My assistant became chief operating officer, allowing me to hand over most routine processes and focus on the company's strategic development.

Third, revisiting our growth strategy. We increased the value of the product and revised prices accordingly, optimized the partnership model, increased the advertising budget and strengthened sales through a dedicated team that works with leads systematically.

Someone else's strategy won't always work for your business

Which of your mistakes do you now consider your most valuable learning experience?

The most valuable learning experience for me was trying to apply someone else's growth strategy to my business and launch a new area without a sufficiently strong internal foundation.

I realized that for small and medium-sized businesses, understanding your own product, customers and internal processes is crucial. Advice that doesn't take a company's specific circumstances into account may not help—in fact, it can do harm.

From the first $100 earned reselling cosmetics to an international education business

How did you earn your first $100?

In fi’fth grade, I resold cosmetics.

How did you earn your first $1 000?

At 18-19, I worked remotely for an American company, creating resources for it.

How did you earn your first $10 000?

In my own company. I earned this money through a commission from a partner university after 17 students enrolled.

How did you earn your first $100 000?

By closing a large pool of clients all at once.

I can be helpful in two areas.

First, I can help build a strong academic track and personal academic brand for a child or an adult. I can explain which skills are worth developing from an early age, how to prepare for future careers and technological change, and how to build a strategy that will help them gain admission to leading universities around the world.

Second, I can share my experience of building a business without investment: how to go from an idea to a stable business model, navigate a period of uncertainty, learn from your own mistakes, and create a company that can scale.

From process problems to clearly defined areas of responsibility

Your experience: how do you systematize a business?

For me, systematization starts with an honest look at the business. First, you need to understand exactly where problems arise: gather feedback’ from all departments, identify weak points, align areas of responsibility, and document agreements.

The manager should develop the policies, because they are the one who best understands how the system should work. Once the rules are implemented, it is important to uphold them through accountability, team motivation, and, when necessary, staffing decisions.

Delegation also plays a special role. After my assistant became the chief operating officer, I was able to hand over a significant part of the operational work, focus on developing the company, and substantially reduce the risk of professional burnout.

Doubling growth through product, partners, and sales

Your experience: how do you grow 2x in a year?

Our growth was the result of several deliberate decisions.

First, we reassessed our product: we increased its value and raised prices accordingly.

Second, we changed our partnership model. Instead of working with a large number of partners with small volumes, we started working with fewer partners on more favorable terms.

Third, we focused on sales: we increased advertising budgets and strengthened our lead management by creating a dedicated team.

For me, business growth always starts with effective sales, and effective sales are a combination of quality traffic and professional engagement with potential customers.