Independent media, viral content, and CSR — how Artem can be useful to YBC members
- Building an independent media outlet from scratch;
- Creating viral video content;
- Working with grant programs;
- Developing corporate social responsibility in business;
- Communicating about reforms, communities, and businesses;
- Scaling a media project through social media;
- Strategic and financial planning;
- Building a team around shared values.
Departmental CRM, a grants function, and change management — how we systematized #ShoTam
Your experience: how do you systematize a business?
To systematize the business, we took a comprehensive approach.
First, the departments that were scaling gained designated leads—usually one or two people per department. As the team grew, areas of responsibility were divided, and internal instructions and processes were developed and documented.
The next step was implementing CRM systems: we chose a separate solution for each department based on its functions and needs. This was necessary to scale the business further. Since growth is directly tied to attracting additional financial resources, we focused heavily on developing partnerships. To do this, we hired and added staff in two key areas: one department focused on finding grants, while another focused on attracting commercial partners and building long-term partnerships.
These tools were what enabled us to scale. This period was quite challenging, because it was not always clear which solutions would work best. For example, in its early stages, the sales department used rudimentary tools—various Excel spreadsheets and other amateur approaches. At the same time, sales follow clear rules, and to start taking full advantage of CRM systems, we had to invest a significant amount of time in building the necessary infrastructure and training staff. The managers, the team as a whole, and I personally all learned.
Gradually, we began to change our approach to work and study organizational change in greater depth. This is a complex and often painful process, because you cannot simply announce a new direction and expect everyone to support it immediately. Change management takes time, explanation, and gradual adaptation.
Ultimately, it was a comprehensive effort across many areas that enabled us to systematize the business and lay the foundation for further development.
Aggressive sales, tough KPIs, and scaling in the middle of a crisis
Your experience: how do you grow twofold in a year?
Our growth began with learning how to scale: how to handle complex projects and how to restructure the team and processes as the number of projects increased. We clearly understood which roles had to be filled within the team—as key in-house capabilities—and which functions could be outsourced during peak workloads, when our own resources were insufficient. This required standardizing processes, working systematically with CRM, and training the team so that everyone understood the system in the same way, knew who was responsible for what, and knew how a project moved forward.
The second important factor was the active—I would even say aggressive—work of the sales department and grants function. We had tough KPIs, and at the same time we partially transitioned to OKRs—some things worked, some did not—but this experience gave us a clear understanding of the direction we were heading and the specific opportunities and resources we wanted to attract. One more important point: scaling often happens precisely during periods of crisis.
That is when a company is forced to mature faster, make difficult decisions, and restructure in order to make its next leap forward.
