Bohdan Kuzmovych, 24 years

My name is Bohdan Kuzmovych, and today I am a co-founder of the law firm Red Lawyers in Kyiv. We work with entrepreneurs: protecting intellectual property, preparing business contracts, supporting company registration in Ukraine and abroad, and developing franchise models. A particular asset is our corporate mediator status: we know how not only to resolve conflicts effectively, but also to prevent them through properly structured agreements from the very beginning of a collaboration.

My professional journey began with working as an employee in the legal sector, where the rules of the game were quite tough: fierce competition, little value placed on young professionals, and long working hours. I saw business models that relied exclusively on word-of-mouth reputation, without systematic marketing or management structures, and watched how quickly these setups faltered under external pressure. At the same time, I gained experience with responsibilities close to those of an entrepreneur: my manager involved us in generating business ideas and preparing business plans. That was when I became firmly convinced that ideas have no value without quality execution.

A car accident in early 2023 was an important personal turning point. It reminded me very clearly that “later” may never come, and that putting life on hold is an illusion. I began to think differently about time, make decisions faster and more honestly, and focus on what truly mattered to me. Over time, this inner focus transformed into business practice: after our first strategy session, the company moved from “going with the flow” to managed growth.

When working with entrepreneurs, I often come up with simple but fundamental pieces of advice that were once relevant to me, too. First, business requires patience and resilience in the face of failure. It is important to persevere and keep moving forward, even when results do not come right away. Second, continuous learning is essential—systematic and deliberate. Third, investing in external expertise is critical. At the start, businesses usually lack a strong employer brand and the resources to attract top specialists, so external consultants are precisely what help fill skills gaps faster and scale without fatal mistakes.

Personal happiness has a special place in my life. For me, it is first and foremost about living in accordance with my identity and mission. I am clearly aware of my key roles: husband to my wife, creator, learner, and athlete. I am happy when I create something new, learn—at least several times a week—and stay fit as a source of energy.

My mission is simple: to give love to those close to me, create new things, and improve what already exists—in relationships, business, health, and the environment around me. My core values are freedom, enjoyment of life, an interesting life, energy, continuous growth, and the desire to improve everything I have a hand in. When these elements align in my daily actions, I can honestly say: yes, today I feel like a happy person.

How did the business idea come about?

The idea of starting our own business was born at the intersection of two factors.

The first was a deep sense of unfairness in the previous work arrangement. We essentially handled clients ourselves: developed proposals, agreed on prices, prepared documents, and managed the process, yet the final compensation was minimal and did not reflect the effort and responsibility involved.

The second factor was realizing that my future partner and I already worked well together. Before starting the company, we worked together not only on legal matters but also on entrepreneurial tasks: developing business ideas, running financial calculations, and pitching plans. In practice, we were already thinking like co-founders; all that remained was to formalize it in our own venture. We started as simply as possible. We created an Instagram page and began producing content consistently, quickly settled on a name, and my girlfriend, now my wife, who was a graphic designer, created the logo. Our first client came through Instagram almost by chance. Next, we tried freelance platforms and partnerships with other specialists. At one point, our former manager found out that we were discussing our own venture, and we were fired. This completely wiped out any financial safety net.

That was when the option of “just building up the page” disappeared—we moved on to actively seeking clients and gradually began to grow from very modest monthly figures.

What key skills helped you launch the business?

At the beginning, what pulled me through was not perfect plans or carefully calculated strategies, but rather character and basic management instincts.

First and foremost, a certain fearlessness. We started taking action without a clear plan, forecast, or understanding of where a steady stream of clients would come from.

The second key trait was persistence and a tolerance for failure. The early period was financially difficult, but we consciously chose not to return to employment, even though we had that option. Later, entirely different skills became the foundation for growth. These included the ability to continuously improve processes, build a system, test hypotheses, and measure results. I realized very clearly that quality execution is not a talent, but a skill that can be developed through processes, regular check-ins, breaking tasks down, and tracking deadlines and ownership.

What were the 3 most difficult challenges you tackled in the early years?

The first challenge was launching the business during the COVID pandemic. For many companies, legal services were not a priority then, and that was exactly when we started. The second was having no client base at all. We left our previous jobs without any clients and built everything from scratch in a competitive market. The third was a lack of resources and visibility. Nobody knew about us; we had no company brand, no personal brand, and no marketing budget, but we needed to find clients right away.

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

The biggest crisis for the business was the start of the full-scale war. Our key services, including work with trademarks and contracts, almost lost relevance in the first months, as businesses focused on basic survival. We quickly shifted to supporting charitable foundations and public organizations. We registered foundations, helped them build relationships with volunteers, and advised on humanitarian work and practical matters, including the logistics of bringing cars in from abroad.

We worked at minimal rates, mainly to keep the company operationally viable. Until around June 2022, this was our dominant line of work. Later, the market gradually began to recover, and we refocused on traditional business services.

Which decisions proved most effective in growing the company?

Three management decisions had the greatest impact. The first was delegation and hiring. I fell into the typical owner’s trap of thinking that no one could do the job better than me and that hiring would inevitably undermine quality. In reality, refusing to delegate kills scale.

The second was clearly dividing areas of responsibility between my partner and me. At the start, we did everything together, but when two people are responsible, in practice often neither one is. After we split up the areas, each of them began to grow much faster. 

The third was our first strategy session and building a culture of strategic planning. This meant breaking the strategy down into projects, tasks, owners, priorities, and deadlines; regularly testing hypotheses; measuring results; and scaling what worked or abandoning what did not. This consistent management discipline became our growth accelerator.

Which of your mistakes do you now consider your most valuable lesson?

My most valuable mistake was having an overly friendly relationship with our first employees. It creates a comfortable atmosphere, but when you need to set high expectations, correct results, and make management decisions, friendship gets in the way. Resentment arises and the business becomes harder to manage. Now I maintain healthy professional distance. Humanity and care for people remain, but the roles of manager and employee do not blur.

The second painful mistake was choosing contractors without a systematic approach and trusting them too much without verification or formal agreements. After several negative experiences, I built my own selection system with clear evaluation criteria, candidate comparisons, and a particular focus on personal qualities and ethics.

I named a fee of 300 dollars—and got positive feedback

The company’s fourth year and the cumulative threshold of 2023

The million is still ahead—and already in the plan