Denys Rudenko

From Lifelong Learning to Managing an International IT Group

I’m Denys Rudenko. I live between Kyiv and Dnipro and work with the Yalantis group of companies. The company was founded in 2008, and about 10 years ago I joined as a partner. I took on operational and strategic responsibilities, and now I work as a managing partner.

I have three higher education degrees—in computer science, economics, and geoinformation technologies. Later, I earned a PhD in management and an MBA. For me, lifelong learning is a way to stay afloat. I have always tried to stay ahead of my peers. When everyone was just starting work after university, I continued studying. When sports were not yet popular among my peers, I started exercising and paying attention to my health.

Our group now brings together several companies. Yalantis develops end-to-end custom IT solutions, from chip design and the physical design of devices to software. We also develop Protagonist, a company working in cybersecurity, including ethical hacking, testing, compliance, and the certification of companies and software. We also have our own SaaS solution to support the operations of service, marketing, and digital companies, software developers, and startups.

Our business is highly dynamic. In my time, the company has reinvented itself about five times. We have fallen, rebuilt ourselves, changed strategy, and grown again. That’s why one saying I often repeat goes: «What seems like a full stop today may simply be a comma».

Lifelong learning, the right people, and the ability to stay focused

What key skills helped you launch a business?

First and foremost, lifelong learning, understanding the market, and taking a more relaxed approach to creating new companies. Entrepreneurs usually try to do everything at once within a single company and team: make things, provide services, and add new business areas. But this leads to a loss of focus, overload, and a lack of understanding of what actually generates revenue. That’s why I believe in creating separate companies, each with its own teams, hiring, training, and leadership development. 

There is another management principle I strongly agree with: it is important for a company’s CEO to set the strategic direction and hire the right people. 

Another challenge for many companies is that the business is too heavily centered on the owner. For continued growth, you need to create management systems that enable the organization to operate without the owner or CEO being constantly involved in day-to-day operations.

Reinvention, war, and the challenges of scaling

What were the 3 most difficult challenges you faced in the first years of work?

In our industry, you have to keep reinventing yourself. In my time, Yalantis has gone through this about five times. It’s like a phoenix: we burned down, fell, rebuilt the company, made strategic changes, and grew it again.

The war was another major challenge. At first, we had to restore operations, relocate people, re-establish communications, and convince international clients that we were continuing to work.

Another challenge was scaling. We had a period when we grew from 120 to 500 people in two years. At that point, you are dealing with a completely different company and an entirely different way of working.

When you have up to 150 people, you can recognize everyone, understand who is responsible for what, and resolve issues quickly. When a company becomes international, people work in different countries, and old systems and organizational structures no longer work the same way.

COVID, war, and the ongoing crisis in IT

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

COVID was a crisis of fear—everyone was afraid the IT market would simply collapse, but the opposite happened. People were at home, and a huge number of services had to move to digital, which led to a major boom in IT.

The full-scale war was also a major crisis, but we managed to restore almost all of our operations in three days. We had to relocate people, restore communications, and make the team available again. After that, I flew to clients around the world to explain what was happening in Ukraine and how we had held up. Our clients were amazed: how could a company from a country at war resume work so quickly? 

Finding a niche and letting go of what’s unnecessary

What decisions proved most effective for the company’s growth?

Finding a niche means not trying to do everything for everyone. Strategy is not only about choosing what to do, but also about deciding what not to do. For me, the latter is no less important than the former.

At one point, we were a company that developed everything for everyone—mobile applications, software, and much more. Then we started experimenting and looking at where there was more money, greater demand, less competition, and where we had a competitive advantage.

If we see a promising new opportunity, we don’t add it to one of our existing companies. We don’t turn it into an Aurora store; instead, we create a separate company with dedicated people and specialists who focus on that service line or product.

That’s why it’s important to me to find a niche and understand the client, their pain points, and the needs we have to address.

Overfamiliarity taught me to separate friendship from work

What mistake do you now consider your most valuable learning experience?

I’d say it was overfamiliarity—when you stop separating personal relationships from work relationships. 

I don’t think I’m the only one who has lost friends and good colleagues over the course of their life because those boundaries became blurred. It was a valuable experience for me—now I draw a clearer line between personal and work relationships.

From apartment renovations to my first thousands

How did you earn your first $100?

When I was still in school, I worked as a laborer on apartment renovation projects.

How did you earn your first $1 000?

It was either 11th grade or my first year of university. At the time, I combined my studies with two or three jobs. I might work in construction, as a merchandiser or as a promoter. I would assemble wooden pallets at night and go to university in the morning.

How did you earn your first $10 000?

I don't remember.

How did you earn your first $100 000?

I don't remember exactly. 

How did you earn your first $1 000 000?

I used to find it hard to understand millionaires who said they hadn't noticed the moment they earned their first million. Now I understand. When money starts being distributed across different assets and investments, it's already difficult to pinpoint an exact date.

Once my personal monthly profit began to be measured in thousands, I gradually moved toward diversifying risks and investing. So even now, I can't say exactly how much all my assets are worth. I don't monitor the value of every asset every day.

• Strategic, operational, and project management, and change management
• IT, SaaS product development, cybersecurity, and compliance; has experience as a CEO and managing a group of companies