Derkach Andrii Petrovych

Fruit from my own garden, potatoes with a waiting list, and a million in two years

Today, I am a co-founder of Freedom Business Area and am responsible for business development as CBDO.

I believe in a simple principle: either do things well or don't do them at all. I am used to quickly immersing myself in a system, understanding how it works, finding opportunities for growth, and identifying the value I can create for the environment.

I have never built a business around the status of being a leader. What matters much more to me is financial results, realizing my potential, and the freedom that entrepreneurship offers.

My journey began in Luhansk, where I grew up in a neighborhood of private homes. That is where I first discovered my interest in earning money independently: I earned my first money by selling fruit from my own garden at the market.

Later, I developed my career in the events and media industries: I organized and hosted events, worked in television and radio, served as an event host, and engaged with diverse audiences and public platforms.

This experience helped me develop skills that matter to me: strong communication, the ability to hold an audience's attention, quickly build rapport with people, and maintain high energy in a dynamic environment.

A turning point was moving to Poland and becoming part of a strong business community. This process became especially pronounced starting in 2020, when I focused on structured learning, actively seeking new knowledge, and analyzing market opportunities.

That was when I began looking for a business model that could be launched with minimal initial investment and scaled through a systematic approach.

This changed my mindset: I stopped seeing business as a set of chaotic actions and began building it as a system—with clear logic, processes, a financial model, and a long-term development strategy.

A recruitment agency became a business incubator after the war began

How did the business idea come about?

The business idea was born out of a partnership. We were looking for a promising niche in Poland that we could enter with relatively little investment but strong market demand. We initially launched a recruitment agency focused on helping companies solve their hiring needs.

Over time, clients began to create additional demand, including for sourcing IT specialists and formalizing working relationships correctly under the law through B2B models.

After the full-scale war began, the market changed significantly, and the direction that had only just started gaining momentum effectively came to a halt. We decided not to stop the business, but to adapt the model and move to a business-incubator format, known internationally as a Parallel Company, Umbrella Company, or Employer of Record. We launched the legal structure in March 2022, after completing the key preparatory work in advance.

A team stronger than you, leadership, and operational discipline

What key skills helped you launch your business?

My professional growth was built on three practical competencies.

First — the ability to find strong people and build a team. I believe a business owner should not become a bottleneck to the company's growth. My job is to create an environment where specialists who are stronger than me can build the system and strengthen the business.

Second — leadership and strategic vision. It is important to me to be at the center of things not for the status, but to set a direction, make decisions, and give the team a sense of stability and predictability.

Third — operational discipline and a systematic approach. Although I am not focused on routine processes, order, legal compliance, structure, and predictability are essential to me, both in business and in my personal organization.

An operating model, the first hires, and a strategic vision without market signals

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

In the early years of developing the business, the three most difficult challenges for me were:

1. Building an operating system — creating a model that would allow the company to operate consistently and repeatably, rather than depend on hands-on management.
2. Hiring the first employees — we had to not only find strong specialists within our budget, but also convince them of the company's potential, my leadership, and the clarity of our working arrangements.
3. Establishing and maintaining a strategic vision — defining a long-term direction for growth, understanding which business model had the most potential, and deciding what would become the company's core after the first market signals.

A partnership conflict and a market changed by war — two crises, one lesson

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

The most challenging crisis was within the partnership.

There were three of us at the start, but over time disagreements arose because we had different understandings of our roles and levels of involvement. We had not set out our expectations in enough detail regarding responsibilities, financial contributions, and operational input.

As a result, one partner left the business, and the process involved conflicts that are still partly ongoing today, although they no longer affect the company's operations.

The main lesson I learned was that all partnership agreements must be as detailed as possible from the outset. Roles, criteria for fulfilling commitments, responsibilities, and the financial consequences of failing to meet agreements must be clearly defined.

The second major crisis was an external market shift caused by the war, which forced us to quickly rethink our business model and move from traditional recruitment to a business-incubator and EOR format.

A strong CEO and a B2B focus on corporate clients with 100 specialists or more

Which decisions proved most effective in growing the company?

One of the most effective decisions was bringing in a strong CEO with relevant experience, who took responsibility for managing the company and its operations during a period of active growth.

At the same time, we focused on the business's internal architecture: building processes, defining areas of responsibility and rules for collaboration, and establishing a management system.

At the strategic level, I see the greatest growth potential today in the B2B segment. A single corporate client can place teams of 100 to 200 specialists in IT, marketing, digital, and related fields through our infrastructure.

That is why we are now strengthening B2B sales, systematically engaging with target clients, and actively developing outbound efforts, including through LinkedIn.

In a large market, an average product beats a perfect product in a small niche

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

The most valuable learning experience for me was underestimating the importance of choosing the right market and assessing its true size.

Over time, I clearly understood that in a large market, even an average product with basic marketing can secure a share and deliver substantial financial results. At the same time, working in niches with limited capacity creates a natural ceiling on growth. I faced this challenge while operating a business-incubator model in the Polish market.

The main lesson I learned was that a market needs to be assessed as carefully as possible before a project begins, and your assumptions should be regularly checked against market realities. Competition exists in every field, and in many industries, including AI, what works today can quickly become outdated.

That is why, when entering new projects, I think in terms of much larger markets and long-term potential.

Cherries from the orchard, potatoes with a sample, and a million as a realistic goal

How did you earn your first $100?

I earned my first $100 as a child, selling fruit at the market. Fruit trees grew in our yard, and there was more produce than we needed for ourselves, so I started selling sweet cherries, apricots, and sour cherries.

How did you earn your first $1 000?

I earned my first $1 000 selling potatoes.

I used a simple marketing tactic: I delivered one potato as a sample to potential buyers, explained the product's benefits, and asked them to prepare sacks for their orders. This approach generated demand in advance, and I effectively created a queue before the sales were even finished.

How did you earn your first $10 000?

I earned my first $10 000 in events and media.

I worked actively as an event host, organized celebrations, collaborated with television and radio, performed at various events, and worked with well-known speakers and artists.

How did you earn your first $100 000?

I earned my first $100 000 in event planning and production.

This was the result of consistent work, building a client base, repeat sales, and scaling operations in the events sector.

How did you earn your first $1 000 000?

I have not yet reached the $1 000 000 mark in net income.

At the same time, based on the business's current trajectory and scaling potential, I consider this goal achievable within approximately two years.

Service Business Abroad and B2B as a Lever for Exponential Growth

My practical experience may be useful to entrepreneurs launching a service business in another country with limited startup resources and planning to work with international clients.

I have gone from finding a niche and validating product-market fit to building a service model that handles legal, tax, and payroll processes for clients, and enables companies and specialists to work legally through a B2B model in Poland.

I can also share my approach to hiring and leadership in the early stages of business development: how to attract strong people, build trust, create a sense of security, and build a system in which the owner does not become a bottleneck to growth.

Another important area of my experience is partnerships and corporate governance. In particular, how to distinguish the roles of investor and operating partner in a timely manner, and why the rules for joining, exiting, equity distribution, and accountability should be documented as clearly as possible at the very start of a collaboration.

Product-market fit, cash flow, and compliance as the foundation of resilience

Your experience: how do you systematize a business?

I view business systematization as a sequence of management frameworks and checks.

The first stage is finding product-market fit: creating a minimum viable product, testing demand, making the first sales, validating customer acquisition channels, and honestly assessing what the market is willing to pay for.

The second stage is building a financial model and basic operating structure: calculating costs, assembling a lean team, and launching key processes.

Once cash flow is stable, I focus on separating functions, first and foremost by establishing sales as the key driver of growth. In parallel, I build out critical processes: service delivery, customer communications, internal information sharing, data storage, and security.

Compliance and meeting legal requirements are a separate priority for me. I see this not as a formality, but as the foundation of a business's operational resilience.

One B2B client replaces a retail flow of 100–200 specialists

Your experience: how do you grow x2 in a year?

To achieve exponential growth, I start with one basic principle: find the growth lever and focus resources on it as much as possible.

In our business, that lever is the B2B segment. One corporate client can provide a scale that is impossible to achieve through a retail flow, as individual companies bring teams of 100 to 200 specialists into our infrastructure.

In practice, this means developing B2B sales, working systematically with target clients, including through LinkedIn, and clearly positioning our value: the ability to hand over HR, legal, and related financial processes to us end to end.

Execution discipline remains key: avoid spreading resources too thin and strengthen only the areas that directly affect customer acquisition and retention.