Kliakhin Yevhen Andriiovych, 34 years

Moving from Luhansk in 2014 and ten years in IT before starting my own company

Today I am an entrepreneur in IT services (DevHandler), building a company around specialized expertise in enterprise content management solutions. My journey to this point began much earlier—with a habit of working and earning money independently. Even as a student, I tried my hand at different roles and side jobs: I worked as a mystery shopper and a children's entertainer, and took on any tasks that gave me experience and helped me move forward.

A turning point came in 2014—the war and my forced move from the Luhansk region to Kyiv. This changed not only the geography of my life, but also my inner sense of stability. It was then that a new chapter began: developing my career in Kyiv, starting a family, and developing a more mature, ambitious mindset.

Later, I entered the professional IT field and spent many years developing as an engineer, working on complex web projects. It was a period of deep immersion in technology, systems thinking, and understanding how large products work from the inside.

The birth of my children became a major turning point. It changes your approach to responsibility and life so much that you can no longer think and act as you did before.

Eventually, I made a conscious decision to move from employment to entrepreneurship. At a certain point, I began to feel the limits of this model: even when you approach the maximum, the boundaries remain. For me, owning a business means playing by different rules. There is more responsibility, but also much more freedom: I determine the limits myself.

That is why I see my business as a long game. I believe we can grow into a large-scale international company. For me, this is not an abstract idea, but a practical challenge that depends directly on how effectively my team and I work with the opportunities before us.

Ten years with Adobe Experience Manager and a real launch in 2024

How did you come up with the business idea?

The idea grew out of my deep specialization. For nearly ten years, I worked with Adobe Experience Manager, gained a strong understanding of how enterprise projects operate inside different companies, and built a strong network of developers and experts in this niche.

I began thinking about starting my own company before the full-scale war. In 2021, I even registered a company in Estonia, which is now our main legal entity. But an active launch did not happen at that time—the war began, and it was not the right moment. I remained employed for several more years.

The actual launch took place in 2024. At that point, I stopped thinking like a specialist and started acting like an entrepreneur: organizing work, building delivery, finding clients, signing contracts, and developing partnerships. The business grew out of my expertise, but scaling began only when I changed roles and built a team around that expertise.

High intensity, essentialism, and an inner drive for change

What key skills helped you launch your business?

My growth was built on the ability to work at high intensity and switch quickly between contexts. At the outset, I was effectively carrying many areas myself, so ambition and the ability to see things through to results—even when they did not work out the first time—were critical.

The second important skill is multitasking and resilience under stress. Since my days as a programmer, I have been used to working on several projects at once and setting the right priorities amid a stream of tasks.

At the same time, I am learning to do things that do not come naturally to me: letting go of what is unnecessary and focusing on what matters most. The approach of essentialism really resonates with me. When you are building delivery, sales, and a market presence at the same time, focus becomes not just an idea, but a survival tool.

Another important element is an inner drive for change. After ten years of working on similar tasks, I consciously chose a path that is more interesting to me. I am now working at full capacity, but for me that is not about chaos—it is about energy for the long haul.

A strong technical core without a CTO, a business assistant, and lead generation through LinkedIn

What are the 3 most difficult challenges you addressed in the first years?

The first was delivery and fulfilling technical commitments. We needed to guarantee high-quality implementation of complex projects without a formally appointed CTO. I addressed this by building a strong technical core team and creating a shortlist of specialists who could be brought in quickly for large projects.

The second was the limits of my time and resources. It quickly became clear that I could not maintain the necessary pace on my own. The solution was to hire project managers and a business assistant. This was one of the most effective steps: it genuinely freed me up and significantly accelerated our development. I could not have achieved on my own what we do together.

The third was lead generation and online presence. We needed to establish a systematic process for attracting clients through content, LinkedIn, and regular communication. It is not yet perfectly set up, but we have made significant progress over the past six months: we now have someone responsible for it and processes that can be scaled.

I entered the business prepared—operational issues rather than systemic crises

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

So far, I have not faced major business crises involving serious failures or significant losses—we have not been operating for very long. I attribute this to not entering the business blindly. Before the active launch, I completed six months of training in building an IT services company, where we examined typical risks in detail—cash-flow gaps, staffing issues, and other critical challenges. This enabled me to make more considered decisions from the outset. For now, we are dealing with operational issues rather than systemic crises.

A focused Adobe Experience Manager niche and the right people—two key decisions

Which decisions proved most effective for the company's growth?

Two decisions had the greatest impact on our growth.

The first was narrowing our focus. At the beginning, I was building the company as a general-purpose services provider: I took on various tasks to keep us busy. This led to short, low-budget projects and did not give us clear positioning. Things changed when I defined who we are: experts in Adobe Experience Manager, working in a specialized niche and official Adobe partners. After that, both client acquisition and business development became much more effective.

The second was bringing in talented people. At a certain point, business growth runs up against the founder's time constraints. Every well-chosen person does more than fill a role—they strengthen the entire system, from project management and communications to lead generation and operational discipline.

Every mistake is a lesson: the value lies in the journey as a whole

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

I see every mistake as a learning experience. I cannot single out just one—the value lies in the journey as a whole.

From construction work at school to $100 000 in savings over ten years in IT

How did you earn your first $100?

I earned my first money during my school years. I did odd jobs, including construction work.

How did you earn your first $1 000?

As a student, I took on various odd jobs—as a mystery shopper, entertainer, bartender, and in other roles—and earned more than a thousand dollars.

How did you earn your first $10 000?

I earned it working as a salaried programmer in IT. I started at around $300 a month and, over one to two years, increased my income to $2000–2500 a month. That made it possible to save my first $10 000.

How did you earn your first $100 000?

It was the result of long-term savings over about ten years of working in IT. It wasn’t tied to any single year or specific contract.

How did you earn your first $1 000 000?

I didn’t record it as a separate amount in an account. Looking at the total assets and resources accumulated over the years working in IT and transitioning into entrepreneurship, I’ve probably reached that level, but I can’t pinpoint an exact moment in time.

IT navigation from simple to complex solutions and career consulting

My most hands-on experience is in navigating IT solutions, from simple to complex. I help people understand whether development is needed at all, what level of solution fits the task, and what budget is realistic.

For small tasks, simple and fast solutions are often enough, sometimes even using AI without bringing in a large team. For large-scale products, such as international online platforms, a systematic approach is needed: architecture, delivery, a team, and risk management.

I also consult on career development and hiring in IT. People often come to me with questions about career direction, choosing courses, and building a career path.

Another topic is personal effectiveness and resilience to stress. Sport and morning routines help me with this: running, workouts, getting up early, and making time for myself in the morning. Since getting a dog, I’ve also added a regular morning walk.

One person is responsible for each process — then comes continuous optimization

Your experience: how do you systematize a business?

I don’t believe the business is fully systematized yet, but we’re moving forward with a simple principle: a specific person is responsible for each key process, and we continually look for opportunities to optimize.

In practice, this means regular, incremental improvements that reduce manual work and speed up processes. For example, planning and cross-posting content across different social networks through a single system, recording calls and automatically creating notes that sync with the CRM, and using ChatGPT as a tool for accessing context and information.

It’s not a perfect system, but a process of constant progress: every improvement reduces reliance on manual tasks and increases the pace of growth.

Focus on a niche, clear positioning, and turning down low-budget projects

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

x2 growth became possible thanks to a change in the business model. Initially, the company operated as a generalist service provider, which made quality scaling difficult. Once we focused clearly on a niche, specialization, and working with enterprise clients, growth accelerated significantly.

For me, the formula for growth is: focus, clear positioning, and turning down short-term, low-budget projects that distract the team and create no long-term value.