Within 10 days of the start of the full-scale —, we had resumed sales and started building our Polish operations
Today I am developing VSB Store as an international trading company combining e-commerce and offline operations. At the same time, we are building a beauty ecosystem for professionals, focused on the business-to-business segment — from supplying goods to launching our own brands and products.
My area of responsibility — is developing and scaling our Polish and international operations overall. Poland has become our key operational and logistics hub, through which we have built a delivery system and begun working systematically with the European Union market.
One of my core business principles — is to go where it feels scary. For me, that means being able to look honestly at weaknesses and enter areas that most people put off. That is usually where the opportunity for growth lies.
The turning point was the start of the full-scale war. I went abroad with my child amid complete uncertainty, and at that moment I felt I had lost control of the situation. Yet within 10 days, we were able to resume sales in Ukraine and began adapting the business to the new reality.
During that period, we saw a change in customer behavior: a significant number of beauty professionals had gone abroad and needed access to the products they were used to. This prompted us to systematically launch our Polish operations.
We were working amid complete logistical chaos: rebuilding supply chains, testing new delivery formats, and making quick decisions amid uncertainty. There was one key objective — to ensure customers had access to products whatever the circumstances.
Our first attempts to scale in Europe were mistakes. We entered with a model that worked in Ukraine and quickly realized it could not scale in the European market. This forced us to rethink practically all our processes — from marketing and logistics to our financial model and customer relations.
Today, the business is scaling through assortment expansion, international sales development, the launch of our own products, and the optimization of operational processes.
My key role in this — is to see the whole system, make quick decisions, and take responsibility for them.
The pandemic halted the beauty segment — and we decided to sell directly
How did you come up with the business idea?
The business began with our partner's expertise in procurement. My partner imported goods from China, including for a beauty store, and we worked with them as suppliers.
When the pandemic began, the beauty segment effectively came to a standstill — the store had no active sales. At that point, we decided to start operating independently and import goods to sell ourselves.
We focused on categories with obvious demand — masks, pulse oximeters, thermometers — and quickly built a small store on that basis.
At the same time, we reached an agreement with the beauty store to sell its remaining stock through us. This allowed us to expand our assortment and move from a few items to a full-fledged warehouse.
The business then began to grow systematically: we built up inventory, established a sales department and marketing function, and launched our own website.
That was the point when we moved from occasional sales to building a systematic business.
Speed without a system doesn't work — and vice versa
What key skills helped you launch the business?
The foundation of our growth was systems thinking, an analytical approach, and the ability to make quick decisions and take responsibility for them.
I believe that in business, you need to act quickly because the world is changing very dynamically. At a certain point, you simply no longer have the luxury of thinking for a long time — you need to test and keep moving.
At the same time, speed without a system doesn't work. For me, being systematic — means having well-designed processes, clear roles within the team, and oversight through numbers.
Without that, scaling is simply impossible.
A warehouse without a system, numbers without analysis, and staff without the right competencies
What were the 3 most difficult challenges you faced in the early years?
- Lack of a system at the outset.There are products, some things are selling, some are being shipped — but there are no clear processes, and that starts to slow growth.
- Lack of financial analysis.It felt like putting together a puzzle without numbers. You work, but you don't understand where you're making money and where you're losing it.
- Hiring mistakes.We placed far too much confidence in people who either lacked the necessary skills or were not invested in the results.
Cash flow was also a constant challenge. In a product-based business, growth requires investing money in inventory, and procurement has a long cycle. As a result, there was almost always a gap between expenses and actual cash on hand.
Goods burned in a warehouse, Europe rejected the Ukrainian model — and we rebuilt everything
What crises has your business faced, and how did you overcome them?
We most often faced cash flow gaps and a shortage of working capital. This is a basic reality of a product-based business. We dealt with it by optimizing expenses, restructuring processes, attracting investment, and automating.
Another major blow came at the start of the war. Logistics were unstable, and risks — were at their highest. During that period, goods worth tens of thousands of dollars were destroyed in a fire at one of our warehouses. But even under those conditions, we didn't stop and kept working.
Opening a branch in Europe was another difficult stage. We entered with the Ukrainian model and quickly realized it didn't work there. We lost some resources, but rebuilt the business almost from scratch to suit European realities.
Automation, optimization, and a financial system: three decisions that drove growth
Which decisions proved most effective in growing the company?
Three decisions had the greatest impact.
- Automation. We eliminated manual routine work and freed up the team to focus on decision-making.
- Resource optimization. We reviewed how we used money, people, and time, especially in Europe.
- Financial system. We began working systematically with numbers, which gave us a clear understanding of the business's actual performance.
As a result, we were able to fully automate some processes, including part of our sales in Europe.
We invested more and got worse results — until we made finance the foundation of every decision
Which of your mistakes do you now consider your most valuable learning experience?
The most valuable mistake was when we miscalculated our finances.
We put in more effort, but our results got worse. Eventually, we realized the problem was with our financial model.
After that, we made finance the foundation of every decision and were able to scale properly.
