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Instant response, healthy adventurism, drive, entrepreneurial spirit, and hard work 24/7 are the main components of a successful startup according to Musheg Saakyan. Five years ago he introduced Armenians to Yandex.Taxi which thereafter became not only the most popular ride-hailing service in the country, but also the source of additional income for thousands of locals whose main jobs weren’t enough to support their families. Musheg led the global expansion of Yandex.Taxi and now has co-founded a hyperlocal grocery delivery startup called 1520 in New York. In his interview for News.am, Musheg Saakyan talked about the recipe for a successful startup, risks any founder should be ready to take, and other things.

1520 which is founded by Mr. Saakyan and his ex-colleague Oleg Shevlyagin is a 15-20 minutes grocery delivery in New York. ‘We are the first in Manhattan. Now we operate in Upper East  Side and Upper West Side, but in the near future we plan to cover the whole Manhattan’, Saakyan said. His startup, recently mentioned by the Wall Street Journal, has already managed to raise $7.8 million.

‘All my life I've been involved in launching startups and businesses – for example, prior to Yandex, I had launched a branch of the Reso-Garantia insurance company in Armenia. Even being a part of Yandex, Yandex.Taxi was essentially a startup. And its global expansion branch – even more so. A startup inside a startup inside a NASDAQ-traded corporation. The launch of Yandex.Taxi in Armenia was so successful that I was promoted to lead the global expansion of the service. We launched in 16 more countries all over the world including Israel, Finland, Ghana, Ivory Coast – none of other Yandex services could go that far. My team was also managing Uber brand in several international locations which we acquired after merging Uber’s and Yandex.Taxi’s businesses in Russia and CIS’.

‘Over time, Yandex.Taxi turned into a large established business, the company was even thinking about doing its own IPO, separate from Yandex. And as I’ve always been a startup kind of a person, I switched to launching Yandex.Taxi’s cargo delivery in Moscow, which we did successfully. After that I realised I was ready to start a completely new project’. ‘In general, this idea (express hyperlocal grocery delivery – Ed.) has already been popular in many countries. Yandex also launched its Yandex.Lavka in Russia and Israel, and now announced they were going to Europe. With my ex-colleague Oleg Shevlyagin we decided to try New York’.  

‘I would lie if I said that fear did not exist. Having a fear is a natural thing for a human being. But the willingness to take risks, the ability to step out of the comfort zone is very important for an entrepreneur, who must be ready to lose everything. When opening our first location in Upper East Side, Oleg & I invested our own money, a substantial sum. On the other hand, when you risk your own money, you always think twice and it reduces a chance of mistakes’, Saakyan says. ‘Although it’s crucial to long for risks, you still need to have a business plan with the precise financial model. And last but not least, you need to work 24/7 and be ready to do literally everything with your own hands, whatever experience you might have had. It doesn’t matter if you were a C-level executive before – when you start, you might find yourself assembling shelves in the warehouse or setting up the internet network’.

Sometimes things can get really scary. ‘Before we launched in Ivory Coast, we have never been to the country, most of us didn’t even speak French. In Africa, there were times where we might literally have lost our lives’, Musheg says, adding that the passion and the healthy adventurism are twice as crucial for a successful startup founder.

When asked about his personal features that helped him in life and business, Musheg notes that it’s his instant response and flexibility, the ability to rethink plans and priorities in a second. The feel for bright minds is also important; he calls himself a definite team player. ‘I'm not afraid to take risks or do crazy things, but when needed, I become very serious and systematic. And the main thing is that I get totally carried away with the idea I work on. I get so passionate about work I really can’t be distracted with anything else‘. These skills impress people around him as well. Avedis Kasbarian, the Regional Director for Yandex.Taxi in Armenia and ex-colleague of Musheg, recalls that ‘he’s definitely the one you can count on bringing the business from 0 to 1’.

Avedis jokes on the passion of Musheg, too pervasive at times, and says they wish him success but still miss him. ‘When it comes to the vision, he’s the one putting your inner impossible ideas into a systematic alley, when it comes to creativity he’s a pure invader acknowledging no obstacles, no hurdles, consolidating everyone including his personal network to form any detail into a perfect shape. Sometimes you get really exhausted of him bringing more requests on, but at the same time you have this latent feeling of confession that it's simply not fun doing business without him’.

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