SE1E94 - From Dial-Up Belarus to 350 Engineers | Andrei Yurkevich

In 2002, a 25-year-old Andrei Yurkevich started a software outstaffing business in Belarus with internet speeds under 100 kilobits per second for the entire country—slower than a dial-up modem. Twenty-two years later, he's President and CTO of Altoros with 350+ engineers across 25 countries, plus multiple spin-off companies including Protofire, a Web3-focused venture. Andrei shares why he spent two years answering seven questions that should have taken two hours, why distribution must always come before delivery, and how giving everyone equity ownership creates the type of organization where people leave, gain experience, and choose to return.
Discover why Andrei's biggest hiring mistake was starting initiatives without a "single thread leader," why he motivates leaders with revenue shares but learned that scaling teams before having solid sales pipelines is fatal, and how following the Scaling Up methodology's "7 Strata" document became their most powerful alignment tool. Learn why Altoros operates as a venture studio with each business having separate leadership, cap tables, and P&Ls, why they explored but ultimately didn't fully implement DAO principles, and how their back-office shared services model enables spin-offs to focus purely on delivery and customer acquisition while finance, legal, marketing, and HR serve everyone.
Key Topics:
- Starting a software business in 2002 Belarus with dial-up internet speeds and no venture capital
- The "7 Strata" strategy: why answering seven questions took two years instead of two hours
- Distribution first, delivery second: why you can't scale teams without solid sales pipelines
- Why single thread leaders are non-negotiable before starting any new initiative
- Building a venture studio: separate P&Ls, cap tables, and equity ownership for every business unit
- How giving everyone shareholder stakes (from 0.5% to 25%) creates retention and commitment
- Why people leave, gain experience elsewhere, and choose to return years later
- The pivot from serving startups at $50/hour to Fortune 500 clients at $150-200/hour
- Exploring DAO principles in Web3: what worked, what didn't, and the governance challenges
- Managing 300+ people across 25 countries with no physical offices post-COVID
- Why Scaling Up by Vern Harnish became their foundational methodology across all businesses
- Selling imaginary products first: never build before you verify someone will buy it
Connect with Andrei Yurkevich:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreiyurkevich/
Title: President and CTO
Companies: Altoros (https://www.altoroslabs.com/) | Protofire (Co-Founder, Web3/Blockchain)
Subscribe for conversations with technology leaders who've built organizations from Soviet-era constraints to global venture studios, and understand that trust, autonomy, and shared ownership create the conditions where talent chooses to return.
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Connect with Bill on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wblennan/ 
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