“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value,” quotes Albert Einstein. One of the cleverest minds in human history outlined the importance of adding value to the lives of others is what will measure your success. This quote resonates with Andrew Volchek’s personal as well as professional life.
While studying at the university, Andrew started his professional journey by making origami for customers. To grow his small business, he started posting ads on websites and began receiving orders. This also laid down the foundation for marketing, sales, and production. Later, he was engaged in the sale of tilework and building materials.
Soon, he met his future partners, who together established a business in offline advertising. “Although we didn’t have a high number of orders in the beginning, most of our customers came back to us again and again. As a result, I realized that quality always wins in the long run,” said Andrew. In nearly two years, his marketing agency was listed among the leading companies in the Belarusian market and was the choice of several big organizations.
While establishing the business, Andrew also pursued his education. With a bachelor’s degree in economic relations and a keen interest in digital transformation, he decided to learn about UX design and software engineering.
This digital transformation study proved beneficial when the company faced an unprecedented economic crisis, which forced Andrew and his team to move towards digital marketing. Then, having gained relevant experience, Andrew founded a software development company, setting out to help clients from the US and Europe. Andrew became a CEO and Co-founder of Arateg and Sergey Glebko was appointed as a CTO and Co-founder. The team started working on large-scale projects with complex challenges and Arateg was listed among the top players.
Widely Recognized and Peerless
Arateg was founded in 2014, with an excellent team of experienced engineers. It provides software development and consulting services to startups and SMEs helping them raise funds and increase revenues. Moreover, Arateg built feature-rich marketplaces that are similar to Amazon, eBay, Airbnb, Uber Eats, Udemy, and Coursera while also enabling high availability, scalability, and fault tolerance.
These feature-rich marketplaces include B2B, B2C, and P2P websites and applications, backed by the in-depth expertise of Arateg. The company enables vendors to connect with their clients in one place and allows online transactions, sales analytics, as well as make multiple integrations.
Arateg also leverages advanced tech like IoT, AI, and blockchain to meet the industrial needs of their customers. The software experts are involved in outlining the project implementation roadmap with the clients, choosing the technology stack, and working out a digital transformation strategy. “By conducting software testing and quality assurance, we deliver performant software products and ensure compliance with the required standards,” explained Andrew.
Apart from this, Arateg offers system ongoing support and maintenance after launch by making the necessary customizations and adding new functionality. Due to its peerless services and solutions and determination to attain client satisfaction, the company has been recognized by over 25 trusted B2B platforms, such as Clutch, GoodFirms, DesighRush, and WADLINE.
A Skilful Team of Experts
Andrew is very proud of the achievements by far in his journey. At Arateg, his mission is to identify a strategic vision and business goals. Arateg’s team is focused on making people’s lives more comfortable and organizations more efficient. “As a leader, my tasks are to establish a long-term partnership with customers, ensure high quality of services, and motivate team members,” said Andrew.
With Arateg, Andrew has set up an all-rounder team of specialists who thrive together in cooperation. Though software experts have certain roles and functions, they are familiar with the specifics of other jobs. For instance, project managers and business analysts have a clear understanding of activities performed by designers, developers, and testers.
Furthermore, the team members frequently undergo training with the specialists to acquire new skills and knowledge. These skills and knowledge combined have made Arateg an expert partner in online marketplace development.
Pillars of Proven Methodology
Arateg’s approach is based on three pillars—Agile, security, and transparency. These pillars assist the company in achieving the best outcomes. Moreover, the Agile methodology enables the team to deliver new features every 2-3 weeks and quickly record client feedback and implement changes on the fly. This methodology is especially helpful for startups, to sustain in the ever competing landscape and curate something according to their clients’ needs and demands.
Arateg always prioritizes security and protects sensitive data. To achieve this, the team incorporates role-based access control and data encryption, as well as ensures other security standards.
To preserve the long-term relationship with customers, it is important to maintain trust. Arateg always keeps the client on loop in the development process to maintain transparency. The client can easily control the development with access to AraIS— Arateg’s project management system containing data about performed tasks, planned activities, and deadlines.
Welcoming Digital Revolution
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Andrew was dubious about the team moving to remote work. Arateg had to cancel all business trips and postpone other events. However, due to its agility, the company managed to be productive and deliver the best outcomes despite the pandemic.
Gradually, as the world opened to normalcy, the team was allowed to be back in the office. The only challenge was to tackle the cybersecurity threats while remote working. The team applied the best data security practices for distant collaboration to ensure there is no data breach.
Sharing his perspective on the current situation, Andrew says, “Last year was challenging for the whole world due to an economic recession triggered by COVID-19. In 2021, the pandemic will continue having an adverse impact on many sectors, for example, tourism, food, and hospitality. However, industries such as e-commerce, e-learning, and FinTech have seen rapid growth during the outbreak.”
Online operations have witnessed a significant climb. Heeding this rapid demand, Arateg recently created two marketplaces—for food pre-ordering and restaurant table booking—that helped its customers generate revenues despite the coronavirus crisis. With the year 2021, Andrew is anticipating a rise in B2B and B2C online marketplaces and hints towards the rise in demand for AI and blockchain solutions adoption.
Read full issue: The Top 10 Perseverant Entrepreneurs, 2021
