- The founders of Asamic, a platform that matches companies with designers, experienced the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
- They had to evacuate from Kiev and ensure the safety of their team.
- The founders operated their business remotely and focused on growth despite the war.
- They highlight the resilience and unity of the Ukrainian people in the face of adversity.
- They remain optimistic about the future and discuss plans to rebuild the country.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, the lives of Stacy Pavlyshyna and Roman Sevast changed from startup founders to survival coordinators. Headquartered in Kyiv, the founders of Awesomic (YC S21), share their experience of securing their safety and evacuating their team members from across Ukraine under the dangers of war and missile attacks—all while continuing to build and scale their startup.

The following organizations helping Ukraine need your ongoing support:
Nova Ukraine (https://novaukraine.org/donate/)
Razom for Ukraine (https://www.razomforukraine.org/donate/)
Come Back Alive (https://www.comebackalive.in.ua/donate)

For more ways to support Ukraine, read our blog post:
https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/supporting-ukraine

Thank you to Stacy Pavlyshyna and Roman Sevast for sharing their story. If you are in need of design work with fast turnaround, check out Awesomic (https://www.awesomic.io/).

#startups #ukraine #ukrainewar

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Chapters (Powered by https://bit.ly/chapterme-yc) - 
00:00 - Introduction
00:45 - Awesomic typical day
01:56 - Russia attacks Ukraine
03:03 - Focus and executing emergency plan
04:03 - Hardest part of the war
05:00 - Getting people to safe place
06:05 - Growing the business
06:57 - Startup mode

This sound in the middle of the night signified a Russian missile had struck close by.

It was February 28th, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine had started 4 days earlier.

I woke up, we went to the bunker and happy birthday Roman!

Roman's mom made a homemade cake and it was kind of yeah happy birthday from the bunker.

And then alarm system end and we go back to our beds.

They're the founders of Asamic, a platform that matches companies with designers for design tasks with 24-hour turnaround.

We have now more than 100 designers connected.

With an office in Ukraine's capital city Kiev, The 2 founders spent their time building their startup.

Typical day was kind of like as a hustle founders.

Mainly it was like spending your work time in the office, meeting new people, talking to people, having interviews.

We've been living nearby in Kiev downtown and had kind of normal life.

That all changed as 2021 came to a close and Russia began moving military forces next to the Ukrainian border.

Russia though is still sending more troops to the border.

Stacey and Roman now had important considerations unfamiliar to most founders.

We would understand the risk of the region where we would be living.

We've been constantly talking with our people, with our designers about potential threats.

We shared advices how they can secure them in advance.

And on February 24th, Russia attacked Ukraine, a free and democratic European country.

These are among the darkest hour for Europe since the end of World War II.

She said the war started, go away to safe place.

And we started the evacuation of our people, of our...

We've been just moving out from Kiev, because Kiev being bombed.

Even when we've been riding out of the Kiev, we see a Russian helicopter flew over us.

There is no safe place in Ukraine now, so we are kind of safe.

Any place in Ukraine is not the safest place, because there are threats of missile attacks.

We didn't expect this full massive scale invasion.

Even we've been preparing for some escalation.

Once the 2 founders found safety for themselves, their concerns and focus shifted to their asomic team.

To be honest, the first days were so much about panic and stress For the people who were denying the reality, and it was hard to deal with everything that is going on because it was like living a horror movie or a dream.

But for us, having a plan in advance just help us to focus and execute.

It was more like a robot mode where you're just executing step by step, you know what to do, you know what funds do you need and things like that.

The first month for me was really intensive.

We'd be helping everyone, so no time to be depressed or to feel sad or something like that.

Executing this emergency plan was key to helping those that needed it most.

But the emotional toll and trauma exposed itself once that initial hard work was over.

For me the hardest part was when the photos from Bucha were released.

What I had was a week of actually staring at the wall.

It was a week where it was hard for me to focus.

I was staring most of the time just at the wall, thinking my thoughts.

That kind of photos, it's hard to explain.

Because you know, it's not only photos, you know people from there, you know people who love their home there, you know stories from there, so it's kind of personal every time.

And this is what makes it hard, you just cannot be disconnected or be far away from that.

During this horrible photos were released, We discovered a lot of raping cases and we had a few girls and 1 of them was in occupied city.

So actually a few days straight we've been thinking how to hide her.

What instruction instructions should we provide her?

What her relatives should do for invaders to not find her.

These were maybe the most fears that I had related to the safety of my people.

We've been kind of like paying for, we call this kamikaze drivers.

It's a person who knows safe roads in very dangerous locations.

So they could ride to our person, pick them up as their relatives and evacuate them.

This was the last person getting to the safe place from the occupied city already.

So if there are some, any new common safety threats we see in some region where our people or where we are.

So the first thing we try to eliminate any potential problems with safety.

With control over basic health and safety, the 2 co-founders were still left with a company to run.

Once we done with basic safety, we are focusing to grow in our business and getting new designers, customers.

And I would say that we've been in touch with our community and with our people during all that time, focused on building business.

Even despite war, We operated on a third day, we've been operating like normal and accepting new customers.

Yes, military wins the battles, but economics, this is who, the war.

So we decided to stay here, to spend here, to bring more foreign money to our economy, to onboard more designers who lost their jobs.

The whole country turned into a startup mode.

And imagine you living in a country and the whole country is a startup and you need to help the win and you can do anything you can focus on the economic you as we focus it with Stacy or you can go to fight or you can kind of like do a bread for various and bake them and give them for free.

So you can do anything, but it's a very special atmosphere, I would say.

That countrywide startup mode has produced extraordinary resilience by the Ukrainian people and has helped slow and even stop some Russian advances.

I'm the most optimistic about Ukrainian people, about Ukrainian society.

So much power in supporting each other, in uniting as people.

proud of these people who are so strong and they are able to protect our country.

The optimism these 2 co-founders showcase are necessary for any founder building a company, but even more so for those fighting for the freedom of their country.

Now I think it's more like optimistic future.

We discussing how we would rebuild the country once this would end.

That's I would say 1 of the most active discussions.

We are so strong, we would resist and help Ukraine and we would win.

If you are able to help Ukrainians who are fighting on the ground or looking for safety, the following organizations need your ongoing support.


Speaker 0: 2 a.m. We have alarm system. We're screaming like hell. It sounds like this.

Speaker 1: This sound in the middle of the night signified a Russian missile had struck close by. It was February 28th, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine had started 4 days earlier.

Speaker 0: I woke up, we went to the bunker and happy birthday Roman!

Speaker 2: Roman's mom made a homemade cake and it was kind of yeah happy birthday from the bunker.

Speaker 0: Yeah. And then alarm system end and we go back to our beds. Unforgettable experience, I would say.

Speaker 1: This is Stacy and Roman. They're the founders of Asamic, a platform that matches companies with designers for design tasks with 24-hour turnaround.

Speaker 2: We have now more than 100 designers connected. Most of them are from Ukraine.

Speaker 1: With an office in Ukraine's capital city Kiev, The 2 founders spent their time building their startup.

Speaker 0: Typical day was kind of like as a hustle founders.

Speaker 2: Mainly it was like spending your work time in the office, meeting new people, talking to people, having interviews. We've been living nearby in Kiev downtown and had kind of normal life.

Speaker 1: That all changed as 2021 came to a close and Russia began moving military forces next to the Ukrainian border.

Speaker 0: Russia though is still sending more troops to the border.

Speaker 1: Stacey and Roman now had important considerations unfamiliar to most founders.

Speaker 0: We would understand the risk of the region where we would be living. We've been constantly talking with our people, with our designers about potential threats. We shared advices how they can secure them in advance.

Speaker 1: And on February 24th, Russia attacked Ukraine, a free and democratic European country.

Speaker 0: These are among the darkest hour for Europe since the end of World War II. I woke up at 7 a.m. From my mom's call. She said the war started, go away to safe place. I just, I called Stacy and woke her up.

And we started the evacuation of our people, of our... Of ourselves as well. We've been just moving out from Kiev, because Kiev being bombed. Even when we've been riding out of the Kiev, we see a Russian helicopter flew over us.

Speaker 2: There is no safe place in Ukraine now, so we are kind of safe. But it's hard to ignore, because

Speaker 0: we still hear air radars every day. Any place in Ukraine is not the safest place, because there are threats of missile attacks. We didn't expect this full massive scale invasion. So it was a surprise for us. Even we've been preparing for some escalation.

Speaker 1: Once the 2 founders found safety for themselves, their concerns and focus shifted to their asomic team.

Speaker 2: To be honest, the first days were so much about panic and stress For the people who were denying the reality, and it was hard to deal with everything that is going on because it was like living a horror movie or a dream. But for us, having a plan in advance just help us to focus and execute. It was more like a robot mode where you're just executing step by step, you know what to do, you know what funds do you need and things like that. The first month for me was really intensive. We'd be helping everyone, so no time to be depressed or to feel sad or something like that.

You're just active, you're executing.

Speaker 1: Executing this emergency plan was key to helping those that needed it most. But the emotional toll and trauma exposed itself once that initial hard work was over.

Speaker 2: For me the hardest part was when the photos from Bucha were released. What I had was a week of actually staring at the wall. It was a week where it was hard for me to focus. I was staring most of the time just at the wall, thinking my thoughts. That kind of photos, it's hard to explain.

Because you know, it's not only photos, you know people from there, you know people who love their home there, you know stories from there, so it's kind of personal every time. And this is what makes it hard, you just cannot be disconnected or be far away from that. During this horrible photos were released, We discovered a lot of raping cases and we had a few girls and 1 of them was in occupied city. So actually a few days straight we've been thinking how to hide her. What instruction instructions should we provide her?

What her relatives should do for invaders to not find her. These were maybe the most fears that I had related to the safety of my people.

Speaker 0: We've been kind of like paying for, we call this kamikaze drivers. It's a person who knows safe roads in very dangerous locations. So they could ride to our person, pick them up as their relatives and evacuate them.

Speaker 2: This was the last person getting to the safe place from the occupied city already. We're so happy that we just have them.

Speaker 0: Safety threats are the most important. So if there are some, any new common safety threats we see in some region where our people or where we are. So the first thing we try to eliminate any potential problems with safety.

Speaker 1: With control over basic health and safety, the 2 co-founders were still left with a company to run.

Speaker 0: Once we done with basic safety, we are focusing to grow in our business and getting new designers, customers. And I would say that we've been in touch with our community and with our people during all that time, focused on building business. Even despite war, We operated on a third day, we've been operating like normal and accepting new customers.

Speaker 2: Yes, military wins the battles, but economics, this is who, the war. So we decided to stay here, to spend here, to bring more foreign money to our economy, to onboard more designers who lost their jobs.

Speaker 0: The whole country turned into a startup mode. And imagine you living in a country and the whole country is a startup and you need to help the win and you can do anything you can focus on the economic you as we focus it with Stacy or you can go to fight or you can kind of like do a bread for various and bake them and give them for free. So you can do anything, but it's a very special atmosphere, I would say. Startup mode, but on a country scale.

Speaker 1: That countrywide startup mode has produced extraordinary resilience by the Ukrainian people and has helped slow and even stop some Russian advances.

Speaker 2: I'm the most optimistic about Ukrainian people, about Ukrainian society. So much power in supporting each other, in uniting as people. So I'm just

Speaker 0: proud of these people who are so strong and they are able to protect our country.

Speaker 1: The optimism these 2 co-founders showcase are necessary for any founder building a company, but even more so for those fighting for the freedom of their country.

Speaker 2: Now I think it's more like optimistic future.

Speaker 0: We discussing how we would rebuild the country once this would end. That's I would say 1 of the most active discussions. We are so strong, we would resist and help Ukraine and we would win.

Speaker 3: If you are able to help Ukrainians who are fighting on the ground or looking for safety, the following organizations need your ongoing support.

See all Y Combinator transcripts on Youtube

Lessons From The Founders Scaling Their Startup In A War Zone