Hungry to build

Over the past few weeks, I've felt that incredible startup energy again. And once again, I think I've confirmed that this is what I want to devote my life to.

The thought that you can gather a few extraordinarily smart people and create something that didn't exist before is almost overwhelming. Something that might one day change millions of lives.

The best part is that this isn't fantasy. You actually have a chance to do it.

That possibility is what draws me in most: creating something great enough to remain in the world after you're gone.

We've made good progress with custom development at Chota recently. That's great. I want to keep developing that side of the business, build a separate team for it and create a healthy company.

But I've realised something. Building a profitable company isn't enough for me. I want to build a great product.

I want to bring together truly brilliant minds. People as hungry to create something new as I am. I already know some incredible people, and I can see how much they care about this too.

I can hardly stop thinking about what would happen if we brought those people together and gave them the freedom to create.

That's also why I've started looking at investment a little differently.

To me, investment isn't primarily about money itself. It's about freedom: being able to stop worrying about how you'll afford tomorrow and devote yourself to building a product.

My ideal picture is simple. I persuade Vlad to leave his job, we put a team together, pay ourselves enough to live, and spend our days creating something extraordinary.

That's it. I don't need a crazy personal payday from investors. I need the opportunity to do the thing I love.

Even now, we spend around seven hours a day on the project on average. The wonderful thing is that nobody makes us do it. We enjoy the process: imagining, experimenting, making mistakes, rebuilding and trying again.

I'm willing to work at this for years, even without a financial return, because the act of creating is already an enormous reward for me.

And then there are the people around us.

As I become more involved in the startup community, I'm struck by how many smart, ambitious and wonderfully unreasonable people there are. People who don't want to watch the world change. They want to change it themselves.

I want more people like that around me. I want everyone to try creating something of their own at least once, to feel the excitement of an idea in their head turning into something real.

Of course, this path isn't remotely easy. It contains uncertainty, problems, rejection and moments when you have absolutely no idea what to do next.

But I keep returning to one thought: if you ask God for the chance to become someone different, you have to be prepared to do what others don't do.

If it were easy, everyone would do it.

I have no idea how far we'll get. Maybe there are dozens of failures and many more rebuilt ideas ahead of us. But I know I want to try. Not just make an attempt, but give it as much effort as it needs.

I'm twenty years old, and I'm damn hungry to create something great. Judging by the people around me, I'm far from alone.

We haven't made anything truly great yet. But I love the thought that one day we might.

And I'm willing to work as long as it takes for that chance.