Наталя Хандусенко Startup 17 February 2025, 15:34

A developer from Kyiv created a mix of a social network and a task tracker: how the AI application Mastermindy works, where people can develop and achieve goals together

Developer Ruslan Hladchenko created Mastermindy, an AI-based app where people can connect around common interests and work together to achieve common goals. For example, prepare for Java certification together, set goals, track progress, and all this in a social network format. Ruslan told dev.ua how Mastermindy transformed from Google Sheets in 2021 to an AI platform in 2025.

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A developer from Kyiv created a mix of a social network and a task tracker: how the AI application Mastermindy works, where people can develop and achieve goals together

Developer Ruslan Hladchenko created Mastermindy, an AI-based app where people can connect around common interests and work together to achieve common goals. For example, prepare for Java certification together, set goals, track progress, and all this in a social network format. Ruslan told dev.ua how Mastermindy transformed from Google Sheets in 2021 to an AI platform in 2025.

From Google Sheets to AI Platform

The story of Mastermindy began in 2021. Four people came together to self-improve together. Over time, they realized that they needed to record progress in achieving common goals, and at first this was done in Google Sheets, then the progress tracking system was improved. On the day the war began, the group met for the last time. The project was revived only the following year.

«In 2023, I started attending The Space coworking space, where I met my friend Seva, a master of sports in table tennis. I saw that he was also passionate about self-development, and I told him about the idea of Mastermindy. He liked the idea and without thinking twice, I called my friend Sergey, with whom I had been at Mastermindy before, suggested reviving the idea, and also called the guys from the Bobocode programming course that I was taking at that time, and we started getting together again,» says Ruslan Hladchenko.

Over time, we decided to scale, so new groups appeared. Then we developed an application to move from Google Sheets to a full-fledged platform.

«And so it happened, we made the first MVP in 1.5 months and it took off. I was behind the CEO and assembled the team. At one point, we had 20 people in the team: 10 Java developers, mostly Senior, 2 Front-end developers, 2 QA engineers, an SEO specialist, a biz dev team, 2 designers, an Android developer. We also wanted to launch iOS development. In early June 2024, I left the project for personal reasons and it stopped,» says the developer.

At the end of 2024, Ruslan was thinking of closing the project completely, but there were people who wanted to continue using the product. Therefore, the developer decided to develop the project further on his own with the help of AI.

«As I said earlier, there were 20 people on the project, but I realized that I was so passionate about the project and the idea that I could spend all my free time and money on the project, but communication took a lot of time, and when people constantly don’t have time to make some feature in a week, and you’re so passionate about the idea, it’s incredibly demotivating and I decided to move on my own now, using AI. Sometimes I consult on design with my brother and friends who are Senior developers in architecture. Also, in the Lift99 coworking space, I met a lot of cool people who give accurate recommendations,» he says about the second revival of the project.

What is Mastermind?

Mastermindy is an app for people who want to develop themselves. It offers the following features:

creating, searching and maintaining groups: personal tasks, group tracking, working in sprints;
Community work, which is a union of several groups, each of which can see each other’s progress.
new functionality — personal personal pages with the ability to add task lists, privacy settings, and the ability to leave comments.

A Mastermind group is usually a group of up to 6 people, united by common goals or interests, who meet on a regular basis, once a week/2 weeks/month, share their achievements and problems during this period and receive feedback from other participants.

Ruslan uses the following technologies at Mastermindy: TypeScript, React, Java, Spring, Hibernate, AWS, and Claude AI as an assistant.

«I see where the trends are going, and soon there will be million-dollar companies from one person using AI. Now is the best time to do a startup of all possible. I was shocked when I saw how high-quality Claude writes code, and DeepSeek was recently released, I think it will completely change the game,» the developer says about the opportunities provided by AI.

The product is used by up to 20 people per day who log in and update their tasks. There are also about 6 groups that use the app on a regular basis.

«A month ago, I posted on LinkedIn, where I suggested gathering a new group of Junior Java developers and organizing 3 meetings for them with Senior developers, so that experienced developers could give their recommendations on how best to move forward in their career. It so happened that the post with this spread so much on LinkedIn that I gathered not one, but 3 groups, and have already held 8 meetings. Some of the new groups are already living without me and continue to meet. I think it’s really cool, because people find not only a so-so environment with whom they can solve some complex tasks or prepare for interviews, but also new friends, which is difficult to do in adulthood,» explains the IT specialist.

So last week, 3 new groups were created: Mentoring 2.0, Loss Weight, and Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE Developer.

The goal is to turn Mastermindy into a social network

Mastermindy has many indirect competitors: from task trackers Todoist, TickTick, Trello to social networks Instagram, Facebook, etc. But Ruslan believes that the main advantage of his product is the focus on the social part of setting goals and tasks.

«Previously, the product was aimed at creating and managing groups. Now I changed the focus and thought about how I could make my product a unicorn, so now it will be a social network for self-development, where people can share their achievements, set goals and track their habits. Conditionally, if your friend goes to the gym, you will see it and it can motivate you to start working out too. This is what I’m betting on and I really want it. There are a lot of task trackers and habit trackers on the market right now, but I haven’t seen a single social network that would be aimed specifically at this,» the developer adds.

In the near future, the application will feature habit tracking, a news feed, and a messenger. There are also plans to develop a mobile application: Developer subscriptions for iOS and Android have already been purchased. As for technologies, it will most likely be React Native.

Financing

«Everything was done with our own money. Last year we launched Buy Me A Coffee, and we were credited with over $130, but then for some reason our account was blocked and everyone’s money was returned. Now Mastermindy is open to donations and recently we have received a little over 7,000 UAH, part of which I spent on extending the domain,» says the IT guy.

In addition, according to the developer, it costs over $30 per month to maintain the infrastructure on AWS. Also, at the beginning of the project, Ruslan spent $300 to buy the Tailwind UI library.

«It looks really cool. I’ve already made arrangements with a few people to whom I’ll give the merch and they’ll be product ambassadors.»

Ruslan also plans to monetize Mastermindy in the future, and then possibly make investments.

«My plans for the future are ambitious, I definitely understood that building my own products is mine, I now live by this, I adore the people who surround me and with whom I communicate,» noted Ruslan Hladchenko.