Love and (or) business. How couples build startups, overcoming challenges in the tech sector and personal life together. 8 “relationship startups” that can later succeed, like Rozetka or Mate Academy

We also talked to several representatives from this list to understand what it’s like to build a startup with your «other half»? Does it affect relationships and work-life balance, who in a couple is the «engine of change» and who makes the final decisions, and is there a time of day or night when married couples of startupers forbid each other from talking about work? We have collected in this selection at least 8 startups founded by a husband and wife or a couple of a guy and a girl.

8 startups founded by couples: what solutions they offer

Awesome

As Forbes wrote in one of its annual 30 under 30 lists, marketing expert Anastasia Pavlyshyna and IT expert Roman Sevastyanov met on Tinder, and their relationship grew into a joint business. There were several other unsuccessful startups in their history, but Awesomic is currently quite successful and claims to be considered a full-fledged business, not a startup. The platform was initially positioned as «Uber for designers», but now offers a wider range of services. «Awesomic is an application for implementing your projects. Designers, developers, marketers and others are selected within 24 hours upon subscription,» their LinkedIn profile states .

Founded in 2019, Awesomic is a startup that went through Y Combinator in a few years. Its co-founder Roman Sevastyanov said that the startup raised $800,000 in the first week of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Last year, Awesomic announced the opening of an office in San Francisco.

Input Soft

Input Soft is a Ukrainian startup that provides software for airports. It was founded in 2021 by a married couple, Anastasia Smyk and Andriy Smyk, as well as another participant, CTO Valentyn Zavadsky. As Anastasia Smyk said in one of her recent posts on LinkedIn, the startup team knows aviation inside out, as all three of them have a background in the aviation industry.

Before that, former aviation engineer Smyk spent seven years developing maintenance instructions for various types of aircraft and personnel at Ukrainian airports. And the startup Input Soft took a significant part of its first steps, thanks to her efforts, outside of Ukraine in Warsaw, in the midst of a full-scale war. In early 2022, Input Soft joined the Techstars startup acceleration program and attracted $120,000 in investment.

The platform works like a large electronic airframe, into which companies responsible for flight services can enter data. According to the startup, the development helps airports optimize processes, reduce costs and even, as a result, reduce harmful emissions into the atmosphere.

Verba

«Never start a startup with your life partner,» began Victoria Kravchenko, co-founder and CEO of Verba, an iOS app that generates subtitles for videos, in her LinkedIn post. According to her, deciding to build a startup together while in a relationship will inevitably lead to you talking about work on the weekends, having the same stress and deadlines, reading the same nightly Slack messages, and it will probably make it harder to raise money.

Despite the risks listed by Victoria Kravchenko, she and her partner decided to try it — and they don’t regret their choice. According to the information on Verba’s LinkedIn page, the team currently has 15 people. The Verba application allowed you to use a free version without a watermark, has the ability to create your own custom styles, add audio effects and stickers, automatically create subtitles using AI and edit them, improve and export videos in high quality. Victoria Kravchenko told us separately about the relationship between the pair of startup founders of Verba — read about it below.

Cardiomo

At one time, dev.ua detailed the story of the Cardiomo gadget, which the Belkin couple worked on creating — Ksenia, who was educated as a psychologist, was responsible for management, and Roman, who graduated from the Kharkiv Institute of Radio Electronics, «closed» the technical part of the development.

Cardiomo is a portable device, application and software for monitoring heart health in real time. The gadget is attached to the left side of the chest on the human body through electrodes and reads the main indicators of heart function. And then via Bluetooth it transmits information to a mobile device to an application running on Android or iOS, and from there to cloud storage in real time.

The idea to create the device came to Roman Belkin in 2014, when he wanted to help his mother remotely monitor her health and heart function. Currently, the Cardiomo Care office is also located in New York. Last year, Cardiomo was among 24 Ukrainian startups that represented Ukraine at the Web Summit 2024 in Portugal.

Pix.be

The website builder for photographers pix.bi, which allows photographers without programming skills to create a business card website with their portfolio, was launched by the couple Victoria and Alexey Zakira. As we wrote earlier, the key difference of the service is completely free access to basic functions without restrictions at the start.

In addition to photo galleries, the service offers automatic image optimization, basic SEO settings, and adaptation of the site to mobile devices. Since the platform is aimed specifically at photography professionals, its structure takes into account the typical needs of an author’s portfolio.

«After analyzing the market, it turned out that there are a lot of website builder services, but there are practically none specifically for photographers. For a long time, Victoria’s website was on the @pixieset platform, which is one of the best in this niche, but it is very overloaded with functions, does not support the Ukrainian language, and for people without experience in creating a website it can be difficult. Therefore, we decided to create our own product that will be multifunctional, but at the same time convenient and intuitively easy to use,» Oleksiy noted in a comment to Scroll.media.

The product was created by a tandem in which Victoria is a family photographer and Oleksiy is an IT entrepreneur and developer. The site is available in Ukrainian, English, and Polish. The project aims to become an alternative to the popular Russian designers Vigbo and Wfolio among photographers. Pix.bi has a number of paid plans, the cost of which depends on the available storage space.

BookFlea

dev.ua also told the story of the startup BookFlea — an online platform where anyone can sell or buy used books in Poland. The startup was launched in a neighboring country, but there you can also sell/buy books in Ukrainian. This solution was proposed by product manager Lyosha Osinovskyi together with his wife, designer Iryna Polyanskaya. The couple has already invested $25,000 in their startup and aims to continue developing the product, and Lyosha resigned from his position as product manager at Reface for this.

BookFlea is still in the early stages of product development. Despite this, the site received 2,300 visits in February, and traffic almost doubled to 5,000 visits in March. In total, almost 6,000 books have already been sold through BookFlea.

According to Osinovsky, a similar product concept, PangoBooks, is already operating in the US, and having launched four years ago, they have already generated, according to rough estimates, an income of about $250,000 per month. «This proves that our model works, and we see great potential for scaling it on the European market,» notes the BookFlea co-founder.

The couple has already earned about $6,000, which allows them to cover marketing costs and reinvest in growth. However, at this stage they cannot pay their salaries yet — all resources are directed to the development of BookFlea.

Eated

The couple Ray and Irina Astafichev launched the Eated app. Its goal is to make a healthy lifestyle simple, accessible and enjoyable, using Irina’s expertise as a nutritionist and health coach. In turn, Ray Astafichev is a Product Manager who has participated in the launch of over 30 products, some of which have grown to $100 million in revenue.

Eated is out of the MVP stage and is already being used in the US and Canada. Ray Astafichev personally told dev.ua about how the application was created by their married couple.

Traffic rules.ai

Another startup, the eighth in number, on this list is PDR.ai. It was also created by a couple from Dnipro. Software developer Oleksandr Pavelko and designer Elizaveta Gorbacheva jointly created an application with artificial intelligence and a virtual assistant that will help you quickly and easily learn traffic rules and prepare for the driving test even without access to the Internet. In addition, the application integrates a virtual assistant Dorozhko.

Oleksandr Pavelko also shared with dev.ua his feelings about working with his significant other, so more about that later.

We also wrote about Dmini startups at one time. (an application for comfortable work on small screens, developed by a couple of IT professionals from Kyiv) and Nuka, which offered an «eternal notebook» and was founded by the current head of the Technological Forces of Ukraine, Kateryna Mykhalko, and her ex-boyfriend Mykyta Vladykin, but they were decided not to be included in this selection. The first one seems to have failed, never raising the necessary amount on Kickstarter, and the second, we believe, had problems primarily due to the end of the relationship and subsequent disputes over rights and shares in the startup, which significantly slowed down its development.

«If something goes wrong in business, it affects both of us at the same time»

CEO of startup Verba Viktoriya Kravchenko told dev.ua in more detail how she and her husband Oleksandr came to found the startup. She says that around 2023, she and her husband discussed «how to build a company where working would be similar to Netflix.» «The first step to this was to choose a niche in which we could create significant value in the short term,» CEO Verba noted.

At that time, Victoria was recording video content for social media every day, and some of this material was in the form of 2-5-minute videos that desperately needed stylish and professional subtitles. «We tried about ten different products, but we never found a solution that would provide the perfect user experience. And that’s when we saw an opportunity. That’s how we became our first users,» says the startuper.

According to her, they had no particular doubts about the startup idea at the initial stage, because they saw that the problem existed and they understood how to solve it. And they also had enough expertise, courage, and drive to realize this opportunity.

Victoria says that in their startup, all the founders showed maximum proactivity. «Both me, Sasha, and our third co-founder, we are all quite ambitious people, ready to work hard to achieve results. Of course, each of us had doubts at different times, because this is normal when you build something new. But someone always put us back on track with phrases like: «Jobs could do it, so we can do it too,» Victoria Kravchenko noted in a comment for dev.ua.

According to CEO Verba, building a startup is difficult, which is why it is incredibly important to have partners who will support you when discipline breaks down and you want to give up.

As for the division of responsibilities, she says that everything came together intuitively. «In the early stages, I took on the product and business side, while the other co-founders focused on product development. Now that the team has grown, the responsibilities have grown accordingly. I am still responsible for most organizational and product issues. Sasha leads the technical team and also helps with legal and financial aspects,» said Viktoriya Kravchenko. She added that this division of roles allows each of them to work in their area of ​​strength, while supporting each other where it is needed most.

According to her, they don’t have conflicts about the startup, and arguments are «rather frank conversations about problems that need to be resolved.» «It’s not always easy, but we try to listen to each other and put ourselves in the shoes of the interlocutor, share our thoughts and provide arguments for or against each decision,» she shared.

Regarding who makes the final decision, Viktoriya Kravchenko emphasizes that it is Business first. «We have neither the desire nor the need to prove anything to each other or somehow assert ourselves at the expense of others. We make efforts to collectively make a decision that will bring the greatest benefit to the company, even if such a decision contradicts the initial position,» the startuper adds.

As for a certain work-life balance, in their situation it is not possible to maintain it fully. «It is more my fault, because I have not mastered the skill of balancing and I cannot completely disconnect from Verba. Sometimes I get inspired at 10 pm, when we are already going to bed, and I start telling Sasha about some new idea, even when he is already very tired,» she shared. In her opinion, on the one hand, this is really not very good, because they do not have space for a full rest, but, on the other hand, she is inspired by how much they love their product.

According to Victoria, it’s important to rest, but when you live your idea, it becomes a part of your personal life, so it can’t be separated so easily. «We try to give ourselves a few days during vacations when we don’t do any work at all. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. But I’ll be honest: it’s hard for us not to improve Verba, because we always want to do something better. It’s like a hobby that energizes you,» the startup’s co-founder told dev.ua.

We also asked her to name three positives and three negatives about building a startup with her life partner. Viktoriya Kravchenko highlighted the following.

«She woke me up four times that night, and only on the fifth I realized that her idea was close to genius»

Product Manager with an extensive IT background and a no less successful list of cases, Ray Astafichev, told us that the idea for his and his wife’s joint startup Eated belonged to his «soulmate» Irina, an expert in the field of nutrition. However, her start in this profession had practical reasons, and they were not positive.

«Many years ago, my wife’s mother got cancer, and at that time we tried to do a lot to help her. And one of the things that was, conditionally, in our zone of control and where we tried to do something was food. Then Ira began to study and receive certifications as a nutritionist from all over the world, took courses and read a lot of research literature,» Astafichev recalls.

According to him, later, when his wife was taking her first steps in this field, he was a kind of guinea pig, or a laboratory rat.

As Ray Astafichev says, the idea for a startup came to his wife in the middle of the night, and she tried for a long time to wake him up and convince him that it had the right to exist.

«At half past one in the morning she says — I have an idea. I listened briefly and said — no-no-no, it won’t work like that. But she woke me up four times that night and on the fifth I realized that I couldn’t get out of it. I was stunned, woke up, listened to the idea and realized that it was actually close to brilliant,» Astafichev shared.

According to the IT professional, his wife Iryna clearly saw the problems of her clients and users, understood how to fix them, and also understood why others didn’t do it, and most importantly, she very clearly articulated what exactly she wanted to do. «My task as a professional product was to convert this vision into some actual things,» he explained.

The co-founder of the Eated startup adds that his wife Iryna was very proactive from the very beginning, but they «took turns» in this.

«At one point, there was a lot of my work, and somewhere — her work. But she was definitely more proactive. On the topic of expressing doubts — that was me. I am a product, I have critical thinking — what if it doesn’t work, so I was a bit of a pain in the ass. But at the same time, Ira always tried to convey her vision to me, and we each time found this compromise to move forward,» Ray Astafichev told about the nuances of working together.

As for conflicts and disputes surrounding the startup, he says that he and his wife were always ready to listen to each other and find ways to resolve these disputes. «I always trusted her vision and expertise, and she trusted me in terms of how it should be implemented,» the IT professional explains. The final decision on an issue is not the prerogative of one person in the couple — it was usually decided situationally.

«Ira had a vision that it should be some kind of 3D plate into which food is poured. After all, it looks so beautiful! But in the end we agreed on a very minimalist product to check how it actually works. And so here the decision was mine. But we are absolutely open to each other’s vision,» Astafichev noted.

As for the work-life balance he and his wife share, they can’t maintain it in their family startup.

«This whole story started when I was still working full-time, and at that time the work was actually 24-7. We work in the evenings, mornings, sometimes at night, and also on weekends. We don’t have weekends at all unless we plan them in advance,» he says.

As Ray Astafichev said, he and his wife almost never have situations where they forbid each other from talking about work issues, quite the opposite.

«We have this hobby where we go somewhere outside the city by car, where we have to drive for 2-3 hours. About 20 minutes in, our children fall asleep, because we have two children, 7 and 9 years old. And we start talking about ideas and business. And there has never been a case when we didn’t come up with something really cool during these trips that always worked,» he summed up.

At the request of dev.ua, Ray Astafichev named three positives of building a startup with his wife.

Ray’s wife Iryna briefly joined in dictating voice messages on this topic for dev.ua and jokingly noted that the main negative is that even if you disagree on some issue and can’t find a compromise, you still have to live together and do something about it.

«But we don’t have that — that everything is bad and only negative. I know that he will always back me up. Sometimes it happens that I have already done something a long time ago, and in further actions I depend solely on Ray. And I have been waiting for it for a long time, and he is like that — and then I will do it. And I need it! Because I am such a person — I need to do it and sleep peacefully. But this is more our understanding of the relationship, not the preparations,» added Iryna Astaficheva.

«When the main part of the work was done, we agreed: until 7:00 PM — work, after that — time for each other»

Software developer Oleksandr Pavelko, who created the PDR.ai application together with designer and his significant other Elizaveta Gorbacheva, told dev.ua that the idea came from him, but Elizaveta, as a very proactive person, immediately supported him.

«As soon as I voiced the idea in a still „raw“ form, she immediately joined in discussing the details. What’s interesting is that we had no doubts as such. We had a pretty clear idea of ​​where we were going and why. This gave us a good starting impulse,» says the IT worker.

According to him, there were no difficulties in distributing roles — everyone simply did what they were strong at. «I was responsible for the technical part, development, structuring of functionality. Lisa was responsible for the creative component, design, promotion in social networks and in general for generating ideas that made the product closer to people,» Oleksandr Pavelko told us.

The developer claims that they did not have any serious conflicts due to business issues, sometimes only situational disputes arose, which he considers inevitable under such circumstances. «But at the very beginning we agreed: all controversial points are either resolved by compromise, or, if compromise is impossible, the final word is mine as the head of the technical part. This was our mutual agreement, and it works,» Oleksandr added.

Aitivets said that maintaining a work-life balance and dividing work and personal life is one of the most difficult moments in working together.

«We knew very well that it was very easy to get lost in the project and forget that we were first and foremost a couple, not just a team. But I guess that’s what inspires us — that we can create something cool together,» he says.

As the author of PDR.ai recalls, at the beginning of their joint collaboration there were no restrictions, and they consciously «chose the path of full immersion». But over time, when the main part of the work was done, they agreed: until 19:00 — work, and after that — time for each other. «Of course, this is not always a clear boundary, but we try to adhere to it in order to preserve emotional resources and not turn our lives into an endless workday», — the IT specialist told dev.ua.

At the request of our publication, he also named three obvious pros and cons of jointly developing a startup with a life partner.

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