Igor Rybakov, entrepreneur, chairman of the board and co-founder of the Rybakov Fund
Ekaterina Rybakova, President, Board Member and Co-founder of the Rybakov Fund
If we talk about the life of the fund, how are responsibilities assigned and who is responsible for what?
Igor: During the first three years of the Rybakov Fund's formation, I was the initiator of the search for areas that the fund would deal with: business development, an active entrepreneurial phase. This was the first stage of development, then Katya was on the sidelines. Today she plays the first role in fund management. They have already crystallized, directions have taken shape, they are developing, and Katya leads them, scales them. I work more on creating and maintaining a breeding ground for them to thrive. This is how our roles changed. It started with one combination, now - another.
Ekaterina: Igor and I talk a lot and in detail about what we want, by and large, from our philanthropic initiatives, what we strive for, what we have all started for, what result we expect, what we will like and please us. And then Igor is very active in speaking to an external audience, and I spend a lot of time talking with the fund's team.
What are the difficulties and advantages of working in one team?
Igor: I know that in commercial business it is very difficult for a husband and wife to work together. Because both at home and in the office together, the banal annoyance of each other is an emotional overload. But we have a completely different situation. We create a family foundation - a mutual decision of us as spouses: our assets, money, practices, meanings - we want to return them to society in a transformed form, creating a long-term institution of influence on the development of society. Katya and I decided not to leave a legacy to children, but to build a legacy, and we are doing this together. And the presence of such a powerful, huge plus in the fact that you can build a legacy leads to the fact that the minuses or not, or I don't feel them. Of course, we get tired, it is hard for us - we are the same people, like everyone else, but we are filled with joy with the feeling of transmission, the feeling that we have a project of personal immortality. It's incrediblegives a phenomenal plus, an influx of energy, while all other minuses become invisible. Just like some tasks that were taken, solved, and that's it.
Ekaterina: It can be difficult to switch from the level of business activity to the level of private, family life, but if you consciously keep your attention on this task, then you can cope with it. It helps that we are like-minded people, we have common goals and values. At the same time, each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses, and we complement each other - this is a big plus!
How do you separate work and personal?
Igor: I do not share. Never in my life has I been able to separate personal and work. Recently, the "public" has been added to this spectrum. Today I feel myself in three forms: me and my family; me and my work, my business; me and society. And it feels like I'm connected to the whole world. I don't know every person in the world personally, but I feel like I am connected to everyone directly. This feeling came to me seven years ago, before it was not. Previously, it was only personal and work at the same time, now there is also a society / world associated with me.
Ekaterina: Using the calendar.
When you started working together on a project, was there a grinding point?
Igor: At first Katya looked closely. I wanted her to play a more prominent role. But then the innate qualities - look what a wonderful family Katya built! - began to sprout on the basis of social activities. Three years after the foundation of the foundation, we were looking for its head, and the board of directors could not find the right candidate for a long time, but at some point the thought arose that Katya would be the best president, because she has a naturalt for an integral view of the world, as if only in connection with everyone. Then the board of directors of the fund, and I am one of its members, began to persuade Katya to take the presidency. It was not easy, but in the end Katya started. And after six months it became clear that this was a strong decision, the right one.
Ekaterina: Yes, I can say that I was not ready for the expression that Igor manifests in working moments - quite differently than in the family! I needed time to accept this and to identify my needs in a certain style of work that suits me.
Do you have clear boundaries and rules of what you can't do at home and at work?
Igor: Of course, we constantly have a discussion that we should introduce some rules, because Katya is a supporter of rules, it is more convenient to live with them. I am a supporter of the fact that rules exist only to be broken. Update them, change them. So I say, “Why fix them? We will change it anyway. " But, most likely, the truth is somewhere in between, this is how the world works. I know this, and Katya knows it, so we sit down at the table and decide which other rule to introduce to us, and which, perhaps, can be canceled or changed. At the same time, sometimes we joke that we, of course, know that the rules stop working, but we still work out them. The most important thing here is the joint development process. It is at this moment that the efficiency and effectiveness of interaction and cooperation of people increase.
Ekaterina: Boundaries and rules exist, but they are not rigid, and we constantly check them for relevance. We live by the principle “Rules exist to be broken”.
Are there situations when work interferes with family life, and how do you get out of them?
Igor: In my life there is very little of the word "interferes", a small percentage of the use of this word. Somehow it happened so organically that I always trained my view of the world. When I didn't like something or got in the way, I went and changed it. I changed, worked out new rules with someone, so that what bothers me no longer bothers me. This has long become my habit: if something bothers me, immediately, instantly, without regaining consciousness, I try to change it. I do not come to the expression "interferes".
Ekaterina: It happens that our children are not always ready to listen and participate in conversations on topics related to the work of the foundation. And if we are carried away and cannot be stopped, there are contradictions. Then we remember that it is more important to be able to listen than to speak.
Katya and Aleksey Kindras, founders of the Mirstores and Beaded Breakfast brands
What happened before: did you become husband and wife, or did you start working together?
Katya: We met and started dating in 2014, we didn't even think about creating a brand, but we already knew that clothes are our common passion. Everything was decided by a trip to Rome for our first New Year together. Walking along the Roman streets with a bunch of tailor shops, we began to dream of a joint business and upon our return we began to implement the ideas. In March 2015, we already shot our first small collection of sweaters, and in August we shot the first Mirstores lookbook. At the same time, our brand shot up, and in the absolute absence of infrastructure (a well-functioning website, call center, delivery service) queues of hundreds of people began to form for sweaters - and we made the first large order for a ton of yarn. By the end of this year of testing, we realized that we were made for each other, and, probably, that is why Lesha made an offer. We got married in early 2017.
Who is responsible for what and how do you assign responsibilities?
Alexey: Katya is responsible for creative directions for two brands Mirstores and Beaded Breakfast (collection design, PR and marketing, filming and content for social networks), I am responsible for everything else: own brand production and cooperation with outsourced factories, management of general infrastructure (website, call center, warehouse, office), communication with Russian and foreign partners (this year, thanks to the Dear Progress team, Mirstores sweaters are sold in Japan, USA, Korea, Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Italy - and if not for COVID-19, the list would be longer). This division exists, but it is rather formal, because we are very involved in each other's affairs: we discuss new products, ideas for filming, and together we plan a development strategy. And in the end it turns out that we both do many times more than our nominal duties. Even these questions we are now answering together.
What are the difficulties and what are the advantages of working in one company?
Katya: The difficulty is that the work is intertwined with the personal, which is why we often forget about rest and live by work. It happens that labor disputes become personal, which is not very cool. But we both have eyes shining, when we achieve new goals, we feel very united.
How do you separate work and personal?
Alexey: At first it was difficult for us to separate work and personal, but then we realized that this was impossible, and working together 24/7 became our way of life. We felt it most strongly in the spring, when we launched Beaded Breakfast, a bead jewelry brand, which overlapped our maternity leave and self-isolation. But we came up with a life hack that helped us not to go crazy and have time not only to work, but also to spend quality time with the child. We divided our daughter's daytime wakefulness into intervals of 12-14 and 14-16 and allocated each one an interval. So, while the baby was with me, Katya was engaged in the development of new samples for the brand, and then my time came - and I started my work tasks. After putting the child to sleep at night (at 21:00), we had meetings, checked with a pre-approved plan of action and even had time to rest.
Do you have clear boundaries and rules of what you can't do at home and at work?
Katya: We are hardcore players, we have no rules. Perhaps, except for one thing: when one of us is so tired that he doesn't want to talk about work, we put things off.
Were there situations when work interfered with your family, and how did you get out of them?
Alexei: So far there have been no such situations, and we hope we will not find out.
Anastasia and Pavel Shibanov, co-founders of the service for the selection of clothes from stylists with home delivery Сapsula
What happened before: did you become a husband or wife, or did you start working for the same company?
Anastasia: We got married in 2015, and the company appeared in 2019, so the family appeared much earlier.
Who is responsible for what in the company and in what work issues do you intersect?
Anastasia: We have three founders in our company, and we all “cover” several areas. Pasha is responsible for Capsula's financial operations, investment attraction and logistics processes. I work with the product, I am responsible for working with stylists and some areas of marketing. At this stage of the company's development, we test a lot, constantly change processes, strategy, therefore intersections occur constantly. Fortunately for us, we have completely different previous experiences: Pasha worked in an investment fund and was involved in regional business development at Gett, and I was in large companies such as Mars, EY, Dodo Pizza, where I was involved in product, marketing and sales, so everyone intersections are useful, we complement each other coolly.
Pavel: We still have a small and dynamic company, we discuss key issues together with another co-founder - Igor. Therefore, we often intersect, especially when discussing the budget for the month.
What are the difficulties and what are the advantages of working in one company?
Anastasia: The advantages of working in one company are that you create something together, feel victories and defeats together, and live them together. The paradox is that the complexity is the same. Either you are both on the rise, or both are on the decline, in difficult times it is more difficult, but we are trying to work on it.
Pavel: The biggest difficulty is to separate personal and work, both during working hours and during free time. The biggest plus is that decisions are made faster, they can be discussed at any time of the day or night, the company is growing faster because of this.
How do you separate work and personal?
Anastasia: At first it seemed to me that there were no difficulties at all, only some pluses, we spent a lot of time together and after previous years, when we constantly worked in the office and did not see each other at all, this was a pleasant bonus. At some point, Capsula began to have breakfast, lunch, dinner and even go on short vacations with us. Our dog lives in the office with us. In general, we understand that at this stage of the company's development it is impossible to do otherwise, but from time to time we give ourselves 2-3 days outside the city to switch over and return to work with renewed vigor.
Pavel: We try to discuss these issues and move towards complete separation. Passed about 70% of the way, 50% managed to pass due to the fact that I moved to another room in the office.
Do you have clear boundaries and rules of what you can't do at home and at work?
Anastasia: We do not have any rules at home in the “do not talk about work” style, because this is now impossible, and more often we are interested in discussing something. At work we try very hard to be only colleagues, but to be honest, we still learn a lot.
Pavel: There are no clear rules. There is an understanding that communication at work should be formalized and the personal should be supplanted.
Were there situations when work interfered with your family and how did you get out of them?
Anastasia: No, there have not been such situations yet, and I hope there will not be. In moments when you want to devote more time to each other, it is very important to tell your partner about this and honestly talk about your feelings. So far, we have succeeded, and we tried to spend 1-2 days off outside the city at such moments.
Pavel: There were no such situations, except that life in corporations is much easier in terms of money than life at the start of your project. We are trying to solve this problem with a common budget.
Ulyana and Viktor Kondratenko, creators of Holy Basil Café and Zaryad studio
Who is responsible for what in the company and in what work issues do you intersect?
Victor: We have tried many options for interaction. For example, tasks were divided: at one time Ulyana was responsible for marketing and SMM. But in the end, they realized that the only correct delineation of responsibilities is when a man is responsible for all questions and tasks, and a woman is the main inspiration for a man.
Today Ulyana takes the position of art director, is responsible for the creation of new products and thus works as an inspiration: both for me and for our company as a whole.
What are the difficulties and advantages of working in one company?
Victor: Work issues are starting to take root in personal space. And if everything is smooth in family life, then in a common matter, controversial moments may arise. We went this way and came to the scheme that I have already described. It is important to learn to find compromises, to be attentive in communication with each other, to build harmonious relationships both at home and at work, which will ultimately lead to an even deeper balance in life in general.
Ulyana: There is no growth without difficulties. In one of the posts I wrote about Zaryad studio, that we thought we were developing the studio, but in fact it developed us. It was an amazing period in our life: the formation of both spiritual and personal. There were many lessons, great experience gained, we became what we are now. I repeat, there are always difficulties, and they only temper - and this is a great advantage. When you create a project aimed at serving, at the development of people and society as a whole, together with your life partner, it is pure thrill.
Do you have clear boundaries and rules of what you can't do at home and at work?
Victor: We tried to create rules: for example, not talking about working in the bedroom or solving all production issues at a certain time. But they all quickly collapsed, because if an idea is born in my head, I want to discuss it right away, and not wait for the appointed time. As a result, we learned to harmoniously combine work and personal, to live in harmony with each other 24 hours a day.
Ulyana: The creative process is always unpredictable, like a wave, so we constantly discuss and invent something together. Rather, we are trying to harmoniously distribute the roles: when I have the role of a wife, and when - as a muse. We also try to turn off our phones in the evenings and not solve important issues before bed.
Were there situations when work interfered with your family, and how did you get out of them?
Victor: Our energy is not divided into work and personal: it exists, its supply is limited, and we ourselves choose where to direct it and how to spend our resource. The question of efficient and harmonious distribution arises again. If we talk about us, then Ulyana still devotes more time to her family and herself, and I to work. And in this we see the balance of male and female, the balance of two principles.
Ulyana: "Meshala" is the wrong word. Rather, there were different learning situations in which we grew up and continue to grow. It is important to learn how to harmoniously distribute the flow of energy within all life processes, and then there will be no controversial situations. It's hard for me to call work even now. Holy Basil Café and ZARYAD studio are already a way of life for us.
Small business representatives talk about signs of the times and changes.