Chapter 3 “Mission Possible?” from Oleg Anisimov’s book “FIASCO: How I Invested Millions in a Startup and Lost Them” (2025). The full book in Russian.
“Creating spaces for people to live. Put your heart in everything you do and watch dreams happen.” — this is what Timur had in his email signature. I Googled it. Turns out, the quote belongs to Jennifer J. Hayes. Some info-guru from America.
Attached to the email were links to materials. First, a pitch deck for the new service. Second, a bunch of supporting docs: financial models, market analysis, company description, bios of the founder and executive director.
Twelve files in total:
Tim&Team_invest_21-06-2017.pdf (the main deck)
Kvadrim Cash Flow 01.04.17.xlsx
Studio3–14_Cash Flow 2016.xlsx
00_Investor Intro.docx
01_Timur Abdrakhmanov_Founder.docx
02_Alexey Vinogradov_Executive Director.docx
Financial Model Design Studio.xlsx
Financial Model Renovation Service.xlsx
Lead & Sales Stats Studio 3.14.xlsx
Simple Financial Model & Budget T&T 1 Year.xlsx
Houzz Interior Design Market Study_2017.pdf
Mission, Principles and Goals of Tim&Team.docx
The name of the service hinted at the classic Soviet story “Timur and His Squad,” where a group of teens secretly helped people. Poetic. Fast and invisible home renovations — a dream worth chasing.
First, I opened the bio. To my surprise, the startup founder was a winner of the Presidential Youth Talent Award, graduated with honors from Moscow State University, and before 18 had been the leader of a children’s organization in Omsk (“Future of Russia”).
I had a passing thought: Soviet Komsomol kids transitioned smoothly into 90s entrepreneurs. And they liked Arkady Gaidar. And his grandson Yegor, too.
I Googled Timur. What raised eyebrows was his subscription to the “Business Molodost” group. Apparently, after university he’d attended some sessions there. It wasn’t on his résumé. Not listing it? A plus. Subscribed on VK? A minus.
Let’s be honest — it’s not a great look when a founder’s been through one of those motivational meat-grinders. You know, where they yell at you with either kindergarten truths or shady ideas. Can you imagine Sergey Galitsky or Yevgeny Chichvarkin at one of those events? Ilya Segalovich? Boris Alexandrov? Arkady Novikov? Pavel Durov?
Neither can I. Entrepreneurs don’t need motivation. They are motivation. A real founder grabs a book or hits Google — not TEDx for bros.
Maybe Timur sensed the cringe. And figured VCs wouldn’t be thrilled with that line on the CV. Hence: not mentioned.
But what he did include was participation in the Startup Leadership Program (SLP) — an international training initiative brought to Russia by former Google Russia staffer Nikolai Antonov. Entry is invite-only; participants are expected to contribute their own startup or have a senior role in a promising company.
SLP’s first Russian cohort launched in 2013. Alumni include:
Maksim Ginzhuk (Double Data)
Artyom Kruglov (AnyQuery, Diginetica)
Dmitry Matskevich (Dbrain)
Alexey Skutin (Jelastic)
Pavel Boyko (Inspector Cloud)
Vasily Avseenko (Bio Nano Spray)
Oleg Ponfilenok (Copter Express)
Denis Untilov (Iponweb)
Timur graduated four years later, alongside people like:
Nikolai Belousov (madrobots.ru)
Dmitry Navosha (sports.ru)
Ilya Lagutin (Aitarget)
Alexey Pisarevsky (Mobio)
Alexander Sirach (YouScan)
Irina Penkina (CitYkids)
Anna Zyryanova (SelfMama)
Natalia Fedotova (IIDF)
Anton Vdovichenko (Nerve.ai)
Dmitry Chistov (Copiny)
Ekaterina Gavrilova (DigitalHR)
Anatoly Orlov (free-lance.ru)
All in all, over 400 entrepreneurs have completed SLP — from industries as varied as molecular cosmetics and next-gen concrete.
Not just starry-eyed kids worshipping some YouTube guru.
Timur wrote glowingly about the experience on social media:
“SLP is mostly about the community and peer exchange. It’s international — we’ve got a shared Slack space with groups in the US, India, and elsewhere. Each session is led by the participants themselves, who prep in advance and teach topics they’re strong in. We also invite top-notch guest experts. Our lineup included Daniil Khanin, Nikolai Pere, Kirill Nikolaev, Ilya Krasinsky, Ilya Korolev, Ivan Zamesin, Dmitry Kalaev, and many others. Topics range across the startup universe — fundraising, product, customer dev, marketing, team-building, negotiation, finances, personal productivity… but the content is created by participants, so every cohort is unique. I ended up among successful, aware, open, and just plain awesome people. Being around them was enriching and inspiring.”
Fair enough. That kind of learning environment deserves respect.
Then I opened a document titled “Mission, Principles, and Goals of Tim&Team.”
Lots of noble language.
“Each team member is an autonomous and unique individual who abides by shared principles and rules… Together, Tim&Team is a living organism where each organ (person) plays a vital role, while the founder (the head) is responsible for the result of the whole.”
The service, it said, is built on “leadership, reason, value, ecology, and love.”
Even for a mission statement — that was a bit much.
Abdrakhmanov went full poetry-mode:
“Our mission is to create spaces for life. Our dream — to make beautiful, functional, modern spaces accessible. We want people to come home or to work and feel safe, cozy, inspired, in harmony. Spaces that help you love, live, and change the world for the better.”
I’m not a fan of lofty manifestos, but hey — successful businesses often do have missions. Maybe it helps.
Under “Values and Principles”, I actually liked the part about attention to detail and punctuality:
“We understand that by treating every action and its smallest aspects with care, we show deep respect — because the whole is made up of little things. We arrive at every meeting five minutes early, because we value our time and that of others.”
…Though in that very paragraph, there were typos in the words “smallest” and “understand.” So much for detail.
I appreciated the bit on honesty:
“We don’t make promises we can’t keep. We admit our mistakes and fix them fast. In difficult situations, we follow our conscience.”
And this gem:
“Inaction is a form of irresponsibility and surrender to external circumstances. We strive to avoid situations where we are not taking action.”
Like every doc of its kind — this one was “all good things, no bad things.”
Then I opened the pitch deck.
Unlike mission blurbs, this one real investors would read.
The product? As Ivan Urgant might say — innovative not just by Russian standards, but globally.
Here’s the flow:
The customer picks from a set of professionally designed interior styles, with a price estimate accurate to ±10%.
Within one minute, a polite service manager calls to schedule a meeting or Skype.
After choosing add-ons, the exact cost is calculated in 1–3 days — including design, construction, plumbing, and systems.
The customer gets a clear deadline — 3 to 4 months.
Within 1–2 weeks of signing, a custom design is prepared remotely.
Weekly reports are sent during renovation, with live webcam access from anywhere in the world.
Furniture, decor, and textiles can be pre-selected from curated partner packages.
Four months later: the customer moves into a fully finished home.
Timur predicted fast growth in “ready-made renovation solutions.”
He estimated the market’s total revenue at:
230 million rubles in 2016 (mostly Sdelano and Kvadrim)
500+ million in 2017
Over 1 billion in 2018
More clients were choosing these services over traditional designers, contractors, and renovation firms.
According to Timur, the startup had seven competitive advantages:
Wide range of styles (10 at launch, 50 within a year)
A “boutique” customer feel
Assembly-line logistics (aggregator of contractors)
The only turnkey interior service with post-service support
Unique founder and team expertise
A strong, customer-oriented brand
Custom style creation with general contracting
“Our projected revenue is 380 million rubles. Growth target: 3.5× per year for 2018–2019. Expected margin: 18–20%.”
And yes — projected net profit for 2018: 76 million rubles.
Could I believe in such paradise?
Not really. It was too smooth.
On the one hand — this is how con artists operate: paint a rosy future, pocket your money.
On the other — ambition is part of the game.
As Instagram stars used to say: “Dream the impossible. One day it becomes your reality.”
They also urged: “Shoot for the sun — even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”
I hate empty talk. But maybe some of it’s essential for a successful founder.
After all, Donald Trump and Elon Musk aren’t exactly word-precision nerds.
They spin the truth like it’s breathing. And yet, they win. As of early 2025 — one is back in the White House, the other’s worth $400 billion.
Timur told me he was in touch with angel investors — individuals ready to “help the project accelerate at launch” (1.5–2 million rubles each, for a small equity slice), and also larger investors (8–10 million rubles) “to develop interior project management technologies.”
The full book in Russian в форматах PDF, EPUB, FB2, MOBI and in paper:
⚡ Моя новая книга. «ФИАСКО. Как я вложил в стартап миллионы и потерял их»