Hi, I’m Sergey Kotyrev
“Simple as a cork, straight as a stick, handsome as José Raúl Capablanca”
Entrepreneur with 25+ years of experience in IT. Founder of the UMI group of companies. Investor and advisor to twenty-something companies and projects. I produce music that no one else would produce.
Picture a hound. It has tunnel vision: in focus — only the hare, the rest of the landscape blurred. It catches one hare, immediately dashes after the next, then the next. It eats, sleeps — and chases again. That’s how a whole life goes by.
We are that hound. The hares are our goals, tasks and to-dos. For years we stare only at them: a deal, a launch, revenue, the next target. We never stop to admire the flowers in the meadow, listen to the birds, or breathe in the scent of freedom.
In her old age the hound takes stock of her life — and realizes there’s nothing much to recall: her whole life fits into a procession of stubby bunny behinds. Are you sure you want to remember that?
About me
Fell in love with the internet in the 90s — through FidoNet, a 33.6 kbps modem and the first website, built for $150 in 1996. Never logged off since.
In 2000 I opened the UMI web studio with an authorized capital of $150 — my own computer. The studio grew into one of the leading web agencies of Saint Petersburg, and then into the software company Umisoft: the boxed UMI.CMS became the #2 commercial CMS on the market, while the cloud service umi.ru grew to hundreds of thousands of users.
In 2015 the controlling stake of the UMI group was acquired by 1C. Since then I’ve been an investor and advisor: helping startups avoid the rakes I’ve already stepped on myself (I own a collection of forty-plus mistakes of my own).
A passion of its own — music. I founded the online radio Radio.Fish “Rare Fish” and with my own money I produce musicians whose music would otherwise simply never see the light of day.
Something to do with:
umi.ru
A cloud website builder for small businesses. Hundreds of thousands of users, a team of dozens.
umi.ru 02UMI.CMS
A commercial content management system. Grew from the studio’s in-house tool to #2 on the market.
umi-cms.ru 03Radio.Fish
Online radio “Rare Fish” — hand-picked music. A non-commercial project for the soul.
radio.fish 04Closer.ws
A project from the current portfolio — details at the link.
closer.ws 05Co.Actor
Another project I have something to do with — see for yourself.
co.actorAnd ~20 more
companies and projects as an investor and/or advisor.
Popular talks and interviews
1:21:19
How money ruins our lives? Sergey Kotyrev’s confession
39:00
Psychosophy: personality typology by Afanasyev and relationship forecasts
1:33:50
How a business with an idiot could destroy a family? A sad experience
33:11
Sergey Kotyrev — 5 biggest mistakes I made in management
56:38
How to understand people better
1:07:17
A disgrace from Jaguar! How “effective” managers bury a business
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