We worked hard to build a high enough level of trust in the company so that there was no need to re-examine someone’s work or doubt that a person would have to work from home or elsewhere for a week.
Where do you physically stay most often – in which country, office or home?
I am mainly in Riga. I go to London about once a month. Sometimes I manage to go somewhere on vacation, that’s all my travels. I prefer the office. I’ve tried to work remotely, but I don’t get that much energy from it. It is interesting for me to work with people, be in the same room, solve some issues, come up with cool things. Then I get more fun from work.
When you founded Juro, you already had an impressive education and experience. You have already created and sold one successful business. Does it make sense for a person to start or join a new business without so much knowledge and experience?
It makes sense. I think start-ups, like any business, can be seen differently. One way is to see how much a person there can learn. The speed at which a person acquires knowledge in a fast-growing business is several times higher than in a business that is developing slowly, stagnantly, or even declining. I would look at learning new things, especially those I didn’t know about before. If so, I think it’s 100% worth a try.
The question is also what are the living conditions of a person at risk. How valuable is the time you can lose. Suppose a person already has a stable income, has obligations to his family or something else that can be breached when he has to dive into a new business. Then membership in a start-up is a big risk. If a person does not have it all, I would rather call a situation where he refuses to participate in a start-up. He runs the risk that he will not gain much knowledge quickly, will miss the opportunity to make rapid career advancement.
Every start-up has a high risk of failing. Let’s say a person worked in a new company, gained cool experience, but then the company was closed. Then what? How are such people treated in the IT industry?
Much depends on the specific situation. I think that anyone who has gone into this field looks at things in detail. There are a million reasons why a start-up can fail. Statistically speaking, this should not work. Knowledgeable people will ask the question “What happened?”, Will consider the reasons for failure a little more detail. And they will not look at whether the start-up was successful or not, but at what the person has learned during that time.
For students, young people with little experience but ambition, a strong desire to achieve something – how do you assess the benefits of participating not only in start-ups, but also in hackathons, business incubators and other projects where innovation meets real challenges?
In short, it is very useful. Any experience that is close to a practical environment is more valuable than theoretical experience. The key question is how close these projects are to the real world. If a person has the opportunity to practically apply his / her theoretical knowledge, which he / she has acquired himself / herself or someone who has taught him / her, it is very valuable. We have to look at how the projects are selected, who oversees them, who organizes them. In general, the closer to the real task, the real problem that people have, the better for a young person participating in a hackathon, project, etc.
What would you say to yourself now when you came to your first year studying IT?
I think I would recommend being more open. Don’t even take a risk, but participate more in various things. Try yourself in different projects, solve different problems, do not be afraid of difficulties. I think sometimes difficult tasks just seem difficult. The time we spend on complex and less complex tasks is still very long. Anyway, you will need to sit a lot, do something for days, evenings and nights. So better do things you like. A difficult question. I’m not sure I’m smart or experienced enough to suggest to myself what I should have done differently.
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