Photo by Andrii Grygorenko
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Unlike the technological ones, local startups were directly exposed to the war in the parts of Ukraine where fightings have been taking place. Mobile carwash Tendido was launched in Kyiv in autumn last year but it was left drifting on the market to pass the winter when demand for the service usually declines, co-founder Andrii Grygorenko says. Although the highly expected spring months turned out to be far from auspicious, the startup sustained on its own funds and soon decided to try again without relocation.
Tendido aimed to embody a simple idea – to let customers have their vehicles clean in two clicks, regardless of where they are. For this purpose, the latter must put their car’s location in the app, and then the washers arrive and conduct a dry cleaning with the help of polish shampoo. Each of the three co-founders, including Andrii, came up with it independently.
«We started in Kyiv, the app functioned but everything rested on hiring. Hiring a washer was sometimes harder than finding a software developer, because it’s not a fancy profession, so to say. He must be taught, the staff turnover is high,» – he explains, adding that initially, the co-founders fulfilled several orders themselves.
After the capital, there were plans to expand to Kharkiv and Odesa markets, adding these cities in the startup’s Uber-like app. Then came February 24, and the strategy was to be urgently corrected.
«The first change was that our washers left Kyiv, these were mostly the students, guys who looked for a part-time job. They went back home, and during the first two weeks, we had no washers at all. Some orders we had to postpone, and some of them we tried to take personally. Moreover, during the first two weeks, we had almost no orders. Such a pause and expectation of what would happen next.»
One more reason for such decline was that people fled from the capital in their own cars, which much reduced the market of potential clients, Andrii Grygorenko continues. He estimates that if on February 23, there were conditionally 100% of the orders, it dropped to 10% during the first two weeks, and as of May 10th when this interview was conducted, it gradually reached 30% of the initial demand.
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While the hostilities continued on the outskirts of the capital, the team sought alternative ways to maintain the functioning of Tendido. Thus, the areas of Western Ukraine and Podillia [the right-bank regions of Ukraine southern to Kyiv] appeared as the main options. The CTO was staying in his native city of Khmelnytskyi where, as Andrii Grygorenko recalls, the feeling of war was almost absent.
«We considered Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia regions because our CTO was located in that area, and he could be on the ground if anything changed. Lviv was another option, and we considered sending our CEO there because it was tough in Kyiv at that time. [In the Lviv region and Podillia,] there were clusters of people from Central and Eastern Ukraine, in particular the car owners,» – he says.
Nevertheless, the pace of citylife in the capital was gradually resuming, so the guys ended up with the idea of restarting their operation there.
«We made decisions given what happened around. We saw cafes opening, the city returning to life. [The Mayor] Klitschko urged not to come back, but we saw that some motion began in Kyiv again, several embassies returned there as well. So we decided just to try and launched small advertising. One of the washers who had worked with us for long was in the city at the moment, so we asked him: ‘Would you like to work?’ He answered, ‘Why not, if there are orders, I’d like to make some money.’ It didn’t require much, only to start the app and set ads, so we decided to try.»
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The war also facilitated the plans of expanding the market of Tendido abroad, Andrii says. The startup communicated with several business incubators, in particular Demuim, who advised on the business model and the startup’s ability to scale in other countries given the simplicity of its system.
«The materials or assets needed for our business to function are easily replaceable. To wash the car, we need a mobile app, which can be used all over the world, a bag, a microfibre rag and the chemicals for the car.»
Apart from the issues of its own operation, the startup sought ways to help the Ukrainian army in more direct ways by launching a function of reporting the enemy’s location, though it happened to be inefficient after only half a dozen people used it during the whole period. This was due to the fact that the area of operation was restricted by Kyiv, not reaching the neighbourhoods like Bucha or Irpin, where the Russian troops were actually located.
Andrii thinks that the best indicators can be reached when you stop thinking about when the war will end. Hence, scaling to other Ukrainian cities, including Odesa which had been considered earlier, is the plan minimum which now seems real. Such development would require the explanation of the team, and in this question, Andrii tends to employ wisely those who are most in need.
«There must be a balance in being a socially responsible business. If there is a young and strong male refugee and a jobless local student, I don’t know whose situation is worse. We will gladly hire those who were forced to migrate, but if someone from here would like to join, then why not? It’s hard to maintain an ethical balance. I think we mustn’t make the inflexion in any of these sides, rather make it 1:1, 2:2 and so on.»
By Vitalii Holich
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Lviv Now is an English-language website for Lviv, Ukraine’s «tech-friendly cultural hub.» It is produced by Tvoe Misto («Your City») media-hub, which also hosts regular problem-solving public forums to benefit the city and its people.
