During the next 20 years the area of entrepreneurship will undergo a dramatic change

The graduate of RMA’s «Internet Industry Management» program Andrey Shtylenko has been living in Croatia for a couple of years, where he has founded a number of successful businesses, and gives regular master-classes helping the young entrepreneurs to launch their own startups. This year Andrey has become a fellow at the School of Economics and Management at the Far East University which specializes in development of the innovative entrepreneurship.

«I have studied at Bryansk State Technical University, and at the time I was much more interested in technologies, more so than in management. However, later on I have received an education grant and have done an extensive research in the area of information technology project management in the USA, which is closely related to the educational program that is offered by the RMA, and lately this has become my main area of occupation.

When I returned to Moscow after spending two years in the United States, I have spent a few years working for two different IT companies focusing primarily on finance technology, and having successfully fulfilled my duties at the last company I have decided to move to Europe. I have long understood that what I truly wanted was to maintain my mobility and not to tie myself down to any one city or country. It was after i’ve lived in the US that I have firmly developed this realization. Here in Croatia I find a good balance between things that matter to me: good infrastructure, good climate, open-minded people, and an entirely open field of undiscovered and undeveloped opportunities.

After having moved here, I have almost immediately decided to launch three different startups, despite not having much in the way of practical experience doing that before. And at least to a degree I owe this courage to RMA: the breakdown of practical cases, intensive interaction with fellow students many of whom had already started their own projects, all this has opened my eyes to the fact that most often than not it is not required to be particularly special in order for one start their own business, all it takes is a steadfast devotion to your work.

I do travel a lot around the world giving master classes where I discuss my experiences, what takes place in the entrepreneurship industry and where all this is heading to, because in the next 20 years everything in the area of entrepreneurship will undergo a dramatic change.

The role of the entrepreneur as well as the freelance wave is growing rapidly, mainly due to the dropping costs of technology compounded by the increasing opportunities offered by modern telecommunications. That is why nowadays anyone can start their own independent business or freelance without having to break a bank. The entire market is moving toward the model where majority of employees will be hired on the project basis, making them less attached to any specific employer and more so to their own willingness and desire to work with any entity of their choice.  As to right now, things are way too dynamic and chaotic, and it gets ever harder to predict and project the future. And in this kind of environment it makes more practical sense instead of owning the companies to own a set of reliable teams consisting of freelancers spread however far apart around the world».