The idea of each new project by Denis Reshanov follows from the previous one: outstaffing was born from unloading wagons, snow removal from outstaffing, roof repair from snow removal

Denis Reshanov, a student at St. Petersburg State University, at 24 years old is already a serial entrepreneur, the turnover of his main business is more than $1 million. And this is just the beginning, he says. He founded his first business, a computer repair company, in 2006 with a university friend. They managed to stay on the market for three years. True, at the same time, he and his friend unloaded trucks at night: there was not enough money. “Gradually, the volume of orders for unloading trucks grew, and I thought, why do it all myself if you can just organize the guys,” Reshanov recalls.

Required service

This is how Reshanov’s second company, “Personal Solution,” was born. Specialization - outstaffing (removal of personnel from the staff of the customer company). The services of outstaffing companies were especially useful for those who needed to hire a lot of temporary staff to cover seasonal demand or perform short-term work. “We initially focused on recruiting low-skilled personnel,” says Reshanov. “Personal Solution” is ready to take on any type of contract: from 3-4 hour orders (moving furniture, moving) to construction projects lasting months. In six months, the company’s turnover reached 6 million rubles, the margin was 40%. (Turnover in 2011 was 31 million rubles.)

Outstaffing as an independent service originated in the West in the 1970s, appeared in Russia in the late 1990s, and before the 2009 crisis, the market was actively growing. Over the course of five years, the Personal Solution database has accumulated 20,000 phone numbers (the “live” database—contacts of those who have worked for the company more than once—has 5,000 people).

“Russian companies quickly realized the benefits of outstaffing not only in relation to temporary employees,” comments Vadim Dedov, head of the personnel department at KS International, which provides employees for chain supermarkets. — Now about 80% of the permanent staff of almost all large chain retailers is hired and employed through contractors. This significantly reduces the customer’s costs.” In addition to saving on taxes, customers can also save on their own personnel service: the outstaffing company independently searches, evaluates and recruits personnel. In addition, she is also responsible to the labor and migration inspection (if violations are detected, the contractor pays all fines), as well as to hired employees in labor disputes.

Project pipeline

In 2009, the outstaffing market dropped significantly. But it was during the crisis year that Personal Resolution successfully diversified. St. Petersburg was then covered with more snow than usual in winter, Reshanov was inundated with orders for its cleaning. “The snow really helped us out,” Reshanov recalls. “We quickly reorganized ourselves, purchased special equipment and began taking turnkey orders: we cleaned them ourselves, transported them ourselves.”

And when the snow melted, St. Petersburg residents faced a new problem: roof repairs. The repair direction has become the most profitable for Personal Solutions. Of the 31 million rubles in turnover for 2011, more than half - 15 million rubles - comes from repairs, 10 million comes from snow and 6 million from outstaffing.

With such specialization, most of the work is provided by government orders - this is 70% of all orders of the company. “Now we still want to work more with commercial companies,” says Denis. Causes? In government procurement, there is a post-payment system: everything must be done either at your own expense or through borrowing. “There are often delays in payment, especially if orders fall at the end of the year. A commercial order requires prepayment and, as a result, a higher capital turnover,” explains the entrepreneur.

One of the solutions is to create another project aimed at private owners. In November 2011, Reshanov became one of the founders of the AskUp.ru portal, which provides tutoring services to schoolchildren and students. According to the creators, the portal will help bring together schoolchildren and tutors (people who are ready to provide free help in solving problems). “The appearance of such a portal is a matter of time,” says Reshanov. — Both target audiences have already been formed : there are schoolchildren who need help, and there are tutors who are already helping today for free through Yandex.Questions and Mail.Answers. All we need to do is get them onto the site.” Currently, there are about 30 tutors registered on AskUp.ru. About a million rubles have already been invested in the project. To create a full-fledged website with interactive capabilities and game mechanics, AskUp.ru requires another 1.5 million rubles.

Foreign analogues of AskUp.ru, according to Reshanov, daily attract an audience of 0.5-1 million people. “With such indicators, the portal will easily be able to place targeted advertising or, for example, attract large companies such as Google or Microsoft,” says Denis. He also plans to use internal monetization opportunities: a special currency for schoolchildren to move their questions higher in the rankings. And in the future - to create paid applications for phones and tablets. According to Denis’s calculations, AskUp.ru’s break-even point will occur at 8,000-10,000 unique visitors per month.

Another relatively new project is the creative group Ocean's Eleven, which organizes parties. But for now, for an entrepreneur, this is more of a hobby. “This year I firmly decided that I will not open new projects, I don’t have enough strength physically,” says Reshanov. “I just froze my next project: I realized that I need to set priorities.”

How a 24-year-old St. Petersburg resident became a serial entrepreneur