INSTRUCTIONS AND PROPHECIES OF THE Blessed MOTHER ALIPIA GOLOSEEVSKY, Kyiv...
At the beginning of 2014, Ukrainian designer Denis Okhrimenko came up with the idea of delivering products in wooden construction boxes. To raise money for a business project, Okhrimenko first started selling just building sets - without food inside. In 2014, he showed the product project to potential investors several times, but the idea of food delivery did not inspire them. But I liked the creation project. Moreover, even then Denis was able to show a living example - a prototype of a wooden box.
When the first investor was found, Okhrimenko got money to rent two wood-cutting machines. Now there are about 50 people in the Ukrainian Gears team, and then Denis collected sheets with parts in a set in the kitchen and packed it himself, while the courier was waiting outside the door. Four to five orders a month were considered an incredible success.
Apparently, the novice entrepreneur understood that ordinary wooden puzzles, which at that time were already known on the market, could not hook the buyer. Then he came up with the idea of creating not just constructors, but a wooden likeness of steampunk fantasies. Denis was interested complex mechanisms skeleton watches (those with visible gears), and such an unusual incarnation was ideal for mechanical designers.
If you look at, the steampunk spirit and the semblance of a skeleton watch mechanism are really present. Designers work at the expense of mechanics, and all internal mechanisms are visible. Some buyers even demand to add realism to the models, but Okhrimenko is not going to do this yet.
After all, we, as expressionist artists, we do not work in realism. It is important for us that the case is transparent so that the mechanism is visible, it is an important part of our design.
Denis Okhrimenko, founder of UGEARS
Wooden mechanical construction sets have nothing to do with the entertainment we are used to today. You really fall in love with the designer when he falls into your hands. This is most likely why the startup didn’t have big sales until the puzzles were presented at exhibitions.
In the spring of 2014, Denis tried to trade constructors on Andreevsky Spusk on his own. He went around local sellers, showed them prototypes, but everyone refused to take the designers for implementation, although usually the models caused only delight in people.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Okhrimenko decided to try selling the puzzles himself. Located in the same place, on Andreevsky. Foreigners, families with children began to approach, and the entire batch that the entrepreneur showed to the sellers flew away on the first day.
To save money, Okhrimenko did not immediately want to assemble wood parts. First, the main material was to be cardboard. But he quickly wore out. Denis tried plastic and acrylic, but they did not give the desired result. Empirically, it turned out that the material is better than wood plywood, for these purposes is not found.
Depending on the model, the number of parts in each set is different. In, for example, 443 parts, in - 179, and in small ones - only 25. And when creating each part, accuracy comes first. Now, from a single sheet of plywood, parts according to the drawings are cut out by a laser as thick as a human hair. There are 16 of these in the UGEARS workshop at once.
At the end of 2015, in order to establish a fast and cost-effective production, Denis launched a Kickstarter campaign. It brought unexpected success: they learned about puzzles in Japan, Taiwan, China, orders and proposals for implementation went from there as well. The Japanese really like that the designers are completely mechanical: they come to life solely thanks to wooden fasteners and rubber bands. As wooden fasteners use ordinary toothpicks, and rubber bands serve as triggers.
In a way, this is truly a unique product on the market. Okhrimenko is categorically against comparing UGEARS with LEGO designers. At the same time, he does not hide the fact that he wants to achieve the same world fame for wooden 3D puzzles.
The designers are designed for people 25-40 years old, they have long been known on the Web under the code name "toys for adults." At first glance, it seems that UGEARS constructors are a pleasure for men only. But women are also addicted to modeling. To prove this, the company released a model at the end of last year.
In just over two years, UGEARS has become a construction set with a story that, in a few years, will be known as well as stories about the emergence of McDonald's fast food or Ford cars.
History can be bought and put on a shelf. Use promo code hackspring and get a 20% discount on all models from the UGEARS catalog in Russia.
Have you ever forgotten which side of your car the gas cap is on? For example, you just bought a car, borrowed it from a friend or rented it, and in general, when you drive this car for the first time to a gas station, to see which side the fuel tank opens from, you usually need to stop and get out, and sometimes and go around the car to make sure.
What if you have multiple cars? You must always clearly remember and keep in mind which car to drive to the gas station from which side. I know for myself how annoying it is every time.
It turns out that smart automakers have long figured out how to determine which side of the car the gas cap is on without getting out of the car. You just need to look at the arrow, which is located next to the painted gas station on the dashboard.
Voila, that's it!
Now, no matter what car you drive, you always know which side you should drive up to the fuel dispenser at the gas station so as not to …
Kazakh friends, buy dollars
In Ukraine, the dollar rose from 8 to 14 hryvnia.
In Russia, the dollar rose from 31 to 46 rubles.
And in Kazakhstan, the dollar rose from 152 to 181 tenge, that is, by only 19%, although in Russia and Ukraine - by 50% and 75%.
One does not have to have a higher economic education to understand that the Kazakh economy will not be able to withstand this gap for a long time. The dollar will creep up very soon, in the coming weeks, or even days.
In February, the tenge fell by 20% in one fine night, so don't count on anyone in the government to warn you ahead of time. Warning - here it is.
Very soon, there will be a shortage of dollars in Kazakhstan and a black currency market will appear (as in the Russian Federation, Ukraine or, for example, in Uzbekistan). In general, buy dollars and euros. Now.
At the beginning of 2014, Ukrainian designer Denis Okhrimenko came up with the idea of delivering products in wooden construction boxes. In order to raise money for a business project, Okhrimenko first started selling just constructors - without food inside. In 2014, he showed a grocery project on Startup.ua several times, but the idea of food delivery did not inspire investors. But the creation project - I liked it. Moreover, even then Denis was able to show a “live” example - a prototype of a wooden box.
The first investor was found at the same Startup.ua conference. So Okhrimenko got the first money to rent two machines for cutting wood. Now the Ukrainian Gears team has about 190 people and 100 machines, and at that time Denis was collecting sheets with parts in a set in the kitchen and packing himself, while the courier was waiting outside the door. 4-5 orders per month was considered an incredible success.
Apparently, the novice entrepreneur understood that with ordinary wooden puzzles, which at that time were already known on the market, the buyer could not be hooked. Then he came up with the idea of creating not just constructors, but a wooden likeness of "steam-punk fantasies". Denis was interested in the complex mechanisms of skeleton watches (those in which gears are visible) and such an unusual embodiment was ideal for mechanical designers.
The bizarre moving 3D mechanisms of the Ukrainian team Ugears, where every gear is visible inside, captivated Kickstarter users at the end of 2015, seven times more than the required amount. In a few years, the project has grown from one ideologue who packed Ugears in the kitchen with a hair dryer, to a company with its own production shop and foreign clients. Ukrainian 3D puzzles have become fashionable, they are copied and bought by well-known brands.
Designer Denis Okhrimenko, who came up with Ugears, left the project last fall due to disagreements with an investor. Now Denis is working on two new projects at once: metal puzzles Time 4 Machine and children's Pagl cubes. Among the investors of the first project is Nick Belogorsky. The second project was supported by the management of the Zhytomyr Cardboard Plant. The editors asked Denis why he left his first project and what he is doing now.
Why did you leave Ugears
A startup called Ukrainian Gears was launched in June 2014. Initially, Denis had a lot of ideas for business projects, and wooden puzzles were not even among the main ones (a more complete history of the project can be found in ours). At Startup.ua, he presented a box-constructor with products, but investors did not like the idea, but they liked the auxiliary project - 3D puzzles. Ukrainian Gears attracted its first investments from Gennady Shestak, director of the Egmont Ukraine publishing house, who became one of the co-founders of the project.
Photo by Olya Zakrevskaya
Why did the paths of the startup and the investor part ways in the future? There are two versions of the answer to this question.
According to Denis, the problems in communicating with the investor began immediately after the successful entry to Kickstarter. But they lay not in the legal, but in the moral plane. “Two days before the end of the campaign, I began to receive strange letters and attacks from the investor. We resolved that situation, but then even more money, customers, and the attitude towards me worsened, ”he says. According to him, all decisions, including financial ones, were made by the investor.
“I realized that I can’t even influence the issue of future models. The investor did not want to invest in some things that I thought were good for the business, like a plywood sizing machine. Denis says. - If an investor decides that he is a startup and he runs a company, this is OK, it happens. But I will not invest time and ideas in a startup where the attitude towards weaker partners changes "depending on the weather." It has warmed up in terms of money and attitudes have deteriorated.”
Denis has not been involved in the affairs of the company since last summer, although he continues to be a co-owner. According to him, the share in the project brought him very little money, comparable to bonuses for employees, and he starts new projects from scratch and with new investors. Saying goodbye to Ugears, according to Denis, was hard, but now he is not interested in the company's affairs. “The Ugears project has been completed, which is good… I myself don’t want to get a penny from this project anymore,” he says.
The investor's version is different. According to Gennady Shestak, for him this investment was smart money and Ugears was not a one-person project: a team of three co-founders developed the project almost from scratch (the name of the co-founder is not disclosed), all decisions were made collectively, no one exerted pressure on Denis. Gennady himself was in charge of operations, the third partner was responsible for finances, Denis was responsible for the design department and the company's image in the media, becoming the "face of Ugears".
Investor and co-founder of the project Gennady Shestak
According to the investor, there was no conflict as such. “When in one of the interviews he began to say that investors “squeezed the business out of him”, everyone was very surprised. There were no prerequisites for this, no one infringed on his rights, ”says the investor. According to him, after the interview, the co-founders decided that they could no longer work together, Denis wrote a letter of resignation, having received the due compensation.
“Now he is working on the same Ugears, only in metal. By the way, we at Ugears discussed this idea back in the spring, but we won’t make any claims to him, we don’t see any point in this, there is enough space on the market for everyone, ”says Shestak.
New projects
The transition from Ugears to new projects was not easy for Denis: “There were moments when you were sitting at home, in Khrushchev, designing a mechanism, it didn’t work out, and you thought:“ I'm a loser. And you convince yourself that you create international company. You just need to go through a moment of despair and disbelief in order to start working out.
For six months, Denis managed to come up with and launch two new startups at once - Time 4 Machine and Pagl. Both were featured at the recent Spielwarenmesse toy fair in Nuremberg.
According to Denis, the idea to make mechanisms out of metal came to him in a dream. “I had a dream about a golden loaf: a sliced loaf with slices of different metals. And in the morning, while I was making coffee, it dawned on me: after all, 3D puzzles can be made from metal,” he says. This is how the Time 4 Machine project was born. Regarding the similarity of mechanisms with Ugears puzzles, Denis says that it is difficult for him to move away from his own design style.
The project already has investors - Alexander Tulko from USPCapital and Nick Belogorsky. Denis says that he wanted to attract Nick as an investor after his site. Nick came to Kharkov for a day, with a very tight schedule, and Denis had exactly half an hour to "sell the project." Now investors have given the project a small seed round, but, according to the founder, Time 4 Machine needs at least $200,000 more investment to purchase equipment. Therefore, it is planned to release on Kickstarter in the spring.
Denis's son Zakhar is testing the first Time 4 Machine models
Pagl bricks are toys made from paper pulp (virgin pulp) that can be used as a construction set. The investors of this project are Igor Liski, Effective Investments, and Sergey Rudkovsky, Deputy Head of the Zhytomyr Cardboard Plant (ZhKK is part of the Effective Investments group of companies).
These cubes can be nested in one another, stored in packs of 126 pieces. They are easy to dispose of, and in the future it is planned to collect them for recycling. Denis calls this project revolutionary in the sense that it is a new model for using toys: cheap blocks that you can play with for a couple of weeks, and when you get bored, they can be recycled.
Both projects developed almost at a panic pace: the team wanted to be in time before the January exhibition. Denis evaluates the results of the exhibition in Nuremberg very positively. “Many representatives of large retailers came up, there was a feeling that only our booth was working on our alley of newcomers. True, I thought everyone would talk about the cubes “looks like Lego Lego”, and they were compared with egg trays", laughs the businessman.
They also want to put this project on Kickstarter in order to develop, it needs from $200,000 to $400,000. Denis plans to launch the first sales before this fall. Metal puzzles will be sold for approximately $20-30 per model, a set of 160 pieces for $30. The main markets for toys are the USA and Europe.
Ukrainian start-up for the production of wooden mechanical models, created by Denis Okhrimenko and Gennady Shestak from Kiev, has raised more than 237 thousand dollars on Kickstarter
The term "startup", which has recently entered our everyday life, refers to a young company that builds a business based on innovative ideas. large investment or own funds start-up businessmen, as a rule, do not. Therefore, they are looking for money for the realization of their plans by everyone. accessible ways. One of them is Kickstarter. On this site, innovators present their product, and those who are interested in it buy and thus invest money in the company. This is exactly the path followed by the young Ukrainian company Ugears, which produces working prefabricated wooden models: tractors, trams, chronometers, caskets, steam locomotives... Presenting samples of their products on Kickstarter, businessmen planned to raise 20 thousand dollars, but in just a few days they managed to raise almost ten times more.
*Details of mechanical models are fastened with ... ordinary toothpicks
The ideological inspirer and co-owner of the Ugears project, Denis Okhrimenko from Kiev, told FACTS that the first mechanical models for self assembly the company began to produce from high-quality plywood in the summer of 2014. And the "founding father" of the company is interested in various mechanisms from early youth.
— I remember, I was constantly inventing some kind of devices. At the age of 16 you could see me on a skateboard with a huge plywood tail, with it I tried to steer- recalls Denis Okhrimenko. — Then there was a chair that rolled not on wheels, but on balls. Further more. Somewhere in 2003, he developed a business plan for creating a delivery service that would very quickly deliver parcels and letters around the country by car. Then they asked me: they say, why do you need this, because there is Ukrposhta ?! And just four years later, there was ... "Novaya Poshta". Then I realized one thing: if the project is not obvious, then this does not mean that it is not good, perhaps the idea was just ahead of its time.
- What is your profession? It has to do with mechanics...
— Graduated from the Ukrainian Academy of Banking in Sumy with a degree in economics and finance, worked as an economic journalist. This seemed not enough, and I decided to become a designer so that it would be easier to visualize some projects. One of them is the manufacture of ceramic products. For a very long time, as they say, I wrinkled my forehead over it, thinking through each model to the smallest detail. One well-known Ukrainian tea company became interested in the idea. But... I couldn't find a company that would make 20,000 unique ceramic cups! During the search, the impression was that people are much more pleasant to refuse than to even try to do something. I even dropped my hands...
— And how did the idea to make models out of plywood come about?
“After all the “bummers”, I came to the conclusion that we need a project that can be implemented in the conditions of Ukraine from the materials available here and for little money, and best of all, for our own. At first there was an idea to make unusual postcards. For a person to take out some components from the envelope and assemble an interesting little thing. Then I thought: why a postcard? It's better to build a clock out of cardboard! Moreover, stamping parts is not a very expensive and fast enough process.
I began to think in this direction, tried to make something at home. By virtue of nature, I started with the most difficult. I tried to make a full-fledged watch out of cardboard, but at that time nothing came of it, and I took on simpler things. As a result, the first mechanical box made of wood turned out. I made about fifty of them on someone else's equipment. I sold part of it, and with the rest I went to Andreevsky Descent. As I remember now, it was after the Maidan. The sellers met me without much enthusiasm and did not want to take anything for sale. I was upset, and then I decided to stop at a free spot and sold four caskets in half an hour. One of the buyers, a foreigner, was persuaded to buy the box by the children. But the main thing that I understood is that people like my work.
Then he presented the project several times at various conferences, looking for an investor. And after all, it was not about a multimillion-dollar sum, the issue price was only 20 thousand dollars: half for the purchase of a machine, the other for initial development. So I got a partner with extensive experience in trading similar products - Gennady Shestak. We bought a machine, and at first I did everything myself: I cut, and packed, and chose materials. That is, he closed the whole cycle. Then there was a successful exhibition in Odessa, where everything was sold, including demonstration samples. Now our products are sold by 300 outlets. And even on the sly exported abroad, set good European prices. I met our products on the sites under completely different names. Now we are officially sending our products for export.
Are you fighting pirates?
— Yes, we are seriously engaged in certification and patenting. By the way, one of the ways we invented for connecting inside the gears received an international patent - this invention has no analogues in the world. Now we are registering in a number of foreign countries. People often ask if we can be copied. Technically, it is possible, but for this it is necessary to follow the same path as we did, since there are many nuances in this work that you will not notice at first glance. I like to say that we write music on plywood. And in order for the product to play, to sound - you must work within the accuracy of tenths of a millimeter! And at the end, this thing should look not just beautiful, but soundly, because we position it as a souvenir for adults, and not cheap tsatska.
“What, children can’t do it?”
— Average age our customers are 25 - 50 years old. Once, a girl bought a model for her ... grandfather. The fact is that our products are certified for ages 14 and up, since we use ordinary toothpicks as axes in them. When we figure out how to replace them, we will probably be able to produce products for children from eight years old. Although then the models themselves will have to be changed, rather it will be a separate line. But the children are interested in our products: once at the exhibition, a little boy got on a tractor made of plywood and ... left. Then we found only a broken model.
- It is often said that adult men are the same little boys, but their toys are more expensive. It turned out that your hobby has become your job. What are you into free time?
- I can’t say that it was a hobby, although my idea was based on some hobbies. A hobby, in my opinion, rarely brings money in general, few people manage to replicate it normally. Should be included in the project right away. commercial basis, provide for the possibility industrial production and expansion of the range. Recently, in my spare time, I have been fond of ... work - I dream. We are constantly coming up with something new, meeting with interesting people. As for adult boys, we create cheaper toys for them. Adults really like our models, and in principle they are made just for them. Initially, I came up with everything so that I myself wanted to assemble it and put it at home.
— Your models are quite laborious, and their creation probably required a lot of perseverance. Are you a workaholic or just a purposeful person?
- If I'm interested in something, I can drive myself to exhaustion. In life, sometimes I just find a problem for myself and solve it. But these are not crossword puzzles - I do not like to waste time. I like to come up with something new. This is the problem of any person with the mind of an inventor. After all, people usually prefer not to think. They sit down and ask themselves: “To do this? ..” They look at the ceiling for a couple of minutes and conclude that nothing interesting comes to mind. But in fact, intense reflection on the problem for at least twenty minutes is quite difficult for the mind. But when the brain starts to “warm up”, you feel that this is how you can find interesting solutions.
How does your family feel about your work?
Let's just say they didn't interfere. They understood that I was busy with business, but they had no idea whether this would be of any use. And, to be honest, I didn't even know. A couple of times I quit “forever” because nothing worked. It took quite a lot to implement the idea. family budget and strength, because I worked in parallel. That's why First stage and dragged on for a couple of years. In general, if some serious (not like me) inventors in Ukraine were given financial support, then in a year or two we would see really cool projects. AT developed countries understand and help creative people. I have friends who exist on the brink of survival, and their ingenious projects gather dust half-finished on the shelves.
What advice would you give to the person who invented worthwhile idea, but not having the means to implement it?
“Ideas are also means. The main thing is to try to realize them at least by ten percent. It is easy to carry seeds in your pocket, but at least you need to grow seedlings. And it is also important to talk about it and show these very “sprouts”. For some reason, people think that it is very difficult to come up with an idea, but it is easy to eavesdrop on it and quickly implement it. In fact, often the idea arises instantly, but the implementation is a difficult process, and if you are too lazy to do it, then others may not need it at all.
- Denis, what did you spend the first fee on?
— We are still developing. We are growing rapidly, we are already recognized in Ukraine, and it seems that we are very big. But for the growth of the company, profits must be reinvested, that is, invested in production. I still work for a regular salary. By the new year I will receive small dividends. It is impossible to take money out of a growing business, although, judging by the news, I am already a millionaire. Even a small queue of those wishing to receive these millions has already formed. Morally, I try to separate myself both from money and from the successes and punctures of the company. It's easier. Otherwise, you will rejoice at all the victories, as if they were your own, and blame yourself for all the failures.
As for work, I always wanted Ukraine to be recognized in the world. Therefore, the company was called Ukrainian gears - "Ukrainian gears", but for trademark chose the official abbreviated name of the company - Ugears. Now we are trying to enter the US market through Kickstarter. We want no one to outrun us and that Ukraine be recognized by such rather unique products.
There is also a plan to turn our production into an amusement park. For example, to conduct excursions, at the end of which something to collect together. By the way, we were also asked for large models. I remember there was one funny case - to corporate party ordered a large model of a working tractor for one of our clients. I visualized this tractor and the person next to it, showed it to the customers on the monitor screen ... But then I realized that at a corporate party they would drink, sit on a tractor, chew a couple of people into gears and spit it out on the other side! That is, large models must be safe. And there is also an idea to place a perpetuum mobile, a perpetual motion machine, on the facade of a building. Bring levers down to the level of human growth so that people passing by pull them, and the mechanism constantly winds up and works.
Header photo from the family archive
