An Exclusive Interview With molfar's CEO
Building a startup is tough, but that’s where molfar.io comes in. The molfar.io team is not your usual software development company; they’re all about quickly helping founders turn ideas into real products. Instead of spending months on development, they focus on getting a prototype or MVP ready in just weeks. Founded by Sergey Pirogov, an experienced entrepreneur who’s been through it all, molfar.io uses smart strategies, modern tools, and a hands-on approach to make sure startups can test their ideas and find success.
This time, we interviewed Sergey to talk about how molfar.io empowers startups with rapid, lean product development.
Please introduce your company and describe your role within the organization.
I'm the founder of molfar.io. A software development company with a focus on tech startups.
We are Lean Startup evangelists. We help clients research the market, build prototypes/MVPs, test the market, and find product/market fit. The main idea is to build not for six months but six weeks and ship the product to customers ASAP. Working with first customers and doing initial marketing — will give you a real vision of the situation and market outlook.
Doing your startup, you should build a team that can iterate very fast. It's important because the actual process can take about 10x more than your expected iterations. This makes traditional outsourcing difficult in the early days of a startup. That's why we made molfar.io to help entrepreneurs build in the right way, with the right team.
What inspired the founding of your company, and what is the story behind its inception?
I started my career 14 years ago as a software engineer in an outsourcing company. I transitioned from outsourcing to product development after identifying inefficiencies in outsourcing practices. Drawing on my experience building my own travel startup wayme, and graduating from Y Combinator Startup School, I recognized the need for rapid, cost-effective product development for startups. I founded molfar.io in 2016 to revolutionize the software development market, emphasizing lean, efficient processes and leveraging modern tools to deliver MVPs in weeks, not months. molfar.io empowers startups to quickly validate ideas, pivot when needed, and bring successful products to market.
What are the core values and principles that drive your company's culture, and how do you ensure alignment with these values across your team?
Our team is full of geeks and salted startuppers. Many of us have our own products, which are growing and developing now. We know what the real "product launch" is, and it is not just "software development". "Lean methodology", "testing hypotheses", "pivoting" and "traction" are not just buzzwords for us. So, if you want to have a partner in crime in your business, molfar.io's team is the right one.
Can you highlight some of the key achievements or milestones your company has accomplished since its inception?
Since founding in 2016, we helped more than 100 founders worldwide to test business ideas, research the market, and build & launch their startups. Our pride is the 95% customer satisfaction rate. Here are a few remarkable examples of our client's success:
1) Unlonely (mobile app for psychotherapy services in Canada). The founder made a successful exit a couple of months after its release! It is the fastest startup exit we have ever seen.
2) Hopcharge (EV charging service on-demand in India) had multiple investment rounds. Found product-market fit and successfully operates in several cities across India.
Could you explain your company's business model? Do you primarily operate with an in-house team or utilize third-party vendors/outsourcing?
We primarily operate with an in-house team. We have product managers who work with startups, a design team, mobile and backend engineers, and QA.
How does your company differentiate itself from competitors in the industry?
We call ourselves "product wise guys". When other dev companies focus on selling people per hour, we focus on the product, market research, and customer development. So when clients come to us, we don't try to sell as many engineers as possible; we move in the opposite way, trying to cut MVP (minimum viable product) scope as short as possible to test the idea with a small budget and iterate on this. Saving money and time for our clients is our top priority.
How would you describe the dynamics within your team, and how do you foster collaboration and teamwork to achieve common goals?
Product managers play a central role in leading this process, ensuring alignment across teams and driving efforts toward common goals. By setting clear objectives, facilitating transparent dialogue, and leveraging each team member’s strengths, we foster creativity and innovation.
What measures do you take to support the professional development and growth of your employees? Do you offer training programs or opportunities for skill enhancement?
We invest in an entrepreneurial mindset inside our team. The main reason is to give an opportunity to each person to build their own startup inside molfar.io, growing entrepreneurial spirit inside the team. When you are in a startup founder's shoes, you can better understand other founders and their needs. To explain this idea better, I will leave this quote: "You can not learn how to drive a car, only by reading Traffic Rules. The same with startups."
Could you share a notable success story or case study that exemplifies the impact your company has had on a client's business?
One of our best stories is Unlonely. Unlonely is a mobile app designed to provide psychotherapy services in Canada. The platform connects users with licensed therapists, offering convenient and accessible mental health support. The project launched successfully in Canada, quickly surpassing all expectations. Within its first month, the number of paid users exceeded even the most optimistic projections, highlighting the app’s strong demand and market fit.
Unlonely is a source of immense pride for our company, not only because of its positive impact on mental health but also due to its remarkable business achievement. Just a few months after the app’s release, the founder made a successful exit, marking the fastest startup exit we have ever witnessed. This accomplishment underscores the power of a well-executed idea, combined with strategic product development and an understanding of market needs.
What industries do you primarily cater to, and do you have a significant percentage of repeat clients? If so, what is the ratio of repeat clients?
Because of the nature of startups (a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model), not all projects are successful, and that's ok. A client can come with a great idea; we do an Idea validation strategy and test it on the market - and the market shows no demand. We can offer a pivot to test something else, but not all founders need it. But I'm happy to say that our customer satisfaction rate is 95%. So, even founders who tested the idea and found no demand are delighted to work with us because of our experience, skills, and level of professionalism. We have some founders who came back in 1-2 years with a new startup idea to test, and it definitely says that we do our job right.
We also have many successful long-term startups who found product-market fit, and we continue working with them, releasing new updates, adding new features, and growing their product together. The most extended partnership so far is 5 years together!
What initiatives does your company undertake to foster innovation and stay at the forefront of industry trends? Do you invest in research and development projects?
Every month, we have The RnD day, when each engineer takes a new technology or framework and tests it during the day. Team members can select any tool they want, or I can offer one (I have a long list of low-code, zero-code, and AI tools to test). By the end of the day, we have a Demo evening, where everyone presents results to the team, and we can discuss and evaluate the perspective of this in our everyday work.
Please share some of the most sought-after services that clients approach your company for.
There are mainly mobile startups (iOS, Android apps). A client can come to us only with an idea. We help them research the market, research competitors, identify MVP scope, make prototypes, talk with early customers, make UI/UX designs, and build the product. Some clients come more advanced, have already completed customer development, or have UI/UX done. We can pick up them at any stage.
In the recent years, for sure I can say that AI-powered apps are more and more popular. We have a lot of requests about AI.
How do you build and maintain strong relationships with your clients, and what mechanisms do you have in place for gathering and acting upon client feedback?
We are confident in our skills and know that we can deliver above and beyond expectations. So we don’t take 50% prepayment. Only 10% to book a team. The rest of the payments are split into milestones and attached to the sprint deliveries. We deliver the work, the client reviews it and pays only after approval of the milestone. Clients see what they pay for and can control work progress, providing early-stage feedback every week. We believe such an approach positively affects the work process, relationships, and, most importantly, final results.
How has your company adapted to changes and challenges in the business landscape, and what strategies have you employed to ensure resilience and sustainability?
As we work with startups, we always are up to date with trends and changes in the business landscape. In recent years, we have seen a lot of trends: ML, crypto, AR/VR, AI, and now it's returning to crypto again. For sure, the last two years have been trending in AI, as the chatGPT API release has changed a lot in this sphere. Now, any product can have advanced intelligence simply by connecting to API. It's a groundbreaking opportunity, and many entrepreneurs see it and leverage it. From our side, we regularly do RnD to stay up to date with the most advanced technologies to serve our clients most efficiently.
What payment structure do you typically follow when billing clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, or Pay per Milestone (phases, months, versions, etc.)?
We have vast experience, so we are confident in our skills and expertise. That's why we can provide fixed-price contracts to our clients. We estimate the project in advance by decomposing tasks and making detailed estimates. This detalization helps us better prepare the scope of work and offers flexibility in MVP planning. After the client approves the scope of work, we prepare a sprint plan and break down payments into milestones, attaching each payment to a sprint delivery. Clients love this and always appreciate such detalization and transparency.
Do you accept projects that meet your basic budget requirements? If yes, what is the minimum budget requirement? If no, what is the minimum budget you have worked with in the past?
We don't have basic budget requirements. The lowest budget we worked with was $200, as I remember. We provided ASO (App Store Optimization) services for a client who had an existing app and wanted to improve customer acquisition.
Can you provide an overview of the price range (minimum and maximum) of the projects your company worked on in 2024?
The price depends on the project type, scope of work, number of supported platforms, number of features, etc. We always offer to start with a small MVP to test the idea, get market feedback, and iterate. But sometimes, founders come to us with existing working products that they want to extend to new platforms. In such cases, MVP is not needed, as they already validated the demand and want to grow and expand (e.g., bringing web services into mobile app format).
What technological capabilities does your company possess, and are there any ongoing or planned investments in technology infrastructure or tools to enhance your services?
Our company leverages advanced tools like cloud-based platforms, no-code platforms, and AI tools to enhance our services. We are actively investing in RnD and exploring future advancements like automation technologies. These efforts ensure we stay innovative and deliver exceptional value to our clients.
Where do you envision your company in the next 10 years? What are your long-term goals and aspirations for growth and development?
We see ourselves as a consulting and service company that helps founders and small and medium businesses leverage cutting-edge technologies to test ideas, validate customer demand, research a market, and build digital products. Fast and reasonable. A product-focused approach allows us to do it more effectively than anyone else.
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Original source: https://www.goodfirms.co/company/molfar-io#interview