Execution

Who's running this

Investor / advisor · 2026-05-10

Founder-led with deep Telegram-economy track record (Tone era). One Head of Bloggers running the influencer pipeline. CTO + small engineering core. ~50 onboarded micro-influencers as flexible content pool. Hire only roles that surface founder-level pain; cut fast when revenue / spend tightens. The composition is the operating model.

The team is small on purpose. Apps Pro is below stabilisation right now ($30–35K/mo target, see business model), and the team is sized to reach that line with discipline, not to burn through a raise. Composition matters more than headcount.

Mark, founder, CEO

Builder with deep Telegram-economy track record. Walked the long path through Telegram-native projects including the Tone era, has firsthand context on launch dynamics, X-Tone foundation moves, AP Terminal, and adjacent infrastructure plays. Has shipped consumer apps (Notspy ~115K+ users) and now operates a stack that powers the engage labs portfolio apps and serves third-party Telegram creators.

Operating posture: picks up founder-level pain directly until it's product-shaped. Currently runs daily DM-support to get the fastest market signal, then converts that pain into product specs (Support module is the long-term replacement). Holds a hard line on info-business / scam-course adjacency.

Why this matters for the deck: the why-now macro, Durov back to TON, Telegram Functions, the vibe-coding wave, is exactly the wave Mark has been swimming in for years. Founder credibility is alignment, not borrowed context.

Anton, Head of Bloggers / Marketing

Owns all influencer / blogger relationships across engage labs products: Notspy, Apps Pro, Cover Food, VPN, future portfolio. Single accountable owner, carte blanche on blogger relationships, enforces standardised commission terms (30% blogger / 20% manager / 50% platform for Apps Pro deals).

Removes Mark from individual blogger negotiations. Centralises blogger ops. Aligns with the «we are not a platform for influencer-managers» posture, we keep the manager cut tight and don't optimise for influencer-managers as a class.

CTO + engineering core

Engineering leadership across Apps Pro, platform-service, builder-api, SDK. Weekly product / engineering sync with Mark.

Direct reports / ownership areas: - Vanya, backend, migrations, heavy-lifting features (Teams + paid-apps update + CORE migration in flight) - Bogdan, frontend + Apps Pro Bot (weekend build of 2026-05-10/11, Notifications-as-pinned-chat, single-answer/per-surface MR rendering, predict-keyboard, viral footer) - Slava, frontend; surfaces in microfrontend conversations

Recent strategic decisions in scope: - Bot before Referral system sequencing - In-house Sentry-style Support module (proprietary, not SaaS) - Microfrontend architecture direction confirmed - AI Builder likely starting from OpenCode (MIT) foundation

Content / production team

Per the standing pipeline: - Mark, appears in some Reels (founder-face content) - Misha, content / production - Anton, produces, manages bloggers, edits - ~50 onboarded micro-influencers, flexible external content pool, with daily target of 10+ Reels / day

How this works mechanically: see inbound flywheel.

Roles that are explicitly not permanent

Influencer-managers as a class. Long-term goal is to eliminate the role by giving founders direct tools. Anton-as-Head-of-Bloggers is the short-term consolidation; the product-side referral / influencer system replaces the human layer over time.
Mark as primary blogger-relationship owner. Handed off to Anton on 2026-05-08.
Mark as primary support agent. Being designed out via the Support module.

Hiring philosophy

Inferred from current behaviour, not formal:

Cut fast when revenue / spend is tight. Mark cut the team aggressively in early 2026 to reach the stabilisation point.
Avoid «monkey-job» roles that don't flag founder pain. Mark explicitly regrets keeping certain January roles because they did task work without surfacing systemic pain, «this is a problem founders have».
Founder picks up pain directly until it's product-shaped, then hands off (e.g. daily DMs → Support module). Hire seniors who flag systemic issues, not task-takers. Owners with end-to-end accountability (Anton for bloggers, CTO for engineering). Skip middle-management; promote direct-mandate roles.

Advisors / partners

Recurring Saturday-call partner, strategic advisor / sounding board on fundraise + product structure. Has own product (Roomly, recently iOS-submitted). Recurring weekly sync.
Specific other advisors / cap-table investors, disclosed during diligence.