Tim Tkachenko shares his journey from software engineer to founder, including his experience building fintech startups and creating Founders Running Club—a global community that grew from 4 runners in San Francisco to 65 cities across 45 countries. He discusses lessons on co-founder dynamics, investor advice, product focus, and scaling communities through local leadership.
▸ Read the transcript
investors are not always kind of your friends to give advice is easy. So I'm coming back home. I'm googling founders running club. There is nothing. And I'm like okay then I'll uh make it happen. I will uh start uh this group in San Francisco and even more so that it will spread in 45 [music] countries in 65 cities. Hello guys, here we are with Tim, founder of Ry's Club and other startups in fintech and we're going to ask him some questions. So, so Tim, I was wondering what's your morning routine? You mean like which cream do I use or Well, um yeah. Um I wake up uh usually when I'm in Kenya. Currently, I'm based in Kenya. I wake up almost every day at 5:10. I have a super short breakfast and prepare for my first run of the day and we meet at 610. So at 610 uh I already meet at the like Kell Junction. Nobody knows where it is but yeah it's it's a place where you can meet me at 610 almost every day. Uh and then I run with uh my group there. Um after that shower uh and work uh till till the evening sometimes I do a second run that it's already not morning it's we should cut this part right so uh morning part is running shower work actually I guess second breakfast before because yeah I eat a lot now you are a runner and you have founded a community with groups in most of the most important cities in Europe with founders that are go from tech to even local businesses, right? But I wanted to go back and to see the team that started their work because you also founded two fintech startups. Mhm. And I wanted to know uh before that you were a software engineer at the Jirro. Um yeah, I think it was my first job here in Amsterdam like we are currently in Amsterdam. Um and uh yeah uh that was um like before that actually I worked as IT manager in a couple of companies. Uh but then I thought that I want to change my life and then I figured out that it's easier to get the job as software engineer rather than as a manager. So yeah, I was uh uh I started to look for a job and instead of uh like looking for management positions uh switched to uh software engineering switched back to software engineering because yeah it's how I started. So regarding your experience in the jur I was wondering which architectural decisions do you take in a fintech of this class? I was a part of a quite big uh team of developers and like since I was not in the management positions like it mostly I was taking part of course in the decision making but uh most of the final decisions uh back then were not done by me. Yeah, that's uh like we for example migrated for example when you cannot find enough engineers on positions like using one technology on then it becomes obsolete uh you should also kind of uh follow the yeah some some trends and uh because you'll just uh will be able to hire better uh engineers at uh yeah uh in your company. Okay. And then you started Cure Finance, right? As a co-founder CTO. Uh yeah. Uh in the beginning it was called Core. Okay. Uh and then you know with the startups uh like you yeah you pivot a lot and we even pivoted the names a couple of times. Um yeah so the final name uh of the um of the project of a name is cure finance and it started as core with triple O. Okay. Yeah. Uh so yeah uh I started as uh with two of my friends. Um like uh one of has uh great experience in marketing and huge companies with huge budgets with different approaches like guerilla marketing as well as like corporate marketing like when you like do some shoot some videos with uh like superstars for with huge budgets. Um and the other guy uh he already by that time exited uh a few companies. Uh and yeah so he he was our like business guy and the guy who was mostly involved in uh looking for investors and I was a tech guy. So like um actually it was I guess um maybe it's natural but uh like uh I think we were lucky that each of us can work separately on uh certain tasks and do them better than others. And it was super easy to like to uh to have like your area of uh responsibility and be independent in your field. Uh and uh at the same time uh to uh like to to know um that your teammates are professionals in their fields and that you can just trust them in uh like yeah like sometimes I I was like why do they do that like why do we spend money here or why do I and then uh when I hear like the answer I'm like oh my god guys like you you know you know better actually like uh and uh pro like my first thought sometimes was uh that maybe I will be yeah like uh I have some critique on their decisions but I don't really remember like of course sometimes uh someone else's uh like outside uh look from the outside can help and some opinion can help but uh yeah I guess then uh people are professionals. It's much easier to to build projects than um like uh you have responsibilities and that then you are good in uh in what you do and what did Cure Finance did essentially if you can give us a brief description. Yeah. Uh Cure Finance uh was uh an app for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. It was um I mean after a few pivots and changes uh it became uh an app uh which can uh verify the investment uh advices um or ideas um for for our audience. Um and cuz we were trying to solve the problem that this modern audience they follow the trends on Tik Tok. Uh they follow influencers and they uh are bad in find in making some uh very important decisions and they lose a lot of money because of that. uh they can uh get scammed. And we built uh rating system uh that we um put on top of uh almost Tik Tok feed um that and the idea was that uh that our audience uh checks the ideas uh this way. It's much easier uh when it's like fun video or maybe some uh some pictures uh and then actually on top of that there is proof performance of the people who uh who give uh those ideas because uh like basically um we were rate we were rating uh the uh their performance and like profits And uh we gave so like basically we gave stars uh reviews uh to to these people but always based on like how uh profitable uh they are and how successful they are with their uh financial ideas. Um and yeah uh so idea was if you follow the guys who um who do have uh good performance uh at least historical performance probably you have a higher chance uh to at least not get scammed because everything is verified and you can go and check every uh their transaction except that you don't see uh how much money they spent but uh you can see that they bought at this moment uh these instruments uh like they held it for this period of time and that's uh basically you can kind of count our rating yourself just uh so it was like super uh open and verifiable. If uh if you want to to go into details and for for our audience it was like super simple. You just see like five stars uh then probably uh it might be uh a good advice. If someone has less than three stars then definitely they have uh more uh fails than success. Yeah. Do you also allow the copy the traits in the same app? Yeah. Yeah. Uh that's how we uh earned uh money. Yeah. And what was more challenging uh from this uh company the regulation regarding financial advice, the trust of the people, the distribution or or the technical aspect of mixing everything together, right? I guess uh in like on different stages the challenges differ like at certain points we just needed some funds to hire someone. At certain points, uh, we needed, um, like someone who who is very good in, uh, uh, we we found like super old guy in Chicago, uh, who, uh, went with financial regulators for, I don't know 50 years or something. So, and he knew everyone in the field. Uh, he connected us. So like sometimes we need uh advisory on like certain topic and someone like who who can help us to solve certain uh issue like legal issue. Uh sometimes it was financial stuff. Um I think one of the issues um and maybe my takeaways from this startup that um uh your investors are not always kind of the f your friends uh in terms of they not necessarily their advices not necessarily will lead to something better and where um I as um yeah uh their thoughts sometimes can actually lead to opposite results uh cuz and they are not as much involved. So like for them uh to to give the advice is easy uh even if they like believe in it uh but uh when you implement it when you uh test it uh like if they are not professionals but most most of them of course they they don't know uh uh your application as well as you know they don't know your users as well as you know they have some thoughts sometimes they are very like uh again it's outside to you so sometimes it can be like super relevant and important to hear something in in the right moment but you also have to each thing that you hear each idea you have to al like uh kind of check their credits like uh are they uh like why uh maybe they can uh think this way and do you really have to maybe implement something that they think is a good idea? Um cuz yeah like I think we built quite a few features because someone just told us uh but uh it was maybe a waste of our time uh instead of like focusing on the I don't know main uh feature of the app. Yeah. Okay. not making some maybe even like uh making some UI improvements uh it's not a feature but uh sometimes uh like when something feels like more natural it's even better than adding more and more features that potentially can uh can be yeah uh potentially uh it's a good thing but I think especially in a startup uh you should also like always think what is main feature of the app and basically you should uh not focus on on something that is just nice to have. Okay. And later on you decide to start with some events uh running events, right? It was also like everything was more or less at the same time. Uh so uh yeah I'm uh just imagine I'm in San Francisco uh building uh startups and everyone around doing the same and you work a lot of hours. Um, and back then I was training for Chicago Marathon. And also every everyone uh like they work a lot, they grind, they like uh sometimes uh work crazy hours. Uh but they still discuss like uh how uh like um that's uh how they can uh build and help uh the uh community for for founders, startup community in general, future founders um investors and uh people around uh how uh to um to do something for this specific community and yeah I was part of a discussions uh like I think even with my uh co-founders we were discussing like what we can do we were like thinking of renting an office and like providing part of the office for free for like uh certain people if so that we can have networking and uh some people can use it for free among all other ideas uh a lot of people were like that here there is a like burning man uh non-stop or like let's say uh each uh couple of weeks where is a big event for uh this community with like art installations I don't know some uh fire stuff and uh like more artsy stuff uh here are some a lot of hackathons of course um a lot of drinks nights And I was just hearing it uh all the time that someone is volunteering here or wants to to do something of this kind. Yeah. Uh had this idea like what I can do uh as well. Um and uh yeah I was running uh in Golden Gate Park and uh then I'm like uh probably uh there is uh a thing which is called founders running club here in the city and I can join them and I'll just ask them if they need some help uh in organizing the events and uh I will be part of the community. one of my runs I will do with with them uh like they will give me motivation for running uh because I will meet cool people and uh at the same time they will give me motivation to build stuff after cool talks so I'm coming back home I'm googling founders running club there is nothing and uh I'm googling like founders running San Francisco like various options And uh I was so surprised that uh because so many uh events are happening in the city and I was like uh definitely there is this thing and uh I'll be a part uh of this project. Uh and then I realized there is no such thing and I'm like okay then I'll uh make it happen. um at least I'll try to make it happen and suddenly yeah it's worked there uh like my vision was uh that I will join this local San Francisco group um so uh I never thought that then it will turn out that I will uh start this group in San Francisco and even more so that it will spread in 45 countries in 65 cities uh and almost everywhere you go uh you can uh find the event most often on Saturday morning. Um yeah and I don't know uh for me uh it's a privilege to I guess to join the community like every community is super unique because of the leaders um and because of the people who join it. every Saturday is unique and um um I remember every time like the first co-founders first people who started to help me to organize the events like with some of them uh I was uh like walking after one of the events and every time I was like oh my god I talked to this person it was uh such a good time and every time basically I'm getting inspiration for my next week to like uh there are some uh cool people who do something, build something or thinking of uh building something and yeah it's just a big inspiration for me. How was the first event? uh first event was uh yeah uh you know like we still are like super lean uh organization uh but uh back then uh as uh as like someone with like as that's how you do startups you just uh test the idea so the easiest test was to just like I think I started meetup page um I think I created uh Instagram profile and uh invited uh a couple of my friends and asked them hey guys please uh bring your friends as well if they are from uh startup ecosystem. Uh the first event we had four people uh and and it was uh cool but I knew everyone no except one one person um and uh yeah so at first event I still didn't know if uh it will work or not but I think uh event number four we had more than 20 people and I already knew maybe just a couple of them and uh since Then I'm like okay it's working and that's that's uh what's I personally as someone who runs uh al just wants to have uh in the city who runs and who is interested in startup and to talk with people who will I guess understand me maybe a little more than uh other people or at least who who know how I feel when I struggle uh or yeah uh uh who probably have some great ideas on something that they want to to build and who can inspire me. And how how do you manage from I I think you approach the founders running club from a product perspective, right? Like you you managed you started testing and then you starting creating maybe a structure later on with city leads. Um yeah like I guess I think it's maybe uh just a mindset of someone who already uh started uh who did startups. M so you a lot of things in my life I approach as a startup maybe like probably even relationships in some way uh like uh cuz you uh should uh test things makes sense as well. No like it's it's a fantasy maybe not uh it's just uh I mean that um as long as uh there's no exit later, right? [laughter] Exactly. Yeah. Uh so then we have to nurture the product forever uh and make it only better um and just add then additional people uh on board. Yeah. [laughter] Um but yeah yeah um I guess um it's it's a mindset but community is even more about people than anything else you you build even the uh small companies where every person also like super super important part of the decision and of your potential success or failure in uh community uh you see How much different uh each uh chapter is like uh that some people ask have like someone is great in organizing some special events collaborations and they enjoy the uh talks about hey let's make uh certain events special let's bring more people and other people are great in uh let's say just uh doing a warm up uh with a great vibe and yeah so uh to find I mean it's not that it's not that like it's not corporation or something so you are not looking for certain type but then you like see okay this person can be such great addition to to this team and and also you know people adopt and they also take roles uh sometimes where they are better at and uh Sometimes like uh the we have more than 300 people in the team and uh yeah it's just amazing how many people are involved in the in building uh this community enjoying building this community and who how cool these people actually are. So how does the different Amsterdam chapter differs from the San Francisco chapter? You started it later on right? Uh yes uh we uh started um Amsterdam chapter on uh April 8, 2023 and San Francisco was existing for like 8 months, 9 months uh since July 16, 2022. Uh and it was our only chapter for a really long time. Um so yeah like as I said uh I guess the biggest difference is the leadership. Um but also the community is a little bit different. I think that in the smaller cities in the in the cities where not every week uh so many people uh are coming uh like in San Francisco a lot of people are coming and going probably uh larger amount amount compared to majority of our chapters. Um, it's cool in one way and that every time you can meet someone from somewhere uh and it can be a super crazy location. Here in Amsterdam uh we have visitors from other chapters uh but uh I guess it's like some European chapters. Yes, once in a while also someone from SF uh but so it's much less common. San Francisco chapter u many more people are coming. Uh the events were just bigger uh naturally. Um and I guess it also our first chapter. There is you know in general founders and San Francisco is still uh I guess uh uh the association is much stronger and and it it changes the the vibe. Um and I guess uh um and for different people also like I think uh I've I was asking different people like which event they did like the most uh when they visited like five seven 10 uh of our chapters and uh it's also like very personal uh perspective like for me uh like uh Amsterdam is a home chapter so yeah I can tell My personal thing, it's home chapter and I'm kind of closer to Mimbo here and San Francisco is the first chapter probably most important one like uh we call it HQ. um even if it is the same chapter as ours um and yeah it's where this project started and but if it was not San Francisco it won't be there will be no 65 chapters where will be no uh 60 40 45 cities uh just because like how San Francisco works and probably I would even never think of doing something uh and will be in if I won't be inspired by the vibes of I would never uh start it here or somewhere else. So yeah uh both both chapters are different but yeah it's probably my super personal perspective. Okay, perfect. Thank you so much team.
