Sometimes Quality Assurance engineers know the product better than even the Founder and Product Owner. While testing the app, they see all peculiarities and figure out the deployment and meaning of each button and column.

“We are like hunting dogs, and we are putting our noses in every corner of the product” – Natalia Puzikova, Head of QA at Paralect.

🔍 To identify all the bugs and make the user journey as comfortable as possible, QA specialists understand all the details of each feature. And not only from the technical side — they test apps and websites as real users.

How do QA Engineers help make products better👌🏼? Watch the full interview with Natalia Puzikova about the role of testers in our product teams.

There are a lot of developers at Paralect who can code a fresh product site from scratch. But now we'd rather use no-code or low-code platforms to save time ⏳ and reduce costs 💰

For example, to validate an idea. To identify the users’ pains and test our solution, we just need a landing page created on a website builder. It reduces the time-to-launch from weeks of design and coding to a few days or even hours.

But which one to choose 🤔

John McTavish, Head of content at Paralect, has compared three no-code platforms — Webflow, Tilda, and Notion. We've used all three in different contexts and like them all for different reasons.

"It’s easier to test your idea quickly with a beautiful landing page and see how it performs — only your imagination limits you. " – Elena Sushkevich, designer

👉🏽 Visit blog.paralect.com and read the full article about the pros and cons of these platforms and why each one is a reliable option to validate new ideas.

Time To Value is the metric that shows time from when a customer invests into the product "by signing up" to the time they get the outcome — their pain is solved ✔️.

We invited Rosi Bremec to the Paralect Workshop as a speaker to share her expertise on the importance of optimizing data for TTV.

Rosi is an expert with more than 20 years of experience in data. She is a Data strategist, Founder, and Co-creator of the Focus2Scale Framework, Advisory Board Member at Paralect.

"TTV is soo underrated but so worth measuring, and monitoring since an optimized user journey is the foundation of a scalable product." – Rosi Bremec

With an optimized TTV, startups can:

👉 get to the market faster;

👉 increase the customer retention rate;

👉 get faster feedback on the product;

👉 start earning revenues from the products as early as possible.

If you want to know how to optimize your product for the one metric that matters — TTV — watch the full video on the Paralect Workshop Channel.

As a rule, creating something simple is always more difficult.

Igor Krasnik, CTO at Paralect, thinks that sometimes engineers tend to over-engineer 🤯

Often there is no need to complicate the product, to add more variables and features during development, or puzzle over optimization at an early stage.

Beginners are taught that technology is the ultimate goal of the process. But, do not forget that most of the problems already have a solution✔️. And we need just to apply an already existing solution or make it even easier.

"If you're building a product — your end goal is a product, technology is just a powerful tool. If your goal is a framework, your goal is still a product — the simple interface that solves some common tech problem." – Igor.

Sounds insightful🤔? Read the full article with Igor's reasoning on igor.paralect.com.

What is it like to work on a brand new product? We asked Sergey Lukashov, Vice Head of Engineering at Paralect, for an inside view 👀

"Well, you actually shouldn't be thinking about performance, or users, or data. Because there are no users yet, there is no data yet. So, it makes a lot of things much easier. But at the same time, it brings completely different challenges." – Sergey

What challenges does he mean🤔? Watch and find out.

Catch the whole interview with Sergey about HealthTech and .Net Engineering on our YouTube channel ▶️ youtube.com/paralect

"I worked at another company for two weeks, and that was enough for me to realize that Paralect is the coolest place for me." – Evgenii Cherkes, Node.js Engineer at Paralect.

Evgenii decided to leave Paralect because he felt that he'd somehow "overstayed". He was curious to check out other companies.

But when he came to a new workplace, Evgenii realized that he missed our projects, Startup Summer — where he was a mentor, internal features, and, most of all, the Paralect community! 🤗

"When you do your best, your teammates here always notice it and somehow encourage you by giving new opportunities. Basically, it’s all up to you. If you really want to develop, there are all the opportunities for that." – Evgenii.

Fortunately, Mr. Bahrimchuk knew about all these issues, and one day decided to help Evgenii turn around 🚘

Welcome back, Evgenii! We are happy that our time apart was short-lived!🤍

https://youtu.be/QgDE4EdAgG8

Paralect +1 with Pavel Sazon

Meet Pavel Sazon — new DevOps Engineer at Paralect!👋🏻

“Why DevOps? Because it’s interesting and cool! In DevOps, there is no peak in technology — you can develop and learn something new every day. I like challenges. For example, I had an intention to get into tech” – Pavel Sazon.

Pavel gets inspiration from people✨, passion from traveling ✈️ and power from mountains🏔

He dreams of visiting Japan and climbing Mount Fuji one day 🌋

In winter, Pavel spends his free time snowboarding and in summer — biking. But sometimes he prefers cooking to the extreme.

Want to join our team and snowboard 🏂 with Pavel and the Paralect Community? 👉🏽 Follow the link join.paralect.com and apply 🤝

"A well-designed and properly prepared diagram helps us understand a topic more quickly and accurately than a table or some obscure data." – Lena Grechits, Designer at Paralect.

But how do we design a diagram that tells the right story💭

Lena held a workshop on creating diagrams and shared her expertise with our Paralect teammates. She went deep on data visualization and explained:

📊 What are the most common types of diagrams?
📊 How to choose the best diagram for your product?
📊 Why are bar charts so popular among designers?
📊 What mistakes should be avoided with pie charts?
📊 How can you make any diagram better?

Watch the video to learn the answers to all these question.

But if you do not want to dive into these processes on your own, write us ✍️

Our professional design team will deliver the best design for your data 🤝

https://youtu.be/5PqGmtlIOt4

"The main lesson I learned in 2021 is that you should go outside and test your knowledge with people you don't know" – Igor Krasnik, CTO at Paralect

Professional development is tied closely to communication 💬. If you want to grow — and who doesn't? — there is nothing wrong with asking for advice and guidance.

Where's Igor get, and give, advice? From teammates on other projects, from sharing ideas on Twitter and other platforms full of creative people, and from connecting with people he'd like to learn from 📌

But it doesn't have to be 100% digital. Go meet people — if and when possible — face-to-face at conferences, at events, and express your ideas. There, feedback is rapid and real and the people you meet can become long-time supporters and collaborators 💡

"But don't forget that not all advice is actionable. You should validate it and think about it yourself." – Igor.

What else did Igor learn in 2021? Check out the site he launched this year to share his ideas with the world — igor.paralect.com 🙌🏽.

https://youtu.be/hl-YAagD018

How has 2021 been for you?

For the Paralect Community, this year a ton of highlights ✨

First of all, there are more of us! There are already more than 160 Paralect Teammates. This year Alena Timofeeva, Head of Marketing, Victoriya Antonovich, Head of Design, Pavel Prata, Product Manager, Sergey Galuza, Chief Financial Officer, and lots more talented creators joined us across all our teams 🙌🏽.

More than 5 top specialists came back to Paralect, including co-founder Andrey Orsich 💪

We held a great Startup Summer course! 👩🏼‍🎓🧑🏼‍🎓 The students developed real products — VISXA and Nudge — and learned from 20+ mentors. VISXA and Nudge launched out of Paralect Accelerator Batch 1 🚀

A brand new show, Ship it and Sip it, was started by John McTavish. He interviews founders and teammates and shares their stories over 🍻.

Speaking of drinks, Misha Gagarin launched Bukhlonautica — the vlog where he shows how to make fantastic classic and modern cocktails🍸

And... 🥁 On to the main news. Today we are not just a product agency. We are a Venture Studio — the Paralect Launch Ecosystem🦄.

Although this year was full of exciting events and news, some things have not changed. We are still the Paralect Community — a creative place where people are the true MVPs ❤️

https://youtu.be/buYXITqfQ6w

Every year Paralect brings together hundreds of people around the world. We are like colorful lights of a festive garland, so different and so bright ✨

But nevertheless, we are together. We are the Paralect Global Team — a community of self-motivated, purposeful, dedicated, supportive, and friendly people ❤️

Today we congratulate everyone who make the Paralect Ecosystem constantly evolve towards the best company to work in and to work with.

We congratulate our teammates, all our partners and all the people we were lucky to meet one day🎉

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! May this year be full of achievements, progress, adventure, and fun! 🎁

“The thing that we found out and we’re pretty sure that any company project, activity, initiative, new creative thinking, should have a dedicated person — or better a team. They just work on this project, think about it full time and work on improving it.” – Igor Krasnik, CTO at Paralect

At Paralect we solved this issue with the Accelerator Program🚀. The idea appeared while planning for Starup Summer — we decided not just appoint managers responsible for the products.

We searched for a founder with an idea. A dedicated person who would be passionate about the product and bringing it to life.

So, two great Startup Founders won the Paralect Accelerator competition — Julie from Nudge and Mohamed from VISXA. They were solely focused on their projects and have done a lot to move the products forward.

“Unfortunately, or luckily, we had a lot of new great company initiatives during this year. And we failed to get assigned people for all of them. But we’re going to fix that early next year, I hope.” – Igor.

Olga Dubovskaya came back to the company after three years away. But not alone! Her family has grown — her wonderful girl Sasha was born👩🏻‍🍼.

Olga says that her professional QA skills were very valuable to her family during maternity leave.

“For example, the skill of prioritizing tasks. In motherhood, a well-rested 💤 mother is above all. In second place is a well-rested dad. And then everything else.” – Olga Dubouskaya, QA at Paralect

Welcome back, Olga🎉 We missed you!

We've already summed up the results of 2021, so it's time to share our plans for 2022 🚀

At the beginning of December, all the leadership team got together and discussed our plans and goals for 2022. It was an eventful week — full of inspiration, creative ideas, and ambitious destinations!

When the session was over, John McTavish asked all the participants about their core goals for 2022.

Watch the video for a glimpse into what we're aiming for in 2022. The year is going to be superb🔥

https://youtu.be/xuLBcrvSb8g

⛄️ New Year and Christmas are holidays that are usually celebrated with loved ones.

That’s why we decided to spend Christmas Eve together.

We received gifts from Santa 🎅 — we worked so hard for in 2021 — recalled the best moments of the past year and made plans for the next. We believe this year will be even more dynamic and productive 🚀

If you would like to feel this cool vibe and spend 2022 with our Paralect Community, go to 👉🏽 join.paralect.com and apply.

https://youtu.be/v_ELkL_bj4o

Teamwork, Transparency and Travel — Paralect CEO's Vision for 2022

During the strategic planning session, our leaders set more than 20 important goals for 2022🚀.

One of them — to make all the processes transparent and public. CEO Dmitry Schetnikovich sees this as a key way to find more like-minded people — both new teammates and partners🙌🏽.

But what goals did Dmitry set for himself? First of all, he would like to have more business trips 🌎 to connect with more partners and founders.

“Now it’s time to go to different levels. The ability to speak with other people, understand their ideas, and present our company is very important today. I think it’s just my responsibility — going forward. I will try to do my best!” – Dmitry.

BTW, the interviews with other Paralect leaders are coming soon⚡️ Subscribe to our social networks to see all our plans for this year ✔️

https://youtu.be/4JtbfYaUmDo

This is Pavel Prata, Managing Director at Paralect. He always believes in Unicorns 🦄 and dreams of making startup founders happier ☺️

Pavel already drove the team to transform into a Venture Studio. And today our dreams came true! In addition to the Venture Studio we launched an ecosystem from Venture Studio, Accelerator and Fund.

Pavel and the whole Paralect team support founders from all over the world in the Paralect Ecosystem to help on their path to a life-changing startup. It's one click to become part of the Paralect Ecosystem👆🏼

No matter if you've got just an idea or a product that's already launched, the Ecosystem can turn it into a growing, thriving startup 🚀

Entrepreneurs get product development from scratch plus support in go-to-market and even fundraising.

Visit paralect.studio and choose the best option between Accelerator, Venture Studio and VC Fund and pitch your idea!

Make your startup dreams come true together with the team that believes in you 🙌🏼

https://youtu.be/M8-jMYZ28TY

Ever wonder how venture capital funds analyse startups and decide which ones they back 🧐

"Startups are making a lot of common mistakes … the key reasons for investing are the team, exit strategy, business model, problem they are trying to solve, and their competitive advantage is extremely important." – Michail Lapidus, Business Analyst at Paralect

John brought one of our newest team members to kick off Season 2 of Ship it and Sip it 🚀

After 5 years of analysing startups for a VC fund Michail shares his insights around:

💡 What factors VCs really focus on

🐑 Why VCs seem to have such a herd mentality

🤔 How founders without a strong VC network can get seen

And why he's excited to be working in a product team after all he's seen from the venture side 💪

Check it out and subscribe on Youtube or your favorite podcast provider to catch all the new episodes of Ship it and Sip it!

https://youtu.be/xXNGlY22NGU

Probably, you’ve already seen our new BA Michail — our latest guest on Ship it and Sip it 🍻 — and heard about his versatile background.

He started his career as a business analyst at an American Venture Fund. He was researching the market and determining which startups are worth investing in. He's also been a team leader and PM.

But working with startups is not Misha's whole life!

He is a big fan of “The Lord of the Rings” 🧝🏼‍♂️. and even plans to celebrate his birthday in New Zealand!

Also, Michail is fond of games 🎮. If you also enjoy it but have never played God of War yet, be sure to give it a try. Michail highly recommends it.

Despite playing computer games, he enjoys doing sports. Especially, snowboarding 🏂 and cross-fit. In the future, he plans to master surfing + kite surfing.

“I am a very open and positive person, and always glad to meet new people and try everything new.” – Michail.

Welcome to our Paralect Community🎉 Thank you for joining our BA team!

Paralect Team has a new goal — #BuildInPublic. But how can we keep that creative fire burning?✨

Our Head of Content, John McTavish, is inspired by nature! He usually finds ideas while riding a bike🚴🏼‍♂️, running🏃, or simply walking the dog 🐶

For him, morning is the perfect time to get thoughts together.

"If I'm working on a blog post or some other piece of content that I'm kind of stuck on, then that time in the morning is when I can mentally solve problems" – John.

What other tips does he have for creators✔️? Watch the full interview with John McTavish on the ⏯ Paralect YouTube channel and develop your creativity.

Lyubov Dementyuk — Planning better together

The previous year was full of great ideas, insights, and initiatives. And the strategic planning session was a nice opportunity to discuss all that.

During planning, the Paralect leaders shared their experiences, achievements, and even failures of 2021 and create a vision for this year 🚀

"When a group of people are sitting and brainstorming about one topic, people usually start thinking 'out of the box'. And this is basically when the creativity starts working." − Lyubov Dementyuk, Managing Director at Paralect.

But how to make this plan work?

1️⃣ Prioritize the goals
2️⃣ Assign the execution team
3️⃣ Define how to measure the results

"Based on the results that we've got, I believe this format worked really great." − Lyubov

https://youtu.be/lBXsFUfH4E4