What will bury your business: ego, your partner or burnout? And how stardust helps
No Bullsh!t, July 30, 2025, 84 min, 1,595 views. The guest is Ekaterina Shcherbatenko, co-founder of an agency and a serial entrepreneur with more than twenty years in recruiting, international infrastructure projects and technology.
| Published | |
|---|---|
| Length | 84 min |
| Views on YouTube | 1,595 |
| Language of the episode | Russian |
| Where to watch and listen | YouTube, Spotify, Telegram |
Date, length and view count according to data from the episode page on YouTube, as of the page update date shown in the footer.
In short
The conversation is built around her three main failures: a destructive partnership conflict with no agreements written in advance, a series of mistakes in hiring and assessing people, and closing her own startup after emigrating. Out of that grows a practical discussion of which questions must be settled with a partner at the start, how to check references when hiring, and why freedom of action for a team works better than micromanagement. A separate block is devoted to women in entrepreneurship: the stereotypes women leaders meet, which roles and company stages suit them particularly well, and what women's entrepreneurship brings to a business.
Key ideas
- Partnerships fall apart not over money but over the absence of agreements at the start: discuss in advance what happens if one partner loses interest, dies or wants out.
- Hiring cannot stop at a formal call to two former managers: references should be sought from former colleagues, subordinates and stakeholders, asking about behaviour rather than formalities.
- A company has two states, peace and war, and each needs a different kind of leader: a leader of growth and comfort is rarely effective in a crisis, and the reverse is also true.
- The best management strategy is to give people full freedom and authority in their area and step in only when something starts to burn, rather than controlling every step.
- Women are particularly strong in roles tied to risk management, finance, law and operations, especially the chief operating role, where balance between functions is required.
- A startup is the fastest and cheapest way to understand yourself, business and your relationship with the world: even a failed one leaves a network and clarity about your strengths.
The full transcript
The episode is recorded in Russian, and the full transcript of the conversation is on the Russian page of this episode. English and Spanish subtitles for the strongest episodes are rolling out on YouTube in waves.
Open the transcript