Perseverance, Analysis, and Humor in the Face of Collapse

From Titanic Efforts to Ginger Victories: A Saga of How I Learned to Breathe Underwater While Others Looked for Life Rings. Or, Why Developing New Directions Is Not About “Eureka!” but About Perseverance, Analysis, and Humor in the Face of Imminent Collapse.

Prologue: The Market Isn’t Waiting; It Requires You to Create the Next Wave.

You know, in business, just like in anecdotes, everything is built on timing and an unexpected punchline. My last 28 years of entrepreneurial life have been one large, continuous, sometimes very funny, but more often simply epic quest called “Development.” If someone had told me in the late 90s that I would be industrial-scale brewing ginger elixirs like a mad scientist-alchemist, selling honey and an anti-hangover remedy to the Chinese, and explaining to seasoned café managers that their baristas were a luxury, not a necessity, I probably would have continued proudly giving orders to builders, believing that at age 22, I had reached the pinnacle of success—my college mate and I had a construction company with government contracts from the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

But life, like the market, is changeable. And the ability to not just adapt to these changes, but to anticipate them, to create new waves and ride the crest with surfing—that is my main skill.

Today, I am that seasoned veteran of the business front, who traveled the path from “I don’t know and don’t understand anything, but it’s very interesting” to “I know and understand everything, and now we will package it, calculate it, and launch it into global markets.” I invite you on a tour of my forge. Without gloss, without pretense, but with a maximum dose of self-irony and professional insights that I extracted with sweat, blood, and… ginger tea.

…existing code…

Chapter 1: “The ‘Titanic’ Ticket”: Or How I Became the Chief Pump Operator on a Sinking Ship.

2016. A company manufacturing dietary supplements (BADs) and therapeutic cosmetics. A masterpiece painting, but apparently, an ape painted it with its tail. Crisis. Not a temporary one, like “oh, sales are down,” but a deep, systemic collapse.

In the affluent 2000s, up until 2014, a clear business model worked for any manufacturer: produced goods → shipped to distributors → distributors distributed to retail chains (in our case, pharmacies) → received money with a 45-day delay. An idyll! Everything worked like a reliable Swiss watch, but only until the whole pyramid collapsed because its main brick was pulled out—accessible, cheap, and long-term EU loans. 90% of distributors, pharmacies, and the entire business were essentially hooked on this needle. The needle was removed—the “withdrawal” began.

A wave of bankruptcies rolled down the chain like a tsunami. Our company was at the very “tail” of the queue of creditors—somewhere after private individuals and before “small suppliers who weren’t particularly counted.” The company was a “millionaire”: over 6 million dollars… in accounts receivable and execution writs. But in reality, there wasn’t enough money to pay the rent for production and warehouse premises on time.

And at this moment, I received a truly “royal” offer: to become the Managing Partner—essentially, a “ticket to the ‘Titanic’.” My own share. On a sinking ship. With a hole in the side and the whistling sound of a financial vacuum in my ears.

What would a “normal” entrepreneur do? Most likely, say, “Thank you, but count me out,” or at least remember to be cautious. What did I do? I took the ticket. Because besides the debts and problems, I saw assets: production, technology, patents, trademarks, and—most importantly—the team. I accepted the challenge: the crisis manager, business analyst, marketer, and the merciless “ninja teacher” in me woke up and rushed into battle, knowing that the best way to teach someone to swim and survive is to throw them overboard.

Chapter 2: “Online Rescuer, or How I Discovered that Marketplaces Pay More Steadily and Faster than ‘Partners’ with a 180-Day Delay.”

I started immediately, without waiting for the legal paperwork. The first thing to do was stop the bleeding. Money. There was none. Waiting for distributors to “suddenly” remember us, feel “ashamed,” and start paying on time was tantamount to telling a drowning person to wait for the ocean to evaporate.

Then I did what looked like heresy to a classic manufacturer. I turned the company towards online sales. My own advertising agency quickly developed a modern online store. SEO and contextual advertising immediately generated sales. Delivery was organized through fulfillment, with which we established an API integration. And this resulted in instant cash flow: produced - sold - money in the account. Instantly. No delays.

The next stage was conquering marketplaces. Oh, that’s a separate story! I personally registered our products on Ozon, Wildberries, and Yandex.Market: “with a pencil in my teeth,” I figured out the intricacies of SEO product cards, warehouse supply procedures, tracked inventory, and responded to customer feedback. This was a new world where the rules were dictated not by men in expensive suits with eternal deferrals, but by algorithms that impartially rewarded quality goods and fast delivery.

It worked! Revenue from online channels grew monthly. We even thought about creating separate brands for online sales with increased marginality, which was already 300-500% due to patented technologies. We found the pulse. We learned to breathe underwater. The crisis was not yet defeated, but we got a saving respite, and… cash.

Chapter 3: “The Ginger Renaissance: Or How a Love for Tea Gave Birth to a New Product Line Out of Nowhere.”

Now for the main point of this story. The thing that distinguishes a development strategist from a crisis manager. The first puts out fires, the second looks for new sources of growth. I started searching.

And my personal passion helped—ginger tea. I adore it. Walking through the workshops and thinking about optimizing business processes, I caught myself thinking: why don’t we produce ginger tea? Yes, we produce BADs. So what? Just as a dairy plant became a leader in kvass (the traditional fermented rye-bread drink) production, we can produce ginger tea. I have such a case in my portfolio, “Crisis Management, or the Story of How I Searched for EBITDA in the Milk Rivers of the Far East, but Found It in Yogurt That No One Wanted to Make”.

I met with the Owner and discussed my idea. The answer was predictable: “Are you crazy? This is a completely different market.” But I was already “on fire.” We made a gentleman’s agreement: I do the entire project at my own expense—R&D, recipe, technology, marketing strategy, implementation, sales—and the production provides the capacity. The project would be mine. My own product. My brainchild.

Chapter 4: “Laws of the Genre: Or Why You Should Check, Double-Check 100,500 Times, and Laugh at the Results Before Doing Anything.”

I first measure the depth, the water temperature, the strength of the shoreline, and only then, having calculated the trajectory, do I dive.

I started with a deep market analysis: consumption, demand, audience, competitors. And I was stunned. Despite the high demand, the competition was ridiculous—one regional producer who only made sea buckthorn “tea” in sticks. The field was free! The idea was simple—to create a line of instant ginger-berry teas in single-use, individual packaging—stick packs. Ginger-raspberry, ginger-sea buckthorn, ginger-lemon, ginger-cranberry, ginger-blackcurrant. Why these berries? Research showed: ginger is the king of cold prevention. And these berries are its entourage, each of the courtiers possessing its own unique beneficial properties that are well-known and require no proof.

I decided that the product should be not only healthy but also divinely delicious. Natural. Such that when stirred, it wouldn’t be transparent, like “chemical lemonade,” but slightly cloudy and leave a sediment—a sign of quality and real berries. I hired a taster who worked closely with our technologists. We tested flavors on focus groups with people of different ages, genders, and taste preferences (in total, more than 1,000 people participated in the study). It took six months to derive the ideal recipe: not only the taste but also the content of beneficial substances—microelements and vitamins—was balanced. The tea was so delicious that it was addictive from the first cup. And importantly—without a gram of sugar! Sugar-free, as they say. The sweetness came from natural fruit and berry syrups.

In parallel, I obsessed over the packaging. It had to “scream” premium-quality. I looked for that very material—not cheap glossy film, but something pleasant, stylish. And I found it! You wanted to hold the stick, stroke it, admire it. The packaging fully corresponded to the content.

The product’s USP (Unique Selling Proposition): the stick contains a ready-made berry mass (essentially jam with ginger), prepared using a gentle technology (at low temperatures) to preserve all vitamins and beneficial properties. Pour a cup of boiling water, tear off the tab on the stick, squeeze the mass into the cup, and stir—in a minute, you have a ready-made, natural, and very delicious ginger-berry tea. Connoisseurs and lovers of such a healthy drink know how long it takes to prepare it yourself: the ginger root must release juice to get that pleasant “warming” bitterness (sliced or blended ginger root needs to steep in a thermos for at least half an hour). And before that, you have to buy, wash, and clean the ginger itself. Convenience, speed, benefit—that is our USP.

Chapter 5: “The Wall of Misunderstanding: Or How I Offered Heavenly Delight, But They Threw KPIs in My Face, But Were Actually Afraid of Something Else.”

Autumn 2018. The first batch was ready. The cold season was approaching. I anticipated triumph. And… nothing. Sales in our online store and on marketplaces, despite the launched internet advertising, were paltry. Meetings with retail ended in nothing. It was a mystery.

The audience consuming ginger tea is huge. In HoReCa, the price for one serving is 1.5-3 dollars. Our product “on the shelf” cost 50 cents, and it was much more practical (and tastier). We were not offering the market something fundamentally new. It was an established market. But… as it turned out, it was the market of cafés and restaurants, not retail (chains and stores). People were not looking for a “product in a package” (they didn’t even suspect such a thing existed), the audience was accustomed to a “ready-made drink here and now.”

An adjustment was needed: the implementation tactics had to change. I went to the B2B market: cafés, coffee shops, fast-food restaurants, ski resorts. I drove around the slopes near Moscow, flew to Sochi’s Krasnaya Polyana (the most popular ski resort in Russia, often compared to a world-class destination like Vail or Park City): those endless queues for hot tea in the frost! I offered them a solution: give the person a stick, they pour their own boiling water and stir. Efficiency would be off the charts: minimum staff—just one cashier is enough, let the barista only make coffee—that way, he’ll sell much more, an additional sale to the check—the customer can buy and take several sticks with them to warm up and enjoy delicious ginger tea at the top of the mountain, for example. This self-service model was already actively used at gas stations and was not something new.

I was met with a resounding success… in the form of a total refusal. Café managers and restaurateurs looked at me like an enemy: they were afraid that our product would “take away” a share of their check, not provide an additional sale. They were focused on the old business model, refusing to see the obvious benefit.

This was a reality that had to be accepted. Many would now say: “You needed advertising. The more, the better.” And I would counter with two facts:

Large-scale advertising that announces the product to a sufficient audience and generates demand costs a lot of money. And we didn’t have it.

People “fell in love” with our tea only after a tasting, not because they saw a beautiful video. Our task: to gain a critical mass to launch word-of-mouth. Internet advertising was focused on specific queries and topics, serving as a positive informational background.

Chapter 6: “The Breakthrough: Or How the State Duma, the Federation Council, Gas Stations, and the Pandemic Turned Ginger into the Golden Root.”

The breakthrough happened where it was least expected. First, a federal gas station chain took us on. We conducted promo actions (tastings) on the most popular federal routes.

And then our product entered the State Duma and the Federation Council, having passed all sorts of safety and quality checks beforehand. After coordination with the Federal Security Service (FSB), we were even allowed to hold promo actions in the cafeterias of these institutions, and our tea became popular. This was social proof of the highest category!

And off we went. As soon as we started using the phrase “Our product is presented in the State Duma and the Federation Council” in negotiations, many doors began to open. Constructive negotiations began for experimental launches with TOP airline and railway passenger carriers. Gas stations began to include our tea in their listings. Ski resorts and ice rinks began to place orders—Luzhniki, VDNKh, Sokolniki. We were taking off!

I took our tea to partners in China. They were not impressed—they know their market. But the European partners, especially the Germans, really liked the idea. We developed a roadmap for implementation in European ski resorts. It seemed that this was our second product, claiming global success!

I wrote about our first product—the anti-hangover remedy—in my chronicle “M&A in Russian: The Story of How I was ‘Friendly’ Asked to Help Sell a Company, but Got Stuck in the Epicenter of a Corporate Conflict and Lawsuits, Found the Chinese, and Got a Share in the Company Instead of Thanks.”

Ginger tea is a product with pronounced seasonality. So, I thought about diversification. There was an offer to make honey in sticks for China. Paradox? No, insider information: China is the largest producer of honey, but the honey is “artificial” (read: few beneficial properties). The Chinese themselves know this and value Russian honey for its naturalness. Chinese importers, in pursuit of profit, “adulterate” it with their own and package it in jars, stating that it is Russian honey. But individual packaging (the stick pack) guaranteed that the honey was 100% from Russia.

We used our experience with gentle technologies and learned to dispense honey into sticks. Adhering to the temperature regime ensured that the honey retained all its beneficial properties. But we went further and created masterpieces—that legendary health elixir, “honey-ginger-lemon,” and raspberry honey (we added natural raspberry extract to the cheapest floral honey and turned it into a high-margin premium product: children adored it and ate it by the spoonful!). Imagine the divine aroma of raspberry and honey that spreads the moment the package is opened! And the taste! Mmmmmm…

And then COVID-19 struck. All our export plans collapsed. But in the domestic market, our ginger tea, as a prophylactic, became an online sales hit. Negotiations began with Retail about producing our product under their PL (Private Label). We were in the right place at the right time. Luck? Partially, YES. But more so—strategic foresight based on deep analysis of consumer trends, and entrepreneurial perseverance: NOT to retreat! and NOT to give up!

China only opened its borders for food imports in 2023. But by that time, I had ceased all my entrepreneurial activity in Russia and had been living in Dubai for a year.

And that is a completely different story.

Epilogue: The Next Chapter is Your Pivot. Strategy is Your Compass, Perseverance is Your Engine.

The headline when developing new business directions is not about a genius idea. It’s about systematic, daily work and perseverance, based on a wealth of knowledge and strict discipline.

Here is what can help your business in developing new directions:

1. Deep Strategic Analysis and Audit of Your Business. Don’t just look at the numbers. “Dissect” your business model, find pain points, hidden reserves, and growth areas. Determine what exists and what could exist.
2. Crisis Management and Anti-Crisis Planning. When everything is fine, no one usually thinks about something new. Why bother? But only constant development can guarantee long-term success. Constantly train your “survival” skill. Be prepared for any twists of fate. Learn to “breathe underwater”—simulate situations where you need to quickly create new products with a minimal budget.
3. Search for and Attract Investment. “Package” every one of your projects as you would for an investor. This will develop your skill and help draw attention to “shortcomings” and “holes” in the project’s financial model. Be maximally self-critical. Ask yourself: “Would I invest in this project myself if Vasya from next door brought it to me?”
4. Launching the Product into New Markets, Including International Ones. Always keep project scaling in focus. Be ready for rapid growth and allocate a budget for this in your calculations. Study the specifics, legal nuances, cultural differences, and logistics chains. This will help you avoid the pitfalls that 95% of companies step on when they first enter a foreign market.
5. Development and Launch of New Products (Product Development). From idea to shelf. Everything: market research, R&D, creation of MVP (Minimum Viable Product), production, testing, pilot launch, adjustment if necessary, and scaling only based on positive pilot results.
6. Distribution Channels. Study and try everything: from classic B2B to modern D2C and marketplaces. Identify the “underwater” stones of each channel and build logistics chains that maximize profit and minimize costs. This is very important at the start.
7. Legal and Contractual Literacy. It is very good to have your own professional, savvy lawyer. Nevertheless, I always recommend “studying” and “double-checking” all contracts, trying to anticipate risks to protect the business interests at all stages.
8. Indomitable Spirit and Dedication. This is not a skill; it is a state of mind. This is the entrepreneurial streak: always believe in the chosen path, follow it, and achieve your goal. The path is always winding, not straight, so it is important to be ready for any turn. Trust your principles and intuition.

If you understand and feel that it is difficult for you alone, and you need a like-minded person, then invite me for a cup of coffee. You will tell me about your business and your ideas, and perhaps we will find new growth points for your business together. At the very least, I will give you a couple of useful tips.

P.S. With this, I conclude my story about how I found, created, and achieved success for new directions in a company that was “sinking.” If you liked it, mark it with a like or a comment. It would be pleasant for me. You can also support my work with a donation. Any amount, at your discretion, will be received with gratitude and will be a direct recognition of the value of my work. Thank you!

Sincerely Yours,

Business Pathfinder