Good Company Interview with Alexei Dulub, PixelPlex's Founder

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.

When I was at school, I took an immense interest in algorithms and the related engineering stuff. This interest drove me to participate in math competitions, dive headfirst into my studies at the technical university, and eagerly seek new skills and knowledge.

I started working as a developer and rose to the position of team lead. I’ve always been passionate about novel technologies and inspired by the feeling of discovery. In the long run, this passion has helped me build a team ready to withstand any challenge and become the driving force of PixelPlex.

What's your company called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?

We’re PixelPlex — a consulting and custom software development company providing a full cycle of services. Our tech domains include blockchain, artificial intelligence, and Internet-of-Things. Since 2007, our superteam has been orchestrating high-end solutions that have enabled our clients across the globe to take their businesses to a whole new level and achieve desired results. At the moment, we boast a portfolio of 350+ state-of-the-art solutions, and we take immense pride in each of them.

What is the origin story?

PixelPlex entered the global market as a small, yet ambitious company focusing on web and mobile app development. From the very beginning, our aspirations were high. We gave it a hundred and ten percent day and night. Soon we drew the attention of big players from FinTech and eCommerce domains. While working with them, we noticed that our clients experienced issues related to the centralization of their solutions. We pondered how we could help solve them. The emergence of Bitcoin sparked interest in distributed ledger technology, and in 2013 we hit it off with DLT, too.

Initially, blockchain was terra incognita to us. To test emerging technologies and experiment with PoCs, we established an in-house blockchain lab. Soon we could craft unique, decentralized, and transparent solutions that fully corresponded to the clients’ needs and possessed all the necessary infrastructure. At the same time, we continued working with artificial intelligence and IoT. We see enormous potential in these technologies and are delighted to assist in their implementation.

Every solution is a combination of knowledge and experience, perseverance and consistency, communication, and respect. This has become our mantra that we’ve been dutifully following for years and that has brought us to where we are today.

What do you love about your team?

What I love about my team most is how they eagerly embrace new challenges regardless of how complicated they seem at first glance. I’m always impressed by their ability to responsibly handle projects of all sizes and industry specifics. They make sure they haven’t missed out on the tiniest detail that in the long run may influence the business and technical parts of the project.

The team fully immerse themselves in the project and deliver extraordinary, game-changing solutions.

I admire their innovative approach to every challenge, as well as their ability to strike a balance between today's needs and ambition for the future.

If you weren’t working at your company, what would you be doing?

I would establish an IoT research and development center where my team and I would launch various projects and conduct experiments related to different hardware solutions starting from their printed circuit board design to full automatization.

At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?

For sure, there exist numerous metrics for measuring success.

I believe that success is when the client’s project manages to attract desired investments and engage key audiences.

Success is also about clients’ positive experiences. When they are happy, we feel happy too and are motivated to work further, opening up new horizons.

What’s most exciting about your company traction to date?

I have so much to be proud of. First of all, it’s the team. I’m happy to work with over a hundred amazing people who are driven by the same ideals and values.

When we work together, there’s nothing unattainable — and I’m lucky to have each of them by my side.

When it comes to PixelPlex’s milestones, it’s difficult to single out the most important ones, as we hold each of them, dear. Yet, the following are the achievements that come to mind first. We have:

• Created Echo — fully-fledged blockchain ecosystem & smart contract protocol
• Delivered 60+ blockchain-powered projects, with 20 of them qualified as institutional-grade
• Captured two unicorns (not real ones, though…)
• Helped clients raise $500M+ via the solutions we’ve built

What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why?

I believe that blockchain is one of the most promising and progressing technologies at the moment. It boasts multiple use cases and has made its presence felt in literally every sphere, including supply chain, healthcare, education, gaming, real estate, and surely fintech.

When it comes to crypto assets, I am concerned about the hesitance of regulatory bodies worldwide to enact relevant legislation. This prevents mass adoption of crypto. Still, given the lucrativeness and profitability of cryptocurrency, many people take interest in it, and unfortunately, some play the swindler to earn more. Consequently, this leads to disappointment in the entire blockchain technology.

What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?

Hackernoon provides lots of helpful and unhackneyed information about the latest trends and technologies that our team, including myself, read and draw inspiration from regularly. Plus, it’s a great platform for interacting with others and sharing insights.

What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?

1. Not to be afraid of your ideas and decisions.
2. Be consistent.
3. Nurture empowering leadership within my company from day one.

What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?

There is one effective technique that we all could benefit from. It’s the so-called “two-minute rule” that can help beat procrastination and stick to new habits. The idea behind it is that if something takes two minutes or less to complete, you should just do it. The rule is suitable for both big and small goals and teaches you to get things done.