My name is Yevgeny Sokurenko, and I’m the founder of Postavshikov.net, an online platform that helps wholesale suppliers find and connect with buyers.
From Crypto Trading to Hard Lessons
For several years, I chased opportunities in the cryptocurrency market. I dug into Binance data, trying to identify patterns in futures and spot trading. My workflow was always the same:
- Come up with a market hypothesis;
- Download historical datasets;
- Run an optimizer that tested scenarios with shifting parameters;
- If results looked good, build a trading bot;
- Try it with a small balance;
- Scale up with borrowed funds.
It usually ended the same way — strategies that seemed profitable on old data collapsed in real life once market conditions shifted. The crypto market moves too fast. While earning consistently proved nearly impossible, losing capital happened quickly and painfully.
Searching for a Real Problem to Solve
After burning out on trading, I turned to solving a more practical issue I had personally faced: sourcing products from China. I wanted to buy pajamas wholesale and resell them on marketplaces, but the process was chaotic. There were many agents offering services, but no trust. Prices varied wildly, and scams were a constant risk.
That’s when the idea came: a platform where buyers could be rated by real users, creating transparency and trust. Over time, the concept evolved into something broader — a full-scale service connecting both suppliers and buyers.
Market Research
Before jumping into development, I studied the competition. I identified industry leaders, estimated their revenues, analyzed customer pain points, and reviewed their product strengths. I ended up with four key competitors.
To me, the takeaway was positive: competition meant the market had demand and money. Rather than discouraging me, it confirmed the niche was alive. My task wasn’t to reinvent the wheel but to make it simpler, safer, and more effective.
Building the First Prototype
I started by creating a prototype myself in Figma, despite having no background in design. Hiring a designer didn’t make sense at the time — my budget was tight, approvals would have slowed progress, and there was always the risk of hiring someone unmotivated.
After three months of late evenings and weekends, I had a prototype. It was just a skeleton of the platform, but it gave me something tangible to move forward with.
Finding the Right Developer
Next, I needed a developer. Agencies charged more than I could afford, and no-code tools weren’t scalable enough. Eventually, I came across Damir Sharifyanov, who often streamed himself building products live. I liked his hands-on experience launching projects and his knowledge of SEO.
We agreed to work step by step — he’d deliver a feature, I’d pay for it. Over ten months, we finally had a test version of the platform. It wasn’t fast progress, but it was steady. And most importantly, it worked — we had something real to launch.
Early Users and Growth Strategy
The first users quickly revealed flaws. Some pages lacked basic elements, some processes broke mid-way. We connected Yandex.Metrica, tracked behavior, and started fixing things one by one.
For growth, I focused on SEO. Paid advertising wasn’t sustainable, but organic search could bring in traffic for the long run. The challenge was balance: optimize too heavily for search engines, and the site becomes unusable; focus only on users, and no one discovers it.
We aimed for the middle ground: useful content structured in a way that both users and search engines could appreciate.
Results So Far
After two months online, Postavshikov.net has shown encouraging traction:
- ~200 unique visitors daily;
- Around 25 new orders each day;
- 5 new companies registering daily.
The next steps are clear: redesign the core pages, polish content for both readability and SEO, and improve the overall experience. My bigger goal is to reach 1,000 daily users by the end of 2025 and make the platform profitable.
Looking Ahead
The platform is alive, growing, and already helping businesses. I plan to share updates regularly, both here and in my Telegram channel, hoping my journey inspires other entrepreneurs.
And if you’re more experienced than me — I’d be glad to hear your advice.