15 years ago I moved to China, learned the language and started sourcing goods. My work involved organizing production and managing processes across China to deliver quality products to clients.
Прожил в Китае 6-7 лет, лично посетил 300+ factories. Мои клиенты — это компании, которые хотят заказать товар из Китая оптом. Я как посредник между клиентами и factoriesами: беру на себя поиск factories и их аудит, согласование всех нюансов, заказ образцов, контроль производства, проверку качества и наладку логистики.
From freelancing to a system
На определённом этапе у меня появилось желание создать полноценную компанию с командой сотрудников. Однако я столкнулся с проблемой: эффективное делегирование задач и управление процессами через Excel, Word и другие стандартные инструменты оказалось крайне неудобным. Особенно сложно было координировать выполнение сложных заказов — например, производство одной партии товаров сразу на 12 factoriesах.
As a perfectionist, I always paid close attention to product quality. Chinese manufacturers don't always deliver to standard, and managing defects consumed enormous time and energy. I wanted to build a system that would simplify work for everyone involved and help avoid all kinds of mistakes.
I believe this is one of the most complex businesses: you must simultaneously bridge client needs and manufacturer capabilities, work across languages and mindsets, operate in multiple currencies, and carry a high level of accountability throughout.
The birth of RODNIK.io
In early 2021 I started building my own checklists, databases and process documentation in Notion. Initially it was an internal tool, but over time I realized this system had enormous potential. It turned out to be scalable and universal enough to become a full-fledged software product.
Изначально я заложил год на построение системы, но в итоге работаю над ней уже пять лет, и сейчас мой воркспейс готов примерно на 90%. Прототип включает более 70 взаимосвязанных databases, которые покрывают все рабочие процессы. Сотни инструментов: инструменты для поиска, заказа образцов, чек-листы для QC, калькуляторы, шаблоны, автоматизации, подбор специалистов, контроль сроков и статусов, финансовый учёт — в общем, весь процесс закупок можно держать под контролем в одном месте.
This is how RODNIK.io was born — a system built to automate and optimize manufacturing and procurement processes. It makes work transparent, efficient and convenient, solving the exact problems I faced throughout my own journey.
Vision
My current goal is to transform this Notion MVP into a full SaaS platform. There are no solutions of this level on the market today — or at least none that are truly popular and widely adopted in this niche.
The platform will be a place where a client can independently: either select the services they need and hire people, or set up their own procurement department and build a team.
Validation
I ran a video presentation for 5 people — owners and employees of companies similar to mine. They were interested and want to use it.
An employee said: "I would look for orders there"
This confirmed the main thing — the market needs this product. Now it just needs to be built.