[Startup story] Kotys | Rubik Scale to USA 2024

[Startup story] Kotys | Rubik Scale to USA 2024

May 7, 2024

First of all, we would like to know who’s behind the keyboard.

Hi! Stefan Chira here, the founder and CEO of Kotys Technologies.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember, but my first official venture, complete with taxes and all, began in 2013 in the freight and forwarding industry, and it’s still going strong.

My academic background is in automotive engineering, with a master’s degree in R&D for electric and hybrid vehicles. Those years of study helped me better shape my problem-solving skills, and logical understanding of how things function and helped a lot in gaining the overview of complex mechanisms, sciences, and environments that need to be assembled to get one final product.

Tell us more about your startup. What problem do you solve? Who’s your audience? What motivated you to found it?

Kotys Technologies started as a precision agriculture startup, in Romania, focused on helping small farmers to reduce the amount of nutrients, pesticides, and water. Our journey continued in the USA where at this moment we focus only on lawn care companies, helping them reduce the amount of nutrients, pesticides, and water.

The lack of new challenges from my other business and heritage from my grandma (she left me a small farming area) were the main 2 reasons that pushed me to this path.

We’re curious to learn about your team. 

Alin Iftemi is the head of the tech team, he has a strong background in coding. Also has experience in building tech businesses and managing large tech teams.

What is the biggest achievement / progress / changes you’ve achieved during our accelerator?

At the time of the accelerator, we already had our main partners in the US and the C-corp in Delaware. Rubik Garage facilitated meeting key people who helped us better prepare for the US market, and people from the US who now are actively helping in business development.

How was the USA immersion trip? How did it change your perspective on scaling in the USA?

You can read thousands of books about startups and the startup world, the arena where they compete for the best, but nothing compares to immersing yourself in that culture and having the opportunity to engage with the people who live and breathe it. Our perspective from that trip is related to finding other places good for business, where client’s pain points are even higher than the ones we first identified and we can bring significant improvements to their businesses and lives.

What role did mentorship play in your experience, and how did it impact your startup’s growth?

Lory Niculae helped a lot in changing the perspective of how we should address the problem and solution according to the audience. We do the same thing, but people need to hear different words, related to their life experiences to better understand what we can do for them.

Emanuel Martonca helped in teaching about different concepts regarding pricing that I never heard about. Real tools that can be used to refine the sweet spot for pricing.

How has the experience in the acceleration program influenced your vision for the future of your startup? What are your next steps and goals as you continue to grow and evolve your startup in the USA market and beyond?

There are many ways of building your startup, and there is no “the right way”. It is a mix of everything with moderation and a lot of common sense. Find that small group of people who have a problem and you can help, they will help you build everything.

Deliver what we promised to our partners and clients (this is related to improving the product with the features that help them), grow our network, and get that US DNA flowing in our mindset. The first huge goal is $100K in MRR in 8 months from now. 

Why would you recommend Rubik Scale to USA to those startup founders who want to expand in the States?

First of all, for the people, secondly, for the people, and third, for their experience.

It is a support group that helps you build, grow and ‘stay alive’, they asked me ‘not to get killed by overdose’. This I also found in Americans’ way of thinking: the entrepreneur’s health, because this is a marathon, not a sprint.

I value relationships, business comes and goes but people build businesses, and people will be there after the exit or after the failure (maybe more after the exit, but I think you get what I mean).

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

I’m not a huge fan of football, more of a basketball man, but I can tell that… ”You’ll never walk alone” !

We encourage you to support Kotys and follow its journey.