“He was young, loud and sincere”: the main thing about the deceased founder of Aviasales, Konstantin Kalinov. “He was young, loud and sincere”: the main thing about the deceased founder of Aviasales Konstantin Kalinov Konstantin Kalinov what disease will continue
In September 2017, Konstantin Kalinov turned 40 years old. The causes of death of one of the brightest Russian entrepreneurs are unknown. Max Krainov, Managing Director of Aviasales, announced the launch of a memorial website.
Aviasales, Russia's No. 1 flight metasearch engine, grew out of the Kosyan.com travel blog run by former St. Petersburg policeman Kalinov in the late 2000s. Kosyan is a school nickname. A year ago, an entrepreneur with a scandal left operational management.
Kalinov criticized investors and management, asked to stop associating him with the company he created, but in the information field she remained his continuation: impudent and rude, but too charming to be seriously offended by her.
"Secret" re-read the latest posts and interviews of the deceased.
About the creation of Aviasales
Many people know, many don't, but it so happened that a little over ten years ago I ate a good one on the 25th isomer of lysergic acid (LSD) with my friend Beaver (he drove it like that). And it was in that wildest **** beautiful trip I came up with Aviasales.
About clients
Unfortunately, over the years, I realized that 95% of people are made of cork. And I'm not from the cork and do not always understand what they like.
About the power of Aviasales
We are simple people, we are about grandmas.
About outrageous
I myself am like that, but this is also an image. You can be very smart and move some smart shit on this Facebook. But I'm not very smart.
About employees
Yes, they fight, infections, on these motorbikes! And the rest is no problem.
About who to fire without hesitation
You should be fired without hesitation for lying.
On dealing with stress
Before we attracted the first round, I had a pretty stressful period. When it ended, I realized that I needed a break. As a result, so that no one could find me, I smashed my smartphone and computer, pointed my finger at the map and flew to the Middle East.
About personal life
Just now it has been eight years since my unsuccessful marriage. Dude, just trust me, most women don't pretend to be stupid, they are.
About emigration
I always say that I am a climate migrant.
About downshifters
A downshifter is someone who leaves to smoke weed, and I went to work.
About the Thailand office
Our Aviasales office occupies almost an entire street in Thailand. This is a large three-story villa, about 100 people work there. Of these, about five are Thais ... Each employee can safely swim during the working day.
About travel
The most exotic country, perhaps, was Lebanon. I was very impressed by Cambodia with its temple of Angkor Wat… I really want to travel around Latin America properly. See Machu Picchu, visit Rio, get acquainted with the local culture. I haven't really been to Africa yet. I want hardcore - a safari with giraffes and hippos, trips through a real desert. In Asia, I have not yet reached Burma.<…> In Russia I haven't even made it to the Urals yet. I would really like to go to Baikal and the Far East.
About the house
I come to St. Petersburg, and I return to Phuket. My house is in Thailand. Yes, I love Petersburg, I have parents and many friends there. But you live in St. Petersburg for two months, and the rest of the time you wait for summer. Sometimes you have to wait five years.<…>There is something hooligan about Peter * carefree, I like his lethargy and regularity. Moscow is not like that, too fast for me.
About priorities
What do you mean, force yourself to work? I force myself to rest! This business is like a child that you cannot leave and sometimes you have to beat yourself on the hands, leave the computer, try not to take your mobile phone.
About money
That's for the Dolce & Gabbana sweater<…>They took 1000 bucks from my card. I was stunned when I bought it in Hong Kong for local dollars, without understanding the currency. Had I known, I wouldn't have bought it. In general, it doesn’t matter to me whether it’s a brand or not, I can buy a thing on the market if I like it. I know how and love to spend money, but for a very long time I played enough expensive brands, I realized that all this is pointless.
About a quarrel with investors and parting with Aviasales
In short, I now have a rather indirect relationship with Aviasales. All questions to<...>lovers of beautiful numbers. Please do not associate me with the products of the great masters of online business, free of charge, without SMS. So yes, I went, thank you all. That's all I wanted to say. I mean, everything will be as we like. And Skyscanner has one more client.
On December 26, Konstantin Kalinov, founder of the Aviasales air ticket search service, died. He was 40 years old. In 10 years, his company has gone from a modest blog to one of the main travel services in Russia. "360" tells the main thing about Kalinov and his project.
Konstantin Kalinov was born in St. Petersburg. He received a law degree at the Faculty of Training Operational Officers of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His first online business was a site selling erotic photographs, which gave rise to hosting provider UPL Telecom, The Village said.
Aviasales was created in 2007 as a personal blog of an entrepreneur, in which he collected shares of airlines - Kalinov loved to travel and spent a lot of time abroad. In 2008, he sold his stake in UPL Telecom and focused on the search engine.
Initially, Aviasales, in addition to Kalinov, was handled by one editor, over time, programmers and other specialists were involved in the work. As a result, the project has grown to become one of the largest services for finding cheap tickets in Russia. In an interview with Oleg Tinkov last year, Kalinov estimated Aviasales at $250 million.
At the end of 2016, the entrepreneur announced that he was moving away from operating activities in the search engine due to health problems, but remained on the board of directors. “Many people know that I have been ill for quite a long time, and I no longer have the strength to do direct work. I remain on the board of directors, I will influence the company's strategy, but I no longer participate in operational management. I hope that when I improve my health, everything will return to its place, ”he said.
Kalinov's resignation was accompanied by a scandal. On his Facebook page, he gave several reasons for leaving management.
I am ashamed of the quality of the company's products, again. I am categorically against the chosen development vector, two. Personally, I am disgusted by the characters on the board of directors and in the leadership of the fund, three. I do not consider some top managers to be professionals, four
Konstantin Kalinov.
Later, in an interview with Rusbase, he stated that representatives of the iTech Capital fund Gleb Davidyuk and Andrey Romanenko opposed his management - they and the top managers of Aviasales had disagreements with Kalinov about the development of the search engine.
Kalinov was known not only for his successful business, but also for his eccentric behavior. In 2014, the entrepreneur publicly criticized the founder of the Ostrovok.ru service, Sergei Fage. Kalinov could not book a hotel room through Ostrovok and called Fage at night to help solve the problem. Faguet promised to deal with her in the morning. Kalinov was offended by this - he began to insult him on social networks.
Kalinov passed away on December 26. According to the source Vс.ru, the cause of death was an oncological disease.
What happened is unbelievable. And it is impossible to find words to express the significance of our loss. It is best to honor the memory of Kostya by continuing the work of his life. Yes, and live the way he does - do not be afraid and achieve results that others are far from. Thank you, Kostya. We love you
- a letter from the head of Aviasales Maxim Krainov to employees.
Konstantin Kalinov, founder of the Aviasales air ticket aggregator, died on December 26 in Moscow. He retired from operational management of the company at the end of 2016.
Photo: Personal Facebook page of Konstantin Kalinov
Konstantin Kalinov, founder of Aviasales, an aggregator of air ticket offers, has died in Moscow. This is stated in a letter from the managing director of the company Max Krainov, which was received by RBC. The press service of Aviasales confirmed the information about the death of Kalinov.
“What happened is unbelievable. And it is impossible to find words to express the significance of our loss, ”the letter says.
Kalinov died on December 26. There is no information about the circumstances of his death. Kalinov was 40 years old, he was born on September 4, 1977 in Leningrad.
“Ten years ago, Kostya Kalinov created a service that no traveler in Russia can do without today, planning his trip online. All this time, Kostya was at the head of the turbulent events in the company, whether it was the creation of the product itself or its marketing. Right now, we mourn together with Kostya's loved ones and express our condolences, ”Aviasales product director Anton Baitsur told RBC. He added that the causes of Kalinov's death are unknown.
“Kostya was an amazing person. He always freely and openly communicated with new people, easily shared knowledge, experience, contacts - everything that was sometimes very difficult for him. He was blunt and always honest. I am grateful to him for the experience and really appreciate getting to know him. I'm really sorry. It’s impossible to believe,” Arseny Kamyshev, a friend of Konstantin Kalinov and co-founder of the Magic communication agency, told RBC.
The Aviasales portal originated as Kalinov's personal blog, in which he talked about special offers from airlines, then it became a separate portal. Kalinov was the executive director of the company until the end of August 2011, he was replaced by Krainov.
On December 31, 2016, Kalinov wrote on his Facebook page that he now has a "rather mediocre relationship" with the company. “Please do not associate me with the products of these great online business masters, free of charge, without SMS. So yes, I went, thank you all, ”he wrote.
Kalinov graduated from the faculty of training operational officers of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and after that he served in the police for some time, wrote The Village. In the late 1990s, he created a site where he sold erotic photos, then the site became a traffic exchange affiliate network, but did not bring regular income. Kalinov later created the hosting provider UPL Telecom (he sold his stake in 2008). He traveled frequently and wrote a program for himself and his blog readers that collected promotions from tour operators and airlines.
Nude waitresses serve champagne in the bar of the Foto Hotel, their bodies painted in heavenly color with the uniform of flight attendants. The bar is located on the rooftop. Views of the sunset and the lights of Phuket's nightlife. Everything is ready for the party, beautiful women are arriving, here today they are celebrating the seventh anniversary of the Aviasales flight search engine. Company founder Konstantin Kalinov asks for more gin and tonic.
There are three hundred guests on the roof, including successful Internet entrepreneurs like Andrey Romanenko from Qiwi and Petr Kutis from OneTwoTrip. The holiday will end with Kalinov being punched in the face, and this is not surprising. Kalinov has a reputation for bullying. He obscures competitors and colleagues on Facebook, harasses objectionable partners, threatens delinquent employees. There are plenty of reasons to punch him in the face. He himself admits this: “Many people hate me, but I *** (don't care). There are only two successful companies on the market, the rest suck investments.”
In winter, Aviasales attracted the first $10 million in investments from the Itech Capital fund. The project was valued at $65 million, which corresponds to five times the company's revenue. Kalinov says that he works with the stars. People come to him from Yandex, Booking.com and Acronis. The Village traveled to the metasearch headquarters in Phuket to find out how a man of explosive temper created the largest company in the Russian online travel market.
Veranda in Aviasales office
Aviasales office in Phuket
Swimming pool at Aviasales office
View from the Aviasales office in Phuket
Escape
Kalinov calls himself a "climate emigrant". He was born in St. Petersburg, entered the faculty of training operational officers of the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and left with a law degree. At one time he worked in the police, but he does not like to think about it and tries to stay away from documents in Aviasales.
Kalinov became an Internet entrepreneur in the late nineties - he made a website with erotic photographs and began to sell them. In the 2000s, the resource turned into an affiliate network that drove traffic between dozens of sites. Earnings were irregular - sometimes 500 dollars a month, sometimes a thousand. A serious hosting provider UPL Telecom grew out of a site about love, which is still operating in many European countries. “The adult business is a very tough thing. If you don’t think with your head, don’t analyze people’s behavior, but stupidly hit banners, it doesn’t work. You have to think well with your head, ”Kalinov believes that he went through the school of survival on the Internet when he was engaged in erotica.
Working for himself allowed the entrepreneur to travel around the world. He shared his impressions in the Kosyan.com blog. He was always looking for cheaper tickets and at some point he wrote a simple program that began to collect the best deals from tour operators and airlines. There was nothing like this in Runet then, and blog readers began to actively use the service. In 2008, Kalinov sold his stake in UPL Telecom for a five-figure euro sum and focused on his favorite topic - travel.
In fact, he was not going to make a breakthrough and did not dream about creating a new Facebook or WhatsApp. He wanted to make a project that would bring "15-20 thousand dollars in his pocket and not require a lot of time." Kalinov always strove for simple and understandable joys: good wealth, the sun over his head and sea sand under his feet. But, when I saw a chance to make a breakthrough in the tourism market, I decided to "grab it with my teeth."
The first snow falls in Moscow, and the sun is scorching in Phuket. Katya, Aviasales designer, rides her bike past palm trees and elephants to the office. She needs to drive to the Rawai Pier, a huge concrete structure that hasn't been moored for a long time by large ships and ferries, and turn right, just behind the large golden portrait of the king.
The company currently has over 100 employees. Seven years ago it was difficult to get programmers out to Asia. “They are all introverts, they don’t leave the house, but here they have to go to the spiders, snakes,” says Kalinov. Applicants now go through a rigorous selection process. Katya Knysheva tried twice to get into Aviasales and received an offer after she sent a bright presentation about her love for the project. “When a marketer writes to me and cannot find my mail, *** (there is no need) for me to have such a marketer. We have fighters with steel eggs,” Kalinov is proud.
Turning his desire to move into the warmth from cold St. Petersburg into reality, Kalinov took the employees away from temptations. In Moscow, a million distractions distract from work, and in Thailand, colleagues replace both friends and neighbors for Aviasales employees. New concepts appear over a cup of morning coffee (at 12 o'clock in the office, when the working day begins) and over a glass of Mai Tai (after nine, when the working day ends).
Konstantin Kalinov
History
Max Krainov, co-owner of Aviasales
Metasearch Popularity
November data from SimilarWeb
Aviasales
4.5 million monthly users, 75% from Russia
skyscanner
3.5 million per month, 92% from Russia
momondo
1.5 million per month, 77% from Russia
Kayak
300,000 per month, 77% from Russia
Yandex.avia
860,000 per month*
Aviasales employees in Phuket office
Aviasales analytics on the scoreboard in the office
Aviasales employee in the office
Aviasales office
Aviasales office
Aviasales office
New target
This year the economic crisis and bankruptcy of tour operators spoiled the plans of Russian travel companies. Aviasales grew by 70% against 100% last year. There are still many people in Russia who buy tickets offline. The first task of the company is to lure them to their website. The second task is to develop new markets in order to be less dependent on Russian turbulence and falling demand.
Aviasales made an attempt to master international markets in 2012, when, following its main competitor, Skyscanner, it launched a search engine under a different name in China. It was assumed that the billionth audience is ready for such a product, the hypothesis was confirmed by data from a marketing study commissioned by Aviasales a year earlier. However, the story about the development of the Chinese market turned out to be a myth, and going there was a mistake. Chinese agencies don't need metasearch engines. “Everything happens there through the Baidu search engine, they don’t understand our model at all,” says Boris Kaplunovsky, technical director of Aviasales.
When the conquest of China turned out to be a utopia, Kalinov decided to focus on other markets, primarily his second native, Thai. Creating an interface in this language takes more time than developing it. The manager Didi helps to work on the Thai version - she is one of six Thai employees in Phuket. Didi painstakingly puts words into sentences, but when they are transferred to the interface, it turns out to be nonsense. “When birch bark manuscripts were found in Veliky Novgorod, sentences were written together, there were no commas, and spaces were placed between sentences. There were no vowels either. This is how the Thais have preserved it, ”explains Kaplunovsky.
While the company is conducting tests and trying to understand what kind of promotion will work here. Sometimes Kalinov approaches the girls in bars, shows the interface and asks if everything is clear. This is how first-hand reviews from Thai users appear. Now Aviasales attracts popular bloggers, including the star of the local federal channel "Three" IT Princess.
The company is also looking to America. The Jetradar search engine, which was created to enter international markets, has not yet matured to enter Western markets (according to SimilarWeb, it has only 250,000 users per month). “In America, let them butt heads with Kayak budgets with Skyscanner. When they run out of money, we will go down the mountain and *** (show them) ”, - it is too early to throw all your strength into conquering the largest and most saturated market in the world.
Being an eccentric entrepreneur and creating customer service is a great success. The fame of wacky antics, funny attire, and cool temperaments will always outpace business economics and capture audience attention, even if the product isn't good enough. Charismatic leaders like Jobs, Branson, and Chichvarkin not only have extraordinary charm, but they live for their product and demand full dedication from themselves and others.
Kalinov started work on Aviasales without a desire to change the world, but after giving the project seven years of his life, he got close to the pantheon of great eccentrics. When a deal was being prepared to attract investments, Kalinov lost 25 kilograms of excitement and turned from a healthy jock into a wiry man. When he learned that several employees were planning to skip the corporate party for a holiday in Bali, he wrote angry letters: among other things, he promised to cancel the bonus if they did not reschedule the trip. Skipping a company birthday feels like a betrayal to the founder.
Aviasales has already become the largest metasearch in Russia and dictates its terms to the entire market. The odiousness of Kalinov did not stop the development of the company, did not destroy it, but, on the contrary, aroused even greater interest in it. In Russia, people are happy to take the side of the strong and laugh at the loser. They need a leader to show the way. Kalinov came to success not only because he built a good service, but also stood out from the gray mass. It remains to be seen if this approach works in other countries.
Story about development the Chinese market turned out to be myth, a going there is a mistake say now in the company. sales analysts does not exist there
Photo: 1-4, 7-14 - Alexey Ilyin, 5, 6 - Aviasales press service
* According to Yandex, Yandex.Avia is one of the top three Russian meta searches, with an audience of 1.3 million per month
Konstantin Kalinov, founder of the Aviasales air ticket search engine, has died at the age of 40. His friends posted about it on Facebook. “This morning Papa Kostya passed away. A man who was real in everything and in his virtues and in his weaknesses, ”wrote Kalinov’s friend Vasily Potemkin.
According to TJournal, Kalinov died on December 26, around 9:30 Moscow time. The cause of death, according to sources, was cancer. The Mash Telegram channel writes that the disease required a “special attitude to one’s body”, in particular, a complete ban on smoking, drinking alcohol and junk food was required.
Kalinov's illness became known at the end of 2016 - then the creator of Aviasales announced that due to health problems he would stop being involved in the operational management of the company.
In April 2017, Kalinov said in an interview with Rusbase that he still participates in the boards of directors of Aviasales and has recently begun to take "more participation in the life of the company."
“Kostya left the operational management of Aviasales about six months ago. He remained one of the owners and took part in making strategic decisions, ”the press service of the company created by Kalinov told Gazeta.Ru.
“One could love Kostya, one could hate, but it was hard to treat him indifferently,”
— the blogger, better known to Internet users as the “elf merchant”, wrote about the incident on his Facebook.
“It was difficult for Kostya to let him into his circle, but if he called someone a friend, then this is forever. Kosyan was one of those rare people now who kept his word, was not afraid of anyone and did not cunning before any bastard. He was drawn to music and understood culture deeply. He was the inventor and the basis, - his friend Potemkin writes about Kalinov - Kosyan helped a lot of people, he knew how to distinguish, but rarely refused. He had his own style and his own quirks. I'm proud to have known him and to be able to call him a friend."
“In general, no matter how you say it, it will turn out false: founder, visionary. Kostya is always above all these stereotypes. All the time I try to avoid the past tense when talking about it, ”said Kalinov’s business partner Maxim Krainov about the incident. “What happened is unbelievable. And it’s impossible to find words to express the significance of our loss, ”added Krainov.
The Aviasales search engine, which has now become the most popular tool for finding air tickets among Russians, can be called the main brainchild of the deceased Konstantin Kalinov
Metapoisovik originally appeared in 2007 in the form of Kalinov's personal blog, where he accumulated special offers from airlines. Soon, several programmers joined his undertaking, which marked the beginning of the development of the project as a Go Travel Un Limited company, of which the Aviasales service became a part. In 2010, the office of the company from St. Petersburg moved to Phuket Island in Thailand, where it is still located.
Kalinov resigned from the post of chief executive officer of the company in 2011, yielding it to Maxim Krainov. The founder of the company himself retained the post of vice president for products and a seat on the Board of Directors.
In 2012, the Aviasales service launched its own mobile application, which, just two days after its launch, took first place in the AppStore in the Travel category. At the same time, the English-language version of the project was launched - the JetRadar service, thanks to which Kalinov's project reached the international level.
“It is best to honor the memory of Kostya by continuing the work of his life. Yes, and live the way he does - do not be afraid and achieve results that others are far from. Thank you, Kostya. We love you,” Maxim Krainov, the current managing director of Aviasales, says in a letter.
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