How to Grow a Business During a Crisis: Insights from Sergiy Shkurupiy, Former Head of EPAM’s Kharkiv Office
IT ClusterThe Kharkiv EPAM office grew from 50 to over 2,500 engineers in 2021 — becoming one of the largest and most profitable in Ukraine. Behind this scaling is an experienced team, together with Sergiy Shkurupiy, Co-Founder of Focused Mind and QC Labs, as well as the former head of the Kharkiv office of EPAM, who went through the war time, financial crisis, competition for projects, and constant changes with the team.
We asked Sergiy how he managed to achieve such results, why changes are not a threat but an opportunity for him, and which principles help companies survive and grow even during crises.
Focus on People and a Systemic Approach
When Sergiy joined the Kharkiv EPAM office, there were only 50 engineers. His main reason to join the company was a desire to work in a worldwide company with a focus on growth.
The plan seemed ambitious — to double the team in a year. But in 2008, the global financial crisis broke out, and growth stopped. After the crisis, EPAM top management introduced a new rule: hiring in the regions should be synchronized with project workload.
“There was competition between offices for project positions. In 2010, the Kharkiv office with 100 engineers was an outsider in this competition,” Sergiy recalls.
Sergiy explains that several key factors led to success:
- Mature and wise boss/top manager (UA country head, Yury Antaniuk) who set some KPIs and boundaries and at the same time delegated a lot to the office/local level.
- EPAM top management’s strong focus on employee education.
- His personal preference for a systematic approach based on team work — build a strategy, tailor it to the team, set up goals and measurement, delegate next level operations and decisions to the team member.
- Focus on growing Junior Engineers inside the office instead of massive hiring from the market.
- Continuously starting new technology specializations — cloud, e-commerce, java platform development, performance testing, etc.
In 2012, a strong initiative appeared — a mini-MBA educational program for managers. The program lasted a year for four teams of managers. After 12 month-modules, each team received a graduation assignment — to create a three-year development strategy for a regional office or large account within three months. Sergiy summarizes — there were two major results:
- Well played and trusted team — it was formalized as “Kharkiv Management Board”
- 3 years strategy of how to grow the Kharkiv office from 300 to 1000 engineers.
With small adoption of this strategy and having a brilliant team of educated managers — the Kharkiv office grew to 2500 engineers till the end of 2021.
Changes Are Not a Threat, But a Strategy
In a turbulent market, survival belongs not to those who adapt, but to those who initiate changes themselves. Constant updates of strategies, processes, and work formats became key for Sergiy and his team to scale even during crises.
“One of the main EPAM’sdifferentiators was a constant presence in the vortex of transformations. It was necessary not only to overcome or adapt to changes, but to initiate, plan and implement them regularly” Sergiy says: “So, a few years before COVID-19, the company began to massively hire engineers to work remotely and under a special contract. It was very unusual at the time: to switch to remote work and have one or two remote specialists as part of the engineering team. However, within two years, this model was fully implemented in a global company and unexpectedly prepared us for remote work during the pandemic.
So while others in 2020 were just beginning to claim that they were adapted to remote work, for EPAM the principle of ”Remote by Design” was truly proven”
Sergiy’s approach is this: “Don’t wait for a change to overcome or adopt it. Instead — plan it and implement it. Sooner or later — your team would treat this in the same way as having coffee from the coffee machine.”
Main Challenges Today: Uncertainty and AI
Uncertainty has become the norm for business. Global changes force companies to constantly adapt. But as Sergiy Shkurupiy’s experience shows, every crisis hides new opportunities — and a systemic approach helps to notice and use them in time.
“The main challenge is uncertainty in the business environment due to wars, tariffs and political changes over the world,” Sergiy emphasizes. He stresses: “And I would highlight that history tells us that every crisis it’s not only a source of problems but also opportunities for new businesses and approaches.”
The second major challenge Sergiy highlights is the arrival of the AI era: “The generative AI time finishes. Now it’s the time of Agentic AI. The system approach says that with AI literacy your company should be on average level in the industry. Being first is too expensive in terms of money and effort. And being last – might cost you a company.”
Sergiy recommends having a team or at least one person who understands all the possibilities of new LLM models and AI agents from OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and knows how to implement them to optimize business processes.
To better understand the systemic approach during periods of disruption, Sergiy recommends the book Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption, which describes how to organize a business to grow even in an unstable environment.
Help, Systemic Approach, and Practical Tools
Sergiy gained significant experience at EPAM: scaling engineering teams, organizing delivery processes, designing and changing organizational structure, managing P&L, and being part of the global operations group — developing and implementing transformations at the global level (50,000 engineers worldwide).
“I’m living in a safe place — in Canada,” Serhyi shares. “And I understand how challenging times are for Ukrainian IT companies and Ukrainian IT professionals now: clients disappeared, revenues dropped, layoffs, one vacancy for 20 candidates.
That’s why I decided to help Ukrainian IT companies, using my experience and contacts to improve operational processes or solve business problems. Ultimately — to create more jobs for Ukrainian IT specialists.”
Sergiy has started his own LinkedIn campaign to help people looking for work. In particular, he takes job openings from EPAM graduates and former colleagues and passes them on to job seekers.
His EdTech company, Focused Mind, developed the board game SCRUM UP!, which brings Agile and SCRUM principles to life in a playful and practical form. In addition, Sergiy helps technology companies through his consulting agency, QC Labs — measuring the efficiency and quality of business processes, assessing data quality, diagnosing a team’s communication and dynamic, and planning business continuity.
For Sergiy Shkurupiy, helping people and businesses is not just a professional position, but a family tradition. He recalls: “My grandfather’s uncle — Professor of Medicine Ivan Obolensky — was the founder and sponsor of the ambulance service in Kharkiv, established in 1910.” This value defines Sergiy’s approach to team and business development: helping systematically and practically so that results are tangible.
How to Start Changes: Advice from Sergiy Shkurupiy
Sergiy applies this principle to working with companies as well. He believes that effective help starts with understanding context and systemic analysis — for this, he recommends two options for CEOs/owners/managers:
- Invite a consultant to look at your business from a different angle and much wider horizon — ask to highlight points for improvements and areas for making changes or innovations.
- With the help of a consultant, run a facilitation session with your people to collect current problems and bottlenecks and then to discuss with the team the possible ways to solve them. As result — gather the responsible teams to work on selected/assigned areas/problems.
“And please point the attention — if you run a facilitation session and then do nothing it might destroy people’s motivation and trust to the company,” Sergiy emphasizes.
By the way, members of the Kharkiv IT Cluster have the opportunity to access free consultations with Sergiy. Using his experience, he helps our community companies find practical ways in areas such as:
- Business Continuity Planning
- Methods to increase profitability;
- Strategies to reduce employee turnover and related costs;
- Solving financial losses caused by staff shortages or delays in hiring;
- Evaluating and benchmarking operational expenses against industry standards;
- Reassuring clients concerned about project delivery risks.
Work with Sergiy is built on practice and confidentiality. First, an NDA is signed, immersion in the company’s context and main challenges occur. Then Sergiy compares them with industry benchmarks, shares proven cases from his experience, and together with the team forms real solutions that can be implemented immediately.
The Soft Industry Alliance team has already attended a consultation and shared their impressions: “Sergiy was very open and shared real cases, not just dry statistics (which is extremely valuable)! He gave many recommendations for each direction and technology. We are very grateful for this opportunity!”
How to book a consultation?
You can do this by reaching out to your personal manager and selecting a convenient time for the meeting.
In addition to individual sessions, Sergiy plans to expand this initiative and is ready to join companies within the Kharkiv IT Cluster as a Board Member / Board Director on a pro bono basis, with a one-year commitment.
Not with us yet? Join now to gain insights that will help your company grow.
