Reface is a Ukrainian company developing generative AI products. The company currently operates a portfolio of 6 Gen AI products with 250 million downloads, including the original app Reface. After achieving #1 in the AppStore shortly after the launch and garnering attention from world’s top celebrities, Reface continues to set ML/AI market trends with its new innovative applications.
We’ve conducted an interview with Reface’s co-CEO Anton Volovyk and asked him about how Reface started, what were the difficulties with business during the scaling, the uniqueness of Reface, and their future plans.
Can you please share your background, education and previous experience?
My name is Anton, and I currently serve as co-CEO at Reface, a Ukrainian AI Company. Initially, I joined as the Chief Business Officer, overseeing commercial matters like P&L, marketing, and monetization for one and a half years. I was later promoted to the role of COO. In that position, I not only managed commercial aspects, but also took on the responsibilities of setting up strategies and breaking them down into actionable steps for the entire organization. Since March, I have taken on the role of co-CEO alongside my partner and friend, Ivan Altsybieiev.
My previous experience includes working in investing, with stints at the private equity fund Horizon Capital, a major player in Ukraine, and at the consulting firm Boston Consulting Group in London. I hold an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master in Finance from IE Business School in Madrid.
What are some of the biggest challenges you faced when joining Reface?
When I joined Reface, the major challenge was transforming a successful tech-wise startup into a company that consistently achieves success. At that point, Reface had already grown quite substantially, with around 100 to 130 employees, but it still operated with a startup mindset. And it lacked some pieces which are very important for the company at the next stage of the development.
The biggest challenge was balancing the growth of the company while preserving its startup mentality built on innovation and creative chaos. It remains a vital part of Reface’s culture now as well.
What was Reface like before you joined?
I think every startup is a different story, but there’s a common pattern we often see: a small group of highly motivated people with a strong purpose behind an innovative technology. At Reface, the team developed the innovative technology first and then explored various product use cases. And originally, Reface considered mainly B2B use cases for marketing agencies and other marketing activities. But when they launched an application that consistently resonated with the market, they made a full pivot towards a B2C approach. Reface has been a generative AI company for five years, even before the widespread popularity of AI.
What motivated you to keep going in challenging situations?
I’ve seen a lot of companies while working in investing. Reface is unique in a way that we have a very distinct culture. For the founders, it was super important to build a company that everyone enjoys spending time at, where you’re not counting down the hours until the end of the day. We have a big office in Kyiv, we run a lot of events together, we even call ourselves Refacians. There is a strong sense of community within the team, with each member feeling responsible for one another’s success.
As a Ukrainian startup, we understand the importance of self-reliance and pushing ourselves to create innovative products. The full-scale invasion of Russia has added an extra level of motivation and purpose. Despite the challenging circumstances, we see even greater determination from our team members. We recognize that our work is not only about building a successful company but also contributing to the economy of Ukraine, especially during these tough times.
What’s the difference between your company and other businesses of your size on the market?
I think there are a couple of things, but the first thing goes back to the culture of Reface. What I’m actually proud of is that many product ideas and features come not from the C-level but from within the company. Even our most recent app, Restyle, was initiated by the content department. We give people room to come up with ideas and then work on them. We are not very centralized in this way, and I think that’s one unique thing.
Another beauty of Reface is that we are a B2C company, a consumer company. So, you can actually touch and experience what you’re working on every day. For example, our marketing department works hard to boost social media trends, and it’s truly amazing when we start a trend among millions on TikTok with the help of our technology. It’s something that makes you think, “That’s me. I made a difference in this world, maybe it’s small, but it touched so many people, and lives changed their lives a little bit in this way.” I find that very exciting.
Last but not least, we’re an extremely fast company in terms of how we develop technologies, launch products, and even retire products. There’s always dynamism at Reface. We follow a multi-product strategy. This creates a lot of movement, and everyone can participate in this movement. I believe that’s what makes Reface unique and exciting, at least for me.
And what do you mean by dynamism, can you explain this more?
Dynamism at Reface refers to the speed and agility with which ideas are generated and implemented. Unlike traditional approaches where ideas may take months to develop and secure a budget, Reface fosters a culture similar to a hackathon. When someone comes up with a cool idea, they immediately share it with others who have expertise in different areas. They give feedback, and if the idea shows potential, it’s presented to the Co-CEOs, Ivan and myself. If approved, people quickly start prototyping and building things. This constant movement and quick action on ideas makes Reface very dynamic in its approach to innovation and product development.
How do you continue to stay innovative and ahead of the curve in your industry?
It’s quite challenging now because Gen AI has become a buzzword, attracting more players and competition. On the demand side, it’s beneficial as the market is interested, and we see everyday consumers adopting AI tech with a higher speed than they used to. But on the supply side, we have many companies trying to do similar things as us, so we need to think about how we can stay ahead of the group. We have a few strategies to address this.
First, again, it’s a culture that empowers individuals to quickly pick up ideas and build on them. Second, on the organizational level, we try to build teams or structure systems to channel this innovation faster.
For example, on my table this week I have 10 new ideas coming from different sources. Additionally, an ML researcher approached me with an amazing paper that we could explore further. We prioritize validating these ideas quickly, treating the process like a venture capital fund.
Our team of machine learning engineers actively contributes new code and models daily, embracing open source to foster innovation. By monitoring and parsing developments in the open-source community, we gain insights that help us innovate on our end. We sometimes fine-tune existing open-source solutions, creating a pipeline for product development. However, when necessary, we build our own solutions to meet unique needs and ensure that our products remain innovative and relevant in the market.
And one of the most recent things we’ve done is we established a separate innovation team that triangulates market trends, technological advancements, and consumer preferences to identify promising ideas and use cases. Our job is to be on top of everything that happens or just smells in the AI industry.
How do you define success in your business?
That’s a very interesting question. I think we approach success with two sets of metrics.
Firstly, we have a business-oriented perspective, which includes measurable goals like revenue, user count, and app engagement time. We track these every day. We have these huge trees where we decompose each metric. We’re quite scientific in this way. I must admit, I’m a bit of a nerd in this field because I love data.
Secondly, we constantly look at the meaningfulness and happiness of employees working in Reface. We firmly believe that having the best talent, engaged and satisfied in their work, is essential for our success. We don’t know what we’re going to do in five years, but it’s basically a constant thing.
And what’s your greatest success so far?
I believe we’ve had many successes with Reface. Surviving and even growing during the war was a significant achievement. However, if I were to pick one, I’d say our biggest success is the transition from a one-product startup into a company that repeatedly builds user-friendly, scalable, and efficient AI tools accessible to everyone.
How do you encourage your team to tackle challenges and overcome obstacles together?
It goes back to the motivation theory I believe in and encourage everyone to read. The theory is called Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose by Daniel Pink. The idea behind it is simple: give a person a purpose, and explain it from both a rational and emotional standpoint. For example, you want to be successful at your job and build a big company, which will have a significant social impact. Providing a clear purpose for each task or work gives people a sense of being part of something bigger.
Another crucial aspect is autonomy. Micromanaging someone’s project, even if it becomes successful, takes away the joy and fulfillment of owning and taking something from zero to one. It’s essential to give people space and let them take charge of their tasks, knowing the goal and the purpose behind it. They take ownership, and that’s their piece of the puzzle to complete.
Lastly, there’s mastery, where individuals have an intrinsic interest in growing both professionally and personally. Learning new things and improving their skills is something we naturally enjoy.
These three elements – autonomy, mastery, and purpose – form the basis of my motivation philosophy. I apply this thinking every day and build systems at Reface around them, ensuring that it works at scale.
And the last question is about your future plans in Reface. Could you please share your thoughts about it?
Our vision is to establish an outstanding generative AI company from Ukraine and it means a couple of things. As the AI industry progresses, it unlocks new possibilities for utilizing this technology for the greater good. Our goal is to create many great products with generative AI. Two years ago we had one product, now we have six and we will keep expanding our portfolio.
Secondly, we strive to be a true Gen AI player, not just building products, but also driving technology development. Therefore we experiment and develop tools with both open-source and proprietary technologies.
The third crucial aspect is about top talent who enjoys working at Reface. We aim to create a place where people thrive and grow professionally. To fulfill our promise to the team, we are launching new products and investing in core functions, such as ML Research and Marketing, to support our plans.
Ultimately, our goal is to build a large, successful company from Ukraine that makes a positive impact on people’s lives. This is the vision that drives us forward, and we are determined to make it a reality.
