We are very proud to announce this collaboration between Awesomic and PECULIUM.
The beginning…
3 months ago, we have started to collaborate with an Ukrainian design agency named Awesomic to participate in the “refresh” of our brand. Their leitmotiv: create and finish a design task in 24h. We were vey impressed by their responsiveness and their agility so we wanted to continue our collaboration.
3 months ago at the same time, Russia started their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian tech scene has had to adapt to the realities of wartime, and thousands of tech workers have fled the country. Around 80% of Awesomic’s Ukraine-based workforce has stayed in the country, many with relocation help and financial assistance from Awesomic. A number of them were working from bunkers with unstable internet connections.
Keep calm and carry on…
But with remote work already the norm, Awesomic had by no means stopped its efforts to maintain and scale the business. We have asked for business continuity plans, most of which were already in place. Quality Services, designer responsivness and professionalism remain the same, and deliverables time stayed unchanged.
Moreover, Awesomic’s slate of employees and contractors has swelled from 100 to 170 since the war began, adding more resources to fullfil the needs of the fast-growing customers base including us.
The saddest thing about all this nightmare is the investment situation for Ukrainian startups. An early-stage startup is already a risky proposition; when you add a risk to a risk [that’s not a great way to] go about raising money. The situation is making it harder for some startups to raise money, However, Awesome successfully raised an additional $750k investment in an Emergency fundraising round led by top notch investors.
These awful conditions might be a good push for startups to start thinking internationally, to push their sales both, inside and outside of Ukraine, so how Awesomic did from the start. Awesomic largely sells to foreign customers — mostly in the U.S. — and the business brings in money at a time when economic sectors like agriculture have been crippled.
“Resilience in the literature of Entrepreneurship is largely presented as a personality trait of the entrepreneur. I would add that active resistance, which I define as the capacity to live beyond control to create spaces of creativity and solidarity and alternative modalities of work in an organizational context, can actually contribute to a successful entrepreneurial process. Awesomic is a perfect illustration of that. We share also those values here at PECULIUM”. Said Bilel BEN TANFOUS Deputy CEO PECULIUM.
The perimeter of the partnership
When PECULIUM was ready to kick off our big rebrand, we needed more capacity, but we also wanted to have branding experts in the room. There are so many projects where it’s necessary or helpful to bring in an outside creative partner.
To get the best work from a creative agency, you want to approach things as a true creative partner. Hence, it’s important to know what to expect from your engagement, what role you’ll be playing, and how to be the best team player. Good work relies on a good partnership, and there are a lot of proactive things you can do to make collaboration easier.
Finding a partner isn’t the end goal. Creating excellent work is. We got the most out of your relationship during these taugh days, from laying guardrails for collaboration to giving effective feedback to troubleshooting when the work isn’t up to par.
There’s no better feeling than executing more effectively or wrapping up a project engagement with a great partner and launching it to success — whether it’s a funding round, a critically acclaimed rebrand, or a product that expands your customer base. When you have the right team, anything is possible.
Now, we are working hands to hands under the whole umbrella of the design of PECULIUM: websites, products, apps, internal tools, official documents, marketing assets and more. Awesomic is helping us with strategy development, creative direction, and laying the foundation for our company identity, working directly with your in-house designers, engineers, and/or marketers and increase capacity, or specialization in special field like visual design or video.
We can’t wait to show you what’s next!
About Awesomic
Ukraine’s Awesomic (YC S21) secures a $2M round to help companies find the best designers and get design tasks done in 24 hours. Founded in 2020, Awesomic’s platform helps companies find their best-fit designers quickly. Since then, over 10000 companies have used the platform, with 100+ designers carrying out 500+ tasks monthly. In 2022, the company aims to achieve $10 million in ARR and grow its team to more than 50 people.
About PECULIUM
PECULIUM has always been a company driven to democratize access to investment opportunities previously only available to the very wealthy. The development of blockchain technology has been a key factor in enabling this ongoing financial revolution. But blockchain goes beyond offering a more efficient replica of the traditional financial ecosystem-it enables new business models that are better aligned with the incentives of all market participants.
PECULIUM has developed saieve.io, a crypto investment and asset management platform that connects to exchange accounts and allows users to instantly access vetted trading strategies and investment portfolios. Founded to simplify trading strategy for users without any technical experience, PECULIUM has a growing offering of automated investment products.
