Valas OÜ:
TEAM & AGENCY OVERVIEW
Who we are
We are a senior, tightly aligned product team that helps launch, test, and scale digital products without long-term hiring commitments.
We work in a service model (invoice-based, VAT applicable), not employment. Team setup, replacements, scaling up or down, and operational complexity stay on our side, so clients can focus on decisions instead of people management.
Based in Slovenia, we operate within the EU legal and tax framework and work with clients internationally.
We can start work within one day.
Who this model works for
- corporates and director-level teams launching spin-offs or new initiatives
- startups from pre-seed stage and beyond
- founders with an existing business testing new ideas and markets
- IT entrepreneurs with active or closed products
- organizations operating under EU grant and public funding requirements
When our involvement creates the most value
- there is an idea on the table, but no clear answer yet on whether to build it
- speed matters, but you need to know you can stop if it goes the wrong way
- you want to test ideas with code, not just ship features
- a previous team failed and the project needs to be picked up and stabilized
How we actually work
Product, marketing, and technology do not work as separate tracks. In real projects, decisions in one area immediately affect the others. Hypotheses are tested through code, marketing signals shape product direction, and technology choices are made with real go-to-market constraints in mind.
That is also why marketing is embedded into development rather than added later. In EatBeat, product logic, user journey, and market positioning were rebuilt in parallel. In Windhub, cartography and tools were shaped directly by how sailors make decisions, not by abstract feature lists. In EMP, clinical workflows, security, and business constraints were solved together, not in sequence. This approach reduced wasted work and allowed us to test direction early, before committing too much.
The team has worked through failed handovers, regulated domains, and high-pressure situations. We learned how to step in for each other, redistribute responsibility without friction, and keep projects moving. That experience is why our communication is fast and lightweight, and why we are clear about what works and what does not.
What we are not
Team
Andrej Sobolev — Founder, Product & Strategy
Founder and product leader with deep experience in complex and regulated domains. Works at the intersection of product, technology, and business.
Has launched and scaled products from idea to market, including telemedicine and B2B platforms.
Strong in hypothesis validation under uncertainty, product logic design, and cutting non-working solutions early. Has experience with successful exits and post-acquisition product growth.
Andrej Sobolev
Dmitrij Popov — Lead Engineer, Architecture
Senior technical leader with 15+ years of experience building and scaling complex systems.
Background includes telemedicine, fintech, agriculture, and consumer products.
Specializes in backend architecture, scalability, and system evolution under changing requirements. Comfortable operating at the boundary between R&D and production, and stable in crisis situations.
Dmitrij Popov
Elizaveta Kook — Product, Research & Analytics
Product manager with experience in both startups and corporate environments, working on regulated healthtech platforms serving tens of thousands of users, as well as consumer mobile products. Combines hands-on product work with a strong consulting background, having contributed to 15+ projects across different stages and contexts.
Leads products from research and hypothesis framing through launch and growth. Strong in building product methodologies and structuring processes from scratch, especially in situations where clarity is missing and decisions must be made under uncertainty.
Elizaveta Kook
Works in a data-informed product approach, combining qualitative research with analytics to shape user journeys, CJM, and prioritization, while keeping product, engineering, and marketing aligned around a shared direction.
Has deep expertise in user research and customer development, with a particular strength in uncovering sensitive and non-obvious insights through empathetic interviews. Experienced in working with international teams and growth experiments, including close collaboration with marketing on ASA and paid acquisition. Brings calm structure to complex product spaces and helps teams and investors turn fragmented signals into clear, actionable product decisions.
Alena Semčuk — Growth, Monetization & GTM
Product and growth leader with 9+ years of experience scaling B2C and B2B digital platforms to tens of millions of users.
Has led full-cycle product initiatives, digital transformations, and CPO-level projects.
From 2023 to 2026, focused on startup portfolios and strategic consulting, helping early-stage and scaling companies accelerate growth, reposition products, and build go-to-market strategies.
Selected projects
- Funtam / Deepneed
- Windy.app (Meteopulse, WindHub, Memeteo)
- Outmap
- ChatBot AI & ArtBuddy (Playorium)
- Chef Dinner
Alena Semčuk
Mykhajlo Bočkarov — ASA / ASO, Mobile Acquisition
Senior mobile growth manager with 4+ years of experience driving growth for B2C mobile apps across EU5, US, and LATAM markets.
Expertise
- ASA / ASO
- Web-to-app funnels
- Creative A/B testing
- Unit economics optimization
Worked with:
- Amazon Shopping
- Robokiller
- Lotto24
- TapeACall
- TrapCall
Mykhajlo Bočkarov
Olga Gorjačeva — Content, Product Copy & Messaging (EN)
Editor-in-chief and head of content with a strong product and marketing mindset.
Specializes in building content systems that communicate product value clearly and consistently across the entire user journey.
Works with content as a business tool grounded in research, analytics, CAC/LTV logic, and product–market fit.
Editor-in-chief and head of content with a strong product and marketing mindset.
Olga Gorjačeva
Specializes in building content systems that communicate product value clearly and consistently across the entire user journey.
Works with content as a business tool grounded in research, analytics, CAC/LTV logic, and product–market fit.
Andrej Polugudin — Senior Mobile Engineer
Senior mobile engineer with extensive experience building consumer mobile products from early prototypes to production-ready applications. Works across Swift, Kotlin, and React Native, choosing technology based on product constraints and speed of iteration rather than personal preference.
Comfortable operating with high autonomy in ambiguous environments. Able to take ownership of mobile development end to end, working directly with product context, incomplete requirements, and fast-changing priorities.
Andrej Polugudin
Known for moving quickly, iterating continuously, and supporting product teams with engineering decisions that enable learning rather than slow it down.
Has worked on a range of mobile products, including a nutrition app (EatBeat), an AI-powered personal stylist (styledna.ai), and a messaging platform with embedded mini-apps (mmapp.org). Also contributed to other products including paid expert calls and psychological testing applications, gaining hands-on experience in rapid experimentation, validation, and product shutdowns when necessary.
Brings a pragmatic, product-oriented engineering approach, focusing on delivery, adaptability, and helping teams move forward under uncertainty rather than simply executing predefined tasks.
Cases
EatBeat — Nutrition Product (B2C, ongoing)
Summary
EatBeat is a consumer nutrition product built around a science-based nutrition scoring system derived from the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023. The product is designed to help users form sustainable eating habits without changing their lifestyle and was successfully rebuilt, relaunched, and brought to the US market after a failed initial execution.
More info
Windhub – Maritime Weather & Navigation Product (B2C)
Summary
Windhub is a maritime-focused extension of the Windy.app platform created to attract sailors as a new user segment. By combining cartographic technology, navigation tools, and customer development, the project transformed a general weather product into a commercially viable solution for maritime decision-making.
More info
EMP — Telemedicine Platform (B2B)
Summary
EMP is a telemedicine platform built in a highly regulated medical domain to support patients after surgeries and with chronic conditions. The project focused on creating a working methodology, secure technology, and real clinical workflows, resulting in a production-ready B2B2C system, a successful exit, and further expansion within the same platform.
More info
Industrial B2B Product for a Regulated Industry (B2B, under NDA)
Summary
A B2B product built for a regulated industrial domain, designed as an extension on top of existing ERP systems and used in production environments by multiple factories.
We worked as a product team rather than a development vendor. The focus was on product logic, workflows, and integration into existing enterprise systems with minimal disruption.
The product had to operate under regulatory constraints and real operational conditions. It is still in use today across several manufacturing sites.
Corporate Security & Enterprise Platforms (under NDA)
Summary
Work on large corporate products in security-sensitive and regulated environments, where reliability, access control, and operational safety were core product constraints.
The work involved designing complex workflows for multiple user roles, aligning UX decisions with security and compliance requirements, and collaborating closely with product, engineering, and security teams.
Private Cloud & Office Ecosystems (under NDA)
Summary
Work on office and collaboration products operating as part of large enterprise ecosystems, with complex document workflows, permissions, and long-living processes.
The focus was on designing usable systems under architectural and security constraints, evolving products over time, and supporting organization-wide usage without full rewrites.
Operational Navigation & Geospatial Systems (under NDA)
Summary
Work on navigation and geospatial systems used in real operational environments, where interface decisions directly affect safety and real-world outcomes.
Users operated under time pressure and physical constraints. The work focused on turning complex geospatial data into clear, actionable interfaces that support confident decision-making.
Growth & Acquisition Cases
Large-Scale Consumer App Growth (under NDA)
Summary
Growth work for a major global consumer app focused on scaling acquisition through systematic creative experimentation and automation.
Creative A/B testing combined with AI-assisted automation delivered approximately 443K incremental downloads with an average +2.23% lift in install conversion. The focus was on building repeatable experimentation processes rather than one-off wins.
Acquisition Cost Reduction Across Channels (under NDA)
Summary
Work on reducing acquisition costs for a global consumer app across programmatic and cross-channel campaigns.
Optimizations spanned creatives, ad placements, and store-level elements such as CPP and custom store listings. This approach resulted in CPA reductions of up to 73% while maintaining scale.
Web-to-App Funnel Optimization (AI Apps)
Summary
Optimization of web-to-app funnels for multiple AI-driven consumer applications, focused on conversion efficiency.
Work was done in close collaboration with Product and UA teams. Funnel experiments delivered an average +31% lift in click-to-install rate and a 23.6% reduction in CPI across the app portfolio.
Modular Creative Testing System (AI Apps)
Summary
Design and implementation of a modular creative testing system for paid acquisition across multiple AI consumer products.
The system allowed recombination of top-performing creative elements across formats and channels, delivering up to 62% CPA reduction in tests and an 11% portfolio-wide ROAS lift.
Go-to-Market for a Privacy-Critical Feature (Robokiller)
Summary
Go-to-market support for the launch of a new privacy-critical feature in a consumer mobile product.
Product positioning, acquisition messaging, and pricing were aligned around the new feature. The launch introduced a new pricing tier and resulted in a 66.2% increase in user lifetime value.
Localization-Driven Store Optimization (Robokiller)
Summary
Improving install conversion for a specific audience segment through localized app store presentation.
Audience-specific custom store listings for Spanish-speaking users in the US led to a +5.3 percentage point increase in install conversion, without increasing acquisition spend.
Why this matters
These are projects we can openly discuss: how we entered the situation, what decisions we made, what worked, and what did not.
They reflect how we operate as a product team, not as an execution-only vendor.
Expertise
Operating principles
product-first decisions testing ideas with code early validation reversible decisions speed with control cutting non-working paths product + marketing + technology as one system
Product & R&D
problem framing hypothesis validation under uncertainty product discovery prioritization under constraints R&D without templates risk-reducing prototypes learning before scaling
Technology & Engineering
system architecture long-living backends C# backend platforms enterprise systems scalable platforms regulatory constraints working with legacy systems applied NLP production-grade language processing mobile-first products Flutter React Native Kotlin Swift cross-platform strategy architecture as a constraint stability under change
These are our core superpowers. For everything else, we know how to quickly add the right people.
Complex domains
regulated industries compliance by design medical systems sensitive data high cost of mistakes recommendation systems personalization logic mapping navigation geodata complex datasets
Growth & Marketing
growth as feedback loop performance marketing growth experimentation web‑to‑web funnels web‑to‑app funnels ASA ASO positioning through usage product‑marketing alignment
Contacts & Legal
Contact
We prioritize speed and direct communication.
Feel free to reach out directly:
For more formal inquiries:
Legal
Valas OÜ – Podružnica v Sloveniji
VAT ID: SI57438285