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Technology and millennials for a change: meet Roman Taranov, a self-made entrepreneur

BY READERS DIGEST

20th Aug 2021 Down to Business

Technology and millennials for a change: meet Roman Taranov, a self-made entrepreneur

Finish school, go to university, get a good job, scale the company ladder, retire. That’s how life used to be for most people. But not anymore.

Ways to make money have changed throughout the years. It’s widely known that millennials and centennials have a different approach to work and business than past generations. The idea of a full-time job for life is no longer popular among the youngest. Instead, these generations prefer flexibility and workplaces where they feel they can make an impact.

Also, the percentage of young entrepreneurs increased during the past years. As generations pass by and technology evolves, new ways of making a living come into play and bring fresh opportunities for the youngest ages to make it in the entrepreneurial world.

That’s the case of Roman Taranov, a self-made entrepreneur and tech investor that started his first business at 16, dropped out of college, moved from his home country, and launched two successful, fast-growing companies while living in different European cities.

A passion for development and innovation

Born and raised in a Ukrainian household of humble means, Roman developed an early hunger for economic growth and achievement. One day his parents brought home a computer, and he quickly became highly skillful at technology.

At age 16, he made thousands of dollars by selling traffic to affiliate networks and brokering websites. Although after finishing school, he started pursuing a law degree. Taranov realized he wanted to run his own business in the tech industry, so he dropped out and educated himself in marketing and strategy.

In 2014 he founded RGK, an e-commerce solutions company that soon became a multinational provider that worked with leading global carriers such as Orange, Vodafone, and T-Mobile.

When people learn about college dropouts’ successful business stories, they often fall under the wrong impression that it’s either college and “traditional, ordinary” life or self-educating and reaching business success.

And that’s a false dichotomy. While Roman was able to found and grow a global company like RGK at age 20, his lack of management knowledge was an essential hurdle in keeping up with the fast escalation.

So when facing the question of whether or not to go to college, the correct answer is that it depends on the quality of education and what you want to do in life.

For aspiring entrepreneurs, if you have the opportunity to study at Tier 1 universities, maybe you should consider leveraging that opportunity. Go for the best-in-class tutors and get out there, do networking.

But for other facilities, then you’ll need to ponder the benefits of staying 3 years at university. Unless you want to work at a company or organization. Then college education is extremely helpful.

Always keep in mind that it’s better to find your true purpose and the way to carry it out than to have a degree in “something” at age 22.

Making an impact with technology

It is a flexible and diverse company with a solid base and strong values, where the workforce could feel involved, taken care of, and work at their best. Roman’s dream looked like when he thought of building a tech business, and that’s what he did.

Hungry for a more profitable and impactful venture and having acquired extensive experience in strategy, marketing, management, and team-building, Roman founded Ruby Labs, a mobile app developer with over 70 employees across the UK and Europe. Their first releases sought to satisfy the needs of essential So  markets uncovered by the digital world. Hint (astrology) and Able (health & fitness) are two apps that provide unserved audiences with resourceful utilities in their mobiles.

Passionate about change, progress, and innovation Roman is also helping other founders succeed by investing in their ventures because he believes in the power of technology to transform the world.

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