FounderMetrics: Boris Dyakonov & Eduard Panteleev

On episode six of FounderMetrics S2, our founder and CEO, Ifty Nasir, interviews the entrepreneurial duo, Boris Dyakonov and Eduard Panteleev.

They’re the co-founders of ANNA (Absolutely No Nonsense Admin), a startup providing vital admin and tax services to small businesses across the UK.

Boris and Eduard share insights from a business journey which took them from Russia through South Africa to eventually land in London. You can catch up on the highlights below, or click here to listen to the episode in full.

From Russia with purpose

Boris: We met 16 years ago under funny circumstances in a small regional bank called Bank 24.ru during a liquidity crisis.

Eduard: During the 2007 financial crisis, I anticipated something would happen soon, so I prepared by getting cash ready. When the crisis hit Russia and banks started failing, I considered buying a bigger bank in Jaktino, but I lost to a more established institution.

That day, I met the owner who declined my offer. Upset after all the negotiations, my friend suggested stopping at another bank, where he called Boris, the CEO.

Although sceptical, I agreed to meet Boris late at night. Boris was distressed but tried to appear composed, and that’s how we met.

I was working as a minority shareholder in a bigger organisation, leading M&As and buying eight banks in Russia. It was unusual at the time.

Boris: Eduard’s team bought the bank, and we started working together, focusing on small business propositions. The partnership we built was strong.

Founding ANNA

Eduard: The business started during a difficult period in Russia, where the environment was becoming suffocating for business. I suggested to Boris that we move and do something outside Russia.

After some zigzags, including a stopover in South Africa, we ultimately launched in the UK about seven years ago.

The name ANNA was coined by Michael Wolff, a friend of mine. It’s feminine, with a human touch. In a world of metal and blue, we wanted to be humorous, human, and a bit feminine. That’s why it stands for Absolutely No Nonsense Admin.

Holacracy

Boris: I discovered holacracy by accident, thanks to Eduard, who introduced me to it.

Holacracy is about building self-governance teams and giving power to circles.

It came at a time when Bank 24 and later Tochka were becoming too large for me to control everything.

I was a control freak, down to choosing the coffee served in the cafeteria. But I also dreamed of circumnavigating the globe, which didn’t fit with micromanaging. Our first attempt at holacracy failed miserably in customer support.

However, a second attempt at Tochka was hugely successful. For holacracy to work, there needs to be both an organisational and personal motive. You must believe in it, give up power, and trust your team.

Operational processes must be right because holacracy can break things four to five times faster than things break in a regular company. If the team isn’t motivated or aligned with the business purpose, it’s a dead end.

Any system can be abused, but holacracy, if successful, can unlock potential beyond what people believe they’re capable of, and that excites me.

Artificial intelligence: Before it was cool

Boris: We are AI-powered, but we started long before it became popular. When ANNA launched, it was always chat-based, so you talked to it like you would to a human assistant. You could instruct it to repeat a payment, and it would start preparing things for you.

That’s the exciting part - eliminating noise and making tasks like invoicing seamless. That’s where it started. Today, it’s evolved significantly.

Everyone’s playing with ChatGPT now, and LLM models are everywhere. From the beginning, our system didn’t just talk; it created invoices and made payments. Initially, it was just a card and an account, and it meowed. Now, it can woof.

Eduard: There’s still a lot of things we need to do. We are just at the beginning of integrating accounting, tax-paying and business accounts. We launched tax calculation functionality around a year ago.

We operate in between what banks typically do and what accountants traditionally do. We can create additional value and functionality.

Many small businesses are struggling with things like knowing how much money they can take out of the business and whether it should be taken as a salary, as dividends or as a director’s loan. The app does it automatically and in the best tax-optimised way. 

Metrics of success

Eduard: We gauge success by the energy within the team. If the team feels proud and owns the results, with energy building, that’s a good sign. 

Boris: You walk into the room, and you immediately know. 

Eduard: Autonomy is another key indicator.

For example, we had a strategy session where the admin and tax team achieved a milestone. They celebrated and planned their next moves autonomously. If you have to lead, inspire, and inject energy into these meetings, it’s not the same.

Recently, we bought a company in Australia called Cape, which does credit cards with expense management tools. Cape IO was founded by a British person during COVID.

We see this as complementary to our product and a platform to expand what we do in the UK to Australia. We’re excited about it. The Australian market is half the size of the UK, and while it’s challenging, we like it. Travelling there is a long journey, but now we have this new opportunity.

Listen now

You'll find this FounderMetrics episode and all previous episodes on all popular podcast platforms. You can also watch the interview in full on YouTube. Don't forget to like and subscribe!