Over the last 20 years, Slav Kulik has led dozens of software development teams serving both startups and Fortune 500 companies, and has won many awards for his work. He is a passionate leader who loves technology, his customers, and his teams.
Early in his career, Slav was an engineer for several large international eCommerce and customer support companies, where he helped design and implement things like fraud prevention tools, data warehousing, and platforms that continue to process millions of dollars of daily transactions. He repeatedly designed fast, reliable, massively scalable architectures that earned him increasingly senior engineering roles, including serving as SVP of Engineering at multibillion-dollar companies.
Eventually, Slav co-founded a few startups, including OfferCraft and MacroView Labs, where he was Chief Technology Officer and Chief Software Architect — each of these software companies were acquired in 8-figure deals. During this time, Slav gained deep, hands-on experience building up and running diverse teams of engineers around the world. Slav launched Plan A with many of the developers and creatives who have worked alongside him for years. He still enjoys personally jumping in to write code any chance he has.
Company: Plan A Technologies
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company
Slav Kulik: I’m the CEO/co-founder of software engineering and digital transformation company Plan A Technologies. We help companies in fields ranging from financial services to gaming to build or improve their software. Plan A’s award-winning team includes backend and frontend software engineers, technology researchers, UX experts, inventors, graphic artists, former CIOs and CTOs, project managers, futurists, and more. I’m proud to say the solutions we’ve created for our clients are used by millions of people around the world.
Plan A is the third software company I co-founded: I previously served as Chief Technology Officer at OfferCraft and Chief Software Architect at MacroView Labs, both of which were acquired in 8-figure deals. I was a software engineer for other big companies before that.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffett, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Slav Kulik: I’d say, “Mr. Buffett, what do you do when you can’t find a software engineering company which meets your standards? Build it yourself.” Because that is the Plan A story.
Prior to starting Plan A, my co-founder and I had experienced several not-so-great outsourcing companies—we knew we weren’t the only ones having this issue, because friends and colleagues would complain to us. We noticed certain troubling trends. For instance, some software companies were completely focused on selling their own off-the-shelf solutions, even when it wasn’t a good fit for a client. Other software companies would generate “savings” by hiring the cheapest engineers available, whether or not they were qualified.
Eventually, we realized there was a real need out there. We also realized we could meet it. We would bring deep industry experience and understanding, but go beyond just technology: Our guidance would include broader business matters, regulatory concerns, whatever we could offer that might be beneficial. Why? Because that’s what we wanted when we were looking. It’s been pretty terrific so far.
Here’s another thing I’d say to Mr. Buffett: Many software companies are basically plumbers or carpenters. They can do a specific task, sometimes quite well. But if you’re building a house, they can only help so much, because they’re not concerned with the overall project. Plan A can serve as specialists for a specific task, but we’re also able to be your architect/project manager/general contractor, ensuring you get the completed home you deserve.
As for our biggest strength, the answer is clearly our people. We’re incredibly selective finding them – we hire 0.4% of applicants, and yes, that decimal point is in the correct place – seeking out individuals with experience, talent, drive and kindness. This not only produces great work for our clients, but savings too. Why? Because projects done on the cheap invariably need to be redone, while Plan A gets it right the first time.
Also, I should note that I would do my best to resist the urge to hit the emergency stop button to extend my conversation with the Oracle of Omaha, but I make no promises.
Quiet quitting, The Great Resignation, is an ongoing trend causing many businesses to struggle to keep talent engaged and motivated. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued, and misunderstood in the workplace. In your experience, what keeps employees happy? And how are you adapting to the current shift we see?
Slav Kulik: People want a good salary, interesting work assignments, a chance to develop their skills, the opportunity to advance professionally, an enjoyable place to work, flexibility as to how they complete their work, teammates who are both talented and supportive, and leaders who are accessible to them and genuinely listen. Each person ranks their importance differently, but these items are pretty universally desired.
We’ve been very lucky in that we haven’t had much trouble in this area, so we haven’t had to make much of a shift. When we started Plan A, I vowed to make certain each member of the Plan A team could easily contact me if there was a problem. That was simpler when it was just me and my co-founder in a room, as opposed to now with hundreds of team members on six continents! That said, it remains our policy. It starts by making sure that everyone in a leadership position is listening and responding.
I think the first step to a good work culture is thoughtful hiring. Plan A is deeply selective, but it’s not just about expertise or even talent. We like people who are, to put it simply, nice. Who are able to collaborate with coworkers as well as clients. We get people who are easy to work with and do good work, then we do all we can to keep them, by attempting to make sure we provide them what they need. (Which invariably includes at least some of those things listed earlier.)
Similarly, we deeply believe in staying on the cutting edge of technology. How does that translate to individual members of the Plan A team? We’ve found one helpful step is a weekly Tech Talk, when a Plan A member discusses an important tech trend. We’re also working to do more with mentorships, which we believe is a great way for newer team members to feel fully integrated into Plan A and then grow with us.
It’s also important to remember that valued employees are good business. Happy people are more productive than demoralized ones fantasizing about their next jobs. In general, the time and money you invest pleasing your people is less than it would cost to scramble around finding suitable replacements. Too many software companies take an easy-come, easy-go attitude to engineers. We’re interested in building things that last, and that isn’t possible if you treat people poorly.
Online business keeps on surging higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for the year to come and how are you capitalizing on the tidal wave?
Slav Kulik: Well, Plan A helps to create many of the platforms and tools that make it possible for organizations to enjoy this surge in online business, so I’m happy to say we’re very much part of the tidal wave!
We are continually striving to help companies better meet their specific online business needs. Consider, say, hospitality. When we work with a company in this field we can help them assess how online trends are impacting them. How should their loyalty program adapt? What kind of mobile check-ins and digital key solutions do guests want? How should their booking engine evolve? How can we use new AI solutions to enhance a digital concierge? Can the company improve its online employee recruiting and training solutions? Would augmented reality be useful as a way to let potential visitors experience just how appealing your property is? How can we continually personalize offers to best fit each user? Things like this impact virtually every industry.
I think personalization will continue to be a major trend in the year to come. We have more and more data: We need to determine how to utilize it to give consumers the best experience possible.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as THE real challenge right now?
Slav Kulik: The easy answer is uncertainty, because the world has thrown some serious curveballs at us in recent years. (In 2019, I was concerned about many things, but the list did not include things like pandemics or international wars.)
I suppose a more nuanced answer is figuring out how to embrace potential major advances that will have huge and uncertain ramifications (such as AI) without neglecting your current needs.
There’s only so much time and so much money, so leaders have to choose their paths carefully. Shameless plug: This is really what we do at Plan A – we help companies make sure that they’re using technology as intelligently as possible to position themselves for future success.
In your experience, what tends to be the most underestimated part of running a company? Can you share an example?
Slav Kulik: Until you’re actually running a company, it’s easy to exist in a bit of a silo. You can focus on your specific project and not worry too much about what’s happening around you. Once you’re running things, it’s all on you. A good leader feels an intense sense of responsibility and loyalty to every client and every staff member, which can be tough sometimes.
As your organization grows, your duties evolve but you still need to be aware of everything, because if anything goes wrong, it’s ultimately on you to fix it. You need to figure out how to empower your people without becoming too detached. You need to be aware of the little things, without spending too much time on any single one of them. And you need to be capable of stepping back and seeing the big picture, of envisioning where the economy and technology are headed, and recognizing the opportunities and obstacles awaiting you.
It’s like this: I got my start and ultimately reached where I am because of my ability to code. I’m pretty darn good at it and I enjoy doing it. But as a CEO of a company with hundreds of team members, I recognize that it isn’t the best use of my time. (Though I do try to sneak some in, schedule permitting.)
To me, leadership is about others: Your team members, your clients. It’s about you serving THEM, not them serving you. Not everyone takes that approach, sadly.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Slav Kulik: The ultimate business superpower would be the ability to stop time, because sometimes it would be nice to savor a completed project before leaping back into all the other ones.
What does “success” in 2024 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision
Slav Kulik: Creating something amazing from absolutely nothing. It’s an incredible feeling!
