What No One Tells You About Building a Startup With Your Spouse (Our Story) — Silicon Valley Girl Podcast

Marina Mogilko: Silicon Valley is like for people from Stanford, Harvard, Google, whatever. Like we don't belong there. And I'm like, come on. My husband Dmitri when we came here as immigrants, no friends, no network, nothing. And um we started growing so fast. We went from like five or six people to 60 people like less than half a year. Dmitri has been my longtime business partner. Some investors, they said to us it was a red flag. Oh, I was so mad after this meeting. You remember? I'm like, come on. Like, but we stopped working together around 2019. And uh let's talk about why.

Yeah, we did some videos together back. I made it. We did some videos together back in the day, but this is the first time. My husband, Dmitri, uh we've been married since 2017. We've been together. Right answer. Yeah, we've been together since 2010, which means 15 years. And uh Oh my god, is it today? Is it was it yesterday? Yesterday was 15 years since we we moved in together. Um and uh Dmitri has been my longtime business partner. Had been my longtime business partner. We stopped working together in 2019. And this is what I want to talk to you about today. Like in general uh can you talk about the time we worked together what you liked about it and what you didn't like?

Dmitri Mogilko: First of all, I think uh yeah, thanks for inviting me to the podcast. That's how you understand you made it in Silicon Valley. I think that's the definition of co-founders because if uh not you and me the company would not exist because we're very different in our skill set and um I was like dreaming big and like say like okay we have to go to Silicon Valley we have to raise capital there we have to change the market and like build online tools blah blah blah and you were the like the person who actually delivered all the operational thing and you were an expert in the product. Um, I think if not you and me, like the company would not exist simply.

Marina Mogilko: So, uh, for people who are wondering what's going on with your English, cuz I know a lot of people ask all the time.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. Like, let's let's fight one-on-one. But he came to the office barely speaking English, which happened in 2015. So, I think the progress is great. The progress is there. Um, thanks for bringing it up. I just wanted cuz I know people are going to ask. Let's address elephant in the room, you know. And I couldn't even like dream to say this phrase like.

Marina Mogilko: Exactly. He knows so many idioms and cool phrases because now he talks watching TV shows all the time shows in English. That's basically all I do, you know. But uh I want you to understand that like the dynamics in our couple, what Dmitri just said or I call him Dimma. I know it's very confusing for a lot of Americans but like the thing call me John it's easier for you guys John whatever um that he is all about dreaming big and if it weren't for him we wouldn't be here because he was the one like let's raise money in Silicon Valley let's approach Silicon Valley VCs etc. I remember DMing Mark Zuckerberg on LinkedIn. Actually, I will if I get him on this interview, I'm going to show him that DM.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. I I remember like sitting in my pants behind the laptop like in the small room and like in St. Petersburg and like.

Marina Mogilko: Yeah, it wasn't small. It was an okay room. And he was like, okay guys, I'll give you a favor if I'll ask you to like, you know, invest. That's his mindset. Okay. Yeah. A little bit delusional, but I guess it's necessary.

Dmitri Mogilko: Exactly. Exactly. This is necessary and I lack that. Like my approach to everything that I do is like, hey, okay, this is a really big goal. I don't even know if I'm going to reach it, but I'm going to try. It makes me excited. So, I'm going to work every single day. I'm going to make some small steps towards that goal. And we're very different in that. And this is what made us makes us or made us um a great couple to work together. We're still a great couple as a family, but we stopped working together around 2019. And uh let's talk about why.

Marina Mogilko: Can I start?

Dmitri Mogilko: I just want to say like finishing previous part. Uh big thanks to Alfred Lynn. I remember like I was googling like what's the best investors and SQU pop up as number one. I'm like okay like sure we have to work with best ones. Everybody told me like come on guys like Silicon Valley is like for people from Stanford, Harvard, Google whatever like we don't belong there. And I'm like come on like Silicon Valley is all about like results. If you can show that you have a good idea, you have results like they don't care about where are you from and blah blah blah. And he was one of the first among the first who actually from the big guys who replied and say like okay brilliant cool blah blah blah keep us posted and for me back then keep us posted meant like and I told Marina come on that's almost done deal you see like interested in us and that's also the thing like when you don't know enough sometimes it's good because now when we're here I know like keep us posted mean basically no sorry guys like it's polite way to say we're not interested. But I didn't know that back then. We used this energy for like next half a year and like topped up and then like we ended up here like in 500 startups. It's actually helped back then because it gave her confidence and and we had again coming back to my English and everything. I asked Marina to check this email because I couldn't write understanding of American culture was like my English like zero. We basically every like my English now. But it was so funny because whenever people were like keep us posted oh my god guys you're doing something so exciting and they they would come up with suggestions like oh they're actually really interested because they said our startup is amazing when in reality it meant nothing. They're just being polite and saying like, "Oh."

Marina Mogilko: And another one when people didn't reply to us, remember like we would have a meeting with a person, would email them the next day and they would just disappear.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. And we'll be like, we will be following up and then I started asking around like other Americans like what does it mean? And they explain it's an open door. They don't want to say no. They don't want to say yes. Basically say open door but more opportunity in two years maybe if you become a hot startup. They'd be like, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I completely missed your email." Like, yeah, came to the spam folder. Sorry about that. Oh, yeah.

Marina Mogilko: So, here we are. Yeah. Let's talk about investing. So, but you only understand it once you're here. It's so funny. And we I think it's amazing that we went through all of this together.

Dmitri Mogilko: 100%. We have so many stories to tell.

Marina Mogilko: The company that Dmitri and I have co-founded is called Lingua Trip. And trip because it was initially a booking platform for study abroad experiences. you travel and learn a language. Co completely changed our business idea. We had to pivot from travel to online. So now it's a platform where you can improve your English significantly and we specialize in intensive courses, intensive classes where you try to fit everything in seven or eight weeks cuz I was inspired by my own progress. Most of my progress happened when I immersed myself into English. And we try to create an atmosphere that's very similar to studying abroad. You are taught by either native speakers or people whose English is almost native speaker level. And you will never believe that English is not their first language. And we connect you with people from all over the world. So you could practice English online by chatting to each other, by talking to each other.

But then someday we stopped working together and we're going to talk about that. We're just postponing this. But something I wanted to tell you like I love your mindset so much and when we're talking and um you know you're doing your own thing, I'm doing my own. I'm always thinking like it would have been so cool if you could work for my media company. Okay, now we know the reason for this podcast, guys, right? That's a negotiation right here, you know, because sorry, no, this vision is always like, let's build a billion dollar company. Let's do this. Let's let's do this thing. And because I'm completely different and now I run my own media company and I'm the CEO. I'm the one who makes decisions. I don't really I have a COO, but I don't have a partner who I could consult with. I have my investors. They're great, but it's not like I'm going to call them every day. I miss that a lot.

Dmitri Mogilko: Thanks a lot. Feel free to.

Marina Mogilko: No, that that's what I but at the end of the day, we brainstorm a lot, but at the end of the day, I realized it's just my decision when back then it was our common decision and I could always tell you, hey, um I don't think I can make this decision. It's your goal. You just do whatever you want. So, I miss that a lot. Something I don't miss and comes from a woman who's always thinking about plan B, plan C, working for the same company, relying on the same income stream. And I know people watch this channel have seen my video about my anxiety that comes from losing income streams led me to the reality where I have 19 different income streams. It's just you know I'm going but it's a little bit you know I think when I look when I looked at that video I'm like okay this fear is like real. Um so this is what I didn't like and this is what happened during so I was pregnant. Oh, we actually had a baby. Lingua Trip started and we were basically our main source of income was Lingua Trip and that was like oh my god I was so glad some of my vlogs were already taking off and I was able to make some income with them so I could support our family and it was like yeah some of the worst times.

First of all, like if you want to work together, I think it's very important to from the beginning to say like who will make a call because that's why we were able we never have an argument.

Dmitri Mogilko: Oh yeah. And he has one he still has and he had 1% more than me.

Marina Mogilko: So and I think it's great. I know a lot of entrepreneurs who do 50/50 and it looks like it's a common thing on the market, but I think what and I've never heard anyone suggest 51/49 when partners start together, but I think it's actually genius cuz you right from the start, you know, who's going to be the key decision maker and uh for my personality, it's actually better. I want someone to make those uh big decisions. The most important is not even like the stock speed. It's like decisions for basically the board.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. Yeah. Because I think I don't uh understand a situation where it's like everybody has like equal votes and like equal like in terms of decision-making.

Marina Mogilko: Yeah. Because I think it's very good when you have clarity in the beginning and consensus like who.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. It should be the one who in the end of the day makes the decision. It worked out really well I think. So we never had an argument decision in terms of um working together. Yeah. I think uh I have slightly different perspective like I want to surprise you as a woman you know and when you uh have the same company you're doing the same thing you can't surprise you right because I can't surprise it's coming like why is because we all we we equally contributed to this thing and like um it's our thing our company we're doing it together and there's no room for this like man woman relationship thing when you can when you and surprise and that's why I think it's not good energy. I think it's amazing that we did it. It's great to have this experience because we learn from each other. We like we accomplished the goal etc. Um but now it's next phase and I like I think yeah it's even better when you have different spheres and you yeah you can surprise each other.

Marina Mogilko: Yeah. Uh when we came here as immigrants no friends, no network, nothing. And when you're networking together, this means you're going to the same parties, you're meeting the same people, and it kind of like it just cuts some opportunities from you. What I noticed now is that our networks are completely different. Yeah. I do my own creator thing, you do your own thing, and uh it's actually better because we meet more people and then we can, you know, just have more people come over to our house and meet each other's network. As a family, we have like way like better coverage in terms of expertise, people, etc., etc.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. So, we're still one single piece. It just we're going different directions, but we're bringing everything back home.

Marina Mogilko: Yeah. Which is kind of cool. What would you say to couples or people who want to start a company together as a couple or as friends or maybe for example, someone has a good creative career and they want their husband to come in like what would be your advice for people who work together?

Dmitri Mogilko: Like I mean for first part uh as I mentioned already like clearly um think and feel who is better in terms of making key decisions and uh make it clear so who will make a calls in the end of the day. It will be like very narrow thing in terms of like your private life and business life because it would be like sometimes you will discuss business stuff during like late nights sometimes you will you don't. So I mean at some stage we actually stopped that cuz I was too bored too not too bored but I was like oh come on just not and was the same question just advice for people who want to work together and don't no I'm kidding no no no no it works for some people no no I'm kidding no no no I I think it's uh if it's organically what you want to do definitely do it just like uh uh discuss like everything up front like what's your expectations what what like what do you want to achieve so be clear in terms of objectives and how you want to do it then just enjoy the ride. It was more about our us as a couple versus us as entrepreneurs.

Marina Mogilko: 100%. It was like the fun journey and we were like achieving this dream together and it was super exciting journey for me like I never thought about as about a job or work or something like this. For me it was fun but remember uh some investors they said uh to us it was a red flag and they would never invest. I was so mad after this meeting. Do you remember? I'm like come on like it was after YC or something.

Dmitri Mogilko: It was I mean many people told us this uh different investors but uh we proved them wrong. Wow. No, I mean I mean uh they their concern were like uh that if like uh that you have an argument blah blah blah blah blah but I mean everything is it was never an argument. So if you want to do it, don't listen like people who say like oh it's like blah blah blah because I mean a lot of examples when it's working and uh it can be fun for sure.

Marina Mogilko: So we came to Silicon Valley in 2015. It's 2025. It's been 10 years. We're going to celebrate 10 years in April. What would you change about our journey at the beginning?

Dmitri Mogilko: Um like when it was like second year or third year of our company. So 2018 2017 uh we started uh growing so fast. So like three times year over year in terms of revenue like 2017 probably was even faster and um I think like we did strategic mistake in terms of hiring because we went from like five or six people to 60 people like less than half a year or something like this and um we keep the same people uh first employees like we made made them like they were manager for example and we made them like operational directors or something like this and it was a huge mistake uh because company were growing. We need like expertise from people who already uh passed this phase and like they know how to do it and uh we were in a position we were hot startup and we could raise like enough capital and uh we could hire cool people but we didn't do it instead we just kept our team because also maybe it's cultural personal thing like okay like we have these people they working for us already two three years they enjoying the company we want to put trust on them etc. But as entrepreneur sometimes you have to prioritize the goal of the company more than anything else and it's take a huge courage and sometimes you have to be tough and um yeah I didn't I didn't make this call like it was my mistake and uh yeah so that's I definitely changed that also we had an offer uh for acquisition like it started like the discussion was started but I said like no we're not interested because like we just started is growing etc. and we didn't even see the term sheet.

Marina Mogilko: Now I understand. So it's like it's better to always always get your term and then decide. That's the first rule. And then it's also very good when you have an exit very early and then it's it it's not even about the money that you have from your first exit. It's about the reputation and then it helps you with your second company. But do you think that happened because we came from the same background and that was the mistake initially like you don't start a company with someone who has the same background, same education, same interests. Maybe you need to have someone who knows.

Dmitri Mogilko: I think like on paper it sounds good but I think it's very important it's very important that we have the same background, same culture. It that's why we like we managed to do it together and uh no argument etc. But um for example, if we hired like people local people who like worked in the companies who got acquired or something like this, they could give us this advice. Okay, come on guys. Let's let's be strategic about it because I remember I didn't want to dilute ourselves. So we raised exact amount of money that we know how to deploy to in order to get like higher valuation and then raise small checks again with like twice or three times more valuation. That's why we still not diluted at all almost. But um maybe if you're like in Silicon Valley, maybe it was wiser to get cool investors on board and this cool investors they navigate help you navigate through this and uh maybe it's even good to give them a board seat create a board seat of directors so you can discuss these topics. So definitely I would go this route back then and especially because it's the first company and my end goal always was like with this company come here establish the track record and then do huge things that's why I want to be here in Silicon Valley and now I understand that this this main logic didn't correlate with my small like me my tactic decisions because it was way smarter to say like okay exit great couple of meals let's go I have this record of like selling the company. Let's let's try to find a big thing now. Um so definitely a mistake.

Marina Mogilko: But would you ever start a company with me?

Dmitri Mogilko: Uh I mean yes because uh I remember myself at the university I had this all crazy ideas and it was like third year of the university and I remember this was visualization that I spent so much time and energy and my family also spent so much time and energy and money to prepare myself to get accepted to this best top Russian math university etc. And um on the third year I remember okay if it stops now I'm nowhere. I didn't start the company with my like um classmates. I didn't like start the company myself and I have only two more years and I have to to to have the company already until this point and um and I had only like big ideas and stuff and I understand okay with this big ideas when I don't have money at all I don't have reputation uh I could like probably it's hard to put it off uh and I start seeking for ideas that I can actually can implement without capital because we didn't have this beautiful station like in Silicon Valley in the rest of the world where you can rest raise money for idea being a freshman and out of the college. I mean with you I saw that okay we actually can pull it off because you are an expert in this field you passionate about it and uh we definitely can do marketing and we can create a product and we don't need much to start. I I just went I remember I told all our classmates that we we already have this company if you want to go study abroad go with us and that's how we get our first customers and that's how we were able to build a website rent an office etc. I think it's uh it was opportunistic and we didn't have a choice you know so it wasn't like I can do this he was you were choosing I mean yeah it was like a flow and it was organically good and like it was like perfect way uh and also understand. I remember thinking that you I never dreamed to live like in other countries or something like this. And I remember that it was your primary goal to actually move to English speaking country. That was your mission like life mission. And um I understood that's it's important for you in like huge part. We never spoke about this but but then once I called you from Canada saying that we're moving to Manitoba because there's this.

Marina Mogilko: Yeah. Yeah. This Silicon Valley like I even like I doubled my uh emails amount like that night to be able will get accepted to Silicon Valley accelerators and stuff because no way like we have to make it to Silicon Valley because I don't want to move to Canada. Jokes aside, I understood that it's very important for you and to be able to fill your need and also uh my dream as entrepreneur, I found that this path is actually win-win for everybody. That's also like the truth.

Dmitri Mogilko: Yeah. You know, like why it was a very like the way it is? Yeah. It's not only business but now would you make this business decision again or you think because everything we mentioned everything we went through and understood this is making.

Marina Mogilko: I mean of course I mean first of all it's like what e would have should have could have like I mean it's doesn't work this way it is what it is and uh I think it's perfect happy journey because like we had so much great memories together and we went through a lot of cool stuff we grew together. I think it's awesome.

Dmitri Mogilko: Thank you. I think it's great. What about you?

Marina Mogilko: Uh, no, no, no, no. I told you I would love to have someone like you in my media company, but I also understand that taking your goals into consideration, this is not at all what you want to do. So, I'm not even talking about it at all. But yeah, ideally, yeah, but now I feel like I'm more in the media space and you're doing your own thing. And I think it's a great it's the best decision for now. Let's see what happens in 10 years. Thank you so much.

Dmitri Mogilko: Thank you guys. Sorry for the bad English. I'll practice. Maybe I. It's getting better every single day. Yeah. So um thanks a lot. It's a pleasure to watch your growth and uh uh do an amazing job. Keep doing that.

Marina Mogilko: Thank you so much. I love you.

Dmitri Mogilko: I love you too. Bye guys.