Scaling a startup while evacuating your team through a war zone

Executive overview

When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Stacy and Roman — founders of Awesomic, a Kyiv-based design platform — had to simultaneously evacuate their team, secure colleagues trapped in occupied cities, and keep their business running.

Having a plan before the invasion hit made the difference. It let them shift into execution mode immediately, without paralysis.

Survival and growth are not mutually exclusive — prioritise safety first, then resume building.

First response: evacuation and team safety

• Pre-invasion, founders proactively shared safety advice with designers across Ukraine
• When the invasion began, they started evacuating themselves and their team the same morning
• Colleagues in occupied territories required custom extraction plans and hired drivers who knew safe routes through dangerous areas
• One team member was hidden from Russian soldiers while relatives coordinated her escape
• "Kamikaze drivers" — locals who knew safe roads — were paid to reach and evacuate the last remaining people
• Safety threats were treated as the highest priority; any new threat in a region triggered immediate action

Managing trauma while continuing to operate

• The first weeks ran on adrenaline — constant action left no room for grief
• Emotional weight hit later: the Bucha atrocity photos caused a week of inability to focus
• The personal nature of the war (knowing people from affected areas) made disconnection impossible
• Robot mode — executing a pre-set plan step by step — was the coping mechanism that kept things moving

Keeping the business alive

• Awesomic resumed operations on day three of the invasion
• They continued onboarding new customers and designers throughout
• Their rationale: military wins battles, but economics is also a war — bringing foreign currency in mattered
• Designers who lost other work due to the invasion were onboarded onto the platform

The country-as-startup frame

• Ukraine's wartime response felt like a nationwide startup: fast, improvised, mission-driven
• Every person could contribute — fighting, supplying food, earning foreign revenue
• The founders drew optimism from the collective resilience and unity of Ukrainian society
• Post-war reconstruction was already being actively discussed as a near-term goal