SoftTrainer`s success story: «We received our first investment offer from one of the project mentors and also realized that it’s time to start selling our product.»

From March 11 to 22, SET University team with the support of the USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine (USAID CEP)  held an intensive bootcamp for tech projects whose founders are women or whose core teams are 70% women. The bootcamp was called We. Brave and its goal was to provide participants with the necessary expertise and networking to successfully develop projects, create new jobs, and enter new markets. Twenty-five startup teams were selected for the bootcamp, including products from the following areas: EdTech, Recruitment & HRTech, Cybersecurity, Healthcare, Wellness, Self-development, AR/VR, and Service sector. The three winning teams received an additional budget of $6500 for consulting and mentoring to further develop their businesses.

In this article, we tell you about one of the participants of the bootcamp, SoftTrainer, and share the impressions of its co-founder Alina Skachenko

Product Background

SoftTrainer is a tool designed to assess and enhance teams’ soft skills. By utilizing brief simulations of various workplace communication scenarios integrated with artificial intelligence, SoftTrainer enables employees to efficiently hone their skills. It also assists businesses in elevating overall communication standards within their teams and with clients, as well as in optimizing budget allocation.

«Soft skills are 100% practical skills that require regular practice to master. However, many teams still rely on ineffective two-day training sessions to develop these skills. After such sessions, employees are unlikely to immediately apply their new knowledge in team communication. These trainings also come at a cost – 23% of all L&D expenditures are dedicated to soft skills development. SoftTrainer not only saves businesses money but also improves the learning process. Its microlearning format, mobile accessibility, and daily simulations of real-life scenarios allows our users to train soft skills like a muscle,» Alina explains.

In addition to training programs, the team is developing a system for evaluating these skills, as there is currently no unified scale for assessing soft skills, for example, teamwork, responsibility, or interpersonal communication.

SoftTrainer will be accessible through a mobile app and a web version. In the early stages of product development, the team is targeting outsourcing teams from Eastern Europe, each with over a hundred employees, as its primary market.

The SoftTrainer team currently comprises 5 members: CEO Ruslan Kovalenko, CMO Alina Skachenko, CPO Roman Horskyy, CTO Mykhailo Burenko, and soft skills development expert Illia Bachurin. Each team member has prior experience in outsourcing and understands how poor communication can hinder team effectiveness.

The idea for the product originated during a hackathon in the summer of 2023. Later that fall, at another hackathon, the team was formed. Product development kicked off in October 2023. Since then, the team has conducted user interviews, validated the idea, honed their pitching skills at various events, conducted market research, developed a financial model, and designed the first course and the mobile app interface.

«Although each team member has extensive experience in IT, starting our own startup is a whole new challenge. We realized that we have gaps in expertise in sales, financial planning, team management, and in general, it would be great to listen more to those who have experience building their own tech products. That’s why we applied to participate in the bootcamp,» Alina tells the SET University team.

Key takeaways from the bootcamp

Alina shared that overall, all the workshops and mentor sessions were beneficial for their team, as there wasn’t a single one from which they didn’t take away something new.

For example, after meeting with Sergiy Kudryashov, the team clearly identified the pains and problems of their audience, what they would get from the product, as well as the TAM (Total Addressable Market), SAM (Serviceable Addressable Market), and SOM (Share of Market) metrics. After the lecture on financial planning, Alina and her colleagues understood how to further budget for the team, and the sales block provided a clear understanding that they should not wait, but start communicating with potential clients as soon as possible.

Here are the key takeaways the SoftTrainer team shared after completing the main part of the program:

– We realized we shouldn’t spend too much time creating marketing materials; instead, we should engage with potential clients and focus on selling.

– User interviews can help us find our initial clients.

– It’s possible to sell even without a final product ready.

By April 15, just a few weeks after the main part of the bootcamp ended, the SoftTrainer team had finalized their MVP and begun engaging with potential clients. «We’re receiving a lot of calls and seeing interested clients,» Alina says.

During the bootcamp, the SoftTrainer team also received their first investment offer from one of the We.Brave mentors.

SoftTrainer`s founder Alina on their bootcamp experience

We are very grateful to the USAID CEP and SET University for this bootcamp! We have gained numerous insights that we are already implementing, received valuable advice from mentors, joined a great community, and acquired priceless knowledge from lectures. This will definitely help us develop faster and better.

Such initiatives provide startups with the necessary boost, practical tools, and great opportunities. It certainly contributes to our shared goals of growing more unicorns in Ukraine and supporting our economy with cutting-edge projects, even more closely!

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USAID Competitive Economy Program supports Ukrainian businesses to improve their competitiveness in local and international markets, helps to develop a simplified and transparent business climate, and provides Ukrainian companies with opportunities to take advantage of international trade.

SET University is a Ukrainian educational institution that provides higher education to future leaders of the technology industry. SET University combines a modern approach to education with a focus on technology and entrepreneurship, the name SET is an acronym for Science, Entrepreneurship, and Technology. SET offers Master’s degree and Micromaster’s programs, as well as accelerators and bootcamps to support startups.