Mar 8, 2022
Anton Korytsko is a Finance & Business Analytics Partner at Bolt Delivery who relocated from Russia to Estonia.
What motivated Anton to join Bolt? How has he found the move to Estonia? And what advice would he give those who were thinking about relocating?
We’ll hear from Anton about his role before getting onto the specifics of relocating and adjusting to life in a new country.
Here’s Anton’s story…
Anton joined Bolt in November 2021 from Yandex Taxi, where he led the FP&A and investment analysis team.
The bulk of Anton’s professional experience is in investment management. He worked in Moscow as an equity research analyst and later a portfolio manager before pursuing an MBA at Columbia.
During the MBA, Anton realised he wanted to get into the weeds of how businesses grow and execute — rather than analysing this from the outside.
Anton heads up the finance team within the larger business analytics team for Bolt’s delivery vertical (Bolt Food and Bolt Market).
A significant part of Anton’s day-to-day involves communicating with teams across Bolt, including Business Analytics (particularly Data Engineering), Operations, Country Managers, and Financial Planning and Analysis.
Given Bolt’s rapid growth, Anton notes that many colleagues in Business Analytics are new to the company. So there’s a lot of attention on helping onboard team members as quickly as possible.
“Despite being a pretty big one already, Bolt is essentially a start-up. And while this brings challenges along the way, with every small issue we resolve, we’re creating the foundation that builds confidence and lets us tackle even bigger challenges”, says Anton.
Anton currently has a team of 3 and is on the lookout for a 4th team member!
A curious mind is high on Anton’s checklist when it comes to hiring.
“The most important attribute is curiosity, coupled with a little bit of critical thinking. A candidate must have a burning desire to understand why things are the way they are — and if it makes sense for things to stay that way. If you’re curious and you never give up, we would love to work with you!” says Anton.
When asked about what makes life at Bolt so enjoyable, it was, once again, people (as we’ve seen in previous posts) that came out on top.
“The focus and the flexibility with which the team operates have been a very pleasant surprise for me. There is no micromanagement here — but it doesn’t mean it’s the Wild West either.
And it might be a truism, but Bolt’s people are the most crucial ingredient and one of the key reasons I decided to join. That, coupled with the fact that the feedback loop between actions and results is very short, is a great feeling to have”, says Anton.
Since joining, Anton’s had the chance to challenge specific processes and draw on his experience to share ideas that could make improvements.
“Helping to clarify certain internal processes is extremely rewarding. And I get a real feeling of satisfaction for me when teams are finally aligned on the substance of a particular metric and can focus on executing”, says Anton.
And one of the main reasons Anton made the move to Bolt was having the opportunity to make a demonstrable impact at a large scale.
“I have the rare opportunity of helping build a finance function almost from scratch. The biggest challenge for me is bridging the gap between the detailed knowledge of how things work and that high-level sense of where we should be driving the business. This is so interesting to me!” says Anton.
As we discussed earlier, making an impact at Europe’s fastest-growing mobility app was why Anton relocated to Tallinn with his wife. Plus, he’d visited previously and had enjoyed his time in Estonia’s capital city.
As with any relocation, a significant initial worry was leaving behind friends and family — particularly parents and grandparents. But with the experience of visiting Tallinn previously (and a good amount of research on YouTube), it was clear to Anton that the positives outweighed the negatives.
With the decision made, next up was taking care of the actual practicalities of moving countries. Bolt’s Relocation team was on hand to help every step of the way.
“The relocation process was smooth — a trip to the embassy for the visa (and another one for me to file for a residence permit; my wife applied in Tallinn), choosing our temporary accommodation, and that was it!
Once we arrived in Tallinn, everything was easy. For example, it only took a day to confirm our permanent apartment registration. The Relocation team took care of everything and was a tremendous help!” says Anton.
And what of his life in a new country? Anton’s found the transition relatively easy and hasn’t had any considerable culture shocks that stand out!
Perhaps one surprise, though, was how close his temporary apartment was to Tallinn Airport.
“We have never walked home from an airport before!” says Anton.
Since arriving in Tallinn, he and his wife have particularly enjoyed visiting Kadriorg Park and are looking forward to seeing it in summer when it has even more to offer. They both enjoy hiking and camping, and Estonia offers plenty of opportunities for both.
And as a keen runner, Anton’s been enjoying the seaside views that Pirita tee has to offer.
Here’s Anton’s advice for those thinking about moving to Estonia:
Interested in joining us on our mission to build cities for people, not for cars?
Visit our Careers Page to see all open Bolt vacancies.
And if you’re worried about moving, remember that our Relocation team is here to make your move as smooth as possible.
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