Co-Founder @ Stan | building a $BN company 🚀

Hi, I’m Vitalii 👋🏻

Over the past 3 years, I’ve built a $30M ARR business with 30 people.

A $1M/employee company.

Now, we’re building a category-defining brand—with $100M ARR in sight.

To do that, I focus on Culture, People, and Product.

Everything that got me here is self-taught.

Born and raised in Russia, I started working at 13—packing parachutes and skydiving. 🪂
By 18, I had 800+ jumps and enough saved to pay for my first year of college.

Jumping out of planes redefined my relationship with fear.
Once you commit, you act. Without hesitation.

I learned English in one year to study abroad—still the hardest thing I’ve done.
That brought me to Canada, where I earned a degree in Chemical Engineering.

I never used it.

My side projects opened doors for me—first to Deloitte, then to eBay.
But the real work happened outside the job.

I made time to build:
9–5 for the paycheck,
5–9 (both morning and night) for what I actually cared about.

That’s where I proved to myself—nothing is impossible.

In 2021, I met my cofounder. We went all-in and started building Stan.

On my LinkedIn, I write about:

→ Founder war stories (unfiltered)
→ Building a $1M/employee startup
→ Creating top 1% culture

🎧 Follow me here if you're building—or want to build—something great.

People I work with would describe me as:

→ I make things happen
→ Zero tolerance for mediocrity
→ I build and run top 1% talent-density teams

🫂 DM me on LinkedIn if you'd like to work at Stan.

But know—it’s likely to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.
And worth it. For the right person.

—

On LinkedIn, I share stories for founders building what’s next—
The ones who care about People, Culture, and Redefining what's possible.

If that’s you,
Follow me. Drop a comment. Or just say hi 👋🏻

Vitalii Dodonov

I've just hired Emily Talas to make Stan the #1 place to work in Toronto 🇨🇦

A day later: "You're so lucky to have her."

I got 7 texts like this following the announcement ^^. Must be doing something right 😅

Here's a stat I feel vulnerable to share:

50% of our candidates from traditional channels don't work out by month 3.

At the same time, 
90% of employee referrals stay indefinitely and create disproportionate value.

There's signal in that.

And we're acting on it ✅

Starting now, we’re going 90% community-based hiring.

When I met Emily, I knew almost instantly she'd be the one:

Born to a family of entrepreneurs. Working since 14. Found her ikigai in Community x Tech (how rare is that!?). People I respect texted me about her.

I bet on Emily because the talent I'm after doesn't talk to recruiters: 
"The best people are never unemployed."

But on occasion, they hang out with other cool people. 
Emily's mission is to create the occasion.

In 2026, Emily's likely to drive 90% of our hiring in Toronto.

Think hackathons, hacker houses, private dinners, collaborations, and special events giving unknown talent a chance to meet us.

🇨🇦 Toronto — what's one event you wish existed here? We're painting a blank canvas, share some ideas!

My first bet of 2026: $20,000 on builders in Canada 🇨🇦

Build with AI? On Jan 23 👇

I’m inviting 60 builders to embark on a weekend-long sprint to create something new at the edge of AI.

Details:
🛠 Participants: 60 builders
⏰ Duration: 2 days 
🎯 Theme: AI × Voice × Video
👥 Team: Solo, with friends, or AI teammates

Each participant/team gets a $200 tech credit and competes for:

$20,000 cash
30-min 1:1 with me (ask anything you want)

To help spread the word, please repost this and tag anyone who should see it!

This is an invite-only event.

📩 To apply, leave a comment describing the most impressive thing you’ve built in one line.

Traditional recruiting is dead. That's why I'm paying $20,000 to a stranger in January.

I've hired 40+ people.

Together, we've built a $30M ARR startup. Profitably.

One thing in common among my best hires:

I wouldn't call them if all I saw was their resume. Take a look:

Esther, now my EA, has a fashion management degree. She got the job by walking into a machine shop and producing a mechanical drawing — before we even met 💅🛠️

Jason (JSON) won a hackathon last year he couldn't legally join because he was 17. I hired him on the spot (with his parents' approval) and he's built a $1.4M product with me in 9 months 🧑🏻‍💻

Ricky, now Head of Engineering, came from a company I'd never heard of. Did fine in the interview (on his birthday! 🎂). Then called me at 10 PM with a better solution he couldn't stop thinking about. 

Resumes can only tell you so much — unreliable signal.

So instead of reading resumes, I host hackathons. Give builders a reason to come. 

Then watch.

So here we are 👇

January 23. Toronto. 2-day hackathon on the edge of AI.

Win $20,000 — and (or!) a job building a $1B company. Invite-only. 

📩 To apply: tell me a story of what you've built that you're most proud of in the comments.

CRA paid me $750K for building in Canada 🇨🇦

And now I'm giving it back - starting with $20K on Jan 23. 

In 2021, we established our office in Canada.

3 years later: $30M ARR. 30 people. One of the fastest-growing startups in the country.

My vision was to build a $1B company with 10 engineers - I'm evolving that now.

Since then, our Toronto office expanded far beyond engineering and has become HQ for 20+ brilliant people building at the edge of technology and entrepreneurship.

There are 2 major tech hubs in the world — SF and Toronto.

And while SF has access to capital and a developed VC ecosystem, California seems to be working against its own interest.

I mean… who wants to become a billionaire in California now? 👎

Anyway — Canada paid me $750K last year for building here.

And I'm paying it back to Canadian builders.

January 23. Hackathon in Toronto. 60 builders. $20,000 grand prize.

Come join us — and let the prize be the seed funding for your company (or use the opportunity to interview at Stan — whatever your ambition is).

Invite-only (curating a high calibre room!)

📩 To apply, drop your proudest project in one sentence in the comments. I'll reach out with an invite if it resonates.

I'm paying $20,000 for 2 days of someone's work on Jan 23.

Early in my career, 

I was making $8,000/mo writing code for a big company, while hacking away on side projects. I always wanted to work for myself.

One day, I was in a room with an entrepreneur who was upset about fees he was paying for software. So I asked:

V: How much are you paying?
M: 10%.

V: And how much money is that?
M: $50K/year.

My mind goes: no wonder he's upset. I bet I could do a simple Stripe integration with 3.4% fees. I already did something similar for my side project.

V: If I could get your fees down to 5%, how much would that be worth to you?
M: I'd pay $10K without even thinking.

V: I'm gonna do it for you for $10K.

It took me a weekend — 3 days (nights included), mostly repackaging code I already had across other projects.

I gave him a demo on Monday, and by Friday, $10,000 landed in my PayPal.

That weekend I learned: the right room + the right skills = life-changing opportunity. 

And now, I want to put you in that room 👇

January 23. Hackathon in Toronto. 60 builders. $20,000 grand prize. 
Invite-only. 

📩 To apply, drop your most impactful build story in the comments — I'll personally reach out to the builders I want in the room.

I hired my Executive Assistant because of her napkin drawing 📜

Her name is Esther.

A year ago, I was looking for an Executive Assistant. 

Looking for the top 1%, I needed a way to test problem-solving and initiative.

So I gave candidates a creative test:

I was building a frame for a flying car as a passion project at the time.

How many ppl know anything about flying cars anyway? 🤷‍♂️

I wrote down an abstract description of a few parts I needed.

The assignment was to research machine shops and find a way to manufacture them 

When I reviewed Esther's submission, she had a picture of this drawing inside (see the image).

I invited her to my office:

V: "Do you know anything about manufacturing?"
E: "No… I study business and fashion"
V: "How did you get this image?"
E: "They drew it for me at the machine shop"
V: "You went to the machine shop?"

(I reviewed a few dozen submissions by then. All candidates just called).

E: "I called first but what they were saying didn't quite fit what you were looking for"

E: "I figured it'd be easier if I just go there to figure it out. "
E: "So I just walked over." 

V: "That must've taken hours. Why invest that time?"

E: "Umm... I didn't really think about it. I wasn't getting what I needed. So I did what I had to do."

Having heard this I knew the interview was over.

Anyone who thinks like that will succeed in anything they do.

She got the job.

And since then, Esther was behind a number of very unique experiences we created at Stan:

Like making the big $750K CRA cheques, organizing Hacker Houses in SF and hosting AI Hackathons on Toronto. 

Congratulations on your 1 year at Stan, Esther!

undefined undefined

Executive Assistant @ Stan

Stan

HackAI 2.0 starting tonight. It’s time to build 😤

New Show: Emily in 𝙿̶𝚊̶𝚛̶𝚒̶𝚜̶ Stan (or "How to get a Founder to hire you")

A story in screenshots 👇

Hiring - Emily in Stan

I'm paying $20,000 in January to the winner of my hackathon. But the real prize isn't the $20K.

The room matters more than the prize.

When I was 13, my dad gave me a gift — working alongside him.

He's a professional skydiver. Extreme sport, expensive hobby. His clients are top-tier business people (natural selection — the sport isn't cheap) 🪂

So in between sessions when we went out for saunas and dinners, I got to sit in and listen to them. War stories, betrayals, deals, schemes, mental models, what made them successful.

I absorbed it all, without even realizing it.

Looking back, I realize — those were the building blocks that led me to a $30M ARR startup, running at $1M/employee before AI.

And that's the opportunity I'm giving you.

Join Stan on January 23 to build for 2 days alongside my team and 59 other builders competing for a grand prize of $20,000.

→ Meet me, my team, and Toronto's best builders.
→ Maybe your future co-founder — or I offer you a job. (It happened last year.)

The $20K is nice. The room might change your life.

January 23. Toronto. Invite-only.

Grab your spot with the link in comments!

I asked a seasoned exec about his worst business decision.

He didn't miss a beat: "Cancelling the 9am."

For 10 years, he ran it daily.
The 2 years he stopped were his worst.

Without that anchor, people drifted in at 9:30.
Add coffee and "how was your weekend" — real work started at 11.

Half the day, gone.

The meetings weren't about updates.
They set the rhythm.

Remove that, and people rebuild discipline from scratch.
Exhausting.

At Stan, when we skip our morning sync, everything drags.

We don't miss the information.
We miss the rhythm.

Humans need structure.
It gives them permission to just start.

What’s your version of the 9am?

Someone asked me what I hope never changes about Stan in 5 years.

Me in 5 seconds: 

"Our commitment to talent density."

I'm building a company where having worked here is the ultimate badge of honor on a resume.

Where any other employer would be fighting to get our alumni on board. 
(If they ever want to work for another company, that is.)

I fundamentally believe the reason we win is this: We attract top 1% talent.

And we put them in an environment where their ability can be utilized to its absolute maximum potential.

With ownership, autonomy, and a set of large, cutting-edge problems they can tackle.

Everything else can change. 
The market, the product, our size.

But for me, it will always be about the talent.

Founders Q: What's the one thing you hope never changes about your company?

One of my favourite Years in Review on LinkedIn. Keep going Alexia - it's okay not to know what's coming. The path unfolds as you start walking.

Putting Humans Back at the Heart of Business | Certified L&D Professional | Soft Skills Expert | Heedership® & Bring Your Asha! Founder | ICF Coach

"It is never too late to be what you might have been." 💜
George Eliot wrote these words centuries ago. I understood them at 43.

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.
Merci pour les rencontres qui sont devenues des amitiés.
Merci pour les doutes qui sont devenus des certitudes.
Merci pour chaque "oui" qui m'a rapprochée de qui je suis vraiment.

This year, I finally found where I belong. Coaching. Delivering Trainings. Learning & Development. Toastmasters: Human Connection.

And as I look at this visual, thank you for the idea Stanley (Your Content Coach) and Vitalii Dodonov, I see my entire "purple" year captured in one image. Learn. Grow. Repeat. The infinity loop between Heedership and Leadership. The three pillars. The magic.

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰? 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔.
I don't know exactly what's coming. And that's the most exciting part.

What I do know: I'm ready. Curious. Open.

It is never too late to become who you might have been.
And it's never too early to dream about who you're still becoming.

Pure magic. 💜

𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤-𝐢𝐧: What are you curious about for 2026?

Eric Lay

founder & ceo | b2b gtm for vertical saas

Building virio.ai

A done-for-you content service and AI coworker for B2B companies to turn LinkedIn into their #1 GTM channel.

Founding Partner

Hosting private dinners, socials & events for Toronto's top VC backed founders. Partnerships with companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Collision, Elevate, Inovia VC, Forum VC & many more!

ElevenLabs hit $330M ARR by doing something 99% of AI companies still don't understand:

They turned voice AI into human connection at scale.

2022: Two Polish founders started building in a London flat
2025: $330M ARR, millions of creators, Fortune 500 adoption

From day one, ElevenLabs built for multiple languages, while competitors went all in on English markets.

Here is the team behind the mission:

Mati Staniszewski (Co-Founder, 71K followers): Shares what it's really like to be behind the scenes of scaling a tech company and how voice is becoming the new interface. Posts on how voice is the new interface and champions the teams, partners, and customers behind the mission.

Carles Reina (VP Revenue & First Investor, 31K followers): One of the first on the Uber Europe team, then helped scale Tractable AI (a unicorn) globally. Then moved over to ElevenLabs when they had less than 10 people. Now he is running everything GTM and shares everything from hiring to launching in new markets and calling out "Founder-led sales". 

Rohit Sharma (GTM, 23K followers): Travels the world demoing the product to hundreds of people. Shares what it's like to be in a pool of world-class talent 🤝 ambitious mission. 

Luke Harries (Growth, 18K): Previous YC founder now heads up the growth team and shares successful campaigns for ElevenLabs. Works with Alec to share the breakdown of the strategy behind hitting 100k subscribers on Youtube and growing the Instagram company page to 24k in one month. Believes that all mobile design will move towards liquid glass. 😮‍💨

Alec Wilcock (Social Media, 6.4K followers): The guy behind their 100k follower growth on Instagram, and proves the ROI of content. He and the team made a video in English that led to 350k views, then dubbed it in 7 languages using ElevenLabs and hit 150k+ impressions (🚀30%). Proves that doubling down on what's working is a thing.

Other people behind the mission:
Ludovit Nastisin (AI Creative Producer, 16.6K): AI content creator who also partner with other beasts in the tech world: Figma Weave, Runway, Freepik, Higgsfield, Mago.

Chibuzor Oluo (GTM, 6K followers): Driver of the GTM motion.

Ben Budde (GTM, 6.6K followers): Shares team milestones and shares product updates.

Dustin Blank (Partnerships, 7.4K followers): Heading up partnerships as part of their insane growth.

Together, they have:

→ Team posting the latest product insights
→ Millions of creators using the product daily
→ Fortune 500 companies: Deliveroo, Epic, Meta, Square

This is why ElevenLabs dominates.

CEO @ Virio | Content that drives pipeline

🚨 Excited to announce we added $1M ARR in 30 days by turning LinkedIn content into the #1 revenue driver for Fortune 500 companies and the fastest growing AI startups in the world.

The crazy part is this almost never happened…

My gaming startup fell apart a few years ago. I moved back to Toronto thinking a break would help me reset. Instead, I spent months feeling more lost than ever. Just this gnawing sense that I'd wasted years building the wrong thing.

Fast forward to the last 30 days:
- Added $1M ARR
- Onboarded 5 full-time employees in SF
- Sponsored 3 international visa’s
- Spent $14,736 on Doordash

Here's what matters more than the numbers:

We found ways to turn content from just a brand investment to something that's directly tied to revenue. 

To my co-founder Emmett Chen-Ran - After years of failed co-founder attempts, I'd almost given up on finding the right partner. I needed someone who could see what I couldn't, communicate ideas that made mine better, and think in ways that challenged me. Honestly, I couldn't have done this without you.

To our team - I'm so proud of every single person that is part of Virio. No one wants to win more than us. I feel very grateful to have a group of people who are so personally aligned on challenging themselves everyday to be the best at their craft. When you are around people that are willing to dedicate so much to their work, it compounds and is inspiring for everyone.

We're hiring top 1% LinkedIn creators who want to build the number one company in the world.

People share big milestones, and they make it look easier than it is. It may look like overnight success, but this was years of trial and error to get to this point.

Back to building ⚒️

If you're a B2B founder wanting the secret sauce to driving revenue through LinkedIn, this workshop is for you. Here are 5 VIRAL posts from the speakers 👇

Combined: 330K+ followers, and proven systems that turn content into revenue.

1. Me (Virio, 38K followers) - "The most effective GTM playbook ever"

146 meetings with decision makers in 60 days. Multiple six-figure contracts signed. 400K impressions in 2 months. Built a repeatable content + community system.

https://lnkd.in/esY4rsqe

2. Max Rascher (120K followers) - "The 🐐 ChatGPT Cheat Sheet"

Became one of the fastest-growing AI voices by solving real problems with tactical content.

https://lnkd.in/eCvVhmpZ?

3. Tanay Kothari ( Wispr Flow , 53K, growing 150% QoQ) - "Google sent me a cease and desist at 13"

Built 2.5M users while his parents thought he was watching Power Rangers. Now scaling Wispr Flow with the same constraints.

https://lnkd.in/e5sd2b5C

4. Conor Brennan-Burke ( Hyperspell (YC F25), 11K) - "After 7 applications to Y Combinator"

From sleeping in a closet to YC F25. Built paying customers before the acceptance.

https://lnkd.in/eqCUxwK2

5. Josh Sirota ( Eragon, 9K) - "Today I am introducing Eragon"

Turned product launch into pipeline by showing the problem, not just the solution.

https://lnkd.in/e7wa-P9P

This Sunday, we're breaking down the exact systems for you to replicate just this.

If you'd like to attend, like + comment and I will share the registration link 👊

🦄 → 🦄🦄🦄🦄 Synthesia just raised a $200M Series E at a $4B valuation. The team scaled from $42M to $150M ARR in under 2 years by doing something 99% of AI companies still can't understand:

2017: Four AI researchers started building in London
2025: $146M ARR, 60K+ customers, 90% of Fortune 100 clients

Competitors went all in on viral consumer features. Synthesia took a different approach… They built for Fortune 100 compliance teams in 140+ languages.

Here are some of the people behind the mission:

Victor Riparbelli (Co-Founder & CEO, 64K followers): uses LinkedIn to share the growth of Synthesians and shares glimpses of what’s next for video. Fun fact: led a World of Warcraft guild as a teenager, and used a voice changer so people would take him seriously. Genius 🤯

Steffen Tjerrild (COO & Co-founder, 22.6K followers): On stage constantly sharing what Synthesia is building... even presented to Jensen Huang (the AI Godfather). Someone buy this guy another pink unicorn.

Kevin Alster (Strategic Advisor, 15.2K followers): Founded Synthesia Academy to scale customer onboarding. Calls out why traditional LD doesn't work and how companies should tackle this instead.

Jakob Marovt (SVP of Marketing, 12.7K followers): Started as Head of Growth and scaled alongside the company, sharing growth and engineering principles the whole way. Scaling the team now - they're hiring engineers (throw him some intros if you know of anyone talented).

Evan Kelsay (Strategic Accounts, 8.1K followers): Posts about why video beats text 95% to 10% on retention and how Fortune 100 companies are converting boring PDFs to AI video. The guy behind Synthesia working with 70%+ of Fortune 100.

Other people behind the mission:

Cory Snyder (Principle Partnership Manager, 8.2K followers): Recently joined the team, but has a track record of making partner programs and partner orgs. 

Ash Turner (Influencer Marketing, 7.8K followers): Built Synthesia's influencer program from scratch in 10 months... 200+ creator activations, 10M+ impressions globally.

Conrad Riparbelli(Creator Partnerships Manager, 3.4K followers): Scouts out for the best creators to partner with and demo their latest features (Max being one of them 👀).

Together, they have:
→ Work with over 70% of the Fortune 100
→ 60,000+ businesses using the product
→ Amazon, SAP, Xerox, Bosch, Zoom, UiPath, Spotify

Huge congrats on the raise. Excited to see what they ship next!

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Vitalii Dodonov

Eric Lay

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The Battle

Vitalii Dodonov

Eric Lay

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