About the author

Aleksandr Volodarsky is the founder and CEO of Lemon.io, a marketplace that connects startups with vetted engineers from Europe and Latin America. With a background in bootstrapping tech businesses, he’s spent the last 10+ years obsessing over how to match the right engineers with the right teams.
He writes and speaks openly about startup growth, founder mistakes, and why vetting matters more than velocity when it comes to building great teams.

Experience

Aleksandr started building online businesses in his early 20s. He bootstrapped Lemon.io after multiple failed startups and years of learning how not to hire engineers. He’s made every mistake—from running out of money to hiring the wrong team—and used those lessons to build a profitable, remote-first company that matches vetted developers with startups. Today, Lemon.io operates across 40+ countries, with a team built entirely from scratch, no VC funding, and a focus on long-term sustainability.

The moment I stopped trying to grow at all costs and started focusing on profit, everything changed. I was finally building a real business.
Aleksandr Volodarsky