
A Founder’s Fight to Grow During the Ukraine Invasion with Oleksandr Buratynskyi
Tenacity with Sonia C.Show Notes
What does it take to build and scale a tech startup while your country is under attack?
In this episode of Tenacity with Sonia C, Ukrainian founder Oleksandr (“Alex”) Buratynskyi, co-founder of T-Travel, shares the raw, unfiltered truth about growing a startup during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with no outside funding, constant uncertainty, and the pressure to keep his team motivated while the world around him shifted overnight.
Alex opens up about: -The hackathon spark that pushed him from QA testing into entrepreneurship -Bootstrapping T-Travel through wartime conditions when investors disappeared -How the invasion changed everything, from funding to timelines to team morale -The biggest mistake he made as a founder (and how it cost years of time and money) -Why overbuilding early nearly crushed the company -How he scaled to 37,000+ users without VC dollars -The mindset tools he used to stay steady while leading through crisis -His philosophy from his book Systematic Adaptiveness, and how founders can apply it in their own moments of chaos
This conversation serves as a blueprint for fostering founder resilience, resourcefulness, and psychological endurance.
If you’re navigating failure, rebuilding after a setback, or fighting to keep your dream alive, Alex’s story will remind you that tenacity is a strategy, not just a trait.
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
More from Tenacity with Sonia C.
Learn how to create real social impact as a business leader by opening hiring pipelines to underserved talent and looking beyond short term charity. Meaningful corporate impact occurs when companies offer direct employment opportunities to marginalized individuals rather than relying solely on donations. Partnering with comprehensive community programs helps break generational poverty cycles by providing people with transferable skills, career stability, and ongoing mentorship. Committing to hire capable individuals from underserved backgrounds strengthens company culture while creating permanent economic mobility. Denise Whiter, Executive Director of New Beginnings Support Program, joins Sonia Couto on Tenacity with Sonia C. to examine practical community investment. Denise explains how their year long programs, including the Step Into Success initiative and certification with Humber Polytechnic, prepare women for corporate roles at organizations like Ernst & Young and TD. She also highlights the EmpowerMe personal development curriculum and outlines goals for their annual Angels in Action Gala at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. What you'll learn • How to create real social impact as a business leader through direct hiring • Why short term training fails to resolve poverty compared to year long support • How transferable skills in digital literacy and business writing open corporate career paths • What common misconceptions prevent companies from hiring women rebuilding after crisis • How businesses can participate in the Angels in Action Gala or contribute through Canada Helps and Zeffy This conversation is for founders, executives, and hiring managers who want to move past performative corporate responsibility and build practical employment pathways for overlooked talent. Learn more about Denise Whiter and support the New Beginnings Support Program through their website: https://newbeginningsprogram.ca/
Beth Flippo, CEO of Drone Express, shares the real story behind building a drone delivery company and earning FAA drone certification with limited funding. She explains how a five year regulatory process, intense competition, and major setbacks became the very things that built a more resilient company.
Becoming a leader people naturally trust starts with becoming a stable, consistent presence who is confident in who they are. In this conversation, founder and medical provider Shawn Gibbs explains why the most trusted leaders are like cruise ships, not dinghies: steady and unwavering because they have done the internal work. Shawn shares lessons from his journey building companies, including GiveGowns, which redesigns hospital gowns to restore patient dignity.
Building brand authority in the age of AI requires a marketing ecosystem built on sustainable systems, not chasing the latest tools. In this conversation, branding and ecosystem strategist Laurens Tijssen explains how founders can create lasting market presence. He shares insights from his journey, which started with an online payment at age 14 and led to working with over 150 clients, including high profile entrepreneurs and global brands.
Making better founder decisions requires intentionally designing the process to include cognitive diversity and counteract common biases. In this episode, Sonia C. speaks with Kylee Ingram, a former international television producer who is now the CEO and co-founder of Wiser, a technology company focused on decision science. Kylee shares what she has learned about the science of group decision making from her work with clients like the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation and from her time inside technology accelerators.