Evidence over theory
Revenue numbers, traffic data, and failure post-mortems are more useful than frameworks and methodology names.
About
Maksim Kulgin
Systems engineer, entrepreneur, author.
I've been in IT since the early 1990s — starting with network engineering, IP/IPX protocols, and corporate infrastructure. Over the following decades I built e-commerce operations, wrote three engineering books on network architecture, and launched a portfolio of bootstrapped internet products.
My work today centers on data collection infrastructure, click fraud defense, and building durable internet businesses without venture capital. The products I've built — clickfraud.ru, xmldatafeed.com, offlinecrm.ru, tapki.com — each solve a specific, unglamorous problem at the intersection of internet operations and data.
I write and speak in public because I find most conversation about IT entrepreneurship in Russia to be full of marketing noise and success theater. The channel bezsmuzi ('without smoothie') exists to provide a counterpoint: real revenue figures, real mistakes, real operating decisions.
Working Principles
Long game
Building in Russia since the 1990s means you've seen markets, regulations, and technologies change completely. Durability matters more than growth hacks.
Technical clarity
Engineering thinking applied to business problems: understand the system, find the bottleneck, fix it. Repeat.
No pretense
The channel isn't called 'without smoothie' for decoration. Honest reporting on what works and what doesn't is rare, and valuable.
Engineering Library
Published Books
Three engineering books published in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
KomputerPress, Moscow
IP/IPX Traffic Switching and Routing
Professional engineering reference on routing and switching. Written for network administrators, not marketers.
Information Technologies for EngineersPeter, St. Petersburg
Corporate Network Technologies
Comprehensive reference on building and operating corporate networks in Russian infrastructure contexts.
EncyclopediaPeter, St. Petersburg
Building Computer Networks. For Professionals
Practical guide to designing, deploying, and maintaining computer networks. Reviewed by Kompyuterra as an essential resource for Russian network engineers.
For ProfessionalsCareer Timeline
1990–1998
Network Engineering
Corporate networks, IP/IPX, sysadmin
1998–2003
Author
3 books on network infrastructure (KomputerPress, Piter)
2000s
Manager
Large-scale online retail
2010
Founded clickfraud.ru
Click fraud protection for advertisers
2012
Founded xmldatafeed.com
Price monitoring and web scraping
2014
Founded offlinecrm.ru
Free CRM for small businesses
2019
State grant
8M RUB from Foundation for Innovation Assistance
2021
Revenue milestone
40M+ RUB combined annual revenue
2023+
Community & Media
bezsmuzi channel, journal, ecosystem