Investment, technology, and innovation: Meet Roman Taranov, a Millennial Self-Made Entrepreneur

In 2018, Roman Taranov founded the mobile app publisher and developer Ruby Labs (RL) after closing operations with his previous (self-founded) global company, RGK. A...

The post Investment, technology, and innovation: Meet Roman Taranov, a Millennial Self-Made Entrepreneur appeared first on The Village Voice.

In 2018, Roman Taranov founded the mobile app publisher and developer Ruby Labs (RL) after closing operations with his previous (self-founded) global company, RGK. A few months later, RL’s research team launched Hint, the company’s first app, which within the first 6 to 12 months, scaled to 50M downloads. By then, Roman was 26.

Roman Taranov is a self-made millennial entrepreneur with a passion for technology, development, and innovation and a keen eye for good gaps in the mobile market. He’s also an investor with 10+ tech companies in his portfolio.

Born and raised in a Ukrainian family of humble means, Roman developed an early hunger for achievement and financial success. Not long after his parents could bring home a computer, he quickly became skillful at technology. The idea of being connected with the other corner of the world through computers simply amazed him. At age 16, he was making thousands of dollars online.

Upon completing high school, Roman went to college with the idea of pursuing a law degree. But Not long after, he dropped out to pursue a very different dream: founding his own mobile technology company.

“While I hold many educational institutions in the highest regard, not being bound to a certain way of thinking allowed me to expand my mind and perfect my craft in a way that a formal education in Ukraine might not have allowed me to do,” he explains.

At age 20, after moving to Barcelona, Roman founded RGK Mobile. This global m-payment service provider quickly scaled, working with leading mobile carriers such as Vodafone, Orange, T-mobile, among others. Although the company did exceptionally well, there was a point when the whole field of payment via mobile carriers went down as a business model, it became outdated. So he finally decided to close down operations.

That’s when Ruby Labs came into play. Far from being discouraged from the previous experience, Roman was more motivated than ever. He had improved his leadership, marketing, and management skills. Also, he wanted to pursue his dream of creating an inclusive, diverse, and flexible mobile tech company that encourages remote work. Being able to work and travel simultaneously was mind-opening for him, and he wanted to grant employees the same possibility.

Hint, RL’s first app was born after a few months of research. They discovered that being Astrology a $10Bn market (with $2Bn in the US alone), it wasn’t widely digitalized, unlike other niches in the wellness industry.

RL’s second launch, Able, responded to the alarming World Health Organization research findings that obesity had tripled since 1975, with more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, overweight. The app focuses on fitness and nutrition and helps people carry on healthy and high-quality lives by providing them with tools and information.

Roman Taranov is another example of how millennials change business and the world with their fresh, new eyes. He plans to keep fueling his passion for technology, innovation, and development by scaling RL and continuing to explore unserved audiences and undiscovered markets. He also helps other young entrepreneurs by investing in their ventures to change the face of the world.

The post Investment, technology, and innovation: Meet Roman Taranov, a Millennial Self-Made Entrepreneur appeared first on The Village Voice.