Pavel Mihutski
Operator for founder-led companies
I come in when the product is there and operations don’t hold the growth. Three to six months, a named mandate, a verified result.
For 20 years I’ve been building and rebuilding businesses. For a long time I developed CRM and ERP systems where software meets hardware.
At twenty I founded a building materials company with €40K invested. Within three years it reached €1M+ annual revenue, and within four it had its own warehouse, its own installation crews and about $400,000 of stock on hand. I sold it after five years. I forecast the year’s purchases myself, and the forecasts came within about 5%. How I decided the purchases
At EPAM I led two big projects. The first was automotive work for ThyssenKrupp: EPAS (electronic power-assisted steering) for Mercedes and Volvo production lines. The second was the launch of the first version of EPAM Anywhere, and then EPAM Contribute. These are platforms like Upwork, built for putting together and running projects inside EPAM and its 40,000 engineers. EPAM Anywhere is still live.
Then for six and a half years at C.T.Co I was product lead on AML transaction monitoring for MasterCard (global rollout), reinsurance decision automation for Swiss Re, requirements for World Bank Group. I co-founded TPSGate and took it from idea to profit in about three years and a €1.35M VC round. More than 130 projects in nine industries in all.
I’m not an adviser who hands over a report and leaves. I go into the company, build the picture from real data, and stay until the team is moving in one direction.
I live in Valencia and work with companies worldwide, mostly in Europe. I work personally, as an autónomo in Spain. Languages: English, Russian.
Roles
- Fractional COO & Deployment LeadFounder-led companies · nowThree to six months inside the company with a named mandate, or one hard question in a Founder Sprint of 10 working days.
- Co-founder, board memberTPSGate · courier logisticsA courier delivery automation service: product, operations, fundraising. From idea to profit in about three years and a €1.35M VC round; on the board since 2024.
- FounderMy own company · building materialsFounded at twenty with €40K invested: €1M+ annual revenue within three years, sold after five. Its own warehouse, its own installation crews, about $400,000 of stock on hand. Forecasts of the year’s purchases came within about 5%.
- Project leadEPAMAutomotive work for ThyssenKrupp: EPAS (electronic power-assisted steering) for Mercedes and Volvo production lines. The launch of the first version of EPAM Anywhere, an internal talent platform for 40,000 engineers that is still live, and EPAM Contribute.
- Product leadC.T.Co · financial sectorSix and a half years. AML transaction monitoring for MasterCard: product lead from day one to the global rollout. Reinsurance decision automation for Swiss Re for about five years, deals up to about €2M. Requirements for World Bank Group.
- External consultant, then project leadTurkcell · telecomEVAM: systems that react to events in real time. On schedule in one year, about €40K saved.
- ERP integratorE-bike rental · EuropeThe company as it is, a system of record, decisions checked against data.
Why decisions
In all of these roles one thing held my attention: what signals people decide on, how a decision becomes a commitment, an action and an outcome. And what that outcome teaches.
Signal, decision, commitment, action, outcome, learning. Conversations, data and behaviour give the signals, the outcome tests the model, the learning changes the next decision. Code and AI quickly become available to everyone. The value stays in real cases: in the grounds, the commitments and the results.
I have been recording my conversations for 14 years, and I test mechanisms on myself first. My personal lab for this is called CoFlow.
How I work
- ClarityI go where things are tangled and restore the picture first.
- PeopleBehind every system are the people who will work in it. Change holds when they become allies.
- Agreements and boundariesRole, result, price and responsibility are named before deep work starts. A Sprint ends with an answer and a plan; co-management is agreed separately.
- Checked by resultsA decision is good when its outcome has been checked. Including decisions not to do something.
What I research
I am also an independent researcher, entrepreneur, practitioner and teacher. I research how people and organisations make decisions, and build systems that help record decisions, carry them into action and learn from the results.