Nikita Fedorov
Photo courtesy of Nikita Fedorov

The reliability of any application depends on how well it is tested. Until recently, it was difficult for developers to find convenient and effective tools, which slowed down processes in companies. Nikita Fedorov didn't wait for someone to solve this problem; he created the necessary solution himself. Today, his platform, Qase, helps the largest companies worldwide manage testing and improve product quality, and according to G2, it is recognised as a market leader among TestOps platforms.

Nikita Fedorov is a recognised technology leader with extensive experience in product development and team building. He had the opportunity to lead technology departments and work on product improvement for leading IT players.

The story of Qase began about eight years ago, when Fedorov was working as the head of the development department at RU-Center, one of the largest hosting companies. At that time, the company didn't have a testing process or people responsible for it. But there were a huge number of bugs in the app and complaints that something wasn't working correctly — the errors were only fixed after users reported them. As a result, Fedorov focused on reducing the number of defects and built the functional testing processes from scratch.

'The flow of these errors was impossible to control. I opened up hiring specialists and started looking for a tool for the team. At that time, we couldn't find a suitable solution on the market that met our needs. Then I decided to create it myself – especially since I had the necessary knowledge and understanding of exactly what was needed', he says.

Its creator continued working on Qase while heading the technical department at Avito, one of the world's leading online classifieds platforms. Here he saw that teams were forced to use different tools for manual and automated testing, and product quality data was stored in disparate systems. This significantly complicated analysis and decision-making. That's when the idea of combining manual and automated testing into a single tool was formed, to simplify the work of teams and increase the transparency of quality control processes.

And thanks to his deep expertise and experience, Fedorov completely automated the company's product testing – the time to check releases was reduced from 2 days to 1 hour.

Fedorov received his first investments for his project precisely from the CTO of Avito. These funds allowed him to register the company in the US, build the first development team, launch a paid subscription plan, and achieve initial revenue. Over time, the project attracted the attention of well-known venture capital funds – S16, FinSight, and Chrome Capital. In total, over $11.5 million was raised in the angel, seed, and Series A stages for product development.

Speaking about what helps convince investors about a project's prospects, Nikita Fedorov highlights several key factors: a clear vision for product and company development, as well as strong execution.

'We are growing steadily and delivering on the plans we commit to. We have a strong team with experience in scaling businesses, and our key metrics are above the market average. In the early stages, it was significantly more difficult – proven traction didn't exist yet. At that time, the product vision and understanding of how significant a problem it solved in the market played a decisive role.'

From the very beginning, Fedorov built a remote-first company, long before remote work became mainstream in 2020. This approach opened access to the strongest specialists from all over the world and allowed him to form a team without geographical limitations.

'What I particularly like about working in the global market is that you're competing with the best people on the planet. When you build a company within a single country or region, you're competing with teams that have a similar mindset and mentality. The global market requires fundamentally different decisions', noted the founder of Qase.

Today, the company employs 45 people from 10 countries – the USA, Armenia, Georgia, India, Turkey, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Finland, and Cyprus. Key management positions are held by VPs with experience at well-known companies such as AWS, Miro, Bolt, Firstbase, Kandji, Twilio, SendGrid, and Contentful.

'Strong people strive to hire equally strong people. I'm really proud of the amazing lineup we managed to put together. I don't like telling people what to do and micromanaging. I hire talented employees who suggest what needs to be done and what resources are needed for it. My task is to set the overall direction for the company', noted Fedorov.

The product was among the pioneers who bet on a cloud-only solution in the field of Test Management. This allowed them to move very quickly: in a short time, Qase closed the gap with existing products on the market and then surpassed them. Many of the platform's features subsequently became an industry standard, and other players had to copy them to keep up.

Today, the service is used by over 2,000 paying customers from more than 100 countries. Among them are major international brands and technology leaders, including the BBC, Asana, Etsy, Wolt, SUSE, Cloudera, and others.

Fedorov's experience is in demand even outside of his own business. Thanks to his deep practical expertise in product development and scaling technological solutions, he is regularly invited as an expert and judge to international hackathons and startup awards. At various times, Fedorov has participated in judging and expert evaluation of projects at events such as the DeveloperWeek Hackathon in the USA – one of the largest gatherings for developers and product teams – as well as in the international competitions Burning Heroes Africa and Burning Heroes London, which are focused on supporting and selecting high-growth potential technology companies.

'For me, participating in such projects as a judge is primarily an opportunity to share knowledge and support networking. When people from different industries share their experiences, it's truly inspiring', he emphasised.