Architecture of Silence: Why It Is Useless for You to Look for Us

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«True power never knocks on closed doors. It simply changes the locks throughout the entire building while the inhabitants argue over the share price».

I know the expression on your face as you read these lines right now.

In your office on Place Vendôme, in Zurich or on Sand Hill Road, there is surely a faint smell of cold espresso right now. Your trusted analysts, legal departments and private agencies, for indecent cheques, have already spent a sleepless night trying to break down the name Olha Lysenkova (Dronova) into the usual formulas: Whose trust is this? Which fund stands behind the scenes? Who is this mysterious Dronov, and in which offshore havens should one look for traces of the syndicate?

Put down the phone, gentlemen. Drink some water. You will find nothing.

Searching for a woman with a double surname through the closed databases of the old world is an entertaining pursuit, but an extremely ruinous one for your budget. You will find hundreds of women who calmly make jam in the suburbs, take their children to school or give themselves an impeccable manicure. But the one who overturned your chessboard, you will not find on any Forbes list. Because lists of rich people are a vanity fair for those who need to prove their worth to other people's banks.

A lesson for old conglomerates and «generous investors»

For too long you have lived in the illusion that the world belongs to those with more glass floors, longer compliance chains and louder marketing departments. You have herded people into your digital reservations, where between a condolence photograph and a painting from the Louvre a discount on synthetic socks pops up, and you have called this «progress» in all seriousness.

You have forgotten how to distinguish scale from fuss.

Once, a wealthy man with a patronising smile asked me what gift I would like to receive. Men of your circle usually expect predictable feminine whims: another handbag, a piece of jewellery or a new phone to replace a broken one.
I looked at him and calmly replied: «I want to found my own company».

He gave a condescending smirk: «Write a business plan, and I will consider investing».
I wrote it for two weeks. At night, without any help, after exhausting days of work. I placed before him a tome of 68 pages — with a full structure, calculations and formulas.

A long time he leafed through it, cleared his throat in bewilderment, and quibbled over the calculations:
— “And why are the formulas so basic?”
— “Basic — because they can be found in textbooks. But the key formulas of success lie in my head, and I do not intend to reveal them before the contract is signed.”

And then this gentleman did what you, gentlemen investors, always do when confronted with a scale you are incapable of controlling. He took fright. He awkwardly averted his eyes and muttered:
— “I thought you were joking... You know, you are not yet ready for big money. Go work for a friend of mine, learn a thing or two about life, and then, perhaps, we shall return to this conversation.”

I closed the folder and said to him what I have remembered all my life:
“I do not intend to spend my life on other people's friends. But remember this day: you refused me investment, and so I shall build my company myself — without taking a single cent from anyone.”.

Years passed.

MANIFESTO

“They said ‘no’. I built an empire.
Simply because I can.”

Not a single investment. Not a single venture fund. Not a single compromise.

A quiet warning

VIA AD ME is not a startup. We do not play your investment rounds, we do not take your loans, and your boards of directors do not interest us.

✦  There are no algorithms here draining human attention.

✦  There is no advertising here, no info-business, no cheap tickets to the mass market.

✦  And above all: entry here is not sold for money.

Au kila kila ni na kila gauna na yavu ni bati makawa e dau via kina se voli se voroka na ka e sega ni salavata kei na nona ivakarau ni vuravura.

Au na vakabulai iko mai na cala vakalailai oqo: kakua sara ni tovolea.

Na veiqaravi vakatikina ki na dua na ivakarau e tara cake mai na kaukauwa yadua e sa bau vakila, na vuku ni numeri e sega ni cala, kei na kila vakaoti ni bula ni tamata — oqo e dua na cakacaka e sa vakarautaki tu na nona revurevu ca. O na vakayagataka na nomu milioni ki vei ira na vukei ni lawa, ki na vakadidike ni ilavo, ki na tovolea ni veivakasaurarataki, ia ena iotioti o na tu ga e matamata ni katuba sa sogota vata kei na faila ni ripote sega ni yaga. Me vaka ga na dauveivakauqeti oya e a tiko ga vata kei na nona ilavo sega ni yalodina.

Au sega ni manumanu kai. Na manumanu kai era veivakacalai ka vakaraitaka na batidra, baleta era rerevaka ni na tiko ga na viakana. Au raica na nomu vere kei na dua na veimataqali dredre, na dredre ni marama e sa vakavakarau vinaka sara tu ga na nona vale.

Kevaka na nomu mataqali, na nomu valenivolavola se na nomu valenivolavola vakavuvale ena dua na siga ena vakatabuya na nodra dromu ki na boto ni veiqaravi ni vuravura — o kila na vanua e tiko kina na buro ni kere ni veivakadonui. Ena yalomalumalumu na neitou raica na nomu kerekere. De rawa, ena sauma tale ga.

Ia oqo — maroroya na yalodra na nomu dauveiqaravi. Keitou sa qaravi ira ka vakadewataka na ivola oqo ki na 180 vosa, me rawa ni wilika na tamata yadua na dredre oqo ena nona vosa.

Kei na veidokai sega ni veisautaki ki na nomu gauna sa vakayagataki,

Olha Lysenkova (Dronova)

Founder & Creative Director of VIA AD ME