Blockquote Show: Oleksandr Kosovan, MacPaw

Описание: Today's guest is Oleksandr Kosovan, founder and CEO at MacPaw and Setapp, and co-founder of the VC fund SMRK. Apps like CleanMyMac, Gemini, or SetApp have seen millions of downloads over the years and become indispensable for many Mac users across the world.

[0:00] Pre-show countdown
[4:53] Introduction
[5:43] Donate to the Come Back Alive Foundation to support Ukraine
[6:14] About MacPaw and how Oleksandr started a company while being a student
[6:38] CleanMyMac — the first product by MacPaw
[6:57] Setapp, a very ambitious project for the macOS ecosystem
[7:55] How did Oleksandr create CleanMyMac and bootstrap the company?
[10:16] In which startups does SMRK VC Fund invest?
[11:07] Where lies the main focus for Oleksandr today?
[11:54] Where was Oleksandr on the 24th of February?
[12:15] Did he expect that Russia could start a full-scale war against Ukraine?
[12:44] How MacPaw prepared for the Russian invasion of Ukraine
[14:07] How the company used its products to spread information about the war
[15:41] About leaving the Russian market
[15:58] New products created by MacPaw in times of war
[16:12] Together App, a chatbot to ensure that everyone in the team is safe
[16:53] How to protect data from Russian cyber threats with SpyBuster?
[18:46] How did customers support the MacPaw team after the war started?
[20:13] How did Oleksandr become a big Apple fan and evangelist?
[21:49] MacPaw’s marketing activities in the first years of the company
[22:31] The biggest thing that impacted the business in the early days
[24:37] Why did Oleksandr give CleanMyMac licenses to hackers for free?
[26:35] What differs the Mac ecosystem from other ones?
[27:07] Why is it important to pay for software?
[29:14] Why did MacPaw invest $1M in Promprylad.Renovation innovation center in the West of Ukraine in wartime?
[33:13] In which Ukrainian startup does Oleksandr plan to invest?
[35:28] What is happening with tech companies in Ukraine?
[36:03] In which companies does SMRK VC Fund invest?
[36:30] How MacPaw helps Ukraine win
[37:09] What is the main focus of the MacPaw Development Fund in their support for Ukraine, and how does it raise funding?
[39:40] What is the work at MacPaw looking right now?
[42:05] Today’s biggest issue for MacPaw.

Products by MacPaw mentioned in the interview:

CleanMyMac X (https://macpaw.com/cleanmymac), an advanced clean-up app, designed to power up and protect Macs.
Setapp (https://setapp.com/), a subscription-based productivity service for macOS and iOS with access to a curated software library of 240+ apps.
SpyBuster (https://spybuster.app/), a free anti-spyware macOS app that helps protect users’ data by spotting apps and web connections that report to servers in Russia and Belarus or are somehow related to those countries.
Together App (https://github.com/MacPaw/together-app), an app for Slack where companies can organize daily check-ins for their teams to ensure that everyone is in a safe place. Available for free on GitHub.
MacPaw Development Fund (https://humanitarian-aid.macpaw.com/) is a corporate charitable fund, established in 2015 to implement social and charity projects of MacPaw company. From the first days of the war, the MacPaw Development Fund focused on helping civilians and the military in battle zones. As of now, MacPaw company has donated over $5 mln of its income-generated funds to help Ukrainians. Over $650 000 were donated to the Fund by active users of MacPaw products and Ukraine supporters.