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Roman Sevast

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roman Sevast (born Roman Sevastyanov) is a Ukrainian‑American entrepreneur, co‑founder and President of Awesomic, a remote talent marketplace for design, development, and marketing.[1] He is listed among Forbes 30 Under 30.[2]

Early life and education

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Roman Sevast began programming in childhood.[3][4] At 14 he launched various projects and game servers, starting with a private GTA: San Andreas server that led him to learn PHP, MySQL, and web technologies.[5] While in school he freelanced and founded a copywriting and SMM agency.

In 2013, he enrolled at Chernivtsi National University’s Faculty of Applied Mathematics to study AI systems.[6]

Career

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In 2014 Sevast joined Paymentwall as a developer. At 19 he relocated to Hanoi, Vietnam, when Paymentwall opened its R&D office there, working on their e‑invoicing service.[5] In summer 2015 he returned to Kyiv and continued at Paymentwall before resuming freelance consulting for U.S. startups and helping build their development teams.[6]

In 2017, with partner Anastasiya Pavlyshyna, he launched Doge Codes, offering online programming courses with top mentors. By 2018 they had over 150 students and 4,000 video viewers.

Awesomic

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In May 2019 Sevast and Pavlyshyna created a simple designer‑search landing page that evolved into Awesomic, a full remote work platform.[7][8] In July 2020 the platform rebranded as Awesomic—a design outsourcing marketplace matching businesses and designers at a fixed price without interviews. Clients include Reface, Lift99, People.ai, and Snov.[9]

In April 2021 Awesomic joined Y Combinator and raised $125,000.[10][11] That year he was named to Forbes Ukraine’s 30 Under 30 list.[2]

In August 2022 Awesomic was among 16 Ukrainian startups funded by Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund ($5 million total).[12][13] It also won the Red Dot Award for Brand & Communication Design.[14]

In March 2023 Awesomic raised $800,000 from Pioneer Fund, Flyer One Ventures, Red Rooster Ventures, and YC angels Michael Seibel and Jared Friedman.[15] In February 2024 he opened Awesomic’s second office in San Francisco, USA.[16]

In autumn 2024, Sevast’s team at Awesomic developed an AI assistant named GPT‑a, which they pitched to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; shortly thereafter, OpenAI released its “Operator” agent based on a similar concept.[17][18]

Politician career

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From 29 August 2019 until 20 March 2023, Sevast served as First Advisor to Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, providing strategic guidance on the development and rollout of digital public services such as Diia, Diia.Business and Diia.City.[19][20]

References

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  1. ^ "How I Work: Roman Sevastyanov, CEO Awesomic and Former PHP Developer". DOU (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  2. ^ a b "Forbes Ukraine 30 Under 30, 2021". Forbes.ua (in Ukrainian). 2021-11-09. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  3. ^ "IT Without a Diploma: Stories of JavaScript, PHP and Scala Developers". DOU (in Russian). Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  4. ^ ""Hello, Glass Ceiling? Will IT Salaries Keep Rising?"". dev.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  5. ^ a b "Awesomic: Get matched with top 1% of talents in 24h". Y Combinator. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  6. ^ a b "2013 Admission Rankings for Applied Mathematics". Abit-Poisk (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-05-22.
  7. ^ ""Uber for Designers: How Awesomic Works"". Telegraf. 2021-02-24. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  8. ^ Antoniuk, Daryna (2021-07-30). "Ukraine's Startup Awesomic Attracts $125,000 from Silicon Valley Accelerator". Kyiv Post. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference kyivpost2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Awesomic Selected for Y Combinator, Receives \$125K". en.ain.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-23. {{cite web}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 24 (help)
  11. ^ "Ukraine's Awesomic Secures a \$2M Round". en.ain.ua. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  12. ^ Staff, Emerging Europe (2022-08-22). "Made in Emerging Europe: RecruitLab, Awesomic". Emerging Europe. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  13. ^ "Ukrainian Startup Wins Red Dot Award for Illustrations". The Village Україна. 2022-08-05. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  14. ^ "Awesomic Wins Red Dot Award". Forbes.ua (in Russian). 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  15. ^ "Ukraine's Y Combinator‑backed Awesomic Secures \$800K". Tech.eu. 2023-03-14. Retrieved 2025-05-23. {{cite web}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 12 (help)
  16. ^ "Ukrainian Startup Awesomic Opens New U.S. Office". AIN.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  17. ^ "Awesomic's GPT‑a Presented to Sam Altman, Precursor to ChatGPT Operator". dev.ua (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  18. ^ Yarova, Maya (2025-01-24). ""The Only Project OpenAI Adopted": Roman Sevastyanov on GPT‑a". Scroll Media (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2025-05-23.
  19. ^ Davies, Pascale (14 March 2024). "If Big Tech 'comes together,' Ukraine could defeat Russia faster, says Ukraine's digital minister". Euronews. Retrieved 2025-07-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); no-break space character in |date= at position 3 (help)
  20. ^ Wachter, Paul (24 February 2022). "Ukraine's Digital Ministry Is a Formidable War Machine". Wired. Retrieved 2025-07-01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); no-break space character in |date= at position 3 (help)
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