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Three mountains.
One skill.
From freelancer.
From client services.
The business changed.
A leaner team.
Existing brands.
Still building.
Turn what you’ve learned
Roman Sahakov / My Story
It wasn’t a straight line.
Three mountains.
Still building.
I started as a freelance SEO specialist in London, then built a digital agency and an ecommerce company. A difficult reset changed how I build businesses. Today, those lessons shape Third Mountain Group and what I share through D2C Game.
Roman SahakovOperator · Founder · Mentor
Follow my storyMountain 01SEO agencySmarketa · Learning to build a teamMountain 02Ecommerce companyeWorld · Owning the whole businessMountain 03Third Mountain GroupOperating brands · Incubating new projects
Chapter 01 / LONDON · FREELANCE SEO
One skill.
A beginning.
- MBA in London
- First SEO clients
- Own the results
I started freelancing in SEO while studying for my MBA in London. Alongside my studies, I worked with a few clients—learning to win work, deliver it and take responsibility for the results.
Working independently meant owning both sides of the job: winning the work and delivering it.
What I carry forward
A skill is the starting point. The business is delivering something people value.
Still used by the agency today.
Chapter 02 / MOUNTAIN 01 · SMARKETA
From freelancer.
To an SEO agency.
- Client services
- Build a team
- Repeatable delivery
With a partner, I built the agency that became Smarketa. Freelance client work grew into a shared business, an office and a team.
The responsibility changed, too: finding clients, bringing people together and making good delivery repeatable.
What I carry forward
Doing the work and building a team to deliver it are different responsibilities.
Chapter 03 / MOUNTAIN 02 · EWORLD
From client services.
To our own products.
- Own the products
- Run the operation
- Serve the customer
After building Smarketa, the SEO agency, I founded my second company: eWorld. Through eWorld, we built our own ecommerce businesses in mobile connectivity, chess sets and car covers—growing a team and selling across markets.
Marketing was only part of the job. We were responsible for the whole operation: suppliers, stock, fulfilment, customer service and cash flow.
What I carry forward
Winning the sale is one step. The whole operation has to work.
Chapter 04 / 2022–23 · THE RESET
The business changed.
So did my approach.
- Smaller team
- Remote capability
- Clearer responsibilities
The pandemic boom ended. As the war in Ukraine began and market conditions became tougher, we downsized the team and closed parts of the operation.
The businesses that continued needed a smaller structure. Remote work pushed us to make responsibilities, communication and processes clearer.
What I carry forward
A leaner team needed a clearer way to work. Automation, and later AI, became part of that change.
Chapter 05 / PROCESSES · AUTOMATION · AI
A leaner team.
A clearer way to work.
- Clarify the process
- Automate repetition
- Apply AI selectively
We made responsibilities, handovers and information clearer across our office and remote team. Then we used automation—and later AI—to reduce repetitive work.
That experience now shapes our AI operations services: understand how the work happens, improve the process, then decide what to automate.
What I carry forward
Don’t automate a bad process. Make it work better first.
Our team: Armenia · UK · Philippines · South Africa · China
Chapter 06 / MOUNTAIN 03 · THIRD MOUNTAIN GROUP
Existing brands.
New ideas in motion.
- Operate brands
- Incubate projects
- Validate demand
Third Mountain Group brings our existing ecommerce businesses and incubator projects into one portfolio.
We start with a customer need, shape an offer and test products. New projects have to show real demand before we commit more time and resources.
What I carry forward
The challenge is to grow while keeping the business simple enough to run well.
ThirdMountain.Group
Chapter 07 / D2C GAME · SHARING THE EXPERIENCE
Still building.
Now helping others build.
- Build businesses
- Share the lessons
- Help others build
D2C Game is where I turn that experience into practical guidance for people starting or growing an ecommerce business.
I share the decisions, mistakes and lessons behind the work—to help others assess an idea, shape an offer and make better decisions as they build.
What I carry forward
The lessons are useful because the work is ongoing.
What the third mountain means to me
“I’m bringing everything the first two
mountains taught me
into the next climb.”
Roman Sahakov
Your next chapter
Turn what you’ve learned
into something real.
02 / See what I’m building
The Third Mountain.
A new D2C group bringing the lessons, people and systems from earlier chapters together.
Explore Third Mountain Group