People behind the Coliving Club: Kirill Sopot

What will travel accommodation be like in the future? We know already and form a community to create it. We focus on sharing space, resources, thoughts and dreams with like-minded people and becoming a better version of ourselves while being a part of something bigger. We call it the Coliving Club.

Here you will read about our real experience and connect with our team to explore the Coliving Club to the fullest. Take a closer look at each one of us in a series of interviews.

Meet Kirill Sopot — CEO / Founder / Creative Director / Managing partner / Project ideologist

Kirill is a digital nomad, leader, filmmaker, production manager, writer, business and process strategist, communication designer, feminist and globalization movement advocate with artistic soul.

He started his first online businesses through a blog at 16 while studying Film and Theater at Trent University, Ontario. In two years he moved to Paris to study at another film school and started a new online educational project with his father Sergii Sopot and his best friend Maxim Schewtschenko. Later on Kirill worked on several startups in Silicon Valley and decided to use his experience in shared living in launching the Coliving Club with his dream team.

Business is the art of storytelling, strategizing and strategic positioning.

Being an artist as you are how did you choose business career over the tempting filmmaking one? And can business become art if you come up with creative approach?

Business is art. Think about brands like Apple, Nike, Evernote, GoPro, Red Bull. They are not selling you products, they’re selling you stories. Business is the art of storytelling, strategizing and strategic positioning.

In cinema I was always interested in team building, production management and writing. Those were my super powers, things that would turn me on any time of the day. I’m addicted to project production. That’s why back in Paris in the Film School I was always on 20 projects at the same time. It was painful, but I had to invest my energy into something. So you know, the transition went pretty smooth.

How did you come up with the idea of the Coliving Club?

Since the age of 16 I was traveling the world, building projects on the go and always adapting to the new environments under extreme pressure. Being on the road, having no deep relations with anyone except for a couple of my close online-friends was a challenge. Yet I always had that feeling that I was doing the right thing. I was always onto something, chasing my destiny without having any clue, regarding what it’d actually look like.

Thus, when I met the co-living/co-working culture at Startup Crashpad in Palo Alto at the age of 20 it was like a long awaited response from the universe. I fell in love with an idea of the community-driven professional hubs for digital nomads and launched my own Coliving location in San Francisco, together with Sergii Sopot and Maxim Schewtschenko.

It was 100% raw, with all of the weird edges and weak business models so natural to the MVP product (minimum viable product, a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and to provide feedback for future product development — editor). A complete opposite from my actual vision, but it was running and I loved it like my own child. My team and I, we were observing, learning and experimenting. The idea took shape, the snowball was already rolling.

What is it like to work with your father Sergii? For most people generation gap can interfere typical everyday situations, let alone doing business together.

It’s been pretty tough the first couple of years. We argue all the time, even now. But then we’re always coming back together. I think a big part of interpersonal relations is the level of personal and professional development. If you’re growing at the pace you’ll be able to continue the communication.

Lastly, we both have this same mentality regarding solving problems (I might’ve inherited it actually). We both love hacking problems and coming up with solutions. We’re both result oriented so as long as our core vision is synchronized it doesn’t matter how hard we argue, the solution will be the ultimate result.

And working with your best friend?

With Max it’s easier. We have similar ambitions, goals, lifestyles, life views, vision… We just share too many things in common. As far as I remember we’ve been solving problems since 2012. Just a non-stop marathon to greatness. I guess we’re soulmates too. We could’ve been brothers in the past life… I’m 75% positive about it.

Schools are cool if you have time and money to kill, but if you need to learn a skill and build your personal brand and live your life the way you envision it, the school is not a requirement.

You quit two schools. What do you think education should be like in the near future that we should start thinking of now?

Schools are cool if you have time and money to kill, but if you need to learn a skill and build your personal brand and live your life the way you envision it, the school is not a requirement. You’ll find a way to get there if you consume enough content from Youtube, Lynda, Skillshare. I’m a true believer of the Online education.

That’s why we were doing Memoria School in 2013–2014 with Sergii and Maxim. That’s also the reason why we’re doing the Coliving Club project right now. Community-driven productive co-living/co-working environments both offline and online are the best way to transmit knowledge. It’s been like this since the Ancient World, right?

Talking about knowledge, for whom did you create the magazine? It was your long-term dream, wasn’t it? Where do you see it in a couple of years?

I always wanted to run my own magazine about Culture. So once I realized the Coliving Club is bigger than just a network of colivings and actually a flagman of the new emerging culture. I saw the opportunity and decided to do it at last.

Right now, I want to build the most innovative magazine as possible for the people of the future! I believe that every cultural movement deserves its own magazine, that will be their voice! Vice was always huge inspiration for me in terms of quality of production and the variety of interest. I see them as the Mountain peak that will be reached in 2–5 years.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

– Helping people;

– Making friends;

– Solving problems;

– Gary Vee;

– Observing people doing extraordinary projects, building ideas that are bigger than themselves;

– Meditation;

– Making sure that every day is a step forward;

– History;

– Maps;

– Fresh knowledge from unfamiliar sources and areas — I’m addicted to data consumption.

You are also writing a sci-fi book. Does it help as it overlaps with the magazine somehow or is it distracting?

I currently stopped working on the book and all of the other projects besides Coliving Club. I was always distracted so much by so many opportunities at the same time, that I decided to experiment and see what happens if I focus all of my attention on one thing only. So far, the results are very satisfying. I feel like I’ve found myself. My team is my family. We don’t know each other too well, but I trust them and I see our bright future. I just see it.

I truly believe in the power of women. I think that the Future is Female and that we’re living in the era which is going to be tremendously impacted by women.

You call yourself a feminist futurist. What do you mean by that?

I truly believe in the power of women. I think that the Future is Female and that we’re living in the era which is going to be tremendously impacted by women. Women in Art, Business, Sport, Science. Because giving the women the opportunities, the powers and the rights is like tapping the resources of the Humanity that were never properly explored before. It’s like waking up the second half of the population and inviting them to the discussion.

Today, the female population of the Earth is really just making their first steps on the road to making an impact, but it’s happening. No-one knows what will happen when the Science & Business are going to be dominated by women. Perhaps we’ll finally start exploring the space and the medicine that wants to help us live longer purposeful lives. You know, selfies are cool, but when can we open colivings on Mars?

Can you talk on the importance of having a muse and how you approach this whole concept of the artist’s inspiration being a feminist?

Victoria is my soulmate and muse. She inspires me every single day. I respect her a lot and help her become a stronger woman with running her own business, helping her grow artistically through organization of the creative process. And I don’t really think that you can’t admire a woman if you’re a feminist. Women are beautiful. They are the true creators, they can create the most complex bio computers on Earth. That’s their nature. Victoria is the most beautiful woman for me of course but I also have a tremendous respect for her personality and her craft.

How do you yourself represent the digital nomad lifestyle?

I don’t think I represent the DN culture just yet. Wait till we build the Venice Project. I’ll be able to represent it at the top level at that point! The Venice project is happening regardless of anything you know. There is just too much force driving it at that point. Same goes for the Coliving Club project — it’s happening and it will be legendary. I’m not bragging it’s the only thing in life that I’m confident about.

Which particular qualities do you think you gained from living in each city — Berlin, Paris, LA?

The international way of thinking. I learned to see and absorb the culture from the global perspective interactive with people from every country around the world. I learned to be open-minded AF, seeing connections between processes and movements happening on the opposite sides of the Globe, seeing the world as one giant social platform with tons of unreasonably restricted groups and local regulations.

Due to the DN concept you should be moving somewhere next. What are top three dream destinations?

In no particular order it will be:

– Singapore;

– Tokyo;

– Bali;

– Nepal;

– New York;

– London;

– Chile;

– Uruguay;

– Peru;

– Brazil;

– Portugal;

– Antarctica;

– Turkey;

– UAE;

– Morocco;

– Egypt;

– Seoul;

– South Africa;

–Mars (the planet).

That’s for now, I guess.

How you train yourself or who helps you believe that everything is real?

I motivate people around me so much that my thoughts and projections begin to backfire at me. So by motivating others and helping them I’m actually motivating myself along the way. It’s like this dragon trying to eat it’s own tail. But I’m pieces, so I guess I’d be an eel or something, trying to bite its tail.

By Yuliya Malikova — journalist in culture with a particular passion for interviews; writer and sub-editor at Digital Nomad Magazine.