How We Bought the Russian Internet

Sergey Vasiliev was the first investor and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rambler in 1999–2001. His book is about developing the Russian Internet from the early “zero” years—the brightest and most turbulent time of its growth—up to today.

The book describes the history of the formation of one of the first and legendary Russian Internet portals—Rambler. What challenges faced that fledgling Internet business at the time? What problems did they have to solve, and how did it all end? In the mid-2000s, the author, together with partners, set out to conquer the Ukrainian Internet landscape; there, amid the twists of a harsh and competitive business, politics and war began to weave into the picture…

This is a real chronicle of events, facts, successes, and failures in the Russian and Ukrainian Internet, told through the eyes of one of its pioneers. But this book is not only about the Internet—it is the author’s candid account of investing, people, business, and politics.

When listening to this book, it’s interesting to compare it with another viewpoint—not that of an investor, but of a Rambler employee—presented by Igor Ashmanov in the book “Life Inside the Bubble.” In Ashmanov’s book, Vasiliev himself appears under the name Banker.