How Partnerships Strengthen the Tech Business: The Case of Createria and Raccoon Gang

19 December 2025

Businesses often find themselves in situations where key roles are formally filled, yet the company still fails to reach the next stage of growth. Executives may be hired, but what the business truly needs are leaders — those who think strategically, understand the market, and can strengthen the management team.

This was exactly the challenge Raccoon Gang solved through collaboration with Createria. Kharkiv IT Cluster became the environment where the companies discovered each other, trusted the expertise of their partners, and were able to take a strategically important step.

About Createria

Createria is an agency of a new format that combines recruitment and consulting, helping businesses find precise and optimal solutions. The company entered the market in 2023, but its founders are a group of top managers with over 15 years of experience in IT, education, and HR. Their key insight after years in management: traditional recruitment does not work when it comes to C-level positions.

The Createria model combines recruitment with in-depth business diagnostics: before presenting candidates, the team analyzes the company’s structure, roles, ambitions, and culture, identifies bottlenecks, and determines strategic growth opportunities.

Moreover, Createria does not operate under the principle of “the more CVs, the better.” The company presents up to five candidates, each capable of filling the position, giving the founder an equal chance to select the one who will succeed.

What happened inside Raccoon Gang?

Raccoon Gang helps organizations develop e‑Learning and implement LMS solutions by selecting and customizing the platform that best matches their goals, structure, and processes. Their initial request seemed straightforward — to find a CEO. But during the process, Createriaexpanded the work into a much deeper, structural, managerial, and strategic level.

“As a result, the recruitment process turned into a thorough review of the management structure, priorities, and growth focus. Raccoon Gang redefined the CEO’s responsibilities, redistributed roles within the team, and formulated a clear vision of how the company’s leadership framework should function,” — shares Yuliya Pelikhanova, Founder & CEO at Createria.

The collaboration between Createria and Raccoon Gang has evolved into a long-term partnership. The work of the new CEO at Raccoon Gang gave the business a noticeable boost, which became the reason to continue the partnership in filling C-level positions and successfully selecting the СPTО.

How did Kharkiv IT Cluster become the point of connection?

The collaboration between Createria and Raccoon Gang developed organically. Both companies have long been part of Kharkiv IT Cluster, and it was within the community that they realized their competencies could complement each other. As Yuliya Pelikhanova noted, she has been collaborating with the Cluster for many years — so this understanding has always been there.

“Createria’s approach resonated with us from the very beginning. It is grounded in rigorous, data-driven analytics and incorporates Integral Theory as well as Adizes’ assessment methodologies. Through our collaboration, we gained a much deeper understanding of our own organization and were able to clearly articulate the requirements and expectations for the candidate. As a result, the third candidate was a perfect match with our brief — both in terms of requirements and organizational culture. It felt almost like magic: even the desired, though non-mandatory, criteria were present in the candidate’s profile. Over the course of this year, we have continued our partnership with Createria, engaging them to search for two additional C-level roles.” — explains Oleksii Radchenko, Co-Founder & CEO Raccoon Gang.

Previously, Raccoon Gang had been searching for the right person for a whole year. Thanks to Createria, the ideal candidate was selected from just the third resume submitted by the agency’s team. In this way, the ecosystem becomes a functional infrastructure: companies see each other, trust each other, and share a common value — the development of Ukraine’s IT industry.

Why is this story important for the IT market?

A strong C-level team is about a business’s ability to scale, survive under market pressure, enter new countries, manage risks, and preserve both culture and talent. Createriaand Raccoon Gang demonstrate what a modern IT ecosystem in Ukraine should look like: businesses openly share challenges, find partners within their professional community, build strong management frameworks, and drive the industry forward.

More about Createria

If you want to get to know the company better — contact your personal Kharkiv IT Cluster manager.