Building Borderless Business Infrastructure: How Vitalii Mikhailov Is Revolutionizing Global Remote Work With EasyStaff
Vitalii Mikhailov brings a unique blend of financial expertise and operational precision to the global remote work revolution. With over 15 years in finance and CFA Level II credentials, this seasoned CFO-turned-entrepreneur has transformed his deep understanding of cross-border treasury operations into EasyStaff, a comprehensive infrastructure platform that eliminates the legal and operational barriers hindering international business collaboration.
Before founding EasyStaff, Mikhailov demonstrated his financial engineering prowess by re-architecting cross-border collections and payouts in the travel tech sector, dramatically cutting transaction costs by nearly half through innovative elimination of round-trip foreign exchange processes and building redundant EU payment rails. This experience became the foundation for what would evolve into EasyStaff’s core value proposition: productizing complex treasury logic into auditable invoicing, multi-currency payouts, and compliance-by-design solutions.
Under Mikhailov’s leadership, EasyStaff has grown from a bootstrapped startup to a global platform operating in over 120 countries, serving more than 2,100 businesses and facilitating payments to over 30,000 freelancers. The platform’s “Zero Borders. Endless Possibilities” motto reflects Mikhailov’s vision of creating seamless international business operations without the traditional bureaucratic friction.
In an exclusive interview with Entrepreneur Loop, Mikhailov shares his journey from CFO to founder, revealing the “aha” moment that sparked EasyStaff’s creation, the challenges of building compliant global infrastructure, and his unique approach to solving the fragmented world of international freelancer payments. His insights offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs looking to build sustainable, compliance-first businesses in the rapidly evolving remote work economy.
Please provide a brief introduction of yourself and your professional background.
I’m Vitalii Mikhailov, Founder and CEO of EasyStaff. I’ve spent over 15 years in finance, passed the 2nd level of the CFA exam, and have built my career in financial back-end architecture. Before launching EasyStaff, I served as CFO at KiwiTaxi, where I scaled cross-border operations and built auditable payment and reporting systems. My focus has always been on infrastructure — how money moves, how controls are designed, and how to keep systems compliant at scale. At EasyStaff, my mission is to make those systems work seamlessly for our clients worldwide.
Please tell us a bit more about your startup — what does it offer, what problem does it solve, and who is your target audience?
EasyStaff is a remote-work infrastructure for finance and operations teams that need to hire, pay, and manage international freelancers under B2B contracts — without legal headaches or operational drag. Clients sign one service contract and make one payment; we handle the rest — disbursing to subcontractors in their preferred way, with compliant documentation and audit trails. Since 2018, we’ve operated in 120+ countries, serving 2,100+ businesses and paying over 30,000 freelancers (19,000 in 2024–2025 alone). Our biggest client bases are in the US, Cyprus, UAE, UK, and Singapore, with payouts going mainly to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, EU, and US. We’re built for CFOs, finance leads, and global ops managers who need predictable SLAs, multi-currency capability, and fewer moving parts.
What inspired you to start your own business? What was the “aha” moment?
As a CFO, I kept facing the same problem: paying international freelancers legally and efficiently was fragmented, manual, and risky. I’d seen how poor workflows destroy margins. In one project, we cut costs nearly in half by removing round-trip FX and adding redundancy across EU accounts. That was my “this should be a product” moment — productizing treasury logic, not just UX, to help finance teams operate globally with confidence.
What were some of the biggest initial challenges you faced in getting your business off the ground? How did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was stepping out of a CFO role into the uncertainty of building from zero. I managed risk by working iteratively and discarding what didn’t hold up. Second: team. I brought in trusted people — engineers fluent in finance, product leads who understand controls, and compliance specialists. Global ops added complexity: banks pause flows, compliance slows momentum. We built resilience with KYC/AML, audit-ready documentation, and multi-bank redundancy. By 2024, we hit steep growth, aligned culture, and matured into a business designed to move fast without breaking.
How did you identify a gap in the market or need that your business fulfills?
The gap wasn’t in making payments — it was in creating compliant, audit-ready documentation at scale. We solved it by standardizing every flow: funding invoice for top-ups, tax invoice for service completion, unified versions where appropriate — all tied to a single, enforceable service contract.
What has been your approach to funding your startup?
EasyStaff has been fully bootstrapped from day one — funded by founder capital and disciplined reinvestment. We grow by staying close to customers, running continuous discovery, and focusing on lean, sustainable execution.
How did you go about building your team and attracting talent in the early days?
We hired for domain fluency: finance-literate engineers, product managers used to regulated environments, legal/compliance experts. Distributed across Europe, close to both customers and talent markets.
What have been some of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make as a founder? Any stand out as pivotal?
Saying no to growth channels that conflicted with compliance. For example, turning down clients from high-risk jurisdictions. Painful short-term, but crucial long-term.
What have been your key strategies for growth and gaining traction/users?
1) Education: publishing content on invoicing, VAT, cross-border compliance. 2) Human support: real people, not bots — highly valued by clients. 3) Frictionless journey: faster lead handling, simpler onboarding, features driven by feedback (e.g., automatic currency conversion in Payroll).
How do you stand out from the competition in your space? What sets your product/service apart?
EasyStaff is infrastructure-led, not product-led. Our DNA is treasury and compliance: audit trails, approval chains, compliant payouts. Unlike marketplaces, we control flows end-to-end: funds release only after service acceptance, with full documentation. Compliance is embedded — KYC, sanctions screening, licensed providers, geo-specific payout protocols. If rules change, we adapt instantly.
What have been some mistakes or failures you’ve made along the way as an entrepreneur? How did you recover and learn from them?
Not every idea worked. Example: HR sourcing platform — crowded market, weak value prop. We shut it down early, documented learnings, and reused useful parts. Lesson: architecture first, features second. We’re also exploring DAO-inspired models (reputation/feature voting) within strict compliance. Experiment, but with discipline.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were first starting out?
Entrepreneurship has no rewind button. Focus is on applying lessons, refining approaches, and moving forward with clarity.
What are the most important skills someone needs to be a successful founder?
Operational resilience, financial literacy, ability to simplify complexity for teams and clients. Plus patience — infrastructure takes time.
What does a typical day or week look like for you? How do you manage work-life balance?
Mondays: planning with staff, setting priorities, assigning owners. Rest of week: mix of management, building payment rails/partnerships, product/finance reviews. I reserve deep-work hours for research and strategy. Outside work: long trail runs and travel for perspective.
What do you find most rewarding and most challenging about being an entrepreneur?
Rewarding: clients hiring in countries previously off-limits — proof we’re creating opportunities. Challenging: operating globally under constant scrutiny — audits, checks, reviews. We mitigate with resilient infrastructure and fallback systems.
What are some future goals or plans you have for your business in the next few years?
To become the invisible infrastructure of global freelance work. Rebrand aligned three products — Payroll, Invoice, Connect — under one identity. Next: expand reach, grow market share, and keep raising compliance standards.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who want to start their own company?
Start with the boring parts: unit economics, compliance, data hygiene. They matter more than shiny product ideas. Build on healthy cashflow, strong team, and speed. Don’t be afraid to take charge.
Vitalii Mikhailov’s journey from CFO to founder exemplifies how deep domain expertise can be transformed into scalable business solutions. His focus on infrastructure over flashy features, compliance over convenience, and sustainable growth over rapid scaling offers a masterclass in building businesses that solve real operational pain points. As remote work continues reshaping the global economy, entrepreneurs like Mikhailov who prioritize the “boring” fundamentals—unit economics, compliance, and data hygiene—are positioning themselves to become the invisible backbone of tomorrow’s borderless business world. His advice to “start with the boring parts” may not be glamorous, but it’s precisely this foundation-first approach that has enabled EasyStaff to become the reliable infrastructure thousands of businesses depend on for their global operations.
