eXpress, a secure Russian messenger, partnered with the IT and Innovation in Retail Forum held in Moscow on September 3. Alexey Lyamin, CTO and co-founder of eXpress, spoke in the "Incredible Stories: IT Fuck-up Talks" session. He explained why "building a messenger is the biggest 'fuck-up' of all," described the market conditions under which the founders began developing the product in 2015, outlined the challenges they faced, and discussed what has changed since then.
"While giants were capturing the market, we were explaining why another messenger was even needed"
Alexey Lyamin recalled that between 2015 and 2020—when the idea for the corporate messenger eXpress was conceived and active development began—major players like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Telegram already dominated the market. A key hurdle was market entry: the landscape was saturated with popular apps, many boasting global user bases. User habits added another layer of complexity; the widespread use of WhatsApp* and Telegram had already established standards for interaction and interface design. Against this backdrop, the Russian project entered the "race of giants," facing the challenge of not merely replicating competitors' features but creating a unique, competitive solution—and convincing Russian businesses of its value.
"It wasn't just the product that changed. The market was maturing, too"
The eXpress co-founder described their initial attempts to enter the market as "cortisol-fueled sales," as potential clients did not view the product as a necessity, believing existing solutions met their needs. The market understood the risks better than the value.
One of the key barriers to the product's adoption was the stringent requirements imposed by the information security departments of large companies. Paradoxically, however, corporate environments were already actively using solutions that met none of these requirements—such as WhatsApp*."But it’s just a messenger"
Another challenge highlighted by Alexey Lyamin was that a messenger—which appears so simple to the average user—is actually a complex product in an enterprise environment. It involves adaptation across various platforms, customization, user identification, traffic control, security, and much more. Consequently, while developing the corporate messenger, eXpress had to strike a balance between two groups: users, who want the simplest and fastest possible exchange of documents, text, and images; and clients (CIOs and security teams), who demand strict controls, data protection, and integration with corporate systems.
"We kept building a messenger, but it turned into a platform"
Since 2021, the messenger has evolved into a platform that integrates "everyone-to-everyone" chat capabilities via the Federation protocol, calls and video conferencing, mobile accessibility, and access to external services in a "super-app" format. Starting in 2023, the solution began actively incorporating information security mechanisms—such as a role-based access control model.
Throughout the exhibition day, the eXpress team showcased their solution at the demo stand. Today, the platform’s Federation unites over 3.5 million users and 14 Russian corporations ranked in the top 20 of the RBC 500 list. Through live discussions, the developers answered questions from attendees and outlined the solution's core capabilities, recent updates, and future product development plans.
