In late May, Michael Egorov, the founder and CEO of Curve Finance, and his spouse started making headlines across numerous crypto media outlets. It was reported and quickly disseminated that the couple had become owners of a luxurious mansion in Melbourne after securing a whopping $41 million purchase. Effectively, it was their second grand entrance into the local market of real estate, as the Egorovs had previously poured another $18.25 million into buying the neighboring private residence. 

Such an obvious obsession with premium class housing in Australia caused a wave of speculations among the crypto community. But it’s not the only reason why this event went under my radar. Actually, the newsbreak affected three people: Michael Egorov, Anna Egorova, and… Anna Egorova, who’s the full namesake of the protagonist in this story and the co-founder of a boutique digital studio called Curves, the name almost similar to that of Egorov’s business.  

Following the incident, we sat down with Anna to discuss how she was mistaken for the famous crypto titan’s wife and credited with possessing the land of over 5600 square kilometers.  

How Events Unfolded

As a person working at the junction of several tech fields including Web3, Anna stayed connected with multiple like-minded crypto enthusiasts to keep in touch with the industry’s developments. However, she admitted that recently she neither followed any niche media sources, nor read the news. So she would hardly notice the hype pursuing her name if not for her friends and partners.

“They forwarded messages, links, and screenshots to me on Telegram. That’s how I actually saw those articles featuring my name and photo and passing me off as Michael Egorov’s wife engaged in making multi-million real estate transactions, – told Anna. – First, I didn’t take this misapprehension seriously and explained to everyone that the news had nothing to do with me. But in just half an hour I understood that the case was bigger than I imagined.”

The misinformation was spreading fast by word of mouth, and that’s why Anna decided to run through media reports to learn where the shoe pinched. She discovered that not all publishers directly implicated her in those property intricacies as they didn’t provide any other personal data except the full name. But a few journalists made false claims because of their shallow approach to fact-finding and poor conclusions. Collectively, it was enough to engender spurious associations and create a little stress for Anna.

“My day turned into a continuous work with large information flows. I’ve never been a public person, nor have I ever desired to be the talk of the town. When people from various international communities started to discuss my humble person, while a photo of me was wandering from one chat to another, I felt uncomfortable. Add to this the involvement of reputable feeds such as Binance or Crypto News and a common attitude to someone’s opulent lifestyle… Well, I had to make my point one way or another.”

Eventually, Anna spoke out in one of her LinkedIn posts refuting all sorts of speculation and rumors. But even then, she still faced miscommunication, which, she believed, was prompted by the way we consume information today.

“The phenomenon of “clip thinking” is particularly obvious in the emerging domains like cryptocurrency, – noted Anna. – Here people tend to absorb information fragmentary. They bring into association with one another any ideas that happen to be simultaneously present in their minds even though they are not closely related.” 

“This caused me to reflect on how challenging it is to get your message through and avoid reputational side effects while managing the process. After publishing a retraction, I still received congratulations on buying a new house from some of my friends… So what to speak of those who don’t know me in the slightest,” she added.

Personal Brand Tarnished By Unwanted Google Search Results

Then I asked Anna about whether she got any disturbing feedback from strangers in the wake of increased attention to her personality. She chuckled and said that the notorious newsbreak worked more like a source of unsolicited advertising traffic, which definitely violated her personal boundaries in the way she never wanted. 

“There was an alarming number of new visitors flocking to both my social media accounts and corporate profiles of Curves. I saw the rise of activity in LinkedIn almost triple, as unfamiliar people tried to connect with me via direct messages or check more information about my company that shares almost the same name as the project run by Michael. As the Egorovs’ story had a clear link to Australia, the significant part of that interest was from a diverse mixture of locals down to realtors who were parsing social networks to find relevant prospects. I’m the kind of person that values privacy and allows no strangers in their personal space. So when I came across such a huge flow of unidentified connection requests, I chose to ignore it.”

What really caused Anna’s tension were ongoing Google Search results displayed after entering the keywords “Anna Egorova” and “Curves”. They still contained several fake mentions that could cast her in an unsympathetic light before the potential clients and business partners.  

“Of course, I’ll be able to change people’s minds through personal interaction. But you know, it’s impossible to completely remove something that was once on the internet. Even when disinformers ultimately correct their mistakes, Google remembers everything. If I can’t do anything to push inaccurate info down in search results, it will haunt me and my company for at least two or three years. This is what concerns me the most,” Anna confessed.

However, despite all the difficulties that she had already encountered, Anna was trying to look at things positively at the end of the day. She smiled wearily and stated that such a small crisis could also be a time of opportunity: “If this awkward situation didn’t occur, maybe we wouldn't be talking to you right now.” 

Introduction to Curves, Another Piece Of the Egorovs’ Mix-Up Puzzle

Anna founded Curves in 2019, after she had completed one of her internships in the USA. The business currently based in Armenia positions itself as a multi-format digital studio boasting two main directions. These are IT consulting and full-cycle development for experimental projects, mostly B2B-oriented web apps. Along with creating all things marketing – including websites, branding, promo materials, and bots – Curves is actively engaged in product design and provides all-round support to startups and early-stage companies worldwide.

“We help our clients get from 0 to 1 by taking care of the entire design and development processes: from ideation and research to prototyping and implementing the best practices of modern UX and UI, – explained Anna. – Our goal is to foster the rapid growth of nascent founders and get them to the point where they can scale up their business independently.”

As a boutique studio, Curves comprises 15 employees and keeps getting bigger. But according to Anna, she doesn’t have an ambition to turn her brainchild into a large company and capture an increasing market share. Instead, she strives for improving the quality of her team’s knowledge and skills. 

“In the long run, I see Curves evolving into a strong supporter of initiatives with a huge potential to transform the world and human lives. We want to be a part of the revolution taking place across many disruptive fields like bioinformatics, ESG, fintech, edtech, AI, and of course, Web3. Even though blockchain and cryptocurrencies are not yet applicable on a massive scale, these more have undoubtedly come a long way and will continue to thrive.”

“Working hands in glove with dreamers who lead the way is exactly what makes Web3 so appealing to Curves. My team is so passionate about getting a foothold in the industry that we have already participated in a few hackathons, successfully outperforming other talented builders,” claimed Anna. 

“Maybe, we tried a little too hard, since we got mistaken for the renowned decentralized exchange so easily,” she joked.

When asked about the most inspiring cases she had as the Curves founder, Anna instantly remembered TripleTen, an online coding bootcamp targeting global markets such as the USA, Latin America, Asia, and Israel. She highlighted that her special attitude to the project stems from its commitment to make IT education available to everyone regardless of their starting opportunities.

“We are extremely proud of partnering with TripleTen and being involved in the destruction of barriers which separate people from exploring new activities. It’s absolutely fantastic to watch mothers of two or more children afford high-quality online classes and become data analysts in organizations like NASA. The guys prove that you can start a groundbreaking career in the most sought-after sectors without ties to your age, family background, or financial situation.”

When it comes to Web3, Curves stands for democratization of development for a wide variety of builders. Its approach implies facilitating the creation of blockchain-based apps for those who can’t write smart contracts with programming languages like Solidity. Next to that, Anna and her team attach great importance to crafting well-designed user experience and intuitive interfaces that would be accessible to mass audiences: “I suggest this helps us stand out in the eyes of other industry players. The services we provide are really helpful,” she concluded.

For Anna, Curves is not about working with as many ventures as possible. The beauty of her business lies in the ability to select the most innovative and promising projects to collaborate with. 

“We never thought about strategies for engaging the media or carried out global marketing programs to end up with a vast client base. Already from this point of view, the attention provoked by the parallels drawn between me and the Egorovs’ real estate epic got us into a jam,” she let out a mirthless laugh. 

Gender Inequality As a Stumbling Block In the IT World

We proceeded our conversation with a brief story of how Anna came up with the name of her studio. She revealed that there was a particular philosophy encouraging her to adopt “Curves” and it differed obviously from that of the Curve founder. 

“Michael is a mathematician. So for him, a curve means a continuous flowing line, which can also symbolize a smooth rise of cryptocurrencies. In general, “curve” is a term used across various spheres including design, which is already close to us. But my key point was that the name resonated with the word “curvy” describing girls with hourglass-shaped bodies. For me, it sounded metaphorically as I emphasized that feminine and elegant women could also be accomplished entrepreneurs and trustworthy partners.”

That’s how we unexpectedly moved to the topic of gender inequality which is a common case in the male-dominated areas of employment. Despite the fact that IT is one of the most progressive industries empowering human interactions and workflows with a higher degree of freedom, it’s also full of stereotypes about women. Throughout her career from employee to business owner Anna had run into many situations where her professional skills were questioned because of gender bias.

“I think it’s not about hatred, jealousy, or intentional discrimination. Prejudices emerge when reality is at odds with the image in our head, – she pondered. – IT has many different sectors and in some of them female specialists come as no surprise. But men prevail among the product developers, coders, and system administrators. They genuinely don’t understand how a girl like me can maintain the efficiency of a powerful and high-performing server, especially if all previous male professionals failed that objective.”

Drawing from her entrepreneurial experience, Anna pointed out that taking the first leap could become the hardest part of forging an alliance if a partner is influenced by gender stereotypes:

“On the one hand, the overall lack of female founders and leaders in IT makes you exceptional, but on the other, it gives grounds to consider your business as something like a high-risk asset. This may result in lower investment or contractual rates, as well as lingering and tough negotiations.”

But at the same time, she was convinced that women could expect certain benefits once that first leap was finally taken. It’s likely that male colleagues will treat them more loyally and will be more open to further dialogue simply because they won’t feel explicit competition. “Sometimes your femininity does its job, and it becomes much easier to get what you want,” Anna recognized.

“Ultimately it all comes down to the fact that first and foremost we are humans. Our gender characteristics don’t make us better or worse, they just influence the way we achieve results in various spheres of life. We all encounter problems on our way to desired success and that’s a very normal thing. We should respect our differences and avoid any kind of arrogance as it inhibits others’ individuality, making female entrepreneurs forcibly mimic male behavior, and vice versa,” Anna declared.

Bottomline: The Curiosity Occurred, But Didn’t Erode Morale

As we came back to the Curve incident, Anna expressed fears that gender bias may leave its mark on the public opinion of Michael Egorov’s spouse: “When people hear that someone’s wife is enjoying a lavish lifestyle whereas not much is known about her career and income sources, they usually label her as a “kept woman”. In this case the pattern may repeat.” 

But the fact that this scenario will affect her own reputation didn’t really bother my interviewee. Anna had long ago accepted that prejudices were inevitable, and the best thing she could do was not to let herself feel like a victim.

“My entrepreneurial optimism is above any gender concerns, – she winked at me. – The good news is that I’ve now reached the stage where it’s up to me to decide who I should work with. Today I don’t need to tolerate injustice or prove anything to anybody, as in the beginning of my career journey. I realize that it’s no use battling those who are deliberately biased against me. It’s much more effective not to waste my time on pointless debates and focus on the partners I feel comfortable with.” 

“In fact, you always have this choice, but the catch is that you don’t always choose yourself. It took me years to stop treating any challenges as obstacles. Yes, I view the association with that Egorovs’ controversial story as one more thing to get through. But I also look at it as what it really is: another chance to become stronger and more self-confident,” Anna summed up enthusiastically.

NB! Originally, I published this interview with FXStreet.