How Orest Andrusyshyn Built an Agency on Upwork

Orest Andrusyshyn signed up for Upwork in 2019 as a solo developer with talent, ambition, and little else. Today he leads SoftDoes, a 70-person AI-focused agency serving enterprise clients across the United States. Here’s how Upwork helped him through every stage of that journey.

A developer with a vision

In 2019, Orest Andrusyshyn was a freelance software developer based in Ukraine. He had strong technical skills and a clear sense of what he wanted to build. The challenge he faced was reaching clients who could match his ambition from his location in an emerging market.

When Orest first joined Upwork as a freelancer, he found direct access to businesses in the global market, a transparent system for building reputation, and the infrastructure to generate predictable recurring revenue. He started taking on individual contracts, focused on delivering quality, and let his success record help him grow his business.

This approach worked, as one great review led to another. Clients returned and referrals started to come in, so what began as solo freelance work gradually became something larger.

"I just wanted to do a great job, build products, and make sure that the clients were happy," Orest recalls of those early days. "The first few projects were not easy because it was a new experience. But at some point we found our rhythm, and that's where everything really started."

Building a team, navigating obstacles, moving to the United States

As demand for Orest's work grew, he began bringing other developers into projects, expanding his capacity and the range of services he could offer. SoftDoes took form as a full-service software development firm, still based on the Upwork marketplace and focusing on serving clients in the United States.

In February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Orest was traveling for business. He made the decision not to return. "I moved to the States to grow the business here," he explains. "The European market was struggling at that time. Everything was new. It was a new country, a new culture, and a new business culture, which is even more important."

Orest settled in Kansas City, Missouri, where SoftDoes is now headquartered, giving him new opportunities to continue growing his business. Operating from the United States deepened his relationships with American clients, made enterprise-level conversations more accessible, and helped SoftDoes continue building its reputation.

When he arrived, he had limited resources for paid marketing or outreach campaigns. Knowing how Upwork had helped him launch his career, it was the first platform he turned to when starting operations in the United States.

"I didn't have enough resources for marketing. I didn't have enough resources to launch a campaign. With Upwork, it was easy. You sign up, spend some resources on Connects, and you can apply for jobs. If you are talented and willing to work hard, that's a great way to start."

A 70-person agency leading AI solutions

SoftDoes is now a 70-person software development firm with almost 80 percent of its current projects involving some kind of AI implementation. Orest’s team builds AI-powered tools across a wide range of industries, from sports prediction platforms that process real-time data to automation systems that help growing companies manage operational complexity.

One of Orest's favorite recent builds illustrates the depth of what the agency delivers. A client with a substantial social media following in the sports betting space came to SoftDoes wanting to offer better predictions to his audience. "We collected our client's knowledge and all the algorithms he had built over the years," Orest says, "and we put it into an AI system that helps predict the chances of one team winning versus another. With the help of AI, we help our clients give better predictions to their followers."

Justin Bopp, SoftDoes's marketing and growth lead, describes two consistent patterns in what clients are looking for. "We see business owners trying to solve operational complexity, and technical leaders who know exactly what they want but don't want to add headcount. An agency like ours, through Upwork, is finding real traction because we offer sophistication and trust that these types of businesses are looking for."

That observation reflects something important about SoftDoes's positioning. Many clients arrive knowing they want AI involved in their solution but are still in an education phase about what that means. SoftDoes walks those clients through discovery and delivers end-to-end builds, a consultative approach that has driven longer, deeper engagements.

Why trust is the foundation

Ask Orest what makes Upwork valuable to SoftDoes today, and he will quickly point to something that goes beyond features or functionality: trust.

"When clients look at my profile on Upwork, they know that the feedback and the projects are real," he says. "If a freelancer has 500 reviews and most of them are good, clients know their experience will likely be the same."

That credibility works in both directions. Before taking on a new project, Orest uses Upwork's client history feature to assess prospective clients. "I can see how much they've spent, what their average hourly rate is, how they've treated other contractors. We have those insights before we even apply on a project." That transparency reduces risk and makes it easier to commit to the right clients, rather than simply the available ones.

Orest and SoftDoes also rely on Upwork's Payment Protection. Upwork's weekly billing feature handles invoicing automatically, removing a layer of administrative friction that can strain agency-client relationships. "You don't need to remind them. You don't need to call them. They created a contract, provided their payment information, and Upwork charges them every week. If you do a great job, everybody is happy."

How success and growth happened

SoftDoes's growth is a story about access. Orest had talent, work ethic, and a vision for what he wanted to build. He found the infrastructure to make that vision real in Upwork.

Orest is motivated to share that message with others. "I know there are a lot of people who are in the same position where I was four or five years ago," Orest says. "You don't need to have an enormous amount of resources. If you are talented and you're willing to put in hard work, you can sign up and start working tomorrow and build your business.”

That is not a simple statement, and Orest is not a simple success story. He navigated a war, a relocation, and the demands of scaling a technical team in a rapidly changing industry. What he has built reflects what is possible when talent and opportunity meet on the right platform like Upwork. SoftDoes started with one developer and a determination to serve the best clients in the world.

Today, SoftDoes is an AI-focused agency of 70 people with a growing portfolio of enterprise relationships, built project by project, review by review, on Upwork. If you’re interested in working with Orest or his agency, you can visit his profile or the SoftDoes agency page on Upwork.

"I appreciate what Upwork gave us in terms of the opportunities and all the projects we've been working on through Upwork. And the platform itself was at the beginning of the career and the beginning of the company. So if not Upwork, I don't know where we would be at this point.”