Andrew Paulson was born in America in 1958, lived and worked as a writer and photographer in Europe from 1981, arrived in Russia in 1993, and during the early years of the Yeltsin period he launched a series of media projects. He is best known for founding Afisha Publishing House (Afisha Magazine, Bolshoi Gorod Magazine, and MIR), which he sold in 2005.

Andrew then founded SUP in the Autumn of 2006. SUP’s first transaction was to partner with SixApart to develop LiveJournal.com in Russia. LiveJournal is Russia’s largest social network and dominates the Russian blogosphere. In the past 12 months SUP has acquired two other businesses: Championat.ru, Russia’s largest online-only sports site; and Victory, an online advertising agency. SUP also launched +SOL as its own online sales house and advertising network.

Andrew’s vision for SUP was to create an international online media and advertising company; the first step was to provide content and services to the growing number of internet users in Russia (estimated to reach 30m by the end of 2007). SUP’s successful stewardship of LiveJournal in Russia then confirmed it as the preferred platform for Western online businesses’ expansion into Eastern Europe. SUP now has ambitions to use its Russian success as a launchpad for international acquisitions.