Four Ukrainian startups recently completed a six-month entrepreneurial program for international companies at the University of Arizona Center for Innovation.
David Wichner Ukrainian entrepreneur Mykola Zomchak said he and his co-founders at startup Noty.ai knew the United States was going to be a critically important market for its online meeting transcription service.“We knew that we wanted to and would have to enter the U.S. at some point, but we didn’t really know how should we go about it, and what it’s like working there,” he recalled.
The startups also receive logistical support from VentureWell, a U.S.-based global nonprofit organization and partner of the GIST initiative. There he met his future business partner, Natalie Marina, a young lawyer who had the idea of developing software tools to allow Ukrainian companies to easily complete legal transactions online.
“We started to take a look at what kind of problems people have, like not writing the action items and things like that,” Zomchak said. “A lot of people were doing video recordings, which like 99% of the time were not getting used, just wasting money and resources.” “That’s not really an option for me right now,” Zomchak said of returning to his war-torn home country, adding that he plans stay in Canada on a business visa and make business trips to the U.S. as needed.
While there are a number of emotional-help apps already, including Calm, an app promoting meditation and emotional health, EQ’s Emotional Intelligence app teaches people to track their emotions to develop a better understanding of their feelings. Though EQ Production was able to assemble a team including a psychologist and teams of software developers in Ukraine, Panok said through the UACI program the company realized it needed a U.S.-based team to help attract investors and tailor its content to an American audience.
Serhiy Kaminsky, main founder and chief technology officer of SorbiForce, said the UACI helped the company identify potential markets and customers, connect with investors and refine its business strategy for scalability. “I have my dad there, I have so many so many friends still there ,” said Panok, whose mother moved from France to Los Angeles a few months ago. “So, praying, hoping that everything is resolved as soon as possible, in the best way for us as possible. That’s the No. 1, you know, goal for us and we’re with them, praying every single day.”“I hear all the time that people know about situation in Ukraine and they support us very much and they would like for this to end,” he said.
In 2019, the business incubator hosted four Eastern European startups — two from Belarus and one each from Ukraine and Kosovo — for a four-week crash course in American-style entrepreneurship under the GIST program. “We provide them with a truncated version of our program and introduce them to the leadership in our community and help them to see that Southern Arizona would be a great landing point for them if they choose — they don’t have to go to New York or Florida or Boston or L.A. or San Diego,” Smith said.
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