'Kyiv is very cool': why an entrepreneur from the USA is opening offices in Ukraine

Brad Cam is an entrepreneur from San Francisco who opened the offices of his companies in Kiev. He explains this by the fact that there are more talented developers in Kiev than in other countries, even in the USA.

Photo: MC Today

He first came to 2014 while working at Talkable. And now I launched a startup Unstoppable Domains, the essence of which is the registration of domain names on the blockchain system. And the project team decided to assemble in Kiev.

Brad told MC Todayas it turned out in Kiev.

History in brief

I was born in Atlanta, Georgia. There he founded his first company - it was the real estate industry. In 2012, my school friend Allan Grant called me in San Francisco to head Talkable, a company that deals with referral programs. Then I already understood that Atlanta is not my city and real estate is not my sphere. I wanted more prospects, I had to go where I could feel in my place.

So I ended up in California and became involved in the IT industry, which shapes the future.

Talkable works like this: you buy something from an online store, the store invites you to invite a friend and get, for example, a twenty percent discount on your next purchase. Your friend follows your referral link and also gets a discount.

During my work at Talkable, I increased the staff from five to sixty and expanded the base of partner sites: hotels.com, Crate & Barrel, Shutterfly and other companies began to work with us.

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What is Unstoppable Domains

In 2018, I simultaneously launched my Unstoppable Domains project for registering domain names and crypto sites on the blockchain system.

How do crypto payments work now? You register a wallet, it is assigned a unique name consisting of a random set of characters. When you want to transfer money somewhere, you need to specify the address generated in the same way.

These addresses can not be remembered, and if you make a mistake in one letter, the money will go wrong, and you will not be able to return them, because blockchain payments are anonymous and pass through different computers. That is, you technically can not cancel the operation.

Plus, users often register several wallets for different cryptocurrencies. It is very easy to get confused in addresses.

Our product solves this problem like this: you come up with a nickname for your wallet, it’s your domain name. Now you can call this person a nickname, and it will be easier for him to transfer money to you. In one wallet you can store bitcoins, and litcoins, and any other cryptocurrencies. And pay only a couple of dollars a month for this.

In addition, your domain is fully protected, because it is tied to a wallet, and if someone wants to access it, we will reply, “Sorry, but we do not have access, because the site is tied to a personal account.” So we make the Internet free, uncensored, as it was before. Plus, the sites themselves look very simple: if you find yourself on the Internet 1996-th.

Photo: MC Today

Business in Ukraine

Allan, with whom I worked at Talkable, was born in Ukraine, and when we began to assemble a technical team, we found that the best developers are here. First of all, we invited one of the top developers, Bogdan Gusev, who lives in Kiev. He became our technical director, and together we continued to look for employees in Kiev.

Kiev is a city of startups, and this is very cool. I first came here at the beginning of 2014, and saw people in bright clothes and with insane tattoos. I must say, I did not represent Ukraine at all. It was restless in the country then, but I did not worry: in my native Atlanta there are areas in which it is much more restless.

Now I come here as needed, on average once every three to four months. I like to go to the botanical garden in the evenings, I like many Kiev restaurants, but not with Ukrainian cuisine - it is not very close to me.

When friends ask about Kiev, I tell them that this is a cool and quaint city, which has everything the same as in other European cities, and that super-cute people live here.

Then, in 2014, I was surprised by one more thing: a huge number of talented developers were gathered here. I thought about this for several weeks and decided that now, if I create a company, I will create it in Ukraine. Therefore, when I started Unstoppable Domains, I immediately began to assemble a team here. Bogdan (Gusev - ed.) Again began working with me as a lead developer.

Ukrainian business, of course, differs from California, and not only because taxes are much lower here. For example, the business community in Silicon Valley is very open, you can go across the road and chat with your client, walk another half a block and go to another client. Everyone around you is engaged in their own business and are ready to prompt, help, do something together. In Kiev, you usually do not see your customers, communicate with them only online and by phone.

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Back in Ukraine, it is still considered good form to come to the meeting in advance. In the States, we believe that arriving earlier is no better than being late. Plus, there are other ideas about personal boundaries: one of our employees got sick and sent an email to colleagues about it, and then he was upset that none of the American team asked him how he was feeling. He decided that it was not a good enough attitude towards him, when in fact it was just tact.

As for wages, they are lower in Ukraine than in California, but life here is also cheaper. For example, the main developer in Ukraine receives $ 54 thousand per year and rents an apartment for an average of $ 800 per month. In Silicon Valley, a developer of the same level earns $ 150 thousand a year, but pays $ 4 thousand per apartment per month.

Photo: MC Today

Why is it difficult to find developers in Ukraine?

Both companies to which I have a relationship have offices in Kiev: Talkable on 80% is based here, in the Kiev office of Unstoppable Domains while there are three people, and now we are expanding the team, looking for new specialists.

And with this there are difficulties. We are doing something new, unusual, different from other Ukrainian IT-companies. At the same time, there is no single resource where talented developers are gathered; we literally have to “catch” them all over the country.

Plus, in Ukraine, not everyone speaks English, and this is an important problem on the way to the country's integration into the global business community. We also need candidates with a level of English B2 and higher. Now, for example, we are looking for an Operations Manager (Head of Operations), a Product Designer and a Community Manager. A little later, we will look for developers.

Although the company is registered in the States, we do not share offices and plan to gather most of the team in Kiev.

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