IT Arena Kicked Off with a New Format of Live Talks

April 29, 2022

IT Arena returned on Wednesday night in a new talk format, a series of live-streamed panels with international tech leaders to keep up with major developments in Ukraine’s tech industry. The premiere episode, “International Founders Continue to Run Business in Ukraine: Why and How?,” was given an expansive hour to tell about the latest challenges of running a business in Ukraine under the shadow of war.  The talk was moderated by Mike Butcher, Editor-at-Large of TechCrunch.  

World famous CEOs and founders – Andy Kurtzig, JustAnswer, John Sung Kim, JetBridge, and Andrew Brown, EduNav – spoke about their offices and teams in Ukraine, effective communication with investors and partners, mitigating risks whilst meeting client demands, as well as the future economic stability in the post-war Ukraine. 

“Ukraine has a very strong technical talent base which EduNav has grown upon. Over 250 000 Ukrainian tech specialists are a very rich and deep academic backbone. We work in Ukraine as a one-team company. I respect the talent and the hardworking dedication of the Ukrainian people, and I think what we’ve built up through the last 60 days has made us even stronger in maintaining business continuity together with our team members,”  comments Andrew Brown, CEO of EduNav. 

The speakers discussed the Ukrainian tech business, which maintains its continuity, is greatly focused on helping the government and the army and ensuring the team members’ safety. The stream participants talked about the challenges of the coming days. That is, on one hand, to support refugees, and rebuild infrastructure and the economy. On the other hand, to reassure the investors in this decisive moment for a business, show them the resilience of people and the Ukrainian talented and strong tech and startup community, that have great opportunities to grow.

The next IT Arena live streams will dig into Estonian-Ukrainian cooperation in wartime, tips for startups, and women-led tech companies. The talks are free of charge and require no prior registration. 

Join us for our future streams on your favorite platform: IT Arena website, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

If you missed our live broadcast, you can view the recording here.