It's amazing to see how fast the world is picking up on building innovative places that stimulate creativity and entrepreneurship.
This week I had the pleasure to explore two of them in Kazan, Tatarstan Republic:
On the first day, I gave a speech at IT-Park in Kazan. We spoke about how to fundraise in Silicon Valley and the discussion lasted an hour longer than planned. Local entrepreneurs demonstrated a lot of expertise in this field and I felt this conversation was with experienced people that inspired me to speak about it in greater detail too. We ended up in coworking are discussing different Go Global strategies and tactics with selected founders and technopark management. I discovered bright people with brilliant projects such as a dating service based on audio messaging.
IT Park in Kazan is one or among a few that is revenue positive and doesn’t require funding. Well done!
INNOPOLIS
Innopolis is a town of the future, that was founded about 7 years ago and accounts for 5000 residents. It's a special economic zone for founders from around Russia and globally.
When you enter the city you can see self-driving cars, smart young people, as well as infrastructure that is focused on stimulating a creative atmosphere.
I had a very intense schedule there starting with a great presentation and a tour across technopark I can see why this technopark got filled with residents so quickly. I'm not mentioning the cost of living there (brand new one-bedroom apartment is $100 per month), coworking below $15 per month, and all kinds of tax breaks. While I was there the president of the Tatarstan Republic was on the was put the first brick into the foundation of the city expansion. It seems in a few years this city are will be a "hot" tech hub not only in Russia but globally.
I met their awesome founders who innovate in streaming tech, fintech, and all kinds of other things.
Unfortunately, I had I limited schedule before catching up on the next flight. Though we've done so much. I have recorded my online course on how to fundraise in Silicon Valley.
And I had a great interview with the senior management of Innopolis.
Special thanks to Vadim Galeev, Alexander Borisov, Rustem Yunusov, and their teams for making my visit an excellent and very productive one. We will continue to strengthen our partnership capabilities and create global initiatives.
Danil Kislinskiy