Tech entrepreneurs in Lehi, home to Utah’s Silicon Slopes, are worried about their Ukrainian employees, some of whom have chosen to stay and fight the Russian invasion.
The European nation is quietly home to a large base of tech workers, and partnerships between Utah businesses and Ukrainian workers have a history dating back well over a decade, according to Mark Newman, the founder and CEO of Nomi Health, which employs a team of around 20 Ukrainians. “I’m walking in Lviv, Ukraine, and I’m seeing shirts of Utah companies, tech shirts, right,” Paul said of his time spent abroad. “And I’m like, ‘This is crazy.’ … They know the people here. They know our kind of politics and who the CEOs are and who pays well and who works well with Ukrainians. So, like, they know us well. [It’s] like a sister city without any official sister city status.”
Recently, Paul has taken a backseat in the day-to-day running of Wooly. Davis is the current chief technology officer, and he has to balance the company’s practical interests with compassion for the workers – his friends – who help it go. When the airstrike alert interrupted their virtual meeting, some of the Ukrainians didn’t even log off of the call.
Lehi based NetDocuments has about 85 employees in Ukraine, mostly in Lviv as well. Same situation as Wooly.