Val Narodetsky

CEO @ | Helping Growth-Stage Companies Scale With Offshore Tech Teams from Eastern Europe | Proud Father of @lianaroartist

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Alibaba says AI agents are creating "one-person unicorns."

OpenAI is hiring 8,000 people to build the tools that make those one-person companies possible.

The tools keep getting cheaper. The talent to use them doesn't. That's the gap nobody is pricing correctly right now.

#AIStartups

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Ukraine's cybersecurity talent pool keeps getting deeper while US companies still overpay for junior devs with "senior" titles.

You can hire a battle-tested Eastern European security engineer for $50/hr or a mediocre American for $180k/year. The math isn't complicated.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Ukraine's defense tech ecosystem has 1,500+ developers shipping AI systems in active warfare. Meanwhile, most US startups can't hire one senior engineer in 6 months.

The talent is there. The infrastructure is there. The execution gap isn't a talent problem.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

The Shopify Partner Directory has thousands of 'experts' listed. Most are generalists doing basic theme customization for $50/hr.

Meanwhile, you're still waiting 6 months to hire one senior full-time engineer who actually ships.

We've placed 250. 94% are still with clients 2...

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Here's the link. https://t.co/pzuL5041Jw

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most remote team tools solve the wrong problem. They add layers of monitoring instead of hiring people who don't need it.

You want engineers who ship. Not software to watch engineers who don't.

That's the actual remote work advantage. More info in link.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most CTOs audit their tech stack once a year. Nobody audits their hiring strategy.

Yet hiring is 60% of your engineering budget.

If you're not regularly checking whether your team composition actually matches your product roadmap, you're leaving millions on the table.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Remote work solved hiring speed. But it created a new problem: founders think they can hire anyone from anywhere and it'll just work.

It won't. You need engineers who are self-directed, communicative, and actually ship. Most candidates aren't.

That's why we vet.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most companies hire 10 engineers and expect them to stick around for 3 years. Then they're shocked when 6 leave within 18 months.

You can't scale a product with a revolving door. Senior engineers with 94% retention rates cost less than replacing juniors every year.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most growth-stage companies waste 6 months hiring one senior engineer. Then they wonder why they can't ship faster.

Meanwhile, we're placing vetted senior developers in 4.2 days. Not because we're magic. Because we actually vet people instead of spray-and-pray recruiting.

Sp...

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

You know what kills engineering teams faster than bad code? Founders treating hiring like a sprint instead of a system.

You can't rush placement. You can only rush bad placement.

We take 4.2 days because we vet properly. Everyone else takes 2 weeks and regrets it by month 3.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Access more details via the link here. https://t.co/HsOjVFLtYR

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most companies build messenger bots and wonder why they don't convert. They treat it like a novelty instead of a sales channel.

Messenger is high-intent. People don't message you to browse. They message to buy, get help, or book a call.

Map the use case first. Then build. Link in reply.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Here's the full article. https://t.co/3wucgkfqtX

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Unicsoft places 800 developers across Web3. That's a lot of bodies.

But here's what matters: how many of those 800 are actually shipping production code vs sitting on the bench between gigs?

We place 250 engineers. 94% stay with clients past year two.

Quality over headcount.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

A third of US executives just wing their remote strategy. Then they wonder why their engineers quit after 8 months.

You can't manage what you don't measure. Clear expectations, async communication, and autonomy aren't nice-to-haves. They're how you keep senior talent.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Google's median tenure is 1.1 years. Amazon's is 1 year. Yet companies still think they can hire 80 engineers and expect stability.

You can't build a product with people who have one foot out the door. Retention beats headcount every single time.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

@BusinessTalk Here's the full article. https://t.co/En2wNKOK3o

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most freelancers underprice themselves. They're so grateful for work that they accept whatever rate comes first.

Then they wonder why they're exhausted and broke.

Your rate should reflect your skill level, not your desperation. Know your floor. Defend it. @businesstalk More info in link.

[Val Narodetsky @val_naro]

Most remote team failures aren't about timezone differences or Slack channels. They're about hiring people who can't work without supervision.

You need engineers who ship when nobody's watching. Everything else is just logistics.