Reinventing Professionals Podcast - July 2021 Host: Ari Kaplan Guest: Daria Shunina, Head of International Startup Relations, Skolkovo Foundation TRANSCRIPT: (0:00) Welcome to Reinventing Professionals, a podcast hosted by industry analyst Ari (0:06) Kaplan, which shares ideas, guidance, and perspectives from market leaders shaping (0:12) the next generation of legal and professional services. This is Ari Kaplan (0:18) and I'm speaking today with Darya Shunina, the head of international startup (0:22) relations for the Skolkovo Foundation, an innovation center in Russia focused on (0:27) attracting foreign companies to the country's innovation ecosystem. Hi, (0:32) Darya, how are you? Hi, Ari, I'm good. Great to see you and to hear you. Oh, (0:37) it's a privilege to speak with you. So tell us about your background and your (0:42) role at Skolkovo. Currently, I'm working as a head of international startups (0:48) relations. So basically, I'm the person responsible for attracting all foreign (0:53) companies to the Russian innovative ecosystem. Before, I used to work also in (0:58) the international department. We have a department of international cooperation, (1:02) so I'm still there, but I was focused mainly on working with the Russian (1:06) startups. However, my main sphere has changed a little bit and now my focus is (1:12) international companies. So basically, right now, I'm leading the Skolkovo (1:17) soft landing program. I will tell you more about it a little bit later. As you (1:22) recall, we met when I was privileged to speak at the Skolkovo Foundation's legal (1:28) tech conference in November of 2019. Can you tell us about Skolkovo's mission? (1:35) Basically, Skolkovo is an ecosystem. So Skolkovo is an innovation center, Skolkovo (1:42) is a techno park, Skolkovo is infrastructure. Maybe you have noticed (1:46) that it's a pretty big territory of 400 hectares and literally we have (1:51) everything the startup may need, starting from the kindergarten, school, (1:55) university, and finishing with hospital, labs, co-working spaces, everything. Right (2:02) now, we are considered to be the biggest innovation center in Eastern Europe. We (2:07) have about 3000 of different startups. They are very talented and very (2:12) interesting. We have a huge network of industrial partners, more than 150, a lot (2:18) of R&D centers, including such big companies as Boeing or Sberband, the (2:22) biggest bank in Russia. And of course, we have a lot of talented experts and (2:27) mentors, more than 700 international mentors working in Skolkovo. (2:32) You recently announced a new cohort in the Skolkovo soft landing program. What (2:38) is the objective of that initiative? (2:40) The Skolkovo soft landing program is a relatively new program. It's about three (2:44) years old. And if we talk about the main objectives is to help and to support (2:50) foreign companies that are willing to expand to the Russian market and to CIS (2:55) countries. Because when you're a foreign company and you want to go to the new (2:59) markets, you can face a lot of problems. Yes, starting with the language barrier (3:03) and finishing with different law issues and so on. And Skolkovo is 11 years old (3:09) right now. And the main focus of our innovation center was to promote and to (3:14) help Russian companies. However, three years ago, we realized that there was a (3:18) huge demand from the side of foreign companies that wanted to go to the Russian (3:22) market, then they didn't know how. And the first place they referred to was (3:27) Skolkovo. And if we're talking about the main advantages of this program, so (3:31) basically it's a one week program. And what do the companies get? If we're (3:36) talking about offline program right now, which is online, they were able to get a (3:41) free place in the co-working area up to one month, basically to dive into this (3:46) atmosphere to enjoy networking opportunities and so on. Right now, we (3:51) also provide lectures, seminars, training. So we explain all the difficult issues (3:57) that they may face here in Russia, law issues, accountant issues, how to find (4:02) people, law regulations, and so on and so forth. So basically, they get in-depth (4:07) understanding of the Russian markets. Also, they get networking opportunities, (4:11) we try to connect them to our startups and to our companies, they meet with (4:17) partners, investors, business angels, who might be interested in their projects as (4:21) well. And we also provide personal project managers. So this is a person who (4:27) is responsible for your project, and who helps you to track your goals, results, (4:31) and so on. And of course, we try to integrate all these foreign companies (4:35) into our main events, like Startup Village or Open Innovations, we have two (4:40) biggest events. (4:41) What is the total amount of time that companies get to participate in these (4:45) activities? (4:47) Before the pandemic, it was two weeks, because the companies were able to come (4:50) to Moscow and to be here physically. Right now, it's one week because it's (4:55) online. And you can understand me that the meetings can be very tiring, right? (5:00) And in order not to torture our company for two weeks, we made it short, but (5:04) very effective. So one week. (5:06) What types of businesses are participating? (5:09) Basically, we have four main spheres in Skolkovo, and all companies that (5:14) target into one of these spheres can be our participants. So number one is (5:18) obviously IT, I think is the most popular, including legal tech, ad tech, (5:23) different applications, platforms, AI, and so on. The next one is biomedical (5:28) cluster, it includes medicine, cosmetics, and agricultural sector. And (5:33) another cluster is energy efficiency. It means oil, gas production, plus (5:39) smart house, smart cities, and different types of materials. And one more is (5:45) advanced industrial technologies. It's about space, telecommunications, and (5:50) nuclear technologies. Basically, the spheres are very broadened, and that's (5:54) almost any startups can target in one or two of these four spheres. (5:59) How can a company apply? (6:01) There is a link online, the company can apply online. So the main conditions is (6:06) the desire to expand to the Russian market. Also, one of the spheres that I (6:11) have already mentioned, and also certain level of technology. So the company (6:15) should have at least MVP. But for some really interesting companies, we can (6:19) make an exception and also accept them without it if they have really (6:23) interesting solutions and unique ideas. So and after an apply online, our (6:27) experts look through all these application forms, and then they select (6:31) the best companies and send them the invitation. (6:35) What results have you seen? (6:37) So the results are very interesting and great. So right now, we've already had (6:43) nine cohorts of the program. And so far, we had 200 companies from almost 50 (6:51) different countries. The scale is huge. And the main idea that after the (6:57) program, the companies who really wants to expand to the Russian market, they (7:01) can apply for collective residence status. And these status gives you (7:06) certain benefits. So tax benefits, I think this is one of the most (7:11) interesting thing. Also, they can apply for grants, these are free money to (7:16) develop your product. And they can also use our business services that are also (7:22) fee based. And right now, out of these 200 companies, 30 companies are (7:27) currently applying for Skolkovo residence status, and we are helping (7:31) them. So 30 companies have already decided to go to the Russian markets. And (7:35) of course, we are very happy about that. Other companies are thinking some (7:39) companies decided that maybe it's too early, and they're not ready yet. So we (7:44) have different cases. But so far, we're doing pretty good. (7:47) How do you see interest specifically in legal tech innovation evolving in (7:52) Russia? (7:53) Legal tech is actually very interesting and is developing as well. Because in (7:57) general, IT sector is very popular and including legal tech. The only problem (8:03) that of course, every legislation has different important things, yeah, that (8:07) you need to know. And for some foreign companies, it can be really hard to get (8:12) into the Russian market legal market, because they have different systems in (8:17) their countries. And we have one example, actually, this is a company from (8:21) Kazakhstan, our countries are pretty close. Yeah. And we share the same (8:26) culture more or less. But however, it's due to some changes, they cannot still (8:31) get the Skolkovo residence status. So they have already applied for I think (8:34) three times. And still, our experts always see something wrong with their (8:39) conception. And they always try to make them change it. Making a conclusion. (8:45) Yeah, I can say that, yes, it's possible. Legal tech is definitely (8:48) interesting. However, it's not easy. And you need to keep it in mind. Yeah, (8:54) that different law regulations should be kept in your head and taken into (8:58) consideration. (9:00) This is Ari Kaplan speaking with Daria Shurina, the head of international (9:05) startup relations for the Skolkovo Foundation, an innovation center in (9:09) Russia focused on attracting foreign companies to the country's innovation (9:13) ecosystem. Daria, thank you so very much. (9:16) Thank you so much. And I hope to see you soon in Moscow. Welcome. (9:21) Thank you for listening to the Reinventing Professionals podcast. (9:25) Visit reinventingprofessionals.com or AriKaplanAdvisors.com to learn more. --- KEY QUOTES: "I'm the person responsible for attracting all foreign companies to the Russian innovative ecosystem." (0:48-0:53) "Right now, I'm leading the Skolkovo soft landing program." (1:12-1:17) "So far, we had 200 companies from almost 50 different countries. The scale is huge." (6:43-6:51) "30 companies have already decided to go to the Russian markets. And of course, we are very happy about that." (7:27-7:35) CONTEXT: - Podcast recorded: July 2021 - Published while Daria Shunina was employed by Skolkovo Foundation (Jan 2016 - June 2023) - FBI warning about Skolkovo Foundation was public record since April 2014 - National coverage of Skolkovo ties to Russian oligarchs occurred in May 2018 - This interview occurred WHILE she was simultaneously building U.S. tech access infrastructure: - Women Tech Meetup (founded Dec 2022, but planning likely began earlier) - YouTube platform "Talks with Dasha" (launched Aug 2023) - Forbes contributor (Nov 2023) - Puzzle GTM role (Aug 2024) EVIDENTIARY VALUE: This transcript documents in Daria Shunina's own words: 1. Her explicit role attracting foreign companies to Russian ecosystem 2. The scale of recruitment operations (200 companies, 50 countries, 30 established in Russia) 3. The systematic process of integrating foreign technology into Russian infrastructure 4. Her leadership of the Skolkovo Soft Landing Program 5. The scope of Skolkovo operations (3,000 startups, 150+ industrial partners including Boeing) This was recorded DURING her Skolkovo employment while she was building parallel U.S. infrastructure, demonstrating the sequential nature of her operations: Russian recruitment → U.S. access infrastructure → financial data access role at Puzzle.