WEBVTT - Technology and Investing In Ukraine 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:05.600 From the heart of where innovation, money and power collive 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.879 in Silicon Valley and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:26.360 Emily Jay. I'm Emily Changing San Francisco and this is 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:29.680 Bloomberg Technology. Coming up in the next hour, Reckless Why 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:33.640 Russian President Vladimir Putin is being accused of nuclear terrorism. 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.200 We will bring you the latest from the White House, 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.199 plus how the war is affecting tech employees on both 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.839 sides of this fight from Ukraine and Russia. We'll talk 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.519 to two tech employees on the ground and the role 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:48.320 of crypto and the Russian invasion and how crypto exchanges 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.479 are navigating the crisis and sanctions. Will get the view 0:00:51.560 --> 0:01:03.280 from Crack and CEO Jesse Powell. As we continue to 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:05.440 cover the situation in Ukraine, we are talking to tech 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.479 leaders and employees where it's hitting closest to home. Today 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.160 we bring you the stories of Matthias Clink, CTO and 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.040 co founder of past Base, who is working around the 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:17.000 clock to help employee stuck in Ukraine, as well as 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.360 Russian employees who have fled the country. Also joining us 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:23.440 in Samir, a product designer at Salondo who's also a 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.280 Russian citizen. And relocated to Germany back in August, but 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.960 still has family and friends in Russia. Mattias and Essa, 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:32.200 thank you both so much for joining us and as 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:34.840 I want to start with you, you decided to leave 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:39.399 Russia months ago because you felt this tension escalating. Your 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:42.520 parents are still there, your friends are still there. How 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:47.560 are you doing and how are they doing? Um? Well, 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.040 thank you for asking. It's it has been complicated, of course, 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.080 so I hope for the best. That's what I can say. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:00.280 President Putin, we're hearing could soon declare marks a law. 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:04.360 He is already cracking down on the media. This means that, 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:07.240 you know, the borders could be closed. Um, it could 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:11.840 be more difficult to protest illegal Uh to protest. I 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.519 know one of your friends I believe, was arrested for protesting. 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:20.679 What do you think, What do you think about all this? Well? 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.880 What can I think? Well, it's it's it's awful. It's 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:30.880 just awful. So I cannot fully believe this situation is happening. So, um, 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.919 we all in the country I think just missed this point. 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:40.800 When this the things get so bad and so wrong. Mattis, 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:44.200 you have both Ukrainian and Russian employees You've got Ukrainian 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.959 employees I believe who are still in the country and 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:51.480 Russian employees who have left. How are you navigating all 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.440 of this and the challenges that both of these employees 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:59.600 are facing. Yeah, it's, um, of course, like a very 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.840 tough situation. UM. I think what we do in the 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:06.040 first place is really try to support our team members 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:11.680 with like support and safety. Basically, some of these team members, UM, 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.240 since they're like currency got like incredibly devalued. Basically all 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.959 their life savings is like are basically gone. So we're 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.400 like working with them of course in ensuring that they 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.959 still can get their like salary even though some of 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.040 their like financial institutions now are on the sanctional list. 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:29.560 So this is like one one part of course what 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.239 we do for our Russian team members and in helping 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.480 them and providing them safety. And at the same time, 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:38.000 of course we're working both with the Ukrainians and Russians 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.120 and helping them to relocate if they want that. Um, 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:44.720 some of them can't, so, especially like the ones who 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:48.400 are in Ukraine, UM, they're basically sent back at the 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.520 border and almost called to arms and told that they 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:54.120 have to fight. And it's of course like a very 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.600 test situation for them as well. So that's in that 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:00.200 sense what we're trying to do is um how helped 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.560 them at least um to stay and find a location 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.160 where they can work from you like see that they 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.520 can have access to internet, um and and just like 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.600 trying to somehow manage the situation with them together. You're 0:04:13.600 --> 0:04:16.000 a young startup, I mean, are you saying that these 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:20.000 employees they're still working, they're still shipping code, doing their 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.680 jobs in the middle of a war. Yeah, this is 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.400 pretty much insane. It's about like thirty of our of 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:31.680 our engineering team as either Russian or Ukrainian, and you 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:36.200 can imagine probably that the productivity is far more than 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:39.760 like even more impacted by that. And it doesn't even 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:41.599 stop there, you know, like we have team members also 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.719 in Buphrenia and some countries close by or human Germany, 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:48.320 um and pretty much everyone here in Europe is like 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.960 heavily heavily impacted by this situation. And on the one 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:54.120 side tries to support our team members who are like 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.080 literally in the midst of this, but also we as 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.320 like a leadership team of course provide um um the 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:06.040 space that they can show Basically um, their support for them. 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.920 And and also um, we canceled meetings that they can 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:13.120 go on protests for example here in Berlin. So this 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.040 is at least the minimum what we as a company 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:17.640 can do is creating the space for them to to 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:21.719 so social engagement here. And as your friends who are 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:24.239 still in Russia, your parents who are still in Russia, 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.400 are they trying to leave? Do they want to leave? 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:31.640 Do some of them support this war? I know many 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:37.640 many people do not. Yeah, that's true, many people do 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.280 not support the war. And none of their friends and 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:45.400 my family, none of the people if my clothes circle 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.360 is support. But I hear the stories also from some 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:51.320 of my friends that they do not speak with their 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:55.080 parents anymore because the parents see it tends to see 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.000 the situation differently. So um, and yeah, the majority of 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:02.440 people is trying to escaped Russia right now, I would 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:08.520 say that almost how of my closest circle managed to 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:13.360 escape in Armenia and Georgia and closest countries. Of course, 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.000 it's not that easy with my parents because they had 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:21.960 already they retired. Um, so I don't really know how 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.680 to support them in this situation. So um, But yeah, 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.960 these sanctions are getting tougher every day sanctions coming in 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.080 from them around the world. How is this impacting everyday Russians? 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:41.040 Obviously the target is wealthier Russians, but how is this 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.520 impacting the people that you know who maybe had nothing 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:50.120 to do with this? Yeah, that's that's true. It impacts 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:55.359 people in every way. So basically, my parents lost almost 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:59.520 all of the savings just basically overnight or in the 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:03.080 in the course of livel last week. The same I 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.520 can say with some of my friends also, a lot 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:10.840 of them was receiving their salaries in Russian troubles. So 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.600 also with all this situation, with the companies starting to 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:19.760 prove stopping to provide their services in the country, Uh, 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:24.000 we can already see a lot of change, and I 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:28.280 think it's going to be only more of them unfortunately, Mattias, 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.360 is there any way that you can describe ideologically how 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.120 this is impacting your company, given how much of your 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:44.720 team is Ukrainian or Russian and how emotionally difficult this is. Yeah, 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:48.080 and so absolutely. Um. I mean what we also offered 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.680 is of course mental health support to all our team 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:55.360 members were affected by that, and um it's it's just 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:58.520 like a really tough time, and um, I think we 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.320 just need to help key members really to go through 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.120 this this tough time and help them and not only 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:07.240 them but also like their relatives, um to come to 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:10.280 Germany if it's possible, and relocate them if they want that. 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:15.080 But it's it's just like such a such a such 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:19.280 a sad thing, what's happening right now, And it's it's 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.520 at the same time, you also feel like a feeling 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:25.040 of like powerlessness, um because you only have like very 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.800 limited impact on that here from from from from Germany. Basically, 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:34.520 how concerned should we be about the tech industry given 0:08:34.679 --> 0:08:38.679 the deep bench of tech talent in this country, in 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:42.600 both of these countries, and the fact that they these 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:47.160 people are working for companies global companies around the world. 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.800 Are are you worried for? Uh? You know the supply, 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.080 You know that the great talent that all of these 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:57.959 developers and engineers and product designers UM possess and have 0:08:58.120 --> 0:09:01.480 to give back to the world. M So, so what 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:03.520 I think what is going to happen likely in the 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.680 next coming of weeks is of course that more team 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.400 members will try to either leave Russia and Ukraine to 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.520 more western European countries and I think this is also 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:14.959 what in as I just touched upon that some of 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.360 her friends already tried to to leave. So I think 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:20.280 in the short term this is of course there's like 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:23.360 a high impact, especially for teams like us who have 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:27.200 um a lot of team members in one of those countries. Um. 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.400 Long term, I think, and this is already what we 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.000 saw from the European Union, which I strongly welcomed, is 0:09:34.200 --> 0:09:38.400 that we are like very very like friendly towards giving 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.720 visas towards those people impacted by the situation. And um, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:44.800 I think this is absolutely the right move to to 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.800 like protect civilians and allowed them basically to escape from 0:09:48.840 --> 0:09:53.199 this tragedy and and bad situation in those countries. And 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.120 as you have leafter country, your parents are still there, 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:02.240 your friends are still there. How do you see your 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:08.040 near future? How do you imagine this ending? That's a 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.160 tough question. Um. Of course I will try to help 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.160 my friends to escape. I helped them to get the 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:19.440 job in Germany. Um, with the parents, it's much difficult 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:22.800 because as I sat there in the or quite an 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:27.720 old age right now, my only hope right that when 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.520 this situation would started to decrease, I mean the heat 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.640 of it. Um that maybe some countries would will still 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:39.200 open their borders. We'll still have the old borders opened 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:46.320 with Russia, and I can at least, um like, invite 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.199 my my parents there and we can meet during a 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.720 short vacation. That's all I can hope or right now 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:55.559 probably no more. Do you think you'll ever go back 0:10:55.600 --> 0:11:01.280 to Russia? Um, that's also a tough hian. I don't 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.240 think so. Like so, I wouldn't say like never, but 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:09.880 unless this regime is um is in power, I would 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.520 rather not too. I would go there only if I 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:16.120 definitely have to do it, like I have some family 0:11:16.320 --> 0:11:19.960 business to do. But personally I'm afraid of my safety 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:22.599 if I would go there, I would I cannot be 0:11:22.720 --> 0:11:26.320 sure that I can get back to Germany and as 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.880 a mere product designer at Salando, Russian citizen Matias clank 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:33.360 Cyto and co founder of past Pace, thank you both 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:35.480 for joining us for sharing our story. We hope that 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:39.440 you both stay safe. Much more coming up Bumbloomer Technology. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:56.120 Stay with us. This is Bloomberg. Welcome back to Bloomber Technology. 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:58.959 I'm emily changing in San Francisco. How our investors hedging 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.080 ge political risk in Ukraine are crety. Gupta has been 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.360 digging into that crety. What you've seeing, Yeah, I mean 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:06.640 it's a pretty straightforward trade here, Emily. You are seeing 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.800 the surging oil price surgeon commandity prices, so naturally you 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.640 do get that exposure in the stock market, but you 0:12:11.640 --> 0:12:13.880 will also get it through defense names. It breaks pretty 0:12:13.920 --> 0:12:15.880 set a lot of sense as you start to see 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.000 a lot of these European nations really ramp up their 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.080 defense seeing some of those lessons from Ukraine, Naturally they 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.920 go to the number one maker or export i should say, 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:26.679 of defense kind of companies now, of course, as the 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:28.480 United States. So check out this e T F the 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.680 three major e T s. You can see the flows 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:33.960 have just skyrocketed, going back all the way two years, 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.480 moves that you haven't even seen during the trade war 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:38.959 between the Nine States and China. But this isn't the 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:41.440 only kind of defense they're looking at. Emily. We are 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.040 on day nine of the Russia and Ukraine war, and 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.760 you can see very clearly people are betting on cyber 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:50.040 security as a really key piece of that defense strategy. 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.000 And of course we do know that Russia does have 0:12:52.040 --> 0:12:55.600 an upper hand. They are very strategic in using cybersecurity measures. 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:57.640 That has been one of their criticism in the past. 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.199 So if you actually look at the stocks coming we're 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.200 saying the past two weeks, for example, you can really 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:06.200 see that these uh names, names like Paula Alto, crowd Strike, 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.840 that really kind of specialized in cybersecurity, they're the ones 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.640 that are getting the bid. Basically an assumption that a 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.439 lot of corporate America is going to start looking to 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:19.160 cybersecurity names to ramp up their own defense systems. Emily, Okay, pretty, 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:21.520 thank you for that round up. Meantime, the tech world 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.440 has wasted little time announcing plans to cut business ties 0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:28.120 with Russia over this unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Just this 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.760 week we saw Apple, Oracle, Disney, met At, Spotify, Microsoft, 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:34.440 just to name a few. But not everyone is following suit. 0:13:34.559 --> 0:13:36.679 Earlier this week, the CEO of we Work had this 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:42.079 to say on Bloomberg. We have just four locations in Moscow. 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.120 We're doing incredibly well. We are as a right now 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.079 over nine de percent occupied. It's a small part of 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.520 our business. Uh. You know, the revenue is about top 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:54.719 line revenues about ten million dollars on our base of 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.280 several billion dollars, so it's a very small part of 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.640 our business, so you know, not much of a financial 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:05.720 low business. In back to our business. Since that comment, 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.200 we Work announced it's partnering with the UN to help 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:12.360 the more than one million refugees who fled Ukraine, adding 0:14:12.400 --> 0:14:15.240 it's also offering flex space across Eastern Europe to displaced 0:14:15.320 --> 0:14:19.240 Ukrainian businesses. However, we work still operating in Russia. I 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:21.160 want to talk more about all of this with Alfred Trong, 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:25.040 general partner at Race Capital. Alfred, I want to start 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.840 a big picture we are witnessing. You are no stranger 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.360 to witnessing global conflict and the impact on global and 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.520 local economies. Just how chilling do you think the impact 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:38.640 of this invasion of Ukraine will be on the global 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.520 economy and on the tech industry. Emily, thank you for 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.440 having me back for good to steal um. Well, this 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.720 this is a very personal metaphor me because I when 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.360 I will see you a b a system. Uh. In 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:54.440 September eleven, we lost the employees one of the Towel, 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.400 one of flight and free so um, I like a 0:14:57.520 --> 0:14:59.680 part of me have ever died when those kind of 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:01.760 things happened, And I have to be the one to 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:03.800 call it a family. It was very very tough time 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.760 and you know what these are chilling experience and memory. 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.040 So for me, UM, I think this impact is going 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.920 to be a very long term and very big. UM. 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.440 I've been wanting our own companies and also that will 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.760 have offices and employees in the Ukraine for quite sometimes 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:25.680 since early January, to take measure and set a backup 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:30.640 plans for having backup offices in neighboring countries. I think, goodness, 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.840 at this point, I have we have everyone accounted for 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:37.120 and they have now since safely have been in moved 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:40.560 to safe places and they continue have been able to 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:46.320 resume working. But it's an extremely scary time. Money has 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.600 been pouring into startups over the last couple of years. 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.560 Do you think that's going to slow down? UM? I 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:59.240 think UM likely not because of justice invasion. UM, without 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.800 any doubts. UM. We are going to be seeing, um, 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:05.160 some of the softening and the ipeo market. You know, 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.120 some people believe the ipeo market is temporary close so 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:11.840 when you have liquidity kind of all sudden drying up. 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:15.920 We will be seeing some late stage deals softening up 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:19.920 on valuations or maybe even having some early signs of 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.560 you know, difficulty and fundraising, but it's going to take 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:24.600 a long time before it trigger down to the early 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.560 stage deals. In particular, I think most of the venture 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:30.480 investor have raised a lot of money for at this time, 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:32.120 so we have a lot of dry power to continue 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.080 to invest in companies. Um the view of investment those 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:38.680 company obviously over time will change, you know, because think 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:40.920 about this like our own company and that web that 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.520 buys them like take to take everything about the sanction 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:48.400 very seriously. So if they are selling two Russias, they 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.280 will have to be very careful and we have to 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.680 assume some of those customers will have to say goodbye 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:55.960 to so that will have impact. The European market has 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.000 been extremely hard for early stage slide of for the 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.280 last fel of months. There's no doubt that will be 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:02.760 impacted in this coming year, you know, the rest of 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.520 twenties two, So those impact we're going to be feeling 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:10.520 pretty well. So full startups, I all advise them to 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.280 be careful with their cash and to have you know, 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.040 ample run ray and be careful if they want to 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.760 be going out to fundraise, to do it early and 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:22.600 do it diligently. Now. We just went through the list 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.560 of businesses cutting ties to Russia. I spoke with Brian Chesky, 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:29.320 the CEO of Airbnb, just a couple of days ago, 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.840 and asked whether or not Airbnb would cut off service 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:35.560 to Russia. Take a listen to what he had to say, 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.280 just a couple of days ago. Are you willing to 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.680 consider uh, you know, tougher self shanctioning in Russia, even 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.520 though you know, you know it sounds like hosts are 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:47.879 limited right now based on what they can do, But 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.520 would Airbnb consider going so far as to cut off 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:54.119 the service. I think all things are on the table 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:57.199 right now, so we're really focused right now. I've been 0:17:57.359 --> 0:17:59.480 working around the clock with the team to try to 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:02.920 figure out how can we have a hundred thousand refugees 0:18:02.960 --> 0:18:06.160 from Ukraine. But we have another team working with local 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:09.119 governments and really trying to answer these questions. And if 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:13.119 we have an update, we'll certainly let you know. Brian 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:16.760 Tansky tweeting last night that Airbaby is indeed now cutting 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.080 off service to Russia and Belarus, is this something that 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:24.960 you think all companies should be doing? Well, that's that's 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:27.760 definitely the advice I've been giving to your own startup CEO. 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:30.560 So we actually most of our company have come to 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.320 me over the loss Um weekend. In particular, we're seeing 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.640 open source companies seeing huge amount of package download from 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:39.639 Russia and some of the see what was calling me 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:41.439 and said what should I do? So I've been advising 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.040 them as at this point in time, you must block 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:45.960 because we honestly don't know how to sanction you know, 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:48.359 where does it lie and what our responsibility of. But 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:50.639 you know, we also have to play our part right, 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.560 so what is right has to be right. I mean, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.359 this is a time where we all have to step up, 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.480 you know, to have more engages to know what's the 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:00.040 right thing to do. And one of the thing I 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.120 would like to add though, the Russian people are innocence right, 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.560 so most of them they have nothing to do with 0:19:05.600 --> 0:19:08.239 this wall. So we we we've got to be very 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.600 careful we don't ended up discriminating. Many of our friends 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:14.720 that are good friends are doing the right thing that Russians, 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.199 so we've got to have that distinction, very very careful. Right, 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:21.440 there's a line between you know, a fine line between 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:24.800 who is this affecting and clearly these sanctions are impacting 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.320 a lot of everyday Russian citizens. To that point, how 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:32.639 much money is in the venture capital ecosystem, how much 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:35.600 Russian money is in the venture capital ecosystem, and should 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:39.119 founders be questioning whether to take that money, should they 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:44.879 return that money? Yeah? So for us obviously for us, 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:47.080 we have never taken any of the Russian money um 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:49.240 for our fun for the people to invest in our fun. 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:52.200 I'm sure that through this time they are people that 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:55.960 directly and directly have invested into venture capital, directly in 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.600 the direct us in the companies over this time. But 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:00.479 I think those are the things where we need our 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:02.840 government to guide us to know what's going to be 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.800 that lining and money that they have taken to actually 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:08.200 ingrained in the spending of the company, What do we 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.800 do with them? Those obviously are not for me to judge. 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.560 Those are actually we need um guidance from the State 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:15.320 Department and you know exactly what to do. I mean, 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.040 we we've seen this movie before. We have you know, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.920 the serverest, you know when we have shut down, you know, 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:24.800 funding from China and then I think overall very smoothly 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.520 industry and also you know the tech companies were able 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:30.600 to direct very quickly and we'll be able to tuck 0:20:30.720 --> 0:20:32.520 right in line and be able to comply to all 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:34.800 the all the needs. At this point in time, I 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:37.159 think we're still too early. It's very chaotic. I think 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.359 the most important thing to do is to worry about 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.560 the people. If we have employees, when we have companies, 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:44.680 we have founders who have to make sure that them 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:49.400 and their families are safe. That's job one. What about 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:52.760 venture capitalists? Venture capitalists are very powerful, They've got a 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.480 lot of money. They're typically more quiet. Should they be 0:20:55.600 --> 0:20:59.719 taking action cutting ties? Uh, you know, pulling people out 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:05.040 of funs, you know, cutting off partnerships. Um, Actually, I 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:06.760 think some of them must not as far as you think. 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.040 I know that I have good friends. You know, they've 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:12.200 went very large funds, They've been very active, They've created email. 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:14.280 It is, there's a lot of actions have been taken 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.960 to help the Ukrainian people, you know, during the situation. Now, 0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:19.800 I'm sure that I think in the days and the 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.080 weeks to come, we're gonna see actions from venture funds 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.000 of taking actions. You know, also in terms of sunctioning 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.840 what the Russian money coming in. We all have to 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:30.840 do our part. It can be just you know, at 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.040 a very very macro level. You know, I think at 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:34.760 a fine green level, we all have to do our part. 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:40.320 I'm sure this is coming. Alfred Trunk, Race Capital General partner, 0:21:40.480 --> 0:21:44.119 thank you for sharing your prospective here with us. Coming up, 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:46.120 we're gonna be doing my crack and CEO Jesse Pale 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:47.879 a deep dive on the role of crypto in the 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.919 Russian invasion and the Ukrainian resistance and how is crypto 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:55.359 exchange is navigating the crisis and calls to cut Russia off. 0:21:55.960 --> 0:22:16.000 This is Bloomberg. The crypto industry has gotten a lot 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.480 of attention after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, some government officials 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:22.840 wondering whether Russia or the country's tycoons might be able 0:22:22.880 --> 0:22:27.320 to skirt sanctions using crypto, and Ukraine actively seeking donations 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:31.359 via digital assets. But finance, coin based cracking and more 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:34.000 have come out against blanket bands on Russian users. I 0:22:34.040 --> 0:22:36.720 want to bring in cracking CEO Jesse Powell for more 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.159 on this. Look. Jess, you've been very clear that cracking 0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.920 won't freeze the accounts of general Russian users. Given the 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:46.920 events of the last twenty four hours, Putin's escalation of 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:51.399 this war. Does your position on that still stand? They 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:53.639 still stand? You know, It's it's really hard to know 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:57.280 as a private business, you know, which doesn't have a 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:02.640 major global geopolitical analyst function inside of trying to evaluate 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.040 these these situations play by play. Um. You know, we 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.440 look at our role as being able to follow executive 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:11.480 orders from the White House, being able to follow O 0:23:11.600 --> 0:23:14.679 fak and and sanctions coming from the government. We're very 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:16.920