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With years of experience in the IT industry, Kostiantyn is passionate about software solutions that help people and businesses. With instability in his homeland of Ukraine, he knew he needed to find a place where his family and company could thrive. The inTulsa Visa Network made that possible.
With years of experience in the IT industry, Kostiantyn is passionate about software solutions that help people and businesses. With instability in his homeland of Ukraine, he knew he needed to find a place where his family and company could thrive. The inTulsa Visa Network made that possible.
What led you to Tulsa?
My whole family and I are from Ukraine. With the war in Ukraine, there have been many changes for people and companies. For companies, there is a need to find a good way to keep supplying projects and work to Eastern Europe. For families, it's obviously finding a way to get through their circumstances. My company, HebronSoft, started building a US presence before the war emerged, so we just kept going according to the plan we had. As far as moving here, inTulsa was recommended to us, so we started communications to understand how this program could benefit HebronSoft and what we could bring to the community. We have a lot to offer.
How did you find out about inTulsa’s Visa Network program?
HebronSoft’s founder knows Stan, who works at inTulsa. I believe she met him when she was here for one of the inTulsa events a couple of years ago. That's how it evolved. We arrived in Tulsa this year, and since then, we’ve been settling in here.
What has it been like to have the help of the Visa Network?
What stands out for me is the support level, the feeling that when you come to this place, you don’t need to do everything yourself. There will be people who are interested in giving you this support in getting up to speed within the community. I have friends in the US, and I didn't visit Tulsa before I moved here. We went to Dallas, New Jersey, Arizona, so many other states, but not Oklahoma. So, the support was a key decision, knowing Stan and the Visa Network team are here for us. We obviously checked out many, many other factors, but that was one of the most important.
What have been some benefits of moving your business operations to Tulsa?
We did this for many reasons, and one of the reasons is that we have operations in Ukraine (in spite of the current war). And we need to keep the team growing and supporting the team we currently have. With all the global changes that we observed, we know right now, obviously, being here is the right logical step. We can build a network here in Tulsa, and hopefully create more jobs with the IT services that we provide—hiring here, but also hiring in Eastern Europe, in Ukraine, and supporting good quality services.
What is involved in your role as an IT company CEO?
As a CEO, there are a lot of things to address, a lot of parts to keep in the strategy. At HebronSoft, we build full stack cloud solutions, data management, and artificial intelligence. It’s a custom software approach. My big hope for Tulsa is that we can build a vibrant technology presence here, where we can help local engineers—Americans or participants of the Visa Network—to join good ventures and startups. We can work hand-in-hand with the Eastern European offices we have in Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and beyond. We can keep helping each other.
From your perspective as a CEO, what is the value of being open to hiring participants from the Visa Network?
There’s a huge value in that! This is a small community, where you have designers, engineers, leaders, and QA people. This is a very, very valuable thing, that it's a community that is always a source for that.
What makes Tulsa stand out as a place to live?
Tulsa is interestingly a niche town or city, where you can find everything within a good distance of 20 minutes. We met good people within the Visa Network. We're making friends here from Ukraine and other countries. They help us navigate. We find Tulsa is a really neat, neat place to be.
What are some of your favorite things to do in Tulsa?
Like for everybody, it's the Gathering Place. And we love the Pan-Asia supermarket where you have all the flavors of every cuisine we like. It’s a good place to run and grab some groceries. We go to the pools. We’re still exploring—my daughter’s preferences mostly—but it is good. My daughter loves swimming, so we found that for her. We have a lake nearby, so we go there and enjoy that.
What would you tell people who are thinking about moving here?
My advice is to be honest with yourself, your situation. I know many families who tried California and now they are sort of in limbo, wondering if they should try Florida or Texas. They are wasting time and energy. It is very important to settle in the right place quickly. With inTulsa, it's possible. Your family needs a balance. And Tulsa is a good place to get that balance.
One big component of this is people. Tulsa’s people are very supportive, not just nice, but supportive. People here helped us to settle in and helped us with some furniture, which was really great. The people aspect is a very special ingredient of Oklahoma and inTulsa. I can tell you that people here are very supportive. Culture wins!
