War Taught this Ukrainian Entrepreneur the Value of Resilience

2026-06-20 · Source: IEEE Spectrum · Field: Business & Management — Entrepreneurship & Start-ups, Corporate Strategy & Leadership · Depth: Fundamental Awareness, medium

Summary

Ukrainian entrepreneur Salome Mikadze-Struk, an IEEE Senior Member, built her software-development company, Movadex, as an undergraduate during the COVID-19 pandemic and sustained it through Russia's early 2022 invasion of Ukraine. After completing an MBA at Stanford University this year, Mikadze-Struk is re-engaging with Movadex to drive its expansion into the United States and enhance its focus on AI implementation for clients. Drawing on her experiences, including her parents' refugee background and navigating war while studying at Georgetown, she advocates for resilience in entrepreneurship. Mikadze-Struk emphasizes that the rapid evolution of AI coding tools necessitates that engineers embrace AI as a copilot, develop higher-level skills like systems thinking, and cultivate adaptability to navigate industry disruption. Movadex initially focused on providing engineering talent and product development, adopting a holistic approach to user needs.

Key takeaway

For software engineers navigating the rapidly evolving tech landscape, you must actively cultivate resilience and adaptability. Embrace AI coding tools as essential copilots, rather than threats, to remain competitive. Focus on developing higher-level skills like systems thinking and architectural design, as AI increasingly handles routine coding tasks. Your ability to accept disruption and uncertainty will be crucial for career longevity and innovation in this industry.

Key insights

Resilience and adaptability are crucial for entrepreneurs and engineers navigating continuous disruption, particularly from AI.

Principles

• Embrace risk, disruption, and uncertainty.
• Education and merit-based accomplishments are key.
• Holistic product development beats pure engineering.

Method

Identify market gaps, connect talent, then evolve into a startup studio offering engineering and holistic product development focused on user needs.

In practice

• Mentor startups using adversity experience.
• Engineers: fall in love with AI as copilot.
• Nurture systems thinking and architectural design.

Topics

• Entrepreneurship
• Business Resilience
• AI Coding Tools
• Software Development
• Startup Mentorship
• Ukraine War Impact

Best for: Entrepreneur, Director of AI/ML, Software Engineer

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by IEEE Spectrum.