I busted all the business myths about the US

Over the three weeks I spent in the United States, I debunked a huge number of myths — about business realities, lifestyle, and values of this uniquely multifaceted country — all filtered through my own perception and experience.

If you type just three simple letters into Google — “USA” — the search engine will return 351 million links: news, politics, history, traditions, and plenty of other interesting things. That was the information landscape I encountered on the eve of my business trip to the United States. But the reality held many “buts” that shattered all my preconceptions.

Myth 1: The USA follows a unified business approach

The southwestern region (California) and the northeastern part (Illinois, Michigan, and separately New York) represent completely different projects, values, and business styles.

California is a “country” of its own, with a special approach and attitude toward life. I would even extend the boundaries of Silicon Valley to include San Francisco and Los Angeles. It is in this geographical range that the latest developments and features are born. For example, Los Angeles is the mecca of VR-related projects. While Hollywood studios haven’t officially announced any VR film releases yet, work is already in full swing. It’s expected that within the next two years, we’ll see the first full-scale Hollywood blockbuster in VR format.

In California, most projects abandon the idea of developing long-term strategies. A classic go-to-market strategy may seem correct but is no longer effective. Lean marketing and lean production principles are gaining popularity. As a result, digital development here focuses on quickly producing simple, often templated websites, with fast deployment, constant testing, and ongoing optimization.

However, in northern Illinois and Michigan, such a lightweight templated approach simply wouldn’t be accepted. There, a thorough, step-by-step development process is valued — detailed market and product analysis, well-thought-out structure, and phased implementation through small iterations. No one talks about templates. Everything must be custom, with the goal of running the solution for a long time without major changes, offering easy management — ideally, fully automated. In Illinois, we met with automotive companies that now view their websites as their primary sales tools — television has already lost its lead role.

Myth 2: VR is still far from becoming part of everyday life

VR development is in such high demand that experienced specialists are hired instantly, and their rates can reach up to $250 per hour.

Besides cinema, VR is already widely used in education. For instance, Stanford students have been studying medicine through VR technology for two years. When the first reports on this learning process appeared, VR adoption in the U.S. surged. Students are the most progressive and active demographic — trendsetters of both technology and startups.

The main challenges for VR remain content creation complexity, the need for specialized equipment, and limitations in video resolution for the human eye.

Just a few years ago, we debated the necessity of adaptive website design. Now it’s time to start thinking seriously about websites with integrated VR.

Myth 3: Developer is the profession of the future

Continuing with the education theme, the most valuable university specializations today are math (especially applied mathematics), big data, and analytics — not programming.
Pure coding is losing its value. While developers are still in demand today, even programmers acknowledge that in a few years, machines will do the coding. What will be needed instead? Architects and analysts — in short, mathematicians.

By the way, there’s a very promising college in California — Harvey Mudd College — that specializes in applied mathematics and analytics.

Myth 4: All investments go to startups

Investors have become more cautious and are demanding faster results from the projects they fund. There has been a sharp decline in investments. In 2016, funding dropped by more than 25%. In 2015, over $40 billion was invested. The first half of 2017 already showed a decrease of over 30%. Projects that are more likely to receive funding today are those focused on cutting-edge technologies — VR/AR, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and healthy lifestyle solutions.

A telling example is the startup Beepi, which burned through nearly $150 million in investor money before collapsing. Analysts cited an ineffective business model, a misguided ad campaign, and reckless personal spending by the founders. One rumor said they spent $10,000 on a couch for their reception area — expensive even by American standards.

Another trend noted by investors: in the past, all it took to secure funding was enthusiasm, passion, and a compelling team and idea. Now, you need a clear monetization model. Even better — some early results.
"We recommend not waiting and hoping for an investor like a savior but launching the project yourself as far as possible. Unless, of course, the real goal is just to burn through investment funds. We've seen that, too."
And an important point: investors, despite their experience and knowledge, can also be wrong. That’s why the most important thing is to believe in your project and keep moving forward — even if you get one or ten rejections. It doesn't matter.

Failures outnumber successes in the startup world — roughly 8 to 2. So investors’ caution is understandable. They expect — and even demand — profitability, not just a beautiful idea and cool tech. And they want it quickly.

Myth 5: Every American starts their day with Facebook

Do you know which website the average American starts their day with?
Amazon.

Amazon is slowly but surely swallowing up the entire e-commerce industry. In just the first quarter of 2017, its sales rose by more than 20%.

Amazon is now so powerful that it is shifting its focus from digital development toward logistics. Previously relying on local delivery services, Amazon is now building its own delivery infrastructure. Why? Because reducing delivery time is their trademark competitive advantage.

By setting this high standard, Amazon is pushing out other retailers. Its customers, spoiled by 10-hour delivery of TVs or iPhones, now expect the same level of service from every online store. And once Amazon wins the battle over drone regulations — which currently prohibit drone flights beyond the operator's line of sight — retail as we know it will be irreversibly transformed.

In September, Amazon’s entry into the Ukrainian market was officially announced. If that truly happens, it will have enormous consequences for Ukrainian businesses: only large, automated e-commerce platforms and marketplaces — ready to continuously invest in development, branding, and optimization — will survive.

By the way, one of Amazon’s latest creative ideas is drone charging stations mounted on city lampposts, next to ordinary pigeons.

Here’s an interesting statistic: the number of users purchasing groceries online has risen to 31% in just six months.
I believe the next step in encouraging this behavior will be smart fridges connected to the Internet of Things, capable of managing orders through apps. And once artificial intelligence is integrated into these systems, human involvement in keeping the fridge stocked will no longer be necessary.

Myth 6: All food in the U.S. is artificial

Since we’re on the topic of groceries and fridges, let’s address another myth — food.
Hamburgers, donuts, chips — yes, they’re everywhere. Supermarket shelves are filled with colorful packaging, attractive labels crafted by top marketers, unbeatable deals, snacks, ready meals, and processed foods.

But right next to them, though less colorful and slightly less abundant, are organic, farm-grown, and healthy products: cheeses and yogurts, fresh vegetables and herbs, grains, dried fruits, nuts, and whole-grain baked goods.

Yet locals tend to choose the fast, colorful options — rarely reading the labels or thinking about the health consequences. And they’re certainly cheaper.

As a coffee lover, I have something to say about that, too. In the U.S., coffee is not just a drink — it’s a lifestyle. On the streets of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, people are more often seen carrying a large, brightly branded coffee cup than not. The coffee itself, however, is quite different from what we’re used to in Ukraine — the roasting style makes it unpleasantly bitter, prompting many to add double the sugar — which most people do.

Myth 7: All U.S. states are equally progressive

Not all regions of America enjoy the same abundance of products and coffee cups. In the central part of the country — Arizona, Utah, Nevada — across endless rocky, sun-scorched plains where the heat reflects off black freight train tankers crawling past lone cacti, the only hints of food are massive containers labeled “Food Bank” and nearby water tanks.

These are Native American reservations. In an era of artificial intelligence and 13-minute drone delivery of the latest iPhone, indigenous people live just 100 miles away from this robotic reality.
They herd spotted ponies like the ones in Disney cartoons, handcraft and decorate clay pots and plates, distill tequila (or simply moonshine) from agave, and queue at food containers. With coal-black hair and eagle-shaped noses, they stand out strikingly from Mexicans — exuding pride in their posture, even when working as waiters.

Myth 8: The best IT professionals are in the U.S.

And now for perhaps the most interesting point. The U.S. tech workforce includes a large number of Indian and Mexican specialists. Local experts (e.g., back-end developers) earn $110–130 per hour. Mexicans and Indians work for $70–80. Our Ukrainian developers are ready to work for $40.

Many companies are willing to pay Ukrainians rates on par with Indians. And Ukrainian qualifications are undoubtedly stronger — particularly in math and advanced technologies.

But there’s a “but”: communication. A lack of accountability in meeting deadlines and poor English skills are major drawbacks. If we overcome those issues, our technical capabilities will make us truly competitive.

In fact, the American digital community already believes Ukraine could become Europe’s “Silicon Valley.”
Among all Eastern European and CIS countries, Ukraine is seen as having the strongest potential. To get closer to this promising and much-needed future, we need to focus on full-scale project development: on ideas, architecture, project management, and implementation — not just selling isolated services or tools.

Most promising directions for Ukrainian IT specialists:

• Business process automation and optimization
• Machine learning and artificial intelligence
• Virtual and augmented reality — content creation, environment and avatar design
• Internet of Things and integration with personal assistants
• Healthy lifestyle tech solutions

Even if this still sounds like a distant or irrelevant future — it is much closer than we think, and it’s coming faster than expected.

This article was published on Novoe Vremya Business.