[ymolodtsov]

Of course Russia killed its industry. No reasonable person will launch a startup in Russia. It was hard even before, but at least you had the hope of attracting capital from global VCs, expanding internationally. Now it's gone.

I know entrepreneurs who sold companies to Yandex and VK (when it was MRG). It's a miserable outcome. You have only a few potential buyers in Russia, which means prices for startups are cheap. All then went to launch companies somewhere else so they might have a chance of a better exit.

For a Russian-based startup there are two ways to sell their "cool things" globally. Exit the country or be very diligent about hiding your roots. Still, people will find out sooner or later.

Yes, Russia will still have a few big tech companies, which are almost and government oligopoly already. Their employees shouldn't really expect too much competition for their talent (and corresponding salaries).

[russian-troll]

That's true. It was always hard for startups in Russia. And to try and go global meant one had to register company somewhere else (e.g Dubai, Cyprus) and promote it as multinational company or smth like that. But why would "big gov tech" companies lower salaries? They still need IT workers with expertise.