I am deeply grateful to Alyona and Sergey Bogdanov for organizing the Silicon Valley Tour. In just a few days, I feel I gained more experience than I did during two years of an MBA program. It was about meeting fascinating people, understanding how to talk to investors, learning which startups and technologies are currently trending, and seeing where everything is heading. It was incredibly exciting.
Here, I gained not only experience, but also inspiration and motivation. All the fears that people usually have when they want to launch a startup—especially when it comes to entering international markets or the U.S.—simply disappeared. This is a must-do: to come, feel the atmosphere, recharge with energy, and absorb experience that is very hard to get elsewhere in such depth and in such a short time.
Huge thanks to Alyona and Sergey for the organization. And, of course, to our group—I don’t think I’ve ever communicated with so many people at once, each of whom was incredibly interesting. Everyone inspires and motivates you, and the fear of doing something wrong just vanishes. I truly recommend everyone to join this community.
It’s crazy, but I found partners here for three of my projects at once. I came with the goal of figuring out what to focus on, and instead I found people with whom I can launch projects right now. This answered my main question: whether to go to investors at an early stage or first launch and approach them from a much stronger position.
And all of this became possible thanks to the incredible networking we experienced here. This is truly an important investment—in your future, in your business, and in the opportunities that Silicon Valley offers.

Hello everyone! My name is Ivan Shkvarun, I am the CEO and founder of Social Links. We are a technology company, and for me California has always been a special place of energy, inspiration, and new ideas.
I truly love being there, which is why the Silicon Valley Tour by Alyona and YellowRocks is an incredible combination of opportunities to connect with founders, expand your network, and at the same time visit the headquarters of major companies to see how things actually work and how they grow. It is also about meeting investors and learning about the most interesting recent developments and trends shaping the Valley.
That’s why I can confidently and wholeheartedly recommend everyone who is thinking about entrepreneurship—even if you are not directly connected to IT—to come to Silicon Valley, feel this unique spirit, expand your circle among founders, and start changing the world for the better.

I absolutely loved our trip because, first of all, it was incredibly intensive. We were constantly visiting corporations and meeting fascinating people who helped broaden our perspective, see the world a little differently, and peek behind the curtain of venture capital and large corporations. I’m truly happy I went, because it felt as if my worldview shifted—and an idea was planted in my mind, almost like in the movie Inception: the idea that you can live and think in a completely different way.

Silicon Valley is a world of its own. It doesn’t matter where you’re from—what matters is passion in your eyes, the desire to create something new, and the willingness to go all the way. If that’s you, all doors are open.
The concentration of entrepreneurial people here is off the charts. It’s as if they’ve all gathered in one place, far from the rest of the world—California is distant from Europe, Asia, and even from the rest of the U.S. (even in terms of time zones). And nothing distracts them—they simply create.
This leads to astonishing results, like self-driving taxis. You order a car, get in—and there’s no driver. Yet it takes you exactly where you need to go. Safely, seamlessly, technologically.
In general, most of the technologies we use every day—smartphones, cameras, microphones—were conceived here. And when you find yourself in this place, among people who are moving the world forward, you realize that it’s all very real.

Thank you to Alyona for organizing such a fast and high-quality immersion into the Valley’s ecosystem. I think it would be very difficult outside of this program to meet so many smart and genuinely pleasant people and see so many interesting places in just one week. The networking was outstanding. The nature, the universities, and the brilliant professors completely won my heart.
An excellent platform for business connections. Highly recommended.

The essence of this trip was not a superficial tour, but a deep immersion into the unique world of innovation and technology. Traveling independently might give you a glimpse of famous landmarks—such as the legendary Hewlett-Packard garage—but only an organized tour truly opens the door to understanding the Valley.
YR offered an exceptionally rich program, planned with impeccable attention to detail. It allowed us to meet leading global corporations and their employees—the true carriers of corporate culture. Visits were arranged to two prestigious universities—Stanford University and UC Berkeley—where we met with a professor specializing in venture capital investments.
Between these visits, our schedule was filled with meetings with venture fund managers, business angels, and promising startups. Each day brought an incredible density of context and knowledge, which I absorbed eagerly, trying to capture and process as much as possible.
By the end of each day, I usually returned to my hotel room with a pleasant sense of fatigue from the sheer volume of impressions and information. Our schedule also included excursions to scenic parts of the Valley and even some time for sports, adding balance and energy to the trip.
In essence, this business tour to Silicon Valley is a true find for anyone seeking deep immersion in innovation, cutting-edge technology, and venture capital. It definitely deserves a place in your plans.