Sensing the worst, two weeks before Russia began invading his homeland, tech entrepreneur Volodymir "Vlad" Panchenko wanted to charter a plane for a month to get as many of his employees and their families as possible out of Kyiv, Ukraine.

But the co-founder of video game and metaverse marketplace DMarket said his board was giving him heavy pushback because his plan to shuttle workers to the Balkan country of Montenegro would lead to a 20% budget increase. Yet, in a rare show of defiance, Panchenko trusted his gut and told them he was executing his contingency plan anyway – regardless of the cost.

“None of them supported me. They said I was overreacting,” said Panchenko, who started making plans in January. “I told them that I felt a war was coming and we should leave. And if there isn’t, we’ll spend time in a warm place and still get our work done.”

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Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. DMarket and many other tech companies rely on colleagues who live and work in Ukraine, a fast-growing tech hotbed. While known companies such as Google and Microsoft have workers based in Ukraine, many far lesser-known, early- and mid-stage startups globally count on the embattled country’s talent-rich pool of engineers and developers and could be jeopardy due to the conflict.

For DMarket, Panchenko's plan worked. A majority of his employees, their spouses, their kids, their parents, even pets – about 140 in total – are spending the next three months living in apartments in Montenegro as Panchenko works to figure out where his company may relocate as the month-long war intensifies.

“I’ll take that 20% budget hike instead of being in grave danger and possibly losing 100% of my company,” Panchenko said, choking up. “We are going to try to be one step ahead of this situation.”