Interview by Beata Socha and Sean Reynaud

WBJ: What does your company do that translates to business value? 

John Kilmer: So, ValiCor Poland is an emotional intelligence company. We have an emotional intelligence technology called H.E.A.T.—Human Emotion Analysis Technology. We also have the H.E.A.T. Academy, which teaches the fundamentals of emotions. From there, we tailor the training to different industries—such as mental health, psychiatry, and others—to enhance your ability to practice your profession or perform your job more effectively.

In essence, what we do to add value for businesses is help improve human performance by enabling a better understanding of emotions – both your own and those of others. Using H.E.A.T., we can measure the impact of that understanding and see whether performance is improving.

It’s not just about quarterly performance sheets or KPIs. You’re getting raw, visual, quantified, qualitative, and objective emotional profiling data. This approach is supplementary—you're not replacing KPIs or quarterly performance reviews, but adding to them to make them more meaningful. The real value is in enhancing human performance with measurable metrics. 

How do you as a company that uses AI, see the US market as opposed to the European market? 

We are not an AI company. What makes us different from a lot of companies here in the EU, that are prevented from doing work with people, because of the AI act and the EU act, is that we're an emotional intelligence company that has certain components of AI in our processes. We are not dependent on it. So we're not a high risk company. We're actually a medium-high risk company, which allows us to deploy our technology in settings that most AI companies couldn’t. 

So AI in Europe is heavily regulated compared to the US. How do you as a company that uses AI see the EU, as opposed to the American market? 

I love the European market. We've worked heavily in the EU, Italy, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and Canada, and I like the regulations because it makes it easier for us to deploy the technology in the US. It's a lot easier. 

So once you're validated, in Europe, the US says, okay, so you jumped through all the hoops in Europe, so you're good? 

I wouldn’t say we’re validated. We’re validated in the US and we’re also very much compliant with ICD-11, which is really the new mental health standard in Europe. That’s where we’re heading. We’re working with a Polish company here to get the medical license, which takes forever, and is extremely expensive.

We’re not a mental health company. We’re not an AI company. We’re an emotional intelligence company. So it’s this grey zone. 

Why is it difficult to do business here as a foreigner? 

As a startup company, I think it’s difficult. You may ask, “Why come to Poland? There are so many other places: France, Italy, the UK.” Why are we not progressing there? We’re not, because we see the opportunities here.

I’ve spent a lot of time here, understanding the culture. Doing a lot of business here with my prior company and in my prior work helped me see the opportunities. 

The opportunities here, the work ethic,  they’re strong. One of the things I want to do with my company here is pay Polish people better. I think a lot of Poles are underpaid and undervalued.

Where is your company on its journey from being a startup to scale up? Give us the whole skinny on how you set up the company. 

So, I have ValiCor U.S., that’s based in the United States. That was the first one, in January. I have ValiCor Canada, ValiCor United Kingdom, and ValiCor Ukraine. These are all separate companies, and they’re all connected through legal documentation back to ValiCor U.S.

The one that is unique and special is ValiCor Poland, PSA. We’ve just registered, we’re official, and I’m working to get my work permit through the company. I don’t think the work permit itself is difficult—I think it’s the work visa that’s even more difficult. 

So, ValiCor Poland is at a point of scale right now. None of the entities are startups. We are actively seeking funding for scaling operations. 

Who are you hiring and for what positions? 

I want to hire more Polish technology professionals and programmers here. We’ve already hired three so far. We’ve hired a marketing content specialist, a management operations specialist, a software developer, a software manager to oversee software development, and a senior developer for a secondary program. Mostly tech jobs, but we’re moving into management too. We’ve also hired a consulting specialist to help us find funding—and she’s doing a very good job.

So for us, right now, it’s scaling that’s needed, and we want to hire locally.

The other big thing is keeping the money here. You see these American companies coming in—Deloitte is a perfect example—they create a subsidiary, but the money doesn’t stay here. Only the jobs.

The way I’ve designed it, each subsidiary keeps the money in-country. The jobs are created here. The innovation stays here. Of course, it works with ValiCor U.S., but it’s not transferred in a way where we take ownership away from Poland. It’s something Poles can be proud of. Too often, Poland makes the innovation and it gets sold elsewhere.

One of the hardest parts for me has been negotiating, through our company’s legal documents, to let ValiCor Poland innovate and keep the IP in Poland without infringing on ValiCor U.S. IP. It has to be seamless sharing—but also deciding who gets the credit, who gets the acknowledgment. The language for the formation of these companies is tricky because it dictates not just how the company operates, but also how we’ll do business with other Polish companies inside Poland and as a Polish company outside Poland.

The biggest challenge I’ve seen is regulations and the strictness of rules. Adapting to the culture and understanding those rules and procedures—not as a barrier, but as something to be mindful of and respect—has been difficult for me as an American.