Dmitriii Shironosov one of the founders of Everypixel, started his journey over a decade ago with a production company and stock photo library focused on the U.S. market. In this interview, Dmitrii shares insights on doing business in the U.S., the benefits of a business-friendly environment and his plans to scale up along with advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
• Ethical Gen-AI ambassador.
• Initiates innovation activities to make digital content creation more efficient and technology-driven.
• Co-founder and CEO of Everypixel Group
• Co-founder of Everypixel Stock Production Studio
• Co-founder of Wonderslide, AI platform designed to help users create stunning and professional presentations quickly and efficiently
• Founded "Korpus," an international pre-se ed stage startup community in machine learning and AI.
Anna
Dmitrii, it’s a pleasure to have you here with us. We usually start our interviews by exploring the roots of our guests’ journeys. Could you share the story of how your business adventure began and what inspired your move to the US?
Dmitrii
Well, our journey began quite some time ago when we launched a production company and a stock photo library. Picture this: a full production team—directors, lighting specialists, makeup artists, models—all piling into a bus and heading off to shoot content. That’s how we started, producing loads of content and selling it directly to the US market. Interestingly, we never really did any business in Russia—it was always the US from day one and this was over 10 years ago!
Anna
Impressive!
Dmitrii
It is. And we had some pretty great success early on and eventually became one of the TOP 5 production studios globally. Around that time, we also established a presence in Singapore and just recently, we celebrated its 10-year anniversary.
For a long time, our focus was purely on content production, but as tech enthusiasts with backgrounds in IT and engineering, me and my partners began exploring innovative solutions in the content creation space. This led us to work on copyright protection systems and automated content processing. Then, in 2016, when AI and computer vision started to gain traction, we dove headfirst into that.
Now, we’re running two parallel ventures: one in production and another in AI. Operating in the US, we focus on 2 main areas. First, there’s our AI-powered presentation tool called Wonderslide, which automates the entire presentation creation process. And second, we provide API access to our AI algorithms, which are used by production studios and a wide range of websites that need solutions like tagging or speech generation. It is an exciting journey!
Anna
How would you describe your experience communicating with Pixel Tax Consulting, and how has their responsiveness impacted your business operations?
Dmitrii
One of the things I truly appreciate about Konstantin and Pixel Tax Consulting is how accessible and responsive you are, guys. Communication is always smooth and efficient, and Konstantin's quick responses make managing everything so much easier. To be honest, after over 20 years of running my company, I've learned that the best accountants are the ones you almost forget about. They work quietly in the background, ensuring everything is in order so you can stay focused on the bigger picture and your strategic goals without worrying about the details.
Anna
Absolutely, that’s spot on. In my time at PTC, I’ve really appreciated how much we value our clients’ time. We take care of all the routine tasks, ensuring everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, so entrepreneurs like you can stay focused on the strategic aspects of the business. It's all about making things easier for our clients. By the way, if you're an entrepreneur reading this and feel inspired to start your journey in the US or need any assistance, don't hesitate to book a free consultation with Konstantin.
Anna
Alright. When it comes to doing business in the U.S., what differences have you noticed that impacted you while running a business? I know you faced some challenges while doing business in other countries. Are there any specific aspects that stand out here?
Dmitrii
In the U.S., one of the biggest advantages is how easily you can deduct various expenses. In Russia, this is a major headache—you need to provide tons of paperwork to prove everything, and even then, some expenses are allowed while others aren’t. In contrast, the U.S. system is far more straightforward, with many costs eligible for corporate write-offs.
Another great aspect is the ability to pay employees as contractors, which offers flexibility. While not many on our team are taking advantage of this right now—most of them prefer being paid in crypto, which they really like—it’s still a valuable option. I can see us leveraging it more as we scale.
The 2 projects we’re running under this legal entity are in active growth phases. They’re currently growing by 20-30% per month, but the payment volumes are still relatively modest. It will probably take another year before we see significant gains. At that point, we’ll definitely make full use of the ability to pay contractors through the company as we expand further.
Anna
Given your experience in doing business worldwide, what advice would you offer to someone looking to start a business in the USA?
Dmitrii
Well, to be honest, there’s no point in starting a business if you don’t have a steady stream of income. If it’s just occasional payments, there are always ways to avoid the hassle and constant expenses that come with setting up a business. But if you’re in IT and you start receiving regular payments and need to handle them, then creating a legal entity is the only real option. In that case, the U.S. is by far the most favorable and business-friendly jurisdiction.
Anna
What are the overarching goals for the projects you have in the U.S.?
Dmitrii
The primary goal is to scale up and ultimately reach a valuation of several hundred million dollars.
Anna
So, you’re planning to attract investors? It seems like hitting that kind of scale would be difficult without external funding, right?
DmitriiExactly. We’ve thought about bootstrapping and it’s certainly an option we’ve considered. But with Wonderslide, we’re already pitching to investors, having meetings and exploring potential deals. The main challenge is aligning on valuation—while the project’s growth is impressive, the revenue numbers are still relatively small at this stage. Even so, we’re definitely open to raising investment rounds in the future to fuel that growth further.
Also, we’re on the verge of launching a new service that generates social media content without human involvement. We’re developing a platform where your virtual copies may deliverr blog content with full facial expressions and gestures. This isn’t your typical synthesized avatar that just nods—it’s fully animated social media videos, combining all our tech to create content for social media managers. I think you might find it interesting!
Anna
Wow, I can’t wait to try it! Thank you so much for sharing your journey, Dmitry. It's been fascinating to hear about your projects and the innovative paths you're taking. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on your progress. Best of luck with all your ventures!
