Built AI Startup from Zero | The Founders Podcast

The Founders — IT Park Uzbekistan rezident startap asoschilari bilan ochiq va samimiy suhbatlar olib boriladigan loyiha. Unda startap qurish jarayoni, ekotizimdagi real tajribalar, muvaffaqiyat omillari, tez-tez uchraydigan muammolar va ularning amaliy yechimlari haqida gaplashamiz. Loyihaning asosiy maqsadi — yoshlar va startaplarga qiziquvchilar uchun haqiqiy founderlar tajribasini ulashish. The Founders loyihasining ilk sonida TASS Vision asoschisi va CEO’si Shaxzod Umirzakov bilan kompaniyaning shakllanish tarixi, AI texnologiyalari hamda riteyl analitikasi kelajagi haqida suhbatlashdik. Suhbat davomida: avtobus chipta tizimidagi yo‘qotishlardan qanday qilib startap g‘oyasi tug‘ilgani, traction va investitsiyasiz dastlabki bosqichdagi qiyinchiliklar, kompaniya nega asosan referral orqali o‘sgani, hamda xalqaro jamoani boshqarishda yo‘l qo‘yilgan real xatolar haqida ochiq fikr almashildi. Suhbat ingliz tilida olib borildi. ⸻ The Founders is a series of open conversations with founders of resident startups at IT Park Uzbekistan. The project explores real startup-building experiences, key success factors, common challenges, and practical solutions within the ecosystem. Its main goal is to share authentic founder journeys with young people and aspiring entrepreneurs. In the first episode of The Founders, we sat down with Shakhzod Umirzakov, Founder and CEO of TASS Vision, to discuss the company’s journey, AI technologies, and the future of retail analytics. During the conversation, we discussed: how revenue losses in the bus ticketing system inspired the startup idea, the challenges of building a company without early traction or investment, why the company grew almost entirely through referrals, and the real mistakes made while managing an international team. The interview was conducted in English. - 00:00 Intro 00:35 The first startup: solving theft on buses How Shakhzod worked as a conductor and spotted a real problem 02:33 Building the first MVP Creating hardware and getting the first customers 03:29 Learning that solving problems creates value 04:20 Failures behind success Experiments, bad hypotheses, and losing momentum 06:11 Finding what actually scales Trade shows, sales channels and repeatable growth playbooks 07:31 Discovering the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) 09:09 Market share in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan Growth numbers and expansion potential 11:42 The challenge of entering Turkey Why trust matters more than product 12:25 AI employees and automation inside the company 13:11 Building trust in a new market Meetings, relationships and referral strategies 14:35 Why founders love pain Challenges and founder mentality 15:42 Turkey vs Uzbekistan sales cycles Why closing deals takes longer 18:33 Explaining the product simply "Google Analytics for physical stores" 20:36 Free demos and conversion rates 21:05 AI accuracy challenges Adapting models for different markets and cultures 22:04 International expansion strategy Canada, North America and future plans 23:24 Growth playbooks and distributors 25:17 Building a global team 26:03 Equity, investors and fundraising 27:09 Breakeven and growth strategy 28:58 Advice for founders Consistency, hard work and luck