IT-community from Central Asia: Azerbaijan Startup Community

Azerbaijan Startup Community brings together startups, investors, experts and other key players in the country’s technology ecosystem. In an interview with The Tech, founder Fehruz Jabrayilov spoke about how the community was launched, who can join it, what opportunities it offers to members and how it plans to support the development of Azerbaijan’s startup ecosystem.

Fehruz Jabrayilov, Baku city, founder, LinkedIn

About the community

I have been involved in various startup projects, and later I started my own startup, Fastgile, a platform where people can take simulation exams for professional certifications in a more affordable and interactive way. However, I did not know what to do next or how to meet like-minded people who could help me scale. I felt that I did not have the right environment to succeed.

Considering my motivation since childhood to bring people together and help them support each other, I thought, why not bring startup founders in Azerbaijan together to share their experiences and help each other? I simply posted an announcement on LinkedIn, and there was a huge amount of interest.

Now, as we approach our first anniversary, we have almost 80 startups in our community and more than 10 partners. We have already organized almost 10 meetups and Demo Days, bringing together more than 500 ecosystem participants.

Our goal is to bring together every startup in Azerbaijan, as well as startups founded by Azerbaijanis abroad. We want to connect key ecosystem players so they can collaborate, help startups grow, attract investment and represent Azerbaijan globally. We also aim to bring more international support and opportunities to our startups.

We aim to help startups in Azerbaijan grow and scale while increasing the number of successful startups in the country.

To achieve this, we need to raise awareness about startup building and innovation. When more people learn about these opportunities, they become more willing to try building their own products.

We also aim to create a supportive environment where people can develop and launch new products. Our main goals are to increase the number of startups, help existing ones become investment-ready, connect them with investors and support their further growth.

Community members

Our target audience is startup founders and startups that already have an MVP. We support startups from the early stages through to the scaling stage.

We currently have more than 70 startups in the community. Some are at an early stage, while others already have customers and traction. We also have startups that have raised investment and are now focused on scaling.

To join the community, founders fill out a registration form with information about their startup. We then review the applications and accept them into the community.

We share all our latest news and updates on LinkedIn and Instagram, and our website will be launching soon.

Events for community members

We organize keynote sessions, knowledge-sharing sessions, networking events, Demo Days and other activities. Some of our events are open to anyone interested in the innovation ecosystem, while others are exclusive to community members.

In addition to events, we connect our startups with mentors who are serial entrepreneurs. We also find experts in specific areas such as go-to-market, sales and finance to help founders with the expertise they need.

We are also building partnerships with international organizations to connect our startups with them and help international organizations establish connections and operations in Azerbaijan.

How the community helps members grow

We provide opportunities and a platform for startups to build and showcase their work, find partners, clients, investors and supporters.

Members learn from the expertise and experiences of others, which helps them grow professionally. We also organize events where we discuss successes and failures, as well as topics such as mental health, which can support founders' personal development.

We help our members access certain resources for free or at significant discounts. For example, we have partnered with a consulting company that provides free legal, financial and other consultations. Another partner offers discounted coworking spaces for startups. We have a good number of perks and benefits available to our startups.

Successful projects

We have successfully prepared our startups for a Demo Day, where experts provided valuable feedback and guidance to help them move forward. We have also mentored many new founders at different hackathons organized by our partners.

Right now, we are working on several important new initiatives. One of them is focused on matching startups with local businesses. B2B startups will have the opportunity to meet potential clients and discuss real business needs directly.

We are also planning another Demo Day together with a local incubation center.

There are many new projects and programs on the way, so everyone reading this should stay in touch!

Plans

It is really interesting to look at Silicon Valley as an example. You can attend community meetings there almost every day. I have friends there who tell me that startup founders can join different community events every day, and these communities are everywhere.

There is also an interesting culture where a startup founder can attend a community meeting at a bar and potentially meet an angel investor or VC who might invest $10 000-20 000 in their startup.

Communities play a significant role in the development of society, countries, economies and people's well-being. They bring people together and create new opportunities for collaboration.

As the Azerbaijan Startup Community, we bring together government representatives, businesses, VCs, experts, startups and other ecosystem players. We create the necessary environment and let the magic happen.

In the coming years, I believe we will also be able to bring global startups, VCs and businesses to Azerbaijan. We are already working on this and reaching out to VCs and startup communities around the world, including in the USA, UK, Türkiye and Estonia. Hopefully, we will be able to share some good news soon.

We also aim to play a critical role in helping promising startups secure investment and, most importantly, increase the number of startups in Azerbaijan.