BILLZ — a startup that specializes in trade automation

The co-founder of the startup BILLZ, Rustam Khamdamov, shared the story of the startup's creation, discussing the challenges and achievements.

Rustam Khamdamov, city — Tashkent, CEO and co-founder of the startup BILLZ, @rustamkhamdamov

How It All Started

The startup idea emerged in 2017. At that time, we were working at the telecom operator UCell. By then, I had already been involved in product development for over eight years. The second co-founder, Vadim, worked on the technical side. The third co-founder also worked at UCell but later left to open his own chain of stores. He had a problem with inventory tracking. We were in the process of developing an internal CRM system, so we invited him and other retailers to a focus group for research.

After more than 20 CustDev interviews with potential clients, we realized they faced similar problems. The services available on the market did not meet their needs. Many retailers even kept records on paper. We worked on this project part-time for about two years, and in 2019, we transitioned to full-time engagement.

The Team

In our initial team, we gathered people we knew from our work at UCell. The product was developed by those we knew personally or through other employees. As we grew, we began hiring other staff members.

Target Audience

Our target audience is small and medium-sized businesses in the retail sector. Stores selling shoes, clothing, accessories, electronics, and so on. Our solution allows for complete management of goods, customers, and services within the store and helps them expand online through websites, bots, and marketplaces.

By using our product, clients save up to 30% on inventory optimization, as they make correct purchases of necessary goods and more effectively work on attracting and retaining customers.

We also provide training, which is free of charge. We visit the store, demonstrate everything, and then provide support in an online format. Many retailers switch from using paper or Excel to our product because it is simpler and more convenient for them.

We are actively working in four countries: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Simultaneously, we are launching in two more countries.

Our solution is used by 2,500 stores with a total user base of over 15,000.

Acceleration Programs

The first program we completed was the online accelerator from Y-Combinator. It is free and available to everyone.

In 2023, we participated in a second acceleration program by Astana Hub and Google for Startups. We moved to Astana for three months, conducting weekly tracking sessions and meetings. We learned a lot and met interesting people.

We participated in various competitions three to four times and won twice. We took first place in the Global Entrepreneurship Award.

Challenges

Difficulties arise every year and every day. The key challenges were in the early stages—creating the first version and starting sales. We greatly idealized product creation, spending nine months writing it and another six months refining it. Only after that did we present the technology to clients, which led to many errors.

As soon as clients started using our product, we began receiving feedback. Based on this, we were able to identify the right direction for development.

The second issue was rapid product scaling. We planned to create a system for Uzbekistan and expand it to other countries. It turned out that what works for a specific market does not always translate well to others. Therefore, we wrote a new version of the product, spending two years and significant resources on it.

The third challenge was attracting investments. In 2019-2020, there were no professional or institutional venture funds in Uzbekistan. Finding investors was difficult. We looked for people who simply had money. We randomly met with Sturgeon Capital. They were just entering the market at the time, and we became the first company they invested in.

The final challenge was attracting talent. At every stage of the startup, you need people who can take it to the next level. Finding such employees in the tech field is difficult. We have to hire interns or entry-level specialists and train them ourselves. Thus, the guys who joined us as students have now become excellent professionals.

Recommendations

If you are building a business based on hypotheses, you need to launch it as quickly as possible, starting to collect user data. Based on this data, you can determine where to invest resources.

Start doing it. If you have a good idea and a product that the market needs, show persistence and patience. These qualities distinguish good founders.

Attend meetups, meet people, communicate with other founders—this helps broaden your horizons. When you see how others work, you start striving for more yourself.

Achievements

In 2022, we attracted investments from international venture funds: $500,000 from Quest Ventures and $150,000 from Sturgeon Capital.

We grew three and a half times, wrote an international version of the product that is already ready for active scaling, and assembled strong sales and support teams.

Plans

We are in the scaling stage. We are attracting investments to enter new markets faster. By the end of the year, we will launch in Georgia and Azerbaijan, and later in Saudi Arabia. We have already conducted research and determined that these are interesting countries for us.

We plan to strengthen our position and grow four to five times in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.