IT Event Calendar for the Week of January 12-18: Investor-Ready Pitch Workshop, Live Stream from The Tech

Guest Lecture with Marzhan Kabduakhitova
Designer, entrepreneur, co-founder of the science platform Ratio, and Forbes 30 Under 30 participant, Marzhan Kabduakhitova, has journeyed from university to global startups, worked with YC-backed companies and unicorn projects, and served as Lead Product Designer at the FinTech startup Pluto. In her lecture, she will share insights into what happens after graduation, why career paths are rarely linear, which skills help reach an international level, and how to integrate design, technology, and entrepreneurship in real-world practice.

Meetup: "Creative Thinking"
A practical training session on developing creative thinking: how to find non-standard solutions, apply creative approaches in work and business, and break free from conventional thinking. Suitable for managers, specialists, and anyone looking to enhance their mindset and adopt new approaches to problem-solving.

When: January 14 at 19:00
Where: Tashkent

Inside a Payment Gateway
An online event discussing how 25-year-old monolithic systems continue to process billions of transactions, and what lessons can be learned for modern payment solutions.

When: January 15
Where: Online 

Investor-Ready Pitch Workshop
A practical workshop for startup founders on how to prepare a pitch that truly interests investors: presentation structure, fund logic, and common founder mistakes.

When: January 15 at 18:00
Where: Astana

Forum of Professionals in System IT Integration
A professional platform for exchanging experience, discussing trends, and building partnerships among system integrators, IT companies, vendors, and clients. The program includes presentations and case studies on digital transformation, ERP/SAP implementations, modern integration approaches, and discussions on the corporate IT systems market. 

When: January 16 at 11:00 
Where: Online

Live Stream: "How to Sell an AI Feature Even/If/When It Makes Mistakes: GTM Without Hype, Trust, and Unit Economics in Simple Terms" 
We will discuss how to launch and sell AI features that sometimes make mistakes: how to set user expectations correctly from the start, embed trust into the product, what to write on landing pages, demos, and presentations, and how to explain AI economics in simple terms—why tokens and long responses affect profitability and how to account for this in pricing and scaling.

When: January 16 at 18:00
Where: Telegram Channel The Tech  

MLContest
A practical ML contest on the Kaggle platform, where teams of up to three people solve a case study in a competitive format within five hours. The event enhances machine learning skills and provides opportunities for professional networking.

When: January 17
Where: Tashkent