Like Airbnb, but for weddings and events — the story of the Altyn Alcha startup

Founder Azamat Asan shared in an interview how he created a marketplace for events. His goal is to make organizing celebrations in Central Asia as easy as booking accommodation on Airbnb.

Azamat Asan, City — Bishkek, Founder, Instagram, LinkedIn

How It All Began

I am a brand designer with 15 years of experience. Behind me are years of working with the largest companies in Kyrgyzstan, dozens of launched brands, an agency, and a team. But at some point, I felt tired of making other people's dreams come true. I wanted to make my own dream a reality. The idea was born within the agency — my partners and I were looking for solutions for a scalable project.

One day, I thought: "What if we create a platform for organizing events and tois, similar to Airbnb?" Thus, the idea for Altyn Alcha was born, because when people organize their own wedding, toi, or another event, they literally "drown" in dozens of open Instagram tabs, Telegram chats, voice messages from florists, and screenshots of decorations.

Immersing myself fully in this project, I began to pay less attention to the agency. As a result, after transferring my share, I completely exited the agency and started developing my startup.

Startup Launch

I am a designer, not a developer. Altyn Alcha was entirely built on a no-code platform to avoid wasting time and money on development and to quickly test hypotheses. Soon, we plan to start developing a full-fledged product.

We manually attracted the first 20 suppliers. I wrote to them on Instagram, called them, and visited them in person. People were surprised: "What kind of website is this?" But when they saw the mockup of their profile and how easy it was to present themselves to clients, interest arose.

Target Audience

Our platform is oriented towards two audiences:

1. For clients — organizing a holiday or business event is a headache. On average, it requires contact with 15-20 contractors. Finding, choosing, and negotiating is exhausting. Altyn Alcha is a catalog, filter, source of inspiration, and connection all in one.

2. For suppliers — it is a new showcase and tool. Most do not have a website and depend on word-of-mouth. We provide them with an online profile, applications, analytics, and brand recognition.

For users, the startup is useful for saving time and the ability to quickly compare and find the right performers. In the future, I want Altyn Alcha to become a full-fledged virtual consultant for tois and business events — an assistant at all stages, from budget planning to sending invitations. For suppliers, it is a new channel for attracting clients and a convenient tool for simplifying communication.

Incubation Programs

We applied to Accelerate Prosperity to undergo a rigorous selection process. Out of more than 160 applications, only 40 startups of various levels and stages were accepted. This was the first sign that the idea "works not just in my head."

As part of the program, we tested hypotheses and learned. The incubation helped us build structure, calculate metrics, and view the business not as a beautiful website, but as a living organism. 

Challenges

The most difficult thing is not the product, not the platform, and not even the money. I do not have a technical education and I am not an IT specialist. To be honest — I knew nothing about

development. Nevertheless, I managed to assemble the first version of the platform myself. The hardest part is emotionally maintaining the pace. Every day you are alone with uncertainty.

You don't know if partners will respond. You don't know if the MVP will really work. And you don't know who will next say: "Great idea, but let's do it later."

The real difficulties are still ahead. We need to build brand awareness, attract suppliers, and establish a working paid placement model.

Achievements

We launched very recently — in February. Since then, we have managed to connect more than 100 suppliers, launch SEO optimization and targeted advertising, conduct the first paid placements, and build a full-fledged funnel for attracting new partners through social networks.

Plans

Our immediate goal is to expand the pool of partners on the platform so that users can truly choose from a wide range of relevant and high-quality offers. We strive to create a full-fledged product with a convenient filtering system, personal accounts, thematic collections, and other features I mentioned earlier.

In the near future, we are focused on the Kyrgyz market: there are about 15,000 suppliers here, but only a third of them actively promote themselves. Our goal is to become the key entry point for everyone planning an event in Kyrgyzstan and beyond. In the long term, we aim to grow into the largest event marketplace in Central Asia.