How Minora AI helps large brands solve complex marketing challenges

Shakhnoza Yusupova, city — Tashkent, co-founder & CEO Minora AI

How it all began

For over five years, my team and I have been developing Muna Media, one of Uzbekistan’s leading advertising agencies, working with brands from more than 20 countries. And you know what was really holding us back? Preparing each advertising campaign took weeks. Just analyzing the brief took three to four days. Then came market analysis, audience research, offer generation, and media planning.

At some point, we realized that most of this process could be automated. That’s how the idea for Minora AI was born — a tool that turns a brief into a ready-made strategy and media plan in just minutes. Instead of weeks, launch in just a few days.

Initially, it was an internal experiment at Muna Media. We tried using LLMs and automation to prepare a proposal for a major client. Usually, this took several days, but here we managed it in two to three hours. And then we thought: “What if we turn this into a full-fledged product?”

We built the MVP in three weeks and immediately launched it to the market. The results exceeded expectations: in the very first month, sales reached about $30,000. We were lucky with the team: we already had marketers, analysts, and developers from Muna Media. We simply reallocated roles, assembled a cross-functional team, and transformed an internal tool into a complete product.

Target audience

From the very beginning, we decided: no small businesses. We work only with large brands that spend at least $10,000. For example, Uzum is one of our clients. Such companies have completely different challenges: they need to launch dozens of advertising campaigns simultaneously, quickly generate offers, build media plans, and monitor analytics. This is exactly what we solve with Minora AI.

Incubation programs

Initially, we received rejections: we didn’t pass Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun or the autumn batch of Y Combinator. Nevertheless, we continued working and applied to Plug and Play, where we were accepted. Currently, our CBDO and engineering team are undergoing acceleration as part of this program.

At the same time, we continue participating in the selection process for Y Combinator Winter Batch 2026 and Speedrun.

As for funding, at this stage we are using our own funds from Muna Media, which allows us to make decisions quickly and maintain independence in managing the project.

About difficulties

The most difficult part was creating a product that had no analogs in the region. We became the first AI platform for corporate marketing in Central Asia. At the same time, we had to deal with a lot of bureaucratic tasks with large clients: contracts, invoices, approvals. We found a solution through integration with Azma Finance. In addition, we offered the product to agencies almost for free under a partnership model, which allowed us to scale quickly.

The main lesson: don’t chase small businesses with small checks — it’s a trap for startups. You need to choose clients who can pay and who have a real problem. It’s important to assemble a strong team right away and think globally, not limiting yourself to one market. We are targeting the global advertising market, which today is valued at more than $700 billion and, according to forecasts, could grow to $1.5 trillion in six years.

Achievements

Our key achievement is the speed with which we reached Product-Market Fit. The product was launched, customers started paying and actively using it almost immediately. This is the best indicator that we are creating the right product. All awards, certificates, and mentions are pleasant, but secondary.

Our current goal is to replicate this success in the US market.

Plans

By the end of the year, we are launching video generation. Now, brands will receive not only a strategy and media plan from Minora AI, but also a ready-made advertising video.

Next, we plan to focus on serious R&D development, addressing two global challenges: banner blindness and non-monetizable UGC content. Today, more than 90% of user-generated content does not generate revenue, although we are talking about a market worth about $100 billion.

Such solutions are currently implemented only by giants like Tencent. We want to be the first to offer this solution in the international market.