How a Kazakh entrepreneur is building an AI company in the US and changing the hiring market

Yersultan Dzhusakynov is a Kazakhstani entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in creating and developing technology businesses. Today, he is building a company in one of the most competitive markets in the world – the United States. The AI platform he founded, Call2Action AI, automates employee hiring for American companies and is already working with more than 50 corporate clients.

Within a few months of launching, Dzhusakynov and his team managed to take the company to an annual recurring revenue of over half a million dollars, attract $500,000 in investments, and build the business directly in the American market. However, Call2Action AI is not Dzhusakynov’s first entrepreneurial project. His journey in business began more than ten years ago in Central Asia.

Aida Akhmetkireeva, city – Astana, Editor-in-Chief

From Entrepreneurship in Central Asia to the US Market
Yersultan Dzhusakynov has been engaged in entrepreneurship for more than 10 years. Before creating Call2Action AI, he launched IT and e-commerce projects in Central Asia, several of which grew into sustainable, profitable businesses.

The next stage for the entrepreneur was expanding beyond the region. Dzhusakynov decided to build a technology business directly in the US – in a market where the world’s largest technology companies compete and where there is simultaneously high demand for automating traditional industries.

To develop his business, he moved to the United States and began studying the American market more deeply. One of the industries that caught his attention was logistics and freight transportation.

The American transportation industry constantly needs new drivers. At the same time, Dzhusakynov noticed a paradox: companies spend significant budgets on advertising job openings and attracting candidates, yet they lose potential employees even after receiving applications.

The reason turned out to be speed.

In many transportation companies, the hiring process still requires a large amount of manual work: recruiters review applications, call candidates, conduct initial interviews, and gather information. During the waiting period, a driver may accept an offer from another employer.

Dzhusakynov decided to automate this problem using artificial intelligence.

How Call2Action AI Was Born
Call2Action AI, founded by Yersultan Dzhusakynov, was created as an AI platform for automating mass employee hiring.

The system automatically contacts the candidate after receiving an application, conducts an initial voice interview using artificial intelligence, analyzes the responses, and checks for compliance with the employer’s basic requirements. After that, the recruiter receives structured information about the candidate and can make further decisions.

However, the final hiring decision remains with a human. The task of the technology is to eliminate the most labor-intensive and repetitive stages of work, allowing recruiters to interact more quickly with suitable candidates.

According to the company, in some cases, using this model allowed reducing the driver hiring process from two to three weeks to just a few days.

For Dzhusakynov, the transportation industry became the first vertical market where he could test a broader hypothesis: artificial intelligence can change not only the work of programmers or office workers but also the hiring processes for millions of blue-collar workers.

Silkroad Innovation Hub startups pitch their businesses and network at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 29, 2024. Silkroad Innovation Hub supports startups and entrepreneurs from Central Eurasia in discovering avenues to establish or expand their ventures in Silicon Valley and the US market.

Building an American Company, Not Just Selling in the US

One of Dzhusakynov’s key decisions was to develop Call2Action AI directly within the American market.

The company is registered in the US as a Delaware C-Corporation. Its base is located in California, and commercial operations and client work are conducted, among other places, through Chicago – one of the country’s largest transportation and logistics hubs.

Dzhusakynov moved to the US to personally oversee the company’s development, communicate with clients, investors, and participants in the technology ecosystem.

This approach allowed the entrepreneur to gain a deeper understanding of the specifics of the American market and to adapt the product more quickly to real business needs.

Today, more than 50 corporate clients in the US use Call2Action AI solutions. The main segment consists of transportation companies with fleets ranging from several dozen to hundreds of trucks.

Within a few months of active growth, Dzhusakynov and his team managed to bring the company’s annual recurring revenue to over half a million dollars.

$500,000 in Investments and a New Seed Round

Another important stage in Yersultan Dzhusakynov’s entrepreneurial journey was attracting external capital to develop Call2Action AI.

Under his leadership, the company raised $500,000 in investments from venture investors and business angels. The funds were directed toward product development, team expansion, and scaling the business in the American market.

Today, Dzhusakynov is preparing the company for the next stage of growth. Call2Action AI has already opened a new Seed round and is actively negotiating with investors. According to the founder, the company has received several preliminary and confirmed investment commitments – soft and hard commitments – and aims to close the round in September 2026.

Dzhusakynov pays special attention to maintaining ties with the investment and entrepreneurial ecosystem of Central Asia. Although Call2Action AI’s primary market is in the US, some of the company’s investors and partners represent the region from which the founder’s entrepreneurial journey began.

“We have already opened the Seed round and are currently actively communicating with investors. We have several soft and hard commitments, and our goal is to close the round in September. It is especially important to me that strong entrepreneurs and investors from Central Asia participate in this story alongside American investors. If anyone is interested in what we are building, I am always open to dialogue,” says Dzhusakynov.

At the same time, the entrepreneur continues to build partnerships with technology companies in the American transportation industry – from TMS system developers to automation services. Dzhusakynov’s strategy involves not only developing a separate AI product but also creating a technological infrastructure capable of automating a significant portion of the mass hiring process.

From Startup Founder to an Expert Evaluating Other Projects

Dzhusakynov’s entrepreneurial experience has gradually extended beyond managing his own companies.

In addition to developing Call2Action AI, he participates in the work of the technology and venture community and is involved in evaluating other entrepreneurs and startups.

Dzhusakynov participated in selecting promising Central Asian startups for the Alchemist accelerator and the Silicon Valley Residence program.

In 2026, he also participated in the selection process for startups for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield – an international platform through which technology companies from various countries pass.

For an entrepreneur who himself went through the path of creating companies in Central Asia and building a business in the US, participating in evaluating other projects became a continuation of his work within the international startup ecosystem.

At the same time, Dzhusakynov shares his experience in building technology companies with entrepreneurs from Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries.

Artificial Intelligence as a Tool, Not a Human Replacement

The core of Dzhusakynov’s approach to artificial intelligence is the idea not to replace humans but to remove the most routine operations from their work.

“AI does not take jobs away from people – it takes away the worst part of the job. A recruiter who no longer spends a day making phone calls starts doing what they are actually paid for: working with people and making decisions,” says Yersultan Dzhusakynov.

This is why the entrepreneur views Call2Action AI more broadly than just a technological solution for the transportation industry.

The American freight transportation market became the first entry point, but similar problems exist in warehouse logistics, moving companies, construction, and other industries where employers need to regularly and quickly hire large numbers of employees.

The next stage for Dzhusakynov is scaling the created model to other segments of the American market.

An Entrepreneur from Central Asia on the Global Market

Dzhusakynov’s story reflects the changes occurring in the technological ecosystem of Central Asia. If previously most regional startups started with a local market and only then considered international expansion, a new generation of entrepreneurs is increasingly building companies with global competition in mind from the outset.

Dzhusakynov chose an even more difficult path – he moved to the US and began building a company directly within the world’s largest technology market.

At the same time, he maintains ties with Central Asia: he participates in the region’s startup community, evaluates new projects, and shares his experience of entering the American market with other entrepreneurs.

For Dzhusakynov himself, Call2Action AI is part of a larger task.

His long-term goal is to build a technology platform capable of changing the approach to hiring blue-collar workers and allowing companies to find suitable employees not in weeks, but in just a few days.

“We started with the American transportation industry because the hiring problem is particularly noticeable there. But our goal is much broader. We want to build a technology that will allow any company to find and hire blue-collar employees as quickly as possible,” says Dzhusakynov.

For an entrepreneur who began building a business in Central Asia and today is developing an AI company in the US, this is the next stage of a more than ten-year entrepreneurial journey.