How an entrepreneur from Uzbekistan sold his company to Yandex and created an AI startup in the US

In an interview, Akmal Paiziev discussed his studies at Stanford, the sale of Express24, and his startup Numeo.ai.

Akmal Paiziev, City — Menlo Park, Co-founder and CEO, LinkedIn

How It All Began

I have been engaged in technology entrepreneurship since 2005. I am from Uzbekistan and moved to the US in 2024. Before that, I managed to build several companies in Uzbekistan. The first company, founded in 2005, was an e-commerce project called Yarmarka.uz, an online store for electronics and home appliances. A year later, we launched Newmax Technology, which focused on creating automotive systems for navigation and electronic maps. We remain the only company providing digital maps with APIs used in our projects, such as MyTaxi.

In 2006, we launched Newmax Technology, which developed GPS navigation and fleet management systems for vehicles. In 2012, I became a co-founder of Workly, a cloud-based time tracking system, and in 2015, we launched Express24, a food and grocery delivery service. In 2024, we sold Express24 to Yandex.

Last year, I moved to the US to study in the Stanford Executive Program. During my studies, the final stages of negotiations with Yandex were underway, and the deal was almost closed. This made me think about the next step and create something larger and more global in the US. I decided to focus on the AI segment because it is a new opportunity with huge potential. AI is already changing everything, and I wanted to be part of this wave.

Inspired by my work in the corporate sector, I began developing ideas for creating digital employees who would work alongside real colleagues. I am convinced that in the future, humans and digital employees will interact and work in the same office, even if the latter are not physically present. Working from Palo Alto, my colleagues and I meet with clients online across different cities. I believe that digital employees will become an integral part of business. I want to build a company specializing in creating digital employees.

Startup Launch

Initially, when I was studying at Stanford, I wanted to create digital employees for franchise networks, as I understood their problems based on my experience working with franchises at Express24. However, after three months, my co-founders and I concluded that the logistics sector offers much greater opportunities. Logistics in the US is a $1 trillion market; it is fragmented and dynamic, unlike the restaurant business, which has low margins and is less open to technology. Additionally, there is no absolute leader in logistics.

Today, we are creating digital employees for the logistics business, such as digital dispatchers, HR agents, recruiters, and compliance agents, who help carriers in the US efficiently manage their operations.

Team

Our company has grown significantly and currently consists of 12 highly qualified specialists. We hired strong engineers, which allowed us to achieve significant success.

Target Audience

Our key partners include the largest Load board in the US, DAT, valued at $30 billion, with whom we collaborate on developing AI agents. We interact with DAT almost daily. We also work with TruckStop, the second-largest Load board, as well as Uber Freight, making us partners with three major market players.

Currently, we are expanding our partner network and signing agreements with companies such as J.B. Hunt and C. H. Robinson. At present, more than 30 clients are testing our system within their companies.

Incubation Programs

When I arrived in the States, we went through the Alchemist X accelerator program from Silkroad Innovation Hub in collaboration with Alchemist Accelerator. This was an important stage for us.

Regarding investments, while studying at Stanford, I informed my classmates about my intention to create a new startup in the US. As a result, several classmates supported the idea and invested $100,000 as initial support. In addition, my partners and I also invested our own funds into the project's development, and currently, we continue to support its funding through our own resources, using a bootstrapping model.

Challenges

The most difficult part in this market is establishing relationships with major players as a new company or startup. Without integration and proper context, it is difficult to create a product that will be in demand. AI agents are not just technology but an entire process of integrating into the industry and creating a high-quality user experience. To offer the best UX, you need a strong team of engineers and designers, as the task is much more complex than just writing code. Working with the user is crucial here, as the example of ChatGPT showed that new interface approaches, such as text chat, can fundamentally change the perception of technology.

The second challenge is integration with large corporations. In the freight industry, for example, there are many levels of protection, and large companies are often skeptical of new players and are in no hurry to sign agreements. For instance, it took us more than four months to sign a contract with one of the major players in cargo security. Opening the doors of large corporations requires time and effort, and the process of communicating with senior management can be long and complex.

In this process, I am helped by the Stanford network. Networking connections with former and current students, as well as with professionals in various fields, become an important resource that accelerates the process of finding necessary contacts and connections. Developing networking is a key component of success in our business.

Achievements

Launching the product and having clients ready to pay is a significant achievement for our company. Even at the stage when the product was still under development, our clients were already paying us between $1,000 and $3,000. This confirms the existence of a significant problem in the industry that we are striving to solve. The market is becoming increasingly complex, especially with the introduction of tariffs by the US, leading to a decrease in freight volumes and imports. As a result, only those companies that can optimize their costs and increase efficiency will remain competitive in the future.

Our business focuses precisely on efficiency and optimization. An average company with 300 vehicles in the US generates about $100 million in revenue per year while remaining inefficient. Every 1% improvement brings such companies additional millions. We are confident that our AI agents can significantly increase the efficiency of these companies, bringing them benefits that could exceed $10 million per year.

Our clients understand the importance of such optimization and are willing to pay for innovations that can make their business more efficient. It is important that we identify market pain points and provide solutions that actually work. We have successful experience in building businesses, resources, and the financial capacity to implement ambitious projects, which is why clients want to work with us. Currently, we have more than 40 clients who support our project during the development stage and actively sponsor it.

Plans

We have ambitious goals for the end of the year. Currently, we are observing active competition in the automation of brokerage processes, while we focus on automating carrier operations. Our plans include achieving the processing of thousands of orders per day using AI agents. In monetary terms, we aim for processing volumes of $200,000 per day, which would allow us to reach $5-6 million per month.

Our goal is to create a system in which AI agents will independently book orders, ensuring a high level of automation and efficiency.