How a guy from Uzbekistan got $4,000,000 in funding for his startup

Beknazar Abdikamalov, city — Tashkent, co-founder and CTO, @abdik.bek

How it all started

It all began when I was working at Amazon in Vancouver. At that time, my former startup colleague, Justin Kim, reached out to me with the idea of creating a simple service where company employees could instantly connect with psychologists. This was during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when stress levels were at their highest, and the idea seemed not only timely but incredibly promising to me.

I have always been interested in psychology, and I immediately felt that there would be huge demand for such a product. I agreed within just 10 minutes. We both quit our jobs to fully focus on this project. Thus began the journey of a startup that eventually transformed into Hupo — a leadership coaching platform that helps managers become better leaders and build effective teams.

Launching the startup

We started by creating a minimal viable product. Together with a friend who is a designer, we developed a web application that required no installation. We named the company Ami, which means "friend" in Japanese, because we wanted our product to be associated with simplicity and accessibility.

We immediately began working with clients, reaching out to companies in the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia and Singapore. Our efforts quickly paid off: within a few weeks, we started pilot projects with major companies in the region. We onboarded our first psychologists and began testing the app. Interestingly, all our success was based on one simple feature — the ability to book a call with a coach.

For the first three to four months, I was the only engineer, which allowed us to move quickly. We actively used personal networks to hire team members, following the rule: "Hire slowly, fire quickly." Our goal was simple: to trust every team member, especially in a remote work environment.

A year later, we conducted research and realized that the root cause of employee stress was often issues with managers. We decided to focus on solving this problem and renamed the company Hupo, standing for Human Potential. Now, our product teaches managers leadership skills, helping companies improve management and increase team efficiency.

Target audience

Our product is designed for companies with managers. We work with any organization, but we have achieved the most success in industries such as banking, FinTech, and airlines.

Currently, we collaborate with about 100 companies, including well-known brands like Sephora, Oracle, Grab, KPMG, and Fujifilm.

Our product helps managers develop leadership skills, which directly impacts their team's effectiveness and the company's overall success.

Acceleration programs

From the very beginning, we decided to focus entirely on customers and creating the best product. This approach allowed us to secure funding:

— $1 million at the Pre-seed stage
— $3 million at the Seed stage.

Just two months after launching, we raised $1 million at the Pre-seed stage from leading venture capital firms, including January Capital, Collaborative Fund, and Strong Ventures. We also signed contracts with two of the largest companies in the region after successful pilot projects.

Challenges

In the early months, the pandemic worked in our favor: high demand for mental health support ensured rapid growth. However, after some time, we realized that to scale, we needed to address more pressing issues. We concluded that companies were willing to invest in manager training because it directly impacts their revenue.

After that, we shifted our focus and achieved even greater success. My advice to aspiring entrepreneurs:

1. Solve real customer pain points. Don't waste time on "nice-to-have" features; focus on real problems.
2. Focus on two things: sales and product. Everything else can wait.
3. Narrow your audience. Start with one industry or geography, achieve success, and then scale.

Achievements

An interesting fact: we became the first Asian startup to receive funding from Meta.

— funding: raised $4 million from leading global funds
— personal: studied computer science in South Korea, worked at Amazon, and became a co-founder of a startup included in the Forbes 100 To Watch list.

Plans

We are working on launching a new product — an AI coach, which will become a personalized tool for manager training. This solution is already being tested in major companies, and we believe it will allow us to reach a new level of scaling.