Qazaq soft — designing, developing, and enhancing applications for startups

Yerbolat Mamen, CEO of Qazaq Soft

How We Started

We launched in 2018.

Qazaq Soft is a company that helps startups with project development, mobile applications and platforms, hardware, software, and desktop applications.

Enthusiasts and startup founders come to us who want a product but find it difficult to find reliable suppliers, developers, or assemble a team. If we see potential in their project, we offer collaboration. We work at a low cost but take a percentage of the startups' sales as shareholders.

Our team handles the technical aspects of startups. For example, a startup founder may have an idea, a marketing team, and a sales department set up, but the technical side is lacking. We take full responsibility for this task.

The Idea Behind the Product

I graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Turkish Suleyman Demirel University and completed my master's degree at the International University of Information Technologies. In 2018, I began actively developing my own startups and even received my first investments.

I launched the Online Bus project, which allows booking tickets for intercity buses. I also received investments for it. Later, we developed and launched several more startups, which eventually led us to this idea.

When I was launching startups, I noticed that most of the work involved the technical side. I already had a marketing team. Startup founders started approaching me, asking for help creating apps, setting up, and developing products. I realized this could be scaled into a full-fledged IT company. I assembled a team to handle the IT part of the product. Everything related to marketing and operations was handled by the startup founders and businessmen themselves.

Target Audience

We segment our target audience based on the desired services. For example, some clients want a custom project. These are usually well-known companies. For instance, we have already developed applications for Coca-Cola, Kazakhmys, SEVKAZENERGO, Narhoz University, and Suleyman Demirel University.

We also work with foreign companies. As I understand it, it is much cheaper for them to work with us than to collaborate with European IT specialists.

And, of course, early-stage startup founders. Those who want to launch or improve a product or application. Here, we work at cost price but take 5-10% of sales. We select only those ideas that, based on our experience, are likely to be the most successful. Startup founders, in turn, present their pitches, describing their product as if they were pitching to investors. Selection is then based on various factors: the ability to sell, present the product, the founder's passion, and so on. If we like the startup, we discuss terms and propose various paths for product development.

One of our successful cases is the Zam-Zam project, our partners' Umrah and Hajj service. Within three months of working with us, they achieved 500 million in sales after launch.

Achievements in 2022

One of the major projects implemented in 2022 was the Region taxi ordering service. It is an analog of Yandex Taxi in Shymkent and Karaganda. We helped them create a mobile application, and they are now gradually launching. It is a worthy competitor to Yandex Taxi.

Plans for 2023

Like any startup operating in the Kazakhstani market, we have the desire to expand abroad. We started 2023 by taking on our first project from England. We want to work not only with local but also with foreign startups.

We also developed a Kazakhstani version of ChatGPT. Fully in the Kazakh language. We plan to launch it soon.

Advice for Startup Founders

Sell first, then create.

Any startup should begin with sales. Ideally, you should already have a list of potential clients before launching. Otherwise, the startup may fail.

Develop marketing.

Remember that the success of a startup depends primarily on sales.

Expand abroad. Do not be afraid to scale. The market in Kazakhstan is small. There are many more interested clients in the world.