Secrets of a Successful Pitch: Recommendations from Aidar Baymakhan and Anuar Lenzat

Aidar Baimakhan, city — Almaty, investor, business mentor

Anuar Lenzat, city — Almaty, Hokage RS Bootcamp venture studio, investor relations manager at Activat VC

About Us

Aidar. I am an investor, business mentor, and coach. Currently, I share my experience in scaling businesses with owners of traditional mid-sized businesses, and I am also a venture business angel. My portfolio includes five projects; I have invested in companies such as Educate Online, Yaya, Courstore, EasyTap, and others. At present, I am considering projects primarily in the fields of education, HR tech, and everything related to live businesses. I look for projects that are genuinely necessary for Kazakhstani business, with a focus on the Kazakhstani market. I am also a mentor for the Investment Readiness Acceleration program at MOST Holding. My interests are centered on strategy, team, business models, finance, and investments.

Anuar. I am the founder of the venture studio Hokage RS Bootcamp Venture Studio and the investor relations manager at Activat VC. At Activat VC, we evaluate and invest in early-stage startups. Over the past three years, we have invested in more than 25 startups, issuing small checks ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.

Advice from Aidar Baimakhan

— Study the customer and market problem to clearly understand what task your product solves, and ensure there is a sufficiently large segment of interested customers.

— Detail your competitive advantage: show how your product differs from major players. Add facts, figures, and examples to your presentation.

— Positioning for investors. Present your proposal with investors' interests in mind. Business angels value not only ideas but also an understanding of how they will generate revenue. Show how your solutions fit into market trends and what growth prospects your project has.

— Before investing in marketing or an app, it is worth checking whether there is a market and demand for the product. This can be done, for example, through an advertisement or test sales. If the model works, then you can move on to the next stage — investing in marketing and app development. This approach will help avoid unnecessary costs and risks at the early stages.

— You need to have a clear financial model. It is important to calculate in advance how much money will be required at each stage and what these funds will be spent on. Transparency of the financial plan will help investors understand how the startup plans to use the raised funds and what specific actions will be taken to achieve growth.

Advice from Anuar Lenzat

— Analyze retention rate and user behavior: track returns, subscriptions, and repeat purchases to understand customer loyalty and the product's sustainability in the market.

— Defining the target segment. Selling the product to "everyone" is not considered an effective strategy.

— Understanding the market and trends: keep an eye on global changes, such as the popularity of dark kitchens, and analyze their impact on your market.

— Focus on marketing expenses and investments. If your startup is oriented toward the B2C market, keep in mind that you will need a large amount of funds for marketing to attract and retain customers. It is also important to have a plan for reducing marketing expenses in the future, relying on customer retention and referrals.

General recommendations for young startups

— Participation in acceleration programs. This is an effective way to attract investors' attention by demonstrating speed, capabilities, and readiness for development.

— Validation of the business model. Ensure that your model is tested and ready for growth before seeking investment. At the idea testing stage, it is better to approach business angels.

— Testing the idea independently. Before seeking external investments, try testing your idea in the market. This will help you better understand how in-demand it is and avoid undervaluing your company. Show investors that you can achieve success even without external funding. When the market shows signs of progress in your favor, it will be easier to convince an investor of your startup's potential.

— Properly demonstrate business potential. There are many funds and business angels in Kazakhstan ready to invest, and their number is growing. However, competition among startups is not high because there are relatively few such startups and founders. Therefore, it is important to prepare well and convincingly demonstrate the business's potential.