THE MIND — a startup that automates business processes

Dilshod Bobomuradov, 34 years old, city — Tashkent, CEO THE MIND, linkedin

How it all started

I graduated from the "Banking" faculty of the Tashkent Financial Institute and progressed from an accountant to a director. From 2018 to 2023, I managed a manufacturing business with revenue of $60-70 million. The idea for the startup was to solve business process problems that I noticed in my own work and among my colleagues.

In the beginning, I was looking for a programmer and a designer, and communicating with IT companies that develop products. Since I didn't yet have a complete understanding of what the product would look like, I arranged for one programmer to work on an hourly basis. I ordered the design and we began development. With a small budget, I hired two student interns for the project and started paying them for their internship. Since our product heavily depends on integration with tax authorities and banks at the beginning and even now, we have to monitor their innovations and adapt. At first, we only completed one integration, but over time, the methods of working in banks or tax offices could change. As a result, we learned to react to changes in methods without emotion, and the interns learned to code.

Target Audience

The target audience for our product is medium and large enterprises or government institutions with complex business processes. In other words, our target is companies with a turnover of at least $5 million and 10-15 employees in administration. Our platform also has many active small and medium-sized enterprises with one employee and a turnover of up to $10,000, who use the minimal functional capabilities of our product.

Acceleration Programs

We participated in the STARTUP BRIDGE program by UZCARD and received a term sheet, but for some reason, the fund suspended its activities for a while. Also, in December 2022, we participated in the AloqaTech Lab acceleration program and received a $50,000 investment from Aloqaventure. There were offers to invest in us, but we refused because we first needed to understand the existing market situation and figure out how everything works and what difficulties might arise.

Challenges

One of the difficulties was assembling a team where everyone understands each other. Since I hadn't been involved in sales before, it was challenging for me to organize a sales system.

My advice is to work with a mentor or consultant in areas where you lack experience to avoid wasting time and money.

Achievements

Before approaching venture funds, we operated on a model of one-time expensive sales. We were advised to switch to a SaaS model and demonstrate results, after which we could receive investment. In 2022, we made changes to our business model and essentially started from scratch. By 2023, we managed to triple our revenue.

Plans

We plan to move to the next Series A round and grow at least three times compared to 2023.