For the first time in a while, I took a mini trip and went back home to Kazakhstan to attend the largest tech conference in Central Asia. I was also a speaker on one of the most anticipated panels at the event, which brought together 4 out of 6 Kazakh YC[1] founders to share their experiences. The room was packed, and the questions from the audience were great—huge thanks to one of my investors, Nurdaulet, for organizing the entire panel and finally bringing me to the Astana (capital of Kazakhstan). I also met more than 200 high-school kids, students, and other people who want to start a company one day.
I noticed a lot of patterns among the students and kids I met, and I still see some of them in myself. First off, the talent density among people under 21 in Kazakhstan is insane. I was approached by over 200 people and took more selfies than I see myself in the mirror, so I got to talk to everyone. Special shoutout to NIS, FizMat, and NSPM (РФМШ). For those who don't know, those schools are considered the most cracked in Kazakhstan.
Back in my high school, almost no one knew what a startup was or why programming mattered beyond getting a job at Google. Most people thought I'd end up as a tech bro. What really stood out at these schools, though, is their communities dedicated to startups and entrepreneurship. For example, NIS has several founder communities and one big community called "NIS Valley[2]."
I'm writing this to address the most common patterns and questions I heard from students across those schools and during the conference.
Should you drop out of high school or university?
My answer, even though people might think I'm biased, is that it depends. The framework I used was simple: I didn't really have a choice between staying and continuing what I wanted to do or going all in. The options were clear: stay in school and skip an accelerator that might change your life, or drop everything and leave your home country to do this thing. It's risky as fuck because I can still fail any single day. But to do big things, you have to put your balls on the line. So the conclusion is easy: there has to be a reason and a clear choice. Don't drop out because it's cool or because you think investors will pour money into you. It's a logical step after a chain of events where, in the pursuit of something big, staying becomes non-optional.
What if I get judged by my age, especially by older people?
If you are reading this and want to start something but feel like you are too young, DO IT ANYWAY. Trust me. If you are an older person reading this and think that young people can't do it, fuck you.
What gets you moving? What's the reasoning behind all this startup stuff?
The future is exciting. We live in the best age to start a company, and I can't imagine doing anything else but trying to literally change the outcome of this universe. That's it.
"I'm building X and have an MVP. Should I talk to investors and raise funding?"
Not really. Great that you built an MVP. These days you can build anything sitting on the toilet. Go talk to your users. Talk, talk, talk to your users. Go to their homes, call them, make them try your product, and get feedback. It's still one of my problems, not talking to enough users. From my experience with Y Combinator[1] and building so far, this is probably the most important thing when it comes to iterating. Evolving never stops, and your users should guide you but make sure you evaluate all feedback and don't rawdog it. Don't talk to investors unless you actually need money or you truly think it will move the needle by 5x. Also, I didn't reach out to investors. I built a thing, made myself go viral, and they started reaching out to me. When you actually need it, they'll come.
Where to launch?
Twitter, LinkedIn, Product Hunt[4], Reddit, Hacker News[5]. And do it often. You won't get murdered if some of your posts don't go viral.
"I don't have traction, so I won't get into YC or get funding."
Bullshit. Drop that mentality. Investors in the CIS region can be obsessed with traction, and it's horrible. That's part of why we don't have a lot of breakout companies. Great founders without traction get ignored. It's different in the States. Early on, investors and accelerators care about you and your story more than the product, especially at pre-seed. I applied to YC[1] with an idea for a debugging agent and ended up in a completely different space. When I asked my partner what got me in as a solo founder from KZ, he said: "You ship fast, that's it. I just think you'll figure something out."
Where do I learn and get advice?
Create communities. Be the dumbest person in the room. Read Paul Graham[3]'s essays. Never be afraid to cold reach out to anyone (I love cold emailing). Never underestimate the advantages of compounding effects that come after doing small things like assembling a friend group to talk about startups. One thing that makes prestigious accelerators like YC[1] truly special is that they filter out the most exceptional people and put them in the same room to chase the same goal: change the world and become unicorns. By mixing all of that, people with completely different backgrounds tend to have the same motivation, which ends up benefiting one another on a massive scale.
How do I learn to code?
I don't have a perfect answer. I'm learning myself and never stopped. Start projects and figure it out as you go. This is the best time to learn, don't waste that opportunity. Leverage AI systems and stay curious.
Well, that's all for now from me. I have never been an S-tier author. I cheated on every single essay in high school even though I was the nerdiest dude in the room (the reason I cheated is that I had a lot of bugs and needed to save time + fix them ASAP. Don't think I'm just dumb, please). If you have more suggestion for essays, feel free to ask. I will write those sometimes.