Posts tagged investor

Personal Branding and Its Impact on Business

Content Factory Instead of Startup: How Personal Branding is Consuming Kazakhstan's IT

The number of people with the prefix "Co-founder" per square kilometer in Almaty already exceeds the density of coffee shops on Panfilov Street. Meanwhile, there are only a few products with real revenue and a two-year history. Founders are making videos, mentors are selling advice without having built a single business, and engineers who know how to create are quietly leaving.

Mar 11, 2026 689 4

Corruption and Social Justice Discussion

13 min

Patriotism or Complicity: Why Silence About the Scam of "Our Own" is Killing Kazakhstan's IT Brand

I wrote an investigation about Higgsfield AI even before Forbes, and every fifth comment was: "Why are you sinking your own?" Higgsfield bans users without refunding $200. 1Fit abandons clients in four countries in a row. And the Kazakh IT community remains silent because they are "one of their own." This article is about why such silence is not patriotism, but complicity, and how it is already

Feb 16, 2026 1.8K 11

YaYa: How a "math error" became a criminal case and left thousands of families with loans for nothing

Business Models and Their Challenges Discussion

18 min

YaYa: How a "math error" became a criminal case and left thousands of families with loans for nothing

On February 9, the startup YaYa, valued at $10 million, announced its closure. Subscriptions disappeared from the app, while thousands of families continue to pay installment plans to banks for a non-existent service. A criminal case has been initiated in Astana, and accounts have been frozen.

Feb 12, 2026 1.9K 6

He Turned Down a Billion and Became Happier: The Story of the Founder of Gumroad

Solo Development and Individual Businesses

14 min

He Turned Down a Billion and Became Happier: The Story of the Founder of Gumroad

In Silicon Valley, stability is considered a failure. If you're not growing by 30% a month, you're dying. Sahil Lavingia went through this grinder: $8 million in investments, dreams of a unicorn, collapse, and laying off the team. Then he did what is considered heresy in the startup world - he built a profitable business without chasing scale.

Dec 18, 2025 475 2

Why a "jack of all trades" beats specialists in startups

Technology and Business

14 min

Why a "jack of all trades" beats specialists in startups

A techie builds the perfect architecture for a product that nobody needs. A marketer drives traffic to a website with terrible UX. Both are stuck because they think like specialists, not like founders. Sam Altman, after hundreds of startups at YC, formulated a rule: the best founders are generalists from start to finish. Let's analyze how this works in practice.

Dec 01, 2025 367

Posts with tag: investor

Content Factory Instead of Startup: How Personal Branding is Consuming Kazakhstan's IT

Patriotism or Complicity: Why Silence About the Scam of "Our Own" is Killing Kazakhstan's IT Brand

YaYa: How a "math error" became a criminal case and left thousands of families with loans for nothing

He Turned Down a Billion and Became Happier: The Story of the Founder of Gumroad

Why a "jack of all trades" beats specialists in startups