Startup Story: Botcommerce — social commerce platform for business

Our ‘Startup Story’ column proceeds to acquaint readers with the projects that participated in the IT Park acceleration and incubation programs.

Siroj Boboev, Chief Operating Officer of the Botcommerce is on our spotlight this time. He shared his own story about how the project was founded, its significance for society and how the team plans to develop the idea.    

Where did it all start?

Siroj Boboev is 27 years old. He graduated from the Singapore Management Development Institute in Tashkent. Friends Shamsidinkhon Mukhibillaev and Abdurauf Sherkulov, altogether launched the Botcommerce project.

“We all work for Botcommerce, our own startup company. Prior to launching the startup, our team and one of the former founders, Sukhrob, worked as software developers and also provided freelance development services. The team has developed various applications, including Telegram bots for small and medium businesses. However, with the onset of the pandemic and quarantine, everyone switched to online sales and delivery services, which, in turn, significantly increased the demand for bots in Telegram, since it is one of the most popular instant messengers in Uzbekistan. Our team couldn’t keep up with the demand, and then we decided to launch Botcommerce so that small and medium businesses could run their own Telegram bots without writing a single line of code.”

By that, companies have the opportunity to create bots in Telegram and Whatsapp, as well as launch their own online stores. This has enabled SMEs to provide multi-channel services and increase their sales.

The startup team is quite small having 5 people including co-founders.

Initially, co-founders Shamsidinkhon (CEO) and Abdurauf (CTO) did the development themselves, but as the volume of work grew, they hired two more developers. Siroj himself (chief operating officer), who previously worked as a product manager, is engaged in business and product development.

Tell us about the startup and its benefits

Botcommerce is a social commerce platform for small and medium businesses.

“Our clients can launch their Telegram bot or e-commerce website in 5 minutes. They can also integrate payment and shipping services, manage their inventory, run marketing campaigns, access analytics and provide support to their customers right on messenger platforms.”

The goal of the startup is to enable small and medium enterprises to increase their sales by launching sales on as many platforms as possible. So far, the project only offers solutions for Telegram, Whatsapp, and websites, but plans to expand to other social media platforms soon, including Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.

“We want to be the platform where businesses manage all their sales and social media presence in one place. Unlike other players such as marketplaces, we don't charge a percentage of our sellers' sales, but we provide all the benefits of these platforms and more.”

Siroj notes that the startup contributes to the growth of the e-commerce industry in Uzbekistan and provides more employment opportunities for the younger generation of software engineers.

“Another value that we create for the country is that once we expand internationally, it brings foreign exchange into the country and also increases the reputation of the country in the world. As a rule, the emergence of new companies and startups, such as ours, is always a positive sign, as it is a sign of growth, especially in the IT industry. We can take as an example Silicon Valley and the companies that are based there and their role in the growth of the US.”

What was the most difficult part of the project for you?

According to Siroj, it was not easy to stay focused while building a startup.

“When you are just starting out and acquiring your first clients, you get a lot of feedback from the clients. Clients usually want different things depending on their needs and desires. To increase sales, sometimes you want to implement all those features into your product that end up taking you away from the original idea. We also received a lot of feedback from our customers and we are still getting it. However, we have learned to stay focused using the prioritization framework.”

After a startup creates a list of features they want to develop that they think will benefit customers, they will focus on feedback and add new features to the bottom of the list. The team wants the project to remain flexible and focused on the original goal, that allows the business to create a multichannel experience through social commerce sales.

“As a startup, we faced a lot of challenges. We needed to properly allocate limited resources, always be aware of the competition and try to stay ahead of it or find investors who can see our vision and invest in our business. But the hardest part was finding the right people to work on the team and keeping them motivated. Most of the qualified candidates already had good jobs and did not want to move to other companies. As a result, we launched our own internship program to prepare a developer from junior candidates. Out of a dozen candidates, we selected two full-time candidates, who are now working in our team.”

The effort, as time has shown, was not in vain. The team confidently conquers IT pedestals.

“Our team was among 16 startups selected from 160 projects to participate in the first installment of the Plug and Play Accelerator program. We were also part of the Aloqa Tech Labs accelerator program from Aloqa Ventures. In February of this year, we participated in the Startup Battle by Astana Hub in Almaty. I think these are good indicators. More awaits”.

How do you plan to develop your project?

The Botcommerce project is at the beginning of its journey and is developing mainly in Uzbekistan.

“We now have several clients from other Central Asian countries, and the goal for the near future is to enable SMEs in Uzbekistan and Central Asian countries to use our solutions to the full, that is, social commerce solutions from A to Z. After that, we plan to expand into internationally, and we have many potential customers in emerging markets, including India and Brazil, where Whatsapp is deeply integrated into payments and other parts of people's lifestyles."

However, this does not mean that the startup will not provide services to other countries that are not listed above. Botcommerce services have no boundaries. The project ultimately wants to become a platform for small and medium businesses, where companies will manage all their sales and social media presence.

“When we first started, Suhrob, one of our co-founders, approached several angel investors at the time. Of all potential investors, only Sarvar Ruzmatov became interested in our company, and in 2020 we received the first angel investment in the amount of $18,000. In addition, the co-founders invested part of their own money, which helped us reach the current level. We are currently running a SEED round and are reaching out to various investors in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other countries. In terms of growth, so far we have invested only in the development of the product itself. However, as we continue to grow, we plan to invest more in marketing to reach potential customers and show them how they can benefit from our solutions.”

The startup industry of Uzbekistan, the guest of the column continues, although it is at the stage of formation, is attracting more and more attention from the IT community.

“Just a few years ago, various venture capital companies began to appear and acceleration programs were launched. Local startups are already receiving funding from venture capital firms. I would mark the international recognition of the events taking place in the startup industry with the arrival of the Plug and Play venture company in Uzbekistan. I think that it is IT Park that makes a great contribution to various programs for young professionals and the younger generation who would like to get into IT.”

The market is relatively young and eager for new ideas and start-ups, the specialist notes.

“We have a lot of startups developing in different areas, for instance, in the Plug and Play accelerator program. There are startups that create products in areas such as edtech, insurtech, fintech, e-commerce and SaaS. However, we are seeing significant development in fintech and e-commerce with the launch of over 50 payment companies and marketplaces such as Uzum Market, Asaxiy and others in Uzbekistan. As a fintech professional, I can say that the market is still open to innovation. Banks and fintechs have options for simple day-to-day payment services, embedded financial services, and open banking. Of course, payments will be an important part of these innovations as they serve both fintech and e-commerce.”

The startup industry keeps growing. This is largely due to the startups themselves, because they are always more flexible than established companies. They do not have strict rules and guidelines to follow, so they reach their goals faster. For instance, if it takes several months or years for reputable companies to analyze, obtain approval and implement a feature, then startups can do it in weeks, Siroj says. They do not need to go through all these steps, and usually the founders themselves handle all the implementation processes.

“For example, at the moment, as part of the Plug and Play accelerator program, we are working on setting up a weekly rapid hypothesis test. During this process, we do not need to fully implement the solution as we are only testing a hypothesis and we, as a startup company, need to use the fastest solution. Therefore, to everyone who is thinking of going into the field of startups, I wish them not to be afraid to take risks and be brave. Work on your ideas, find the fastest ways to test them, and get results. In any case, you will gain experience that will be quite useful to you in the future”.