Post by Chyngyz D.

KODIF turned 5 this weekend. by coincidence, this happened as america turned 250. as an immigrant founder and an american citizen, seeing those two milestones line up made me reflect on the journey. my wife, Aizada Marat and i are both founders. she is building Alma. i'm building KODIF. our story is only possible in this country: - five years into building KODIF. - from 0 to millions in ARR. - tens of millions of customer support conversations automated end-to-end every year. - the opportunity to work with brands like Liquid I.V., Dollar Shave Club True Classic, Ruggable, OneSkin, Ivy City Co., Neuro, Magic Mind, 3Z Brands, Million Dollar Baby Co. (Babyletto, Namesake, daVinci & Nursery Works), Pattern Brands, Beckett Simonon, Instant Hydration and many others. - an incredible team spread across multiple countries building together every day. here are my 5 lessons building KODIF over the past 5 years: 1. it's all about people. always. customers, partners, and teammates are people first and professionals second. 2. startups are learning competitions. learn faster than the market changes. learn faster than your competitors. 3. building a company is also building yourself. startups force you to become painfully self-aware - your strengths, your blind spots, your insecurities, and your limitations. 4. enjoy the process. there is always another milestone waiting on the other side. 5. ai changes every month. what doesn't change is the trust, judgment, and relationships. they compound for decades. five years later, startup life still means going from: "we're onto something huge" to "what the hell are we doing?". sometimes before lunch. I suspect that's just part of the job. having reflected, i just felt very grateful. grateful to my wife Aizada Marat, my cofounder Norm Usenkanov, our customers, teammates, investors, partners, and of course, this country. we're just getting started 🇺🇸 p.s. the photo below was taken on the day i became an american citizen. it was a great day.