Post by Amina Tushakova

We just had another incredible evening by CALI - Central Asian Ladies Initiative! We’re excited to share that our recent event, “How to Start and Grow a Successful Startup,” held on November 7th, 2025, at the Silkroad Innovation Hub in Palo Alto, was a huge success. It was an inspiring and relaxed evening where 3 founders from Central Asia shared real stories about how they started their companies, the lessons they learned, and how they continue to grow in the fast-changing startup world.  The event brought together founders, professionals, and students interested in startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship. We were joined by 3 incredible founders who are leading startups in different industries: - Zhanel Nugmanova, Co-Founder and COO at Valinor Discovery - develops patient response prediction ML platforms trained on proprietary longitudinal datasets from patient-derived samples paired with spatial data and EHR to accelerate clinical trials. - Svetlana Kaz, Founder and CEO at Strawberry Health - redefining fertility care for women in their 30s and 40s. - Mika Sagindyk, Co-founder at Tackle - AI-powered time tracking and reporting for agencies and professional services. Each speaker shared her personal story, how she came up with the idea, built her product, overcame early challenges, and found her first customers or investors. The event started with registration and casual networking, where attendees had a chance to meet the speakers and connect with other members of the CALI community. After opening remarks from CALI - Central Asian Ladies Initiative and Silkroad Innovation Hub, the presentations began: each founder gave a short talk about her startup journey and the lessons learned along the way. After all 3 presentations, Zhanel, Svetlana, and Mika joined a panel discussion where they talked about what it really takes to start a company: dealing with uncertainty, finding the right team, learning from failure, and keeping motivation through tough times. Audience members asked thoughtful questions about funding, scaling, and balancing personal life with startup life. We closed the evening with an informal networking session, where people continued the discussion, exchanged contacts, and shared ideas for collaboration. We want to thank Silkroad Innovation Hub for hosting us and creating such a welcoming space for our community. A special thank you to Asset Abdualiyev and Aikumis Seksenbayeva for their ongoing support. And of course, thank you to everyone who joined us, your engagement and positive energy made this event memorable. If you couldn’t make it this time, stay tuned for our next events: - Telegram: https://lnkd.in/gPqVeQsv - LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/g_EAsnb3 - Instagram: https://lnkd.in/gf_TgMwR