How did an idea for a traditional clothing service turn into a platform with 50,000 monthly active users? Read about the creation of Bezen, securing early investments, monetization strategies, and plans to expand into Central Asian markets in this story by The Tech, prepared in collaboration with Startup Academy Turkmenistan.
Kadyrberdi Nurberdiyev, Ashgabat — Founder of Bezen startup
How It All Started
My first degree is in medicine—I graduated from a medical university in Belarus. However, before completing my residency, I realized my true passion lay in information technology. I taught myself web development and, together with my current Bezen co-founder Islam Akmyradov, created our first platform during the pandemic: an online project called Ýolbelet dedicated to modern education. For two years, we helped young people acquire up-to-date skills while the world was learning and working remotely.
After returning to Turkmenistan, we started thinking about what kind of startup our country needed. To find the answer, we analyzed local search queries via Google Trends. It turned out that people were most interested in music, movies, news, and traditional fashion. While solutions already existed for most of these categories, the traditional clothing market was virtually non-digitalized.
We decided to look deeper into the issue and spoke with our wives, mothers, and sisters. That was when we realized just how complex the process of buying traditional clothing was: first, you have to find the right fabric, then choose a design, find a skilled tailor who will sew the dress well and on time, and finally go in for fittings. Even if everything goes smoothly, tailoring a single dress takes at least two weeks.
Launching the Startup
In the fall of 2023, Islam and I joined a six-month program at Harman Consulting. The knowledge we gained there became a solid foundation for launching Bezen.
During our studies, we registered the company and purchased a server and domain. We initially wanted to use bezen.com.tm, but it was unavailable, so we launched under the domain fasonlar.com.tm.
In February 2024, we took first place in a startup competition and landed our first investor. Our first hire was backend developer Oraz Orazov, and later that year, we launched the web platform. A year later, a Flutter developer joined the team, and in 2025, we released our mobile app.
Later came TechCrunch Road to Battlefield, the Startup Academy incubation program, and selection as one of two startups representing Turkmenistan at Digital Startup Uzbekistan.
First Users and Growth
Our initial analysis proved 100% accurate. The most interesting part is that since our launch, we have spent almost nothing on large-scale marketing: high demand for traditional patterns and strong SEO optimization did the work for us.
For over a year, fasonlar.com.tm has consistently ranked among the most visited websites created in Turkmenistan. Today, the platform attracts roughly 50,000 monthly active users. It also features over 200 registered business accounts, including tailors, ateliers, fashion brands, and garment manufacturers.
In my experience, investors aren’t interested in the idea itself; they care about real metrics: how monetization works, current revenue, the number of users and sellers, MAU, and retention rates.
The main indicator that a startup is truly needed by the market is returning users—not total registrations or downloads.
Challenges
Like most startups, our primary challenge was—and remains—sales. Building a good product is only half the battle. Getting customers to pay for it on a regular basis is far more difficult.
That’s why my main advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to think about monetization first, and product development second.
After launching, we mostly focused on marketing, but the startup itself underwent several positioning shifts and rebrandings during that period. Each time, we had to re-explain to the market what Bezen was. We learned that investing heavily in promotion while the product is still shifting isn’t always effective.
Today, we actively leverage AI in design and software development. Redesigning or even completely rebranding takes significantly less time than it did a few years ago.
However, there is a flip side: with the rise of “vibe coding,” the number of new projects has skyrocketed. Building products has become easier, but that doesn’t mean building a successful business has gotten any easier.
The real challenge today is no longer development—it’s user attraction, retention, and a working monetization model.
Plans for the Future
We are currently transforming Bezen into a full-fledged e-commerce platform. By the end of the year, we plan to achieve a sustainable business model and stable revenue.
Our next phase involves expanding into Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, followed by other countries across Central Asia and the Middle East. ///Originally published by The Tech, 17 September 2026.