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Arlan Rakhmetzhanov recently turned 17 years old. He is still in school but has already launched two IT startups, written a book on investments, and interned at a major Kazakhstani company. What projects is he working on right now? Is he ready for failures? What did he talk about in his book? And how did he manage to achieve such results at such a young age? Digital Business asked the student these questions and learned from whom he caught the startup fever and why he plans to go to Silicon Valley this summer.

"Started getting interested in IT at the age of 10"

I recently turned 17 years old and study at Almaty International School. I started getting interested in IT at the age of 10. My father is a venture entrepreneur, angel investor, and founder of several tech companies. He told me about his work and projects, which fascinated me.

I enrolled in an advanced course in computer science at school—Advanced Placement Computer Science. That's how I got acquainted with the Python programming language. I liked it so much that I completed the course 7 months earlier than my classmates. Now I am studying the basics of JavaScript, as well as React and Node.js. I have mastered low-code platforms like FlutterFlow and Bubble.io, and am learning Swift.

In March of this year, I launched my project. I wasn't scared. My father once told me, "Any startup can die, and that should not demoralize you. You need to move forward and not be afraid to lose because you will have many more battles."

Hanlan Tech is a startup in the field of iOS application and website development. We create educational applications. One of them is Extracurrify. This app helps school students choose online courses, local olympiads, and competitions according to their professional goals.

For example, if you want to develop in biology, the service will create an educational track of science courses and suggest which events to participate in to build a portfolio for admission. An AI chatbot will also select 10 universities based on the budget, specialty, interests, and location of the user. In the first week, the app was downloaded more than 1,500 times on the App Store, and the web version received 17,000 visits.

I received a grant of 300,000 tenge for the development of Extracurrify from the board of directors of my school. I will spend the money on marketing and development.

"Earned 45,000 tenge on a book about investments"

My second startup is the AI service DresserAI. Essentially, my team and I are creating a personal AI stylist that will select clothes for a specific occasion, taking into account the weather and fashion trends.

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Source: Digital Business