How to build a Unicorn outside the US with AI | Arsen Tomsky, Founder InDrive

In this episode of Silicon Valley Girl, Marina Mogilko sits down with Arsen Tomsky, founder and CEO of inDrive - a $1B+ ride-sharing platform with 60 million active users that he built from Yakutsk, one of the coldest cities on Earth. Arsen shares his wild journey from a stuttering software engineer to global entrepreneur, revealing how he turned a taxi price protest on social media into a billion-dollar company that's taking on monopolies worldwide. He breaks down how to scale a global business on a shoestring budget, why childhood struggles can become your superpower, and the philosophy that completely transformed his life and company. They also get into what it's like competing against tech giants like Uber, how to fly under the radar while growing fast, and why mission-driven companies are going to dominate in the AI era. More from the Silicon Valley Girl: Newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://siliconvalleygirl.beehiiv.com/ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ ⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/siliconvalleygirl/ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@SiliconValleyGirl⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@SiliconValleyGirl LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/in/marinamogilko⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinamogilko/

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration blog, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18 plus.

• 0:26Speaker 01

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• 0:55Marina Mogilko?

  What would be your advice?

• 0:56Speaker 03

  First, to be people focused, oriented. Same time AI native now. Mix it. Second.

• 1:05Marina Mogilko?

  Arsene Tomski is the founder and CEO of Endrive, a company that now spans 900 cities across 48 countries with over 360 million downloads. But started as a student protest against taxi cartels in Yakutsk, Siberia, has grown into the world's second most downloaded ride-hailing app, trailing only Uber, and ranks as the fifth most downloaded travel app globally.

• 1:28Speaker 03

  Start to start when I was four years old. Step by step, I realized it's not not pain, it's gift for me. Three of the largest failures in my life. They led to those successes. Without those failures, I would not sit here.

• 1:42Marina Mogilko?

  Now leading remote team of 3,000 plus and building an AI-first super app, Tomski is redefining fairness in the gig economy and challenging how technology should serve people.

• 1:53Speaker 03

  And since the start, we intensively use AI in this and we use the.

• 1:58Marina Mogilko?

  So how to build global companies, use AI as leverage, and compete with the big players from anywhere in the world without access to Silicon Valley networks?

• 2:09Marina Mogilko?

  Arsen, welcome to Silicon Valley Girl.

• 2:12Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 2:12Marina Mogilko?

  You've built a $1 million-plus company out of Yekutsk, which is one of the coldest cities in the world. Can you talk about building a global company, being from somewhere different from Silicon Valley?

• 2:28Speaker 03

  Sure, I can share a few tips how to build really large, successful companies with minimal resources. Also, I will tell you why I love the monopoles and how to be happy while your work is crazy. Also, I think I should tell you the story, how we start. And this is like not very typical story. So I hope it will be really fascinating for people. Thank you.

• 3:00Marina Mogilko?

  Let's dive into it. Before we start, so what came earlier, your company?

• 3:05Speaker 03

  I started my entrepreneurial career 29 years ago. So I have built a few successful companies and nonprofit initiatives. And my current company, Indrive, we began 12 years ago. So but the time I know that I should choose some philosophical way, more psychological way how to build companies. And I had a goal to build global company. Before I didn't have, because I was typical techno or software engineer and I didn't have such goal. But when we tried to create something like local Silicon Valley

• 3:47Speaker 03

  in my hometown with support of local government and local university, and we failed because I did what I should have done, they not. So it was like very disappointing for me. So since that time, the time I decided not to be dependent on someone in the future. And I decided to gain all necessary resources by myself. And I set a goal to create something big. So it was like 15 years ago.

• 4:22Marina Mogilko?

  Talk to me about the initial idea. Was it your personal problem? Or was it something you found because you realized there's a gap in the market?

• 4:31Speaker 03

  Imagine you're resident of Yekovsk. It's officially called the city in the world. Some days we have minus seventy-five degrees. Crazy. Yeah, and you some day, January twenty-twelve, you wake up to minus forty-five. And you stand. Celsius? Both. Very much. It's very close. Uh huh. Forty-five Celsius, I think it's about forty-eight. Uh, hot, hot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, cold. It's cold, both in both systems, yeah. And then you suddenly realize that all taxi companies in the town,

• 5:12Speaker 03

  they have colluded cartel agreement. And they overnight double fares. Hmm. And you had to take your child to school, like in three miles away. And you went that together, walk it. And each cell of your body feels cold. Yes. Stink from that cold. Yeah. Also feels this sharp sense of injustice. And that outrage sparked the social media phenomenon. Uh, people started to agree about rights on social media.

• 5:56Speaker 03

  There was special profile. And fifty thousand people insured that join it. And they began to agree about rights. But but that time I was founder and CEO of the largest taxi company in the town. And I saw this was clear social phenomenon. I I decided to launch a tech startup using the same peer-to-peer bidens, yeah? Hmm. And we developed a mobile app. Then we moved that social media profile to about new mobile app. And it took off. And then we launched it in nine new cities. And we launched it with very simple app.

• 6:41Speaker 03

  With small and experienced and that experienced team, ninety K for all the nine cities. And two of them took off. And that time I I saw, wow, we could, we can build something large.

• 6:55Marina Mogilko?

  So the that app was basically connecting customers directly to taxi drivers, right?

• 7:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:00Marina Mogilko?

  Avoiding the system.

• 7:01Speaker 03

  Uh, point A and then B, and then you can offer your your fare. And then you can negotiate transparent and free the model and allocate people and they absolutely love it. Not all people, of course, especially in places where people opportunity to choose and also they are more price sensitive.

• 7:22Marina Mogilko?

  When did you realize you could take this outside your country? Because I realize it's working in like cold cities, right? Okay, it's working for that market. But when did you think about making it global?

• 7:33Speaker 03

  Uh, we began real geo-expansion in twenty eighteen. We launched it first cities in Tlaltan to Mexico. And it immediately went well. And we saw that this technology is good for people on the very positive side of the globe. Yeah. So it was very clear. So we can in short time build a very large network.

• 7:58Marina Mogilko?

  But you're basically competing with Uber and like other local companies.

• 8:02Speaker 03

  With them too, with local taxi companies too. But main the competitors, of course, this large tech giants for us because they have like unlimited resources. And they have advanced technologies, big teams, very smart. But what is good for us, why I love that monopolies? Because they create, they if they achieve large share in a local market, they start to squeeze the lemon, what I call squeeze the lemon. They start to raise fares, they start to charge very high take rate commissions.

• 8:45Speaker 03

  And this grid is some kind of a fuel for us. And we especially look for places where they start to do it and we launch there. And this allowed us to build this large global platform without access access to external support. Long time, we didn't have any access to external funding network, world-class talent pool, etc. And we had to find some alternative way to build this. So this was a way, the way how we did it. We built the entire story on fighting injustice. Now this is official mission of the company, of the team.

• 9:30Marina Mogilko?

  But had you ever had thoughts about Uber just copying the model?

• 9:34Speaker 03

  It didn't make sense for us because in this case, we would hit them with them hit and we would lose because we had much less resource, much, much less resource. It doesn't make sense for underdog companies like we to replicate and then start to compete with these large companies. No, it's better to find distinct business model and then find some inspiring idea. And this idea will attract the best people to you. And you will have very cohesive and inspiring. This is very, very important and you too.

• 10:17Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration blog or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18 plus.

• 10:43Marina Mogilko?

  For someone who's starting a global company outside Silicon Valley, who's an immigrant and who's building in a market where there are a lot of big players, what would be your advice?

• 10:52Speaker 03

  First, to be people-focused, oriented, same time AI-native now. Mix it.

• 11:00Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 11:00Speaker 03

  And we are this also, as I said, find some distinctive business model, which causes organic growth when people switch to you and also actively invite their social circles to switch. Second, I would recommend launching developing in countries.

• 11:21Speaker 03

  Where softer regulation, a lower costs, people value of freedom, fairness, and you also understand them. Harvard graduates don't understand that. You, you can.

• 11:38Marina Mogilko?

  Hmm, because you're in the region, you're from that country or that society, right?

• 11:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, of course. And third, I think to expand with high pace, to rapidly expand and stay above the radar. Do it in that way that competitors can't understand what is going on until it's too late.

• 12:03Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 12:03Speaker 03

  This is my three main suggestions.

• 12:05Marina Mogilko?

  Thank you. But how do you identify that exact problem? So you stumbled upon it because you were actually experiencing it. Would you, is there any advice on how you identify the problem that could become a global business?

• 12:18Speaker 03

  I think you can start some ideation. You can brainstorm, yeah? And make like dozens of potential ideas where you can bring people real life value, like freedom, fairness, love, self-realization, and so on and so forth. And then you can cycle by cycle, step by step, test all these ideas, creating some simple and cheap MVPs and see where people start to stick to it. And where they start to invite the families and the friends.

• 12:54Marina Mogilko?

  That's the signal.

• 12:55Speaker 03

  Yeah, signal, yeah. And where you have good retention. And this could tell you that this is something here and you can start to deep dive.

• 13:05Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, I also, I also like how you not only experienced the problem yourself, but you also saw people on social media being outraged by the problem. So you knew there's.

• 13:15Speaker 03

  This is a good way to, yeah, to make some additional research and see what people don't like.

• 13:21Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah. When you're starting out, do you think you should have a business plan or you should just rely on your passion? Because with my business, for example, when we started, no business plan. I just loved the study abroad market. I went in it. After we went into it, we realized there were like 200 agencies in our city alone. It's like competition's crazy. What would you recommend to those who are just starting out?

• 13:44Speaker 03

  I would use both to mix some pragmatic approach with some love, some real passion. And in this case, you will have a chance to build a company with realistic way, with profitable and reasonable the growth, same time you will love it. And if you love what you do, it's one of the main criterias of the main source of to be happy in life. Right now, not in some day in the future.

• 14:21Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, I love that. Do you think that if you wanna start a business, let's say not today, but in like five to ten years, would you still need university degree? Or maybe even now you don't need it anymore with AI?

• 14:35Speaker 03

  In some fields, for some jobs, you have to have this. For example, for healthcare, so people will go to and get this degree. Or there are some very cool schools. For example, this year, we launched our nonprofit university, where we're going to raise leaders of new type.

• 15:02Marina Mogilko?

  Where is it?

• 15:03Speaker 03

  We start, we are starting from Almaty city, Kazakhstan, yeah. Then in twenty years, I'm going to build like six campuses, yeah. And this is absolutely free for students, I will pay for it. The idea that we should find those kids, future students, who have leadership potential, and then give them strong life values, and also teach them how to use what I call impact scalars. Art, technology, making those system where even one individual can make significant change in the world. And then we are going to support them in their future career. And I hope in like next twenty-five, forty years, they will make tremendous change in the world.

• 15:48Speaker 03

  But this is bad for long time.

• 15:50Marina Mogilko?

  I love it.

• 15:52Speaker 03

  I'm sure people should continue to apply for such schools. For rest of schools, I think the AI will fully change in like ten, twenty years. Sometimes I think the AI like giant meteor which came and hit. And we see some very large explosion very far and all things still be the same. But we know soon this shockwave will, yeah, that get us. And first, one of first fields which will be impacted is education.

• 16:32Speaker 03

  So if you are going to apply, please choose those schools where we pay attention to AI.

• 16:40Marina Mogilko?

  What are the top, so you mentioned you're gonna be teaching people art technology. You're doing so many things, so many projects. You're building your company. Was there ever a moment when you were thinking of giving up and thinking maybe it's a lot, like too much for you?

• 16:58Speaker 03

  Never. I had really harsh childhood and I become a hero for entire life. Second, most of my businesses I had and still have some strong purpose. When you have it, it gives you very huge amount of internal strength, inner drive, you see? My inner drive be with you.

• 17:27Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 17:28Speaker 03

  And you never give up. You can fail, but then you stand up and still move.

• 17:37Marina Mogilko?

  I know you're one of the top founders who actually stutter. Can you talk about this a little bit and how has it been on your journey?

• 17:45Speaker 03

  Yeah, I started to stutter when I was four years old and I started all my life. And now it's very important thing for me. I know a lot of people who did stutter in the past, but now they stop it. But from people who still stutter, I think probably I am. And for me, it's like large source of internal strength. Because I want to show people who stutter and about one hundred million people in the world stutter. So inspiring example, how you can achieve any hate in your life while you stutter. I saw people who sit at home and they don't, don't go. It could fully ruin their life. For example, I met a seventy year old man and he told me he didn't have a good job.

• 18:30Speaker 03

  He didn't create, he doesn't have kids. It's so, so dumb, yeah. It's such a big pain. And so I have good chance to help people, not just by this inspiring example, but also in the future I'm going to find some radical solution using AI or some science, biotech or something else. I will do it when I will have more time.

• 18:54Marina Mogilko?

  Has it always been like that, that you saw the strength? Or at first you were like, oh, I'm not gonna do anything. I'm not gonna talk to people. Talk to me about that emotional journey.

• 19:03Speaker 03

  Of course, when you're a kid in the school and you're standing in front of your class and you can't tell, it's a big pain for you. And all class laughing.

• 19:13Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, kids are particularly mean.

• 19:15Speaker 03

  So it was pain for me a long time. And then step by step, I realized it's not, not pain, it's gift for me.

• 19:21Marina Mogilko?

  Do you remember a moment when you were like?

• 19:23Speaker 03

  I think it was when I was like thirty year old. If that time I could, I would score myself by that communication skill. I would set, I don't know, one point five from ten point scale. So if you're a CEO, if you're a founder, you have to have stronger skills, of course. And I started to develop this. For example, I went to shopping malls and to food course when I stood up on chairs and start to sing, yeah, in front of people. Or you went to some public places and talking with people and sorry, could you give me your credit card? What? And nobody did it.

• 20:05Speaker 03

  And then you step by step, you found way like one, two out of ten people started to give you a credit card. And this move your skill, like it was one point five. And same day it became two point, yeah, you see? And for your entire life, it's so cool. And now I think I have about seven probably, yeah. So as soon I am going to become a real extrovert.

• 20:32Marina Mogilko?

  Wow, that is amazing that you're working on. Did you have a coach? Or how did you come up with the system? Or is it like something that exists already?

• 20:38Speaker 03

  No, I didn't have coach. It was my work and I something I found in books, something in some special anti-stuttering centers, etc. Then I think we need to create some special methodology for people who stutter. And if I will do it, I think people will trust it. Because I sure it's effective. By the way, like three years ago, I also initiated a startup to help people in this area.

• 21:13Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 21:14Speaker 03

  We use the fact when people who stutter, they start to sing or say start whisper, start, start. It becomes less. And when you have, for example, Zoom call, you can sync and this technology could change it into your speech without syncing. We spent two and a half years for this. I invested like a million dollars to it. But we realized then that people who stutter, they would not use this. Because I some technology called barrier. You can't sync if you make some serious call. Yeah, it's very hard. So it was like typical startup was test and then negative result.

• 21:59Speaker 03

  But it was okay. In the future, I will continue this work and we will find some, as I said, radical solution for it.

• 22:07Marina Mogilko?

  I love it. Thank you for the details. Is there a particular moment in your childhood that keeps you moving?

• 22:13Speaker 03

  I met with some violence in my family. Also, when I was 12 years old, my mother got like a mental illness. It was a big shock for me. And I was in school with the culture of violence. And I was more like the nurse. It was hard to me. And so all this was hurt, but I became as a steel inside. This is good for me. So a long time I thought I had bad childhood. But since some day, I realized that I had very cool child, very good.

• 22:58Speaker 03

  For some hate, I had so much love. Sun worms and I had very good friends etc. And that hate and pain what I had was necessary for me to become that individual what I know. Is now, yeah, so I had very good childhood. And if you don't know hate, you can't fight it in the future.

• 23:29Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 23:29Speaker 03

  So you should know it. So it's okay. And now we, one of the most important initiative for us to reduce domestic violence. Yeah, because again, this is one of kind of injustice to.

• 23:41Marina Mogilko?

  Can you say something to someone who's watching, who's going through a hard period in their life? What is something that they should tell them in order to use that particular moment to drive them forward? And build that steel inside to help them, to help them move ahead?

• 23:59Speaker 03

  Many situations, what you experience and what you feel is a matter of your choice, of your interpretation. So sometimes we, we can choose to feel joy, not to suffer. But we have also really hard situations. And in these situations, people have to have choice, fair choice. And if they don't have it, it's like clear that injustice. And we set the goal to give that fair choices to at least one billion people by twenty thirty.

• 24:42Speaker 03

  Via business and through this nonprofit initiatives.

• 24:45Marina Mogilko?

  Is that the, the domestic violence thing? Is that what you're talking about?

• 24:49Speaker 03

  Yes, it's a one of target that injustice where we are going to give people choices.

• 24:54Marina Mogilko?

  I love the phrase like, yeah, you can control what you feel, but sometimes emotions are so strong. Well, is there something that you tell yourself in that moment? How do you redirect your feelings to productive energy?

• 25:09Speaker 03

  Requires significant internal work, you know.

• 25:12Marina Mogilko?

  I know, yeah, but it's hard for me. Sometimes I tell myself this will pass, but sometimes I'm like.

• 25:21Speaker 03

  Look, you, you, you have internal child first and you have adult and you have internal parent, yeah? And you should understand who is now talking with you. And usually, if you feel some strong internal child and you should move to a position of internal adult. It's not easy sometimes.

• 25:39Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 25:40Speaker 03

  But you can learn how to do it. Also, sometimes you can think that you need to go through it to change, to use it as some developing point. Because without failure, without pain, it's very hard to grow.

• 25:58Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, and to appreciate good things, right?

• 25:59Speaker 03

  But this pain should be not too high. If it's too high, it's not good. And this situation, we want to give people choices.

• 26:08Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 26:09Speaker 03

  Challenge and justice via those. We don't have right, the right to change people's life without their concern. But we have right to give them choices.

• 26:19Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, I love it. Is that what you use, what you just mentioned, like internal child, internal parent? Is that when you use this, do you use this method when you encountering failures or obstacles in business?

• 26:31Speaker 03

  Look, I met so failures in my life, in my professional career. So treat them in very confident way. Because I know this is essential part of life. And you should use them, as I said, to grow. By the way, the three of largest failures in my life, they led to those successes. Without those failures, I would not sit here.

• 27:00Marina Mogilko?

  Can you give a relatable example if someone is experiencing something similar?

• 27:04Speaker 03

  I gave you one of them. When we failed with creating a local tech ecosystem in my hometown, it was a big failure. But it led my goal to create global company, first time in my life, you see?

• 27:19Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. Let's talk about another initiative that you're doing. You're also supporting women because there is stats that women receive as little as 2% of venture capital. That's for the UK. What inspired you to do this? And what are you doing to to help women?

• 27:37Speaker 03

  Supporting women, including supporting female tech entrepreneurs or doing some women economical empowerment or reducing domestic violence. One of the best way to challenge that injustice because it's clear that injustice.

• 27:55Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 27:55Speaker 03

  So we intentionally do it because we are those who fight injustice. And we systematically run these initiatives. For example, we for the year we run annual Aurora Tech Award, where we identify and award most outstanding female tech founders. This year, we got 3,400 applications from more than 100. It looks like we are going to get the largest female entrepreneurship contest in the world. And the idea that we should identify those of them

• 28:40Speaker 03

  who have realistic potential to impact lives of a number of peoples. So potential is now one of the main criteria. And we are supporting them, funding, networking, the expertise, the media, et cetera, to access to in drives users. For today, we have about 60 million active users. This is a very large asset. And we can effectively support them. And in the future, they can grow, they impact the world, their communities. So we use this again as an impact scale, you see? We supporting them and they will change.

• 29:24Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 29:24Speaker 03

  This is the main idea. It's like win, win, win.

• 29:28Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required. Compatibility and availability varies 18 plus.

• 29:53Marina Mogilko?

  Love it. Thank you for doing that.

• 29:55Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 29:56Marina Mogilko?

  Um, let's talk about AI. We can not not talk about AI in 2025. Talk to me about how you decide which parts of your company you're going to automate with AI and which parts stay human.

• 30:11Speaker 03

  Company, ground, yeah. And contrast with pure digital companies, we are not in such extent impacted by this technology. No, not not you, but yeah.

• 30:24Marina Mogilko?

  By their self-driving, we can talk about.

• 30:27Speaker 03

  Yeah. But today, we have to be AI native. Probably not AI first, but definitely we should be. That have to be AI native. And we use it in those things which is repetitive. For example, customer support or anti-fraud, very effective. Because AI can effectively see some repetitive patterns.

• 30:58Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 30:58Speaker 03

  Second, we use it to grow efficiency effectiveness of internal processes, reducing user churn or more effective advertising, faster internal processes, etc. Super effective too. And then we going and we started to use it for building AI native super app. And since the start, we intensively use AI in this. And we use the the fact that AI allows you to build highly personalized solution, highly personalized platform, super effective too. In the future, I hope we will use AI in this large-scale nonprofit, the Y Shady. For example, in Vision U, in this educational process.

• 31:46Speaker 03

  Regarding the AVs, we developed an internal strategy. And we saw, uh, we see that this technology will fully change the business. Not, but in developing countries, it will take more time. It will start to make some impact, I think, in seven, ten years.

• 32:05Marina Mogilko?

  Okay.

• 32:05Speaker 03

  And fully change it like in just twenty, thirty-five years. So we have some time and we decided not to rush. Yeah, because in this case, you can lose a lot of resources. And we are lean, we are super effective, capital effective team. Yeah, so but we should be ready. And we are going to make first AV in the tests, yeah, in pilot test in some cities. To get first experience and get first data.

• 32:34Marina Mogilko?

  So what do you think by twenty thirty-five, we will mostly be riding self-driven cars?

• 32:42Speaker 03

  In the US, experts are expecting by twenty fifty, twenty fifty, about half of rates will be done with AVs, just half, yeah.

• 32:52Marina Mogilko?

  So you say EV electric vehicles or robot taxis?

• 32:55Speaker 03

  Robot taxis.

• 32:56Marina Mogilko?

  Robot taxis, okay. Half the drives twenty fifty, do you think my kids are gonna learn how to drive? Or if they're six and four, or they wouldn't need that skill?

• 33:06Speaker 03

  I think you should give them choice to, fair choice.

• 33:10Marina Mogilko?

  But like, if everything is driving by itself, the, the choice is obvious, right? Then.

• 33:15Speaker 03

  But who knows, in, in, in some days, you probably will need this.

• 33:19Marina Mogilko?

  You still think, yeah, okay. What about if we're talking about twenty thirty-five, okay, half the fleet is robot taxis? Uh, what about the developers? What about the office workers? How, what it would look like for your company, for example?

• 33:33Speaker 03

  It's clear that this development, rapid development of AI will, uh, lead to massive elimination of jobs. Elon's people will lose their jobs.

• 33:44Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 33:44Speaker 03

  But it's very hard to predict what we will do with this, yeah. With, in, yeah, with this AI development, it's very hard to, to say what we will get in like more than two years, you know?

• 33:56Marina Mogilko?

  Even like couple of months, right? Things change very rapidly.

• 33:59Speaker 03

  So I hope we will find good solution for it. But what I know, that exactly, that the world needs not more. Uh for one more large tech company that is our soul. So the world needs the companies with purpose. In this case, people will not suffer too much. Because if this series of large tech companies who have extremely large impact on the world, they will have just dollars in their area. It's not good for people.

• 34:37Marina Mogilko?

  And any when like when you experience this, when you realize, okay, I have this person, but I also now have this AI tool that does it as efficiently as that person. What do you do as an entrepreneur?

• 34:49Speaker 03

  Uh not the social organization. Uh we use this not less materialistic idea, philosophy to pragmatically build very successful and large company, yeah? But if we have such idea of changing injustice, we never will create some injustice, yeah? For example, if we see that drivers are going to lose jobs, we will do our best to provide them with some new jobs, yeah? For example, we can make them like fleet owners.

• 35:20Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 35:20Speaker 03

  They will uh buy a car and send this car to make revenue for them, yeah? Or to retithe them on some new jobs, etc.

• 35:30Marina Mogilko?

  I hope a lot of entrepreneurs follow your way of thinking because I have no doubts in you, but like we also have the rest of the world.

• 35:38Speaker 03

  If we show that this less materialistic approach is effective companies who have less resources.

• 35:44Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 35:45Speaker 03

  To allow them, allow them effectively compete with these giant tech companies. I believe many companies repeat it. And by that time, we should develop some system and share it.

• 35:58Marina Mogilko?

  So when you look back at two thousand twenty five so far, what's been your biggest win and what's what was your hardest setback?

• 36:05Speaker 03

  First, we, uh, first time in like last seven years, we are going to become net profitable.

• 36:12Marina Mogilko?

  Oh, congratulations.

• 36:13Speaker 03

  This is a great achievement for us, important. And second, I think we started to go to new fields, we using this new super app.

• 36:22Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 36:23Speaker 03

  And first steps in fintech and food tech looks super good. And very excited and looking forward to next the stage of the company's story.

• 36:35Marina Mogilko?

  Uh huh.

• 36:36Speaker 03

  And we are going to build this super app under idea of reducing that interest again. And a lot of interest in many different fields. So we have a space for work like for tens of years of.

• 36:48Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 36:49Speaker 03

  Ahead, yeah. So, uh, if we talk about the main the challenge, probably this was we moved to new tech platform. Because we had the old outdated monolith tech platform. And it took three years for us to move. And it was super hard, by the way. And this year, it was last year when we did it. And it was, I think, the most challenging thing in this year.

• 37:14Marina Mogilko?

  Can you give advice for someone who's twenty years old, who's watching now? And who wants to learn either one mindset hack or lesson from you? If it's just one thing, what would it be?

• 37:27Speaker 03

  To become what I call developist. It's not existing work.

• 37:31Marina Mogilko?

  Developist?

• 37:32Speaker 03

  Developist, yeah. This means that you should nonstop develop yourself. And also develop what is important for you in in external environment. And do it on systematic base. For example, in your personal development, you have to set some goals each year, like five goals. And then systematically fulfill it.

• 37:54Marina Mogilko?

  Uh huh.

• 37:55Speaker 03

  And in just five years, you will fully change. It's so cool, by the way.

• 37:59Marina Mogilko?

  Hmm, five goals every year.

• 38:01Speaker 03

  Every year.

• 38:02Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 38:02Speaker 03

  And step by step, you you will fully change. In this case, you can build something large. Because it's very hard to develop a world if you underdevelop it yourself, yeah.

• 38:14Marina Mogilko?

  Uh huh.

• 38:14Speaker 03

  Clear, yeah. This is my main suggestion.

• 38:17Marina Mogilko?

  How long have you been doing this?

• 38:20Speaker 03

  Oh, I started to do it like last twenty years, I think, yeah.

• 38:23Marina Mogilko?

  What, can you share any goals for this year?

• 38:27Speaker 03

  I still continue to develop my communication skills. It's still been the weakest skill for me. For example, I'm here because this is one of ways, not just to share with people what I know, also to develop this my skill too.

• 38:43Speaker 03

  Or started to do new sports like weights.

• 38:47Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 38:47Speaker 03

  So, so, so, so the good sport.

• 38:50Marina Mogilko?

  It is powerful for me too. I just started this year and it's, it's a game changer. I can see my muscles now.

• 38:56Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 38:56Marina Mogilko?

  For a change, that's.

• 38:57Speaker 03

  Good for you, yeah.

• 38:58Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 38:59Speaker 03

  Congratulations.

• 39:00Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah, thank you. And maybe for someone who stutters, because you mentioned you know people who stutter and they decided to not have a family, not go out. For someone who stutters and who feels that this is their main insecurity, what would you say?

• 39:14Speaker 03

  I would say not just for people who stutter. Us have some internal weaknesses. And let's use it to become the strong. Turn your weakness, your strengths.

• 39:29Marina Mogilko?

  How? What do you do yourself?

• 39:31Speaker 03

  It's like to participate in running, the competition and win with some additional weights on your feet.

• 39:41Marina Mogilko?

  Yeah.

• 39:42Speaker 03

  And find way to win, not, not, not stop. Try and then you will win. In some day, in some things you will win. And then you will start to feel yourself more self-confident. And step by step, you can realize this is not weakness. It's some unique feature and it will give you a great internal motivation to do more, to achieve more and more. So this is my suggestion.

• 40:15Marina Mogilko?

  I love it. Small wins. Arson, thank you so much. It was such a powerful conversation.

• 40:19Speaker 03

  Thank you. Thank you so much to inviting me.

• 40:23Speaker 04

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• 40:51Marina Mogilko?

  Thank you.