Meet the Visionaries Redefining Possibilities | Entrepreneur Stories

The times today are both befuddling and exciting, with entrepreneurs cooking up algorithms that make yesterday's sci-fi look like yesterday's news. Let's meet these digital pioneers who are crazy enough to think they can change the world and just smart enough to actually do it.

Okay, so just as a start, state your name, title, and company name for the camera.

This is for our editors, so you can just begin that way.

Straight from the progressive and ever-evolving streets of Kazakhstan, Portogos Zuman and her team are revolutionizing education with Teen Tech Aid. This trailblazing business is equipping Kazakhstani students with the tools they need to chase their dreams of studying abroad.

International education, it helps to create peace actually, because you travel somewhere, some other country, and see actually they are the same people. They, they share the same needs. They, they also have the same emotions, same life. And we, we want to have a bigger goal of creating this kind of movement that will make this world a better place and do it by our AI consultant. My name is Batagoz Juman. I'm CEO and co-founder of Tintakat company. I'm from Kazakhstan and I'm excited to be today with Meet the Drapers show. My name is Tatiana Patapkina. I'm also a co-founder of Tintakat company. I'm from Russia. And I'm happy to be here with my team. I grew up in a middle-income family. For all my life, I wanted to see how people live in other countries, in, in the different parts of the world, and to see it through education was the most possible way for me to explore actually the world. So for me, I didn't have at that time the possibility to study, to pay for my education. So I searched for scholarships, for organizations that can cover the cost of studying. And for bachelor's, master's, I studied it with the scholarship. That's why my goal is to help these students that doesn't have much funding, doesn't have an opportunity to study with their own funds, to find them scholarships, to find them programs that can support them, as well as to help the children in villages, in rural areas, to also gain this level of confidence and level of qualification to study abroad. So this is how I I think end up doing what we do now.

From navigating university applications to unlocking scholarship opportunities and securing global internships, Teen TechAid is turning aspirations into reality.

We already work in the market for some time, and we gathered the database of universities. We did help interns to find the companies. We standardized it, built already a cash flow company that is cash positive. And after that, we thought, why not to provide opportunity for people with lower income also to get this kind of service and make it easier? That's how we thought of the technology that will help them with selection of the right program and make it like 3 times cheaper. A lot of families come to us from the middle class, from the lower class. They want to also see how people live outside. It's not only about studying abroad, it's also about connecting people. This AI consultant, we call her Tina. She consults with the students how to select the proper program, internship, and also on the other end, it helps companies and universities to select the candidate based on cognitive skills. So it's not only hard skills, it's also soft skills and how it is combined in the person so it can be perfectly matched to your university or your company. So that's how we try to create a history in the process of admission and recruitment.

By nurturing a culture of international learning, they're not just guiding students, they're shaping Kazakhstan's future, one ambitious mind at a time.

If you win this million dollars from Tim Draper, what will that mean to you?

It means— it will mean for us a world. Because from this moment, since we became cash positive, we supported our startup by ourselves. That's the great proof of the fact that we believed in our idea. Just to mention that we don't do only the AI platform, we also do educational games for children. The last one we released called Droppy. It's about saving water, filtrating water, desalinating water. And we also do social projects. We help single moms, we help children in rural areas and students to organize workshops for free. And we as a company, while winning $1 million from Tim Draper, can really do a change in the society, in the way how they see women working and having a family, how they combine that and do it in balance, as well as support children in rural areas to help them to study abroad and do really useful technologies in education. This is how we see it. It will really mean the world for us. It will really change how things are. I believe it can change it. And as like a few really females in startup area, especially in Kazakhstan and CIS, I think it will also show other women that they can do anything they want. Really, they can be anything they want as long as they believe in themselves, as people allow them to, like, don't treat them only as someone who should stay at home, be a mom or be a wife, but they can also work. They can also be useful for society and do it in balance.

Okay, so first, could you guys introduce yourselves and your company? Just kind of for the— it's for the edit.

Born from the vibrant pulse of Brazil, José and Marcelo Hubinger step into the spotlight, who are embarking on a groundbreaking quest to redefine possibilities.

We understand that from our age, this was a taboo a long time ago. We don't see people with disabilities, and now it's coming much more. We had a close friend that created the idea of the solution that we are doing today, and from that on, we started to see people with disabilities. We started working together and visiting more companies, the schools, and also rehabilitation centers, and we learned a lot on this.

My name is José Rubinger, and I'm the CEO of Key2Enable Assistive Technology.

I'm Marcelo Rubinger. I'm the CSO of Key2Enable Technology. As you can see, we are brothers.

So I am electronics engineer. And I used to sell equipment, computer technology, during a long time back. And suddenly it came to my knowledge, the possibility to teach children with disabilities music and other kind of things that could change, you know, their lives. And that was right, actually, Super close to my heart. And at that time, I invited my brother to start working with me in this mission. And of course, many things changed, but we started by teaching children music. And this was really an awesome thing to see how they were progressing, they were learning.

As I'm a mechanical engineer, when he invited me I was working in big companies in Brazil at that time, but the passion on what we were doing, it was bigger. I just left my job and we started together, being together for the past 5 years, 10 years that we are thinking on people with disabilities and solutions and everything.

This trailblazing company is redefining accessibility through groundbreaking assistive Technology, giving individuals with disabilities the power to live more independently. With cutting-edge hardware and intuitive software, they're opening new doors, from adaptive keyboards to advanced communication tools, making everyday tasks easier and more inclusive.

Yeah, it started actually with this man that he was a person that we met during this, the times that we went to the schools to teach the kids music. And he was born with cerebral palsy, so he could not speak, he could not communicate. But we could understand that he was trying to create something completely different that was about to change the way that people like him could access technology. And as technology guys that we are, we understood that if we try to help him, we would also help many other kids, many other children, many other students and people with disabilities that, as we know, sometimes they do not have the chance, they do not have the possibility to be there together with other kids inside their schools. So it started with a dream of someone who was already experiencing a disability and at the same time wanted to stimulate the brain using technology.

By dismantling obstacles and pioneering innovation, Key2Enable is forging a future where every individual, no matter their ability, can flourish and fulfill their potential.

What it means, you know, not just financially, but any other sort of the way that it would move your business to win this million-dollar prize investment in your company from Tim Draper.

We understand that collaborations and partnerships, mainly strategic partnerships are, you know, the core for a company to grow and to scale. And we have been bootstrapping, we have been doing a great job actually, because the team is young, the team is small. And having our family together with Draper's family, I'm sure it would be the perfect match. Of course, The money is there to scale, to grow, to, uh, to, to make it happen. Because at the end, if you want to scale fast, if you want to grow fast, you need the investment. And, uh, the, the Drapers family is a very well-known VC family from Silicon Valley. We have been there. Uh, we are part of Singularity University that is also from Silicon Valley. So I think that the way that we can make this happen, it's exactly what we need right now. It would be awesome to join forces with the Drapers family together with our family here.

We are very excited, not nervous at all, but no, I'm kidding. I'm a little nervous, but we are super excited to meet Tim especially.

I'm very nervous. We will meet Tim, Tim Draper.

He will be with us.

It will be a pleasure. Then I understand that being shown, it makes a big difference. Because there are places that I visited, we show what we have, and people say, hey, why you didn't show me this before? Yes, I didn't show before because it's my first time that I'm coming to this country. But I understand that we have to show this globally. Because we have a great product, we have a chance to reach many other countries, many other rehabilitation centers, schools that are needing solutions like that. So being on TV, being with the Drapers, I think that it will be the most, the best way of showing what we're doing. Show them what we have.

And we do have a solution that changes lives. We know that there are a lot of solutions out there, but we see it every day. Every time our solution is implemented in a school setting or at home, we see the change. So this is one of the things. And one thing that I wanted to say is that we know that Mr. Draper, because he told us that he lost, he missed The opportunity to invest in LinkedIn, in Google, in Netflix, and do not miss the opportunity to, to invest in us because we are at the right time, at the right moment in this industry and in this subject.

So let's start out with an introduction where you just tell us your name, your company's name, and sort of an elevator pitch as to what your company does.

Chicago's brilliant minds include Tamika Vanterflin, who is changing the look of personal safety with Aegis.

Yes, exactly. Yeah, you know, it was great. Love my siblings. Growing up with them, we definitely had our own football, soccer, basketball team. There was, you know, No shortage of playing sports and I guess beating each other up in the backyard. But unfortunately, my adoptive parents adopted for the financial and economical gain you get with adopting children. So we grew up in a very abusive environment. You know, if you look up abuse in the dictionary, all the above we experienced. So although it was great, you know, with the siblings, it was still, you know, unfortunate. 18 of us were adopted, 20 total, kind of come from all over. I have like A sister from Vietnam, 2 sisters from Korea, 1 sister from Africa, 4 sisters from Haiti, and then the rest were from the US, just from different states. I'm Tamika Van Tifflin, and I'm the founder and CEO of Aegis. Aegis is a personal safety mobile application that modernizes the way we interact with 911. So it's equipped to handle any crisis situation you or someone may face, whether that's domestic violence, an active school shooter, Car accident, human trafficking, all the way to a medical emergency, or someone that there's a language barrier issue. There'll be no verbal communication required. Yeah, so Aegis was born out of tragedy. I have a twin sister who has suffered from seizures most of her life. On a walk home, she had a seizure and she woke up to the horrors of a sexual assault. And due to her inability to speak, she wasn't able to get the help she truly deserved. And on the other side of that, because she wasn't able to articulate what had happened, she wasn't able to explain who I was to them. So being that it's my sister and I'm her, you know, emergency contact, she wasn't able to let them know. And it was like over 24 hours before I found out what happened. And I kind of went into a downward spiral of how can I— is there a solution out there to prevent this from happening again? I have 20 brothers and sisters and everyone knows come to me to like protect them and save them. And being that this was my sister and I couldn't save her, it really messed with me. So then I came up with Aegis because I couldn't find a solution out there.

This game-changing mobile app puts security at your fingertips, offering instant 2-tap access to emergency services. In critical moments, it automatically shares your details, ensuring first responders Have everything they need, even if you can't speak.

Yeah, I knew— I guess growing up I've always been the outspoken sibling, you know, especially when it came with seeing the abuse firsthand or not trying to, um, or just trying to like see the good in everything. So very outspoken. I didn't understand what entrepreneurship was until much later in my life, but I knew I Didn't want to work for anyone, if that makes sense. And then the other part to that, to kind of answer your question, um, growing up being told that you're worthless, you're not gonna amount to anything, you're— I don't like using this word, but retarded. Do not like that word. And amongst other things, just kind of having that drilled into you, it was a while before I understood like what self-confidence was and what it felt like being worthy. And, you know, growing up in that environment and kind of getting a glimpse of that when I did enter beauty pageants when I think I was like 20 years old, I was like, wait, I can do something with my life. I really can get out there. Like, my— the product— I don't have to be a product of my environment. I don't have to, um, you know, I guess be the words that she told me growing up. So I don't know if that really answers your question on how I stepped into entrepreneurship, but it was kind of I knew I've always wanted to help people, and I never wanted people to feel, you know, sad or bad about themselves because everyone's unique in their own way. And I don't know if my journey of being an entrepreneur, young people can see, you know, that I came out of the environment and didn't, you know, become a product of it. I don't know.

But the main, like, the main question is like, what would it mean There's 2, but what would it mean for you to work with Tim Draper at this point?

Oh, okay, sure.

Okay.

Are you asking me? Oh, I thought you were explaining the question. Sorry. What would it mean? It would mean everything. Having someone like Tim, you know, validate what I'm working on and really like highlighting that personal safety and public safety is, you know, something that's relevant and needs to be modernized and changed. So everyone, you know, can get the help they truly deserve. Whether, you know, it is English isn't your first language and you're unable to articulate what's going on, or you're in a domestic violence situation and you can't speak. You know, there's everything in between. But to have Tim really back this, this would— it'd be amazing. It'd be incredible. And, you know, he's a goofy guy, so why not have someone, you know, just as goofy as I am, just team up and really push this out there? Goofy in a good way, though.

With Aegis, getting help is faster, smarter, and more accessible, making personal safety not just a priority but a guarantee.

Getting $1 million would mean everything. It, one, helps us, one, get the app out there, but also, you know, building that technical team. You know, although I don't have that technical background and I'm slowly learning, you know, I know Raul is working so hard to, you know, Create the app as well as like get the backend integration into the monitoring company, and he's doing that by himself. So it'd just be amazing to be able to help bring on more team members to really just help push the app along and get out there. And then of course, it's like you know advertise, promote, and I want to really share people's stories. You know what they've gone through because my sister isn't the only one. You know, and just along this journey hearing everyone's. Story of how Aegis would be beneficial. It would just be awesome to kind of just build a community around that. And with that million dollars, aside from, you know, getting it out there, getting the app developed and working on those partnerships, bringing the human side of Aegis out. Because ultimately I'm trying to save lives. I really want to make the world a better place. I really want to see Aegis through with regards to Having the opportunity to save victims like my sister that have gone through those situations. But other than that, it's safeguarding yourself and your loved ones is more than just a responsibility. It's an act of love and protection.

Okay, so we'll start with if you guys could just introduce yourselves, like your full name, the company name, and then like an elevator pitch, you know, like just a couple sentences that talk about what your company is about.

From the pioneering tech hubs of London, Peter Salontai and Misha Lalyn are redefining the future of software creation with Lazy AI.

Well, we were sitting in New York, I remember, about 11 months ago, uh, and, and playing with AutoGPT, BabyAGI, all those little things. And it was just, uh, just a moment that, that we started talking about, okay, what if we could actually make something useful on the same, same idea where, where AI will actually make the software for you, will deploy it and everything so you can people can take their ideas and just, just type them in and they will become alive. You know, that was, that was the, the moment.

Hi, my name is Peter Salentai and I'm the CEO of Lazy AI. Lazy AI is a platform for people to develop software using natural language.

Hi, uh, I'm Michel Allen. I'm a co-founder at Lazy.

I think part of this experience that's been particularly cool with Lazy and AI in general is it's really broadening the possibilities of what a single human can do. In other words, you suddenly get access to all of these skills that were compartmentalized in parts of society, whether that's drawing something or creating video or writing code, whatever it may be. And, and you can stitch them together in novel ways that maybe other people didn't think. And that leads to a lot of opportunity, but primarily it leads to an immense amount of space to be creative.

This AI-powered platform takes the complexity out of coding, letting users, whether seasoned developers or complete beginners, build everything from sleek web interfaces to advanced AI agents Yeah, we've been doing Lazy for about 12 months now, I think.

Plus, yeah.

Honestly, it started with us. It's interesting how life is, right? Sometimes it starts way before and you don't even know how to connect the dots exactly. But I was working on some of the technology that went into ChatGPT. As far back as 2015. And so as we were playing around with some of this new software that was coming out, and it was quite exciting, I think, for, for everyone in the software industry, we just kind of felt like there was an opportunity to push it further, further into particularly allowing us to not just ask ChatGPT to spit out code and then having to then take it somewhere else and plug it back in, but creating this platform around it that you could ask it to build software for you and it would work and you could just press a button and run that application and see an actual real piece of software that you created as a result of that conversation. So for me, it was a relatively large, long journey, that led to a moment of inspiration primarily sparked by ChatGPT?

I've been doing games for the last 12 years of my life, probably even more than that. And every day people would come to me and say, okay, I have this game idea, what do I do next? I say, well, you have to develop a prototype. How do I develop a prototype? Well, you have to have You have to get somebody to write the code, you have to get somebody to make the art, and so on and so forth. And that would often stop people right there, right in their tracks, because they would start calculating all those thousands of dollars that need to be spent. Now they can just come into the tool and they, they can type whatever they want, and they can actually create a game, their prototype, and see if it's useful. And I think that's amazing. I mean, it opens up opportunities for people that have ideas Everybody has ideas, pretty much everyone. They come with different sort of ideas, but when it comes to writing software and making it happen, it's difficult. Software is complicated no matter how you, how much you apply AI to it or any sort of assistance. But if you can express your ideas and say, here's what I want to build, do it iteratively, get to a product that you're actually happy with, I think that that's just absolutely mind-boggling opportunity for the world.

So what would it mean for me to have the opportunity with Tim? Ultimately, I think everything I've learned to date in business, in my experience, has made me really believe the phrase, your network is your net worth. I think of myself still as very young and inexperienced. Partly because all of these failures that I've had in my life where I made all the mistakes that everyone told me not to make, and then I didn't pay strong enough attention. So I'm trying to avoid that this time around. I get really excited about people like Tim who have seen so much, and therefore developing a relationship with them and Having the opportunity to soak some of that knowledge in is, I think, the coolest part about it.

Tim is somebody who looks at the world, at the world's biggest problems, and thinks long-term. We're trying to tackle a really big, big problem, right? So it's really exciting to talk to somebody who understands it.

By streamlining the Lazy AI is tearing down barriers and empowering visionaries to bring their boldest ideas to life. The future of software creation has never been this seamless.

So what would a million bucks do for us right now? I think it would do like an extra 12 months for sure for the business. But more than the sum, it's the impact. I think what we need is alignment around the problem and a message out to the world that we are here to support the community that we have long-term in, in building their ideas out, right? So if this show goes well for us, I believe that a lot more people will join this mission that we have. A lot more people will create more software. A lot more investors will give us more money to do what we do. And ultimately that will lead to humongous impact down the road of apps that were built on top of Lazy AI's platform actually delivering value to society. So the The sum itself may be not inconsequential, but the spark is what leads to eventually the fire growing.

We'll probably spend this money on promoting things that our community builds. Yeah, so that's very exciting because, because that just fuels the fire that we have.

We won.

How are you guys feeling?

Well, it's always nice to win, right?

Yeah.