Raising Pains Founder Panel (PitchRoom Tashkent)
Raising Pains is an invitation-only founder panel at Founders Hub in Tashkent, bringing together founders who have navigated accelerators, Seed fundraising, Series A growth and international expansion.
The conversation is designed for founders actively asking questions like:
Can I raise meaningful venture capital while staying in Tashkent?
Do I need to relocate to San Francisco, New York or London?
What actually makes an international investor take a Central Asian startup seriously?
When should I apply to a US accelerator?
What traction matters before beginning a Seed or Series A process?
Where should founders look locally before immediately looking abroad?
Uzbekistan's startup ecosystem is expanding quickly. Official figures reported $329 million of startup investment in 2025, more than five times the prior year's level, while new local and international venture funds continue entering the ecosystem. Uzbekistan also has government-backed venture infrastructure through UzVC, alongside IT Park Ventures and other local funds.
The opportunity is growing.
The fundraising playbook is still being written.
PitchRoom Tashkent is being built as a room where founders can write it together.
The Panel
The conversation will be moderated by: Amit Mohan
Founder & Principal · Asymmetric Ventures
He will be joined by a native panel of founders that are navigating various stages of the fundraising process:
Temur Kasimov
Founder, ttlk
A Tashkent founder with firsthand accelerator experience, including exposure to the San Francisco startup ecosystem.
Seed Stage Founder
To Be Announced
A local founder navigating early institutional capital, investor positioning and the transition from traction to a fundable Seed story.
Series A Founder
To Be Announced
A founder who can speak to the next stage: scaling traction, institutional diligence, investor expectations and building a company capable of attracting larger rounds.
Together, they will examine the strategic, financial and emotional realities behind the capital decisions founders make.
Questions We’ll Explore
Can you raise globally from Tashkent?
What changes when a founder is raising from Central Asia rather than Silicon Valley?
Do you actually need to move to the United States?
When does geography matter, when does it not, and when can an accelerator or temporary US presence create leverage without relocating the company?
What makes a company investable outside its home market?
Traction, market size, narrative, founder credibility, distribution and evidence that the company can scale beyond Uzbekistan.
When should you apply to an accelerator?
What accelerators actually provide, what founders should already have before applying and how to use the experience to access international investors.
Is there enough capital locally?
Uzbekistan now has government-backed and private venture infrastructure, including UzVC and IT Park Ventures, while international capital is becoming increasingly active in the ecosystem.
What changes from Seed to Series A?
The metrics, expectations, diligence requirements and narrative that become materially different as the round gets larger.
How do founders avoid wasting a fundraising process?
Who to approach, when to begin, what to prepare before outreach and how founders unintentionally destroy momentum.
Evening Schedule
4:00 to 4:30 PM
Private arrival, founder introductions and networking
4:30 to 4:35 PM
Opening remarks and introduction to PitchRoom Tashkent
4:35 to 5:20 PM
Raising Pains founder panel
5:20 to 5:35 PM
Audience Q&A
5:35 to 7:00 PM
Founder networking, investor conversations and curated introductions
This gathering is designed for:
Accelerator founders
Pre-Seed and Seed founders preparing to raise
Founders actively raising a Seed round
Series A founders
Founders evaluating US and international accelerators
Operators building venture-scale companies from Uzbekistan
Select investors and ecosystem partners
This is not intended to be a broad startup networking event.
Attendance will be curated around founders actively building, fundraising and scaling companies.
From New York to Tashkent
PitchRoom Tashkent builds on the private founder conversations we have been hosting in New York City through Asymmetric Ventures.
Our recent programming has brought venture-backed founders together for focused conversations around fundraising, growth, ownership and exits, including our private Exit Regrets founder panel and subsequent founder programming designed around the decisions that become increasingly important as companies scale.
That gathering followed our flagship New York Tech Week event, which assembled 345 startups representing more than $1.15 billion in venture backing, alongside venture investors, family offices and founders across multiple stages of growth.
The format is deliberately simple:
A serious topic.
Founders who have lived it.
A curated room.
Enough time afterward for the conversations that normally happen once the panel ends.
Tashkent is the next chapter.
Why PitchRoom Tashkent?
Uzbekistan is investing heavily in the infrastructure required to develop its startup and venture ecosystem. UzVC operates as a government-backed fund of funds under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, while IT Park Ventures and international venture initiatives are adding additional capital and connectivity to the market.
But ecosystems are not built by capital alone.
They are built when founders can sit in the same room and discuss:
What actually worked?
Who actually invested?
What did the accelerator change?
What would you do differently?
And how do we make the path easier for the next founder?
That is what PitchRoom Tashkent is intended to become.
A recurring private founder community around the conversations that matter while companies are actually being built.
Event Details
Saturday, October 17, 2026
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Founders Hub
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Hosted by Asymmetric Ventures + PitchRoom
Private invitation only.
Approval required.
Capacity intentionally limited.