Founder Interview: Jam Mirzakhalov, Monic.ai, LA30

Monic.ai is an education tool that uses AI to convert raw study materials into digestible content to help students prepare for exams. We had the chance to interview CEO, Jam Mirzakhalov to learn about how he scaled his MVP and tackled early challenges.

Learn about Monic.ai and why we invested here.

What is the problem you are solving?

Monic.ai makes studying for exams more interactive and effective for students. Users can create or join study spaces to share materials and receive feedback from an AI copilot, focusing on areas of strength and growth.

Why do you want to solve this problem? How did you come up with the idea?

There is no bigger and more important thing for a student than their grades. The hardest classes tend to have multiple exams throughout the semester that require weeks of preparation and practice. We wanted to address the most painful part of college by helping students feel more confident and ready for their exams.

How did you validate your idea?

To begin with, we were really close to the problem ourselves which helped with some early validation. However, the main validation came through posting on platforms like Reddit, where we actually acquired our first 100 paying customers.

Where did you meet your cofounder(s)?

All three of us have known each other since our college days when we became close friends and roommates. After college, each of us went into the industry to kick off our careers and instead ended up starting a business and spent another 7+ years together!

How did you acquire your first users/customers?

Reddit.

Tell us about a critical business decision you made in the last month.

We replaced our annual plan with a semesterly (6-month) plan to align ourselves with how our audience purchases study products.

As a founder, what is a lesson you wish you learned sooner?

User analytics. We set up systems for user analytics (i.e. understanding where users are coming from, what they are doing and how often they are using) a little too late. That should have been the first thing we did on day one. Having a bird’s eye view helps to make more objective and data-driven decisions for us as a company.

Tell us about your experience fundraising so far.

Fundraising as a first-time founder revealed the importance of addressing the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for venture-scale companies. Managing the waiting game with investors after initial calls was also a notable surprise.

What has been the most difficult part of your founder journey?

Your enthusiasm and persistence for the startup won't naturally spread throughout the company unless the effort is made.

What has been the most rewarding part of your founder journey?

Building products, getting emails from happy customers, and feeling like we could actually do this!