CEO of Software development company «Brand.uz» in Uzbekistan. Founder of the first Startup accelerator «Startup Factory» in Uzbekistan. Founder of conference «StartupMIX». Professional mentor and coach. Founder of innovative IT program «Ginza».

Ben dropped out from Harvard University to accept an inaugural Thiel Fellowship - a $100,000 grant awarded to the top 20 entrepreneurs under the age of 20 by the billionaire founder of «PayPal» Peter Thiel. During and after the fellowship, he co-founded two startups: «Sprayable», which produced the world’s first topical energy and sleep sprays, and «Stream», which raised over $20 million to help make content creation more profitable for creators, and is advised by Steve Chen, the co-founder of YouTube, and Justin Kan, the founder of Twitch. In his personal life, he is known for various antics such as having lived in an RV for over 4 years to save money, buying a private island with several friends in Canada, traveling all around the world for free and using various life hacks to get hundreds of thousands of dollars in free bitcoins and a free car. Some of his adventures have been seen over 50 million times on Facebook.

Botir graduated from the Tashkent State Technical University (TASHSTU), specializing in financial management. He earned his master's degree from the Redding University (Great Britain) in the field of "International Finance and Economics". The founder of the payment system "Paynet"; online-shop "Lebazar.uz" and "Technobiz" company, that realized a number of projects on automation of large billing and payment systems in Tajikistan, Egypt, United Arab Emirates.

Founder and CEO of «Adian» (formerly «Project Lever»), where she leads a research network allowing corporate researchers connect with top academics to develop their product faster. «Adian» started as an international network of elite universities to engage students in scientific research and connect them to faculty members. Her latest work is about tech transfer with universities: she explores how new technology, which just got invented at a university, actually gets to market.

Audience engagement manager at «CALmatters». Eischen comes from Sleepy Hollow, Illinois. He is a 2012 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. Previously he worked in Washington, D.C., as a social media editor at «POLITICO», where he strategized digital promotion efforts during the tumultuous 2016 election and the first year of the Trump’s administration. In his spare time, Trevor enjoys drinking beer, touring the nation’s state capitol buildings and being a dual citizen of Luxembourg.

A well-known Kazakhstani media expert, producer and media trainer. Directed significant television and online projects. Developed and conducted more than 200 trainings on journalism and work with the media. Currently, he is the director of the representative office of the international organization "Internews" in Kazakhstan.

Founder of the Steppe

Sherali has extensive experience in launching successful (and not very) projects / start-ups / companies: from serious research companies to radio stations. Successful ones brought profits, the rest brought experience. Insists that a successful person should constantly increase knowledge and skills. At the same time, he is quite skeptical about the newfangled information business, when medium (and not very) level specialists (re) tell simplified versions of books / articles / cases and ask money for it. He is ready to share my knowledge and skills, so he launched the ""Wanted: Marketing specialist"" project, which provides basic knowledge about marketing, marketing communications and management in a simple and accessible form. Not a "69 ways to quickly run the business up and sell it for a million".

The head of the AIR office in Kazakhstan (the official YouTube worldwide partner). "YouTube is pure creativity. Creative people are an integral part of my job. Therefore, as for me, I consider Go Viral to be a perfect combination of business and pleasure. And you must be there too!"

Leading projects in Central Asia and Eastern Europe working with vloggers, civil society organisations and media outlets to promote positive social change through communications. Alongside her work at ZINC she’s completing a PhD in Media Arts at the University of London investigating different methods of co-creating content with displaced communities. Her work has been published by academic journals and media outlets including the New Statesman and the Guardian. She also spent several years working and volunteering in community development in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Representative of the SXSW music, film and interactive festivals (see www.sxsw.com) and SXSW EDU (www.sxswedu.com) in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He first worked for SXSW between 1990 and 1994 and then re-joined the company in 2006. From 1995-2000, Mirko was based in Hong Kong as the regional director for Asia-Pacific for the Reed MIDEM Organisation, and held similar positions in Paris (1994) and in New York (2000-2001). Between 2001 and 2005 he worked as a consultant for international entertainment events in South Korea, Singapore and Monte Carlo. Prior to 1994, he was based in Berlin where he also worked in the music industry (A&R, management and touring) with artists such as Paul van Dyk, PJ Harvey, and Ultravox. From 1982 to 1987 he worked as a research scientist in the Free University of Berlin, initially at the Institute of Embryology and Pharmacology and then in the Department of Neurobiology.

Author of “There was no Adderall in the Soviet Union”. Olga was born in Kazakhstan, repatriated to Germany, and is currently residing in Cambridge, MA where she is pursuing her PhD at Harvard University.