Early in his career, Dzhangar traveled from Moscow to the US, Singapore, and much of Europe for his job, Then he relocated to Germany to take over a region for his corporate job, with his wife and two daughters. That is when everything changed for him. Building a social circle on his own wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard. Creating a social circle with a family while adjusting to school, work, languages, and experiences were tough. That is why he founded MatchFamilies, to give all types of families the opportunity to match with like-minded people and build their social circles in their new cities and countries. Check out this episode to learn more about Dzhangar’s story and how he and his company are solving this problem globally. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
Early in his career, Dzhangar traveled from Moscow to the US, Singapore, and much of Europe for his job, Then he relocated to Germany to take over a region for his corporate job, with his wife and two daughters. That is when everything changed for him. Building a social circle on his own wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard. Creating a social circle with a family while adjusting to school, work, languages, and experiences were tough. That is why he founded MatchFamilies, to give all types of families the opportunity to match with like-minded people and build their social circles in their new cities and countries.
Connect with Dzhangar:
Connect with Rob:
Special offer for #BearNation listeners who are interested in trying Brilliantly Warm, use this 10% off discount code WELCOME10.
We have teamed up with Phin, a social impact marketing firm, to give back for each episode. To learn more, visit
INTRO
00;00;01;00 - 00;00;45;16
Rob Napoli
Bear Nation, how we doing, this is your host Rob Napoli. And this week's episode is with my friend Dzhangar Sanzhiev. He and I met in New York City for the start of the DC accelerator program and I instantly kind of connected with him. One of our first conversations was very direct, very intense, and ever since, we just kind of stayed in touch that the program and going back and forth and I'm really glad to have him on the pod and talk about his company and less about his company, more about how he got into entrepreneurship and his advice for his younger self.
00;00;45;29 - 00;01;15;18
Rob Napoli
So before he founded his company, Match Families, Dzhangar had been focusing on growing better leaders with an international HR consulting environment. As a general manager. As a sales leader, had spent time entirely in the U.S., managed the team in and in Russia, and then took over the team in Germany, doing a lot and the corporate space and then kind of left the corporate world just to be a founder or be an entrepreneur or something he wanted to do from a young age.
00;01;16;04 - 00;01;36;23
Rob Napoli
And it came from a very real place of being married and having, you know, having two young daughters. When he moved to Germany was the first time he moved his family. I talked a little bit about that, the challenges that that posed, how a solution came about, and then, you know, share some of the things that lessons he's learned along the way.
00;01;37;03 - 00;02;04;12
Rob Napoli
And I think it's really interesting, you know, as we go through a lot of these kind of conversations, we realized that people in the public eye, they see the success of entrepreneurs more often than not because that's, you know, great stories, storylines. But there's an iceberg below right below the iceberg where there's a lot of struggles and troubles and hard work and really having to get outside of your comfort zone every day.
00;02;04;21 - 00;02;25;13
Rob Napoli
And Dzhangar talks a lot about that. So I'm really excited this episode. Take a listen. If you like it, make sure to like it. Rate it five stars. Leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. It means the world to me. Appreciate ya'll Bear Nation. Rise up.
MAIN VIDEO
But yeah, I mean, I was actually reading an article yesterday on The Atlantic.
00;02;25;13 - 00;02;47;20
Rob Napoli
It was called The Misgivings of Friend Making, and it was like the notification was like it seems harder to make friends as an adult. You're not imagining things. It is scientifically proven that it's harder to make friends an adult for a number of different reasons. And I was like, I need to talk to Dzhangar about this because this is like, exactly.
00;02;48;02 - 00;02;49;02
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
That's my topic.
00;02;49;03 - 00;03;22;04
Rob Napoli
Marin But it was really interesting. And of course the article to think about why, like literally why this is so hard and like how to go about doing it. And it's even harder now in a post-COVID world where we spent two years isolating at home, we lost a bit of our social skills. Like if you watch, you know, it doesn't matter where you are in the world, like you watch a sporting event and you're like, man, everyone's a little bit more hyped up, a little bit more, you know, in an aggressive mood.
00;03;23;13 - 00;03;42;06
Rob Napoli
You know, they forgot about cues and what it's like to wait in line. So everything kind of takes a while, right? So I know. And I thought it'd be kind of fun to share that article with you, as you know, as it relates to something that you're trying to to solve in match family. So yeah.
00;03;42;06 - 00;03;44;09
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Absolutely. So in my way, yeah.
00;03;44;09 - 00;04;14;15
Rob Napoli
I mean, well, before we get into kind of what, you know, what you're doing with match families, you know, your background is very unique. You spent, you know, a decade, decade plus in kind of front office, H.R. a crossed, you know, international companies and you've had to travel for work. You've moved a couple of times. In fact, you originally grew up in Russia, then moved over to Germany.
00;04;14;16 - 00;04;32;09
Rob Napoli
Talk a little about how that happened. You know, how you came over from Russia to Germany, why you set out there, how your corporate life pre entrepreneur Vanguard really set the stage for what you're doing now as an entrepreneur.
00;04;32;29 - 00;05;00;18
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah, that. Thanks, Rob. Yeah, well my my my way to Germany was rather how to say standard. So I used to work in an international company quite successfully and I was general manager of that company back in Moscow. And then they offered me a job because I was a successful manager. They offered me a job in Germany because that's international company with the offices all around the world.
00;05;01;02 - 00;05;27;25
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
And yeah, so this is how I came to Germany and are located within same company but with my family. So that was six years ago and that sense, it was quite a smooth transition. So I already had some international experience. I believe, and worked in Thailand before that in the U.S. as well. So it was something that is not completely new, but that was the first time when I moved somewhere with my family and already was kids.
00;05;27;28 - 00;05;29;13
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
You know, I have two daughters.
00;05;30;10 - 00;05;56;21
Rob Napoli
Yeah. So, you know, you lived in Thailand, you lived in the U.S. before for work and stuff that was pretty kid life when you when you're looking at countries and they said, hey, Germany, did you know German like, why were you tapped on the shoulder to go to Germany? And how easy was it to adapt to a new country, new culture with a young family?
00;05;56;21 - 00;05;59;11
Rob Napoli
Like what kind of walk me through that experience a little bit.
00;05;59;12 - 00;06;24;01
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah, that was perhaps so far the biggest change in our life as a family is we moved from one country to another completely. You know, kids had to go to kindergarten and to school in a new country, you know, speaking a new language, German language. They could not speak German before we moved, so they had to learn it already, like in practice, already being in kindergarten and in school.
00;06;24;01 - 00;06;43;02
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Of course, for them it was like, Oh my God, everybody's speaking different language. We don't understand anything. So that was not easy at all. That was a very difficult, you know, path for the kids, for sure. But kids, you know, adapted very quickly. So I took my elder daughter like half a year perhaps to figure out what's going on.
00;06;43;02 - 00;07;04;21
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
And after that, she started speaking German quite well. And now she is absolutely fluent like any other girl at school. And same for that from the younger ones. She was only two and a half years old when we came here and she couldn't even speak Russian that well. So so for her, it was it was rather a rather easy, different for us.
00;07;05;02 - 00;07;22;09
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
It was adults. It's, of course, also challenge to language. My wife couldn't speak German, so she had to learn it from scratch. I could speak German before because I used to learn it at school, a high school also, and I used to travel a lot to Germany before, worked already here like, you know, business trips and so forth.
00;07;22;20 - 00;07;46;01
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So for me it was perhaps easier than for anyone else in my family. And yeah, I adapted quickly because I already had an international background. So my wife, who's a doctor, it was more difficult because there is a different system, you know, medical system. You have to complete lots of steps to be able to be able to start working as a doctor, learn the language, pass all of the exam.
00;07;46;06 - 00;08;15;14
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So that was a long journey, but now everything is good. She is official doctor in Germany, so she she works here as a, you know, like a therapeutic therapy. Yeah. So but it took a lot of time, but also, of course, one of the biggest challenges when you move to another country is that you realize that your family so you leave your friends and family members in your home country.
00;08;15;20 - 00;08;33;24
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So you're absolutely new when you're almost No. One in Germany. So we had to build our social circle from scratch completely. And I found this a very challenging thing to do. Like what you said, for us adults, it's absolutely not easy to make friends and make meaningful connections.
00;08;34;19 - 00;08;58;24
Rob Napoli
Yeah, well, you know, I love to hear that because one, like kids are some of the most adaptable ever. Like when they move at a young age, they can pick things up really quick, way more than adults, because we're conditioned a different way as we get older. Yeah. So I'm glad they're able to transition and I can only imagine what it was like for your wife as a doctor, not on the language to have to learn the language, then take and pass all exams in said language.
00;08;58;24 - 00;09;20;26
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And then, you know, you have a bedside manner, right. You have to learn how to, you know, doing therapy, how to like talk them through or get over their fear. And like when you don't have a mastery of a language that's hard to do and be able to like have that two way conversation and then you layer on the fact that you moved here for work for you.
00;09;20;26 - 00;09;47;16
Rob Napoli
You can make some work friends or some work colleagues and have some sort of social relationship, but I can only imagine, especially for you as a family and your wife, like not knowing where to turn, not having anybody there. Did you I mean, did you all tap into Russians in Germany? Like, did you find some other expats? Like, how did you kind of overcome that early challenge of like creating a social circle?
00;09;47;17 - 00;10;17;09
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah, great question, Rob. That was different. I mean, what you said in the beginning is that for kids, it's easier to make friends. They can make friends immediately, like within a few minutes, right? Like let's go and play together. Oh, I like playing with her or him. Oh, it's cool. We are now friends. Let's play more. Right. And then like you, you're meeting regularly and we are like automatically we are within this kind of a system of kids making friends and then they, they would say, Hey, Pappa, Mamma, we want, I want to hang out with this girl.
00;10;17;16 - 00;10;40;11
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Can we meet as a family? And, you know, so that we spend time together because obviously they cannot go on their own anywhere, right? So and you're kind of automatically with them like they made friends and they would say, we want to play and then we would meet these other families and maybe become friends. But it's, it's it's very tricky because it's like the kids connected us.
00;10;40;23 - 00;11;10;20
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
But was it time you realize that while maybe not all of them are a great match to us because, you know, they live their own lives, you Germans, for example, you know, maybe for them it's more challenging to make connections with foreigners who don't speak the language that well for us is of course a benefit to practice German but we we've made a number of connections through kids like mostly through kids actually with Germans and Russian speakers with, you know, different people, international people.
00;11;11;19 - 00;11;35;12
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Of course, it's perhaps a little easier to make meaningful or deeper connections with your compatriots or people who speak the same language. You can understand them better and or quicker who they are and figure out whether you want to build a friendship with them versus was Germans is a bit more as you know, it's a mentality. They're more closed off.
00;11;35;23 - 00;11;56;16
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So it takes a lot of time to break the ice and to, you know, get into their circle of friends and get their trust. But once you break this, once you're in, and once they accept them into their circle, it will be you'll become great friends. Everyone would say, like if you are were able to make a friend with a German, that will be your forever friend.
00;11;56;16 - 00;12;18;01
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
You know, lifelong friends. They know how to they have very honest in their feelings and what they're saying this is which is what's what I like in Germany that people are very honest and direct. And this is what I appreciate. Not everyone is like that. Many people complain that in Germany it's very hard to make friends, especially with the Germans.
00;12;19;16 - 00;12;43;13
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah, but it's not. I think. But it's a challenge for millions of people. And as you might have heard, most people who are international, when they move, they hang out with other internationals and rarely with locals because they think it's more difficult. You know, why would I spend time to build a connection with them so it's easier to make same connections with those who are like in the same situation.
00;12;43;13 - 00;12;45;21
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
They're also new here and so forth. Yeah.
00;12;46;02 - 00;13;14;01
Rob Napoli
Well, yeah. I mean, you had those shared experiences, right? And I think, you know, making friendships is really around shared experiences, right? And that could be moving to a new country that can be, you know, over sports. Right. That can be over a lot of things. You know, as you and I have talked about in the past, for my listeners who don't know, Dzhangar and I met through startup VC Accelerator here in New York City.
00;13;14;01 - 00;13;37;10
Rob Napoli
So he was in New York for three months. So you had a lot of time to to chat at the office together. And we've had a lot of long conversations about my experience living abroad and that connection. So I think that, you know, there's kind of two sides, right? I think I drew naturally to the international community because I went to school because I was doing for school sort of work.
00;13;37;21 - 00;14;05;00
Rob Napoli
But I also made sure that, you know, I coached professional American football sides, meeting a lot of local Italians, and I got really ingrained in the local. And I always try to balance like my international crew with like my local crew. Right. And you could tell is very different because they would not interact well because like, you know, the international crew would go to those very specific kind of places in the bars and clubs experiences you want as an international when you're in the city for a year versus like, you know, the locals that have been there since they were kids and they do things a little differently.
00;14;05;00 - 00;14;26;05
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And you know, this experience that you had led you to the company that you're the CEO and founder of called Match Families. Right. And obviously your story of Germany and what you went through ties in to this but you know what's well is that you know I know it's probably not like an overnight thing but what was the turning point?
00;14;26;05 - 00;14;47;14
Rob Napoli
That's like I'm going to leave a big fucking corporate job that relocated me to Germany, paid me well to start a business from scratch while my wife is still like studying for her, her certification so she can't even work right now. I have two daughters in Moscow. What made you say, you know what, now is the time like let's make the jump.
00;14;47;14 - 00;14;57;12
Rob Napoli
What was kind of that? Was there specific moments? Was there in advance? Or was it like just the whole experience of relocating to Germany with the family for the first time?
00;14;57;19 - 00;15;16;02
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah, I think it's a combination of various factors, including that one that you mentioned. It was my wife. I mean, in 2020 she started working officially as a doctor. So it was like less of a financial pressure. Then the corona came. We all had time to think, you know, what do we want to do with our lives, right?
00;15;16;06 - 00;15;40;28
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Like not intentionally, but we had a lot of time to be at home, right. And to think everything through very carefully. That happened to me as well. I can say that I always have been in dreaming of thinking that I want to become an entrepreneur one day and create something on my own family company. And then I had this idea from, you know, from step back to several years like this.
00;15;40;29 - 00;16;06;24
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
We've been here six years. Everything is okay with our social circle now. But I remember this pain in the beginning, in the first year, second year, where we feel it was very lonely at times when you know that you don't have friends we cannot spend time with or you have very limited it's opportunities to spend time with the people who really are a great match to you, with whom you really enjoy spending time and feel whole, feel happy.
00;16;06;28 - 00;16;38;18
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Everyone in the family feels happy because my wife used to complain as well that I don't have close friends here and would love to meet someone so that we could spend time together. That's very, very important. And one of the reasons why I decided to found the company and try to solve this problem is that I watched a TED talk from Harvard professor Robert Waldinger, who talked about the biggest recession of adult life in history.
00;16;39;28 - 00;17;04;02
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
And they were asking, like several thousands of people, one same question, what makes you happy when you are 20? When you're 30, 58 years old? And the result of these studies that was that close relationships with friends and family is what makes people happy more than money, more than fame, more than can a career, and also helps them live longer lives.
00;17;04;13 - 00;17;27;18
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So so that means that the most important thing in your life are up and everyone else's all humans are these close connections with friends and family. So now imagine we moved to Germany, right? Our friends and family were back in our home country. So that means we did not have what is the most important in our life. How crazy is that?
00;17;27;18 - 00;17;30;03
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
You know, career and everything to have. Everything was good.
00;17;30;03 - 00;17;31;01
Rob Napoli
That's very crazy.
00;17;31;16 - 00;17;31;27
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah.
00;17;33;23 - 00;18;03;20
Rob Napoli
I mean that to me that is wild that you know, that we had that as a study and I think that makes sense, right? Relationships are everything. But we also know that human relationships last on average seven years. Right? Just because so much change happens. So how do you kind of go through the cycles of life? You know, there's a study on my mistake that something like 49% of Americans end up five miles from their hometown or within a certain radius.
00;18;03;20 - 00;18;21;13
Rob Napoli
Don't do that too far, right? Yeah. And I think that's you know, why that I understand that. And part of that is because we're afraid, part of us, because we have our social circles, our families, our way of life. And I also think it limits experiences a little bit. And that's what helps you kind of make new friends.
00;18;21;20 - 00;18;42;22
Rob Napoli
And if you never leave where you're at, you don't have to make new friends. You can kind of keep those like childhood and high school friends. Yeah. Which I think is really unique. So I love the idea of kind of solving for this challenge of, you know, in an ever digitally connected world where it's now more easy than ever to travel and move for work and pick up and go explore a new country.
00;18;42;22 - 00;19;02;04
Rob Napoli
Visas are easier to get and a lot of countries now to be a digital nomad or experience, I think. And I think the whole dish on that thing where I think any, you know millennials, Gen Z, single, young, free but it's like there's a lot of families that are being digital nomads that are that are packing up their families and doing it together.
00;19;02;04 - 00;19;22;24
Rob Napoli
Exactly. Which I think is really unique. So having a platform where they can learn how to connect and do, it's going to be a really cool thing as we kind of figure out how to how to recreate human interaction and friendships and experiences in a post-COVID world.
00;19;22;25 - 00;19;46;23
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So so I felt, Rob, that this, this problem of or this natural desire of people to make meaningful connections with like minded people is just what everyone wants. Right. And then, as you say, you know, life changes. You have kids, for example, that family. This is a different thing. Like you want to make a connection as a family, not just you.
00;19;47;10 - 00;20;05;27
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
And it's becoming more tricky because there are more people involved. Right, and more creative to have to match. Therefore, I thought like, okay, the problem is big. Millions of people are moving from one city to another, from one state to another, even from one district in a city to another district. And they're all in the same situation. They need to build their social circle and be happy.
00;20;06;21 - 00;20;35;25
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
And I felt like this is a huge problem, way more difficult than what I used to before in my past lives in HR. And I thought like, it's an exciting problem that I want to solve. And that's why I founded matched families to help people to have families, single parents or couples make meaningful connections with people who are who they will be more likely to build long lasting friendship and just make make great friends.
00;20;37;08 - 00;20;55;01
Rob Napoli
You know, usually you kind of make those like family friends like that through either sports or theater or something like that, which is, you know, becoming harder because we don't do the same things and not as many kids and especially during COVID. So I'm excited about that. I want to transition. You know, you came to the U.S. for three months to go through an accelerator.
00;20;56;00 - 00;21;23;07
Rob Napoli
You know, you looking to potentially raise the funds. You're kind of in that early investment cycle. What was kind of your biggest experience or lesson of being in New York for three months and going through the start of the accelerator program again? Now that you've had time to kind of digest after that, the demo day, the Investor Day, the pool party, all that good stuff, like what was kind of like the biggest takeaway you had from that experience?
00;21;25;00 - 00;21;55;18
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Well, great question, Rob. I was thinking a lot about it. There are there are lots of different kinds of experiences. Is the biggest one. Well, maybe it's something that happened in my mindset personally, because I talk to so many people learned or got feedback from so many sides, including yourself, right? Like everyone was in the accelerator. I tried to push, push, change, kind of try to challenge me so that I, you know, maybe received some of the things.
00;21;55;25 - 00;22;21;28
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So this kind of collect collective or aggregated insight that is now in my head is what's what what's the biggest impact like if you change the mindset, change or change of some of your views, that's a big push. It's a first step in terms of internationalization, you know, changing the level of game, not just Germany, it's global. You can raise funds in the US or in Germany if I want to.
00;22;22;06 - 00;22;48;07
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So it's like different level, which wouldn't have happened if I did not participate in the program. Right? So that was a push for me to go to the US to learn to meet this new people, to incorporate in the US. And it's a very important big, big step and I'm very thankful to you and the startup team that they enabled or they weren't this kind of a push for me and I think it's a good thing to do for sure.
00;22;49;08 - 00;23;10;27
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
And I'm already feeling the effects of it. So by, you know, talking to investors from the US who show interest and you know, I'm on the radar of several VC funds, so that's a plus, right? So they're kind of observing and waiting until we, you know, achieve enough traction for them to come and convincing traction for them to invest.
00;23;10;27 - 00;23;11;04
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah.
00;23;12;07 - 00;23;31;07
Rob Napoli
Yeah. And that's awesome. Yes. That's kind of why you do that program, right? Just getting those conversations and you know, for a lot of entrepreneurs or those that are entrepreneur mind out there, it's not fucking easy. Yeah, right. Like I didn't, I didn't ever mince words with you. I never I never like said, hey, you're doing great. It was more like, why are you doing this?
00;23;31;07 - 00;23;52;20
Rob Napoli
Like very hard questions and very, you know, enabling you to be the best version of yourself through through pushing you. So I'm really excited you had that. You know, when you think about the business, right, and, you know, preshow you're talking about you're launching kind of your first events in Dusseldorf and, you know, the big part of the push for the summer is doing a lot of events.
00;23;52;20 - 00;24;04;04
Rob Napoli
You know, you got that feedback not only in Germany but here in New York, right? Yes. Remember you called me. It's like, hey, I had a meeting and they offered the event space already. Like they love the idea of events. Like we need to do more of these.
00;24;04;13 - 00;24;04;23
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Right.
00;24;05;14 - 00;24;09;24
Rob Napoli
What is the biggest challenge that you're that you face as an entrepreneur right now with your business?
00;24;11;16 - 00;24;37;14
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
With the business, I think as a founder, as an entrepreneur, obviously, the biggest challenge is just fundraising. I thought it's going to be easy. It's not easy. It's a longer journey. I felt like I have a super brilliant idea, which is very alive with social. It's good with good impact on people, social impact and all of the things that, you know, make people feel happy.
00;24;37;14 - 00;25;01;23
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Friends, these are all good topics and all investors are saying great idea. And yeah, my, my thought before was that okay. So thousands of people told me that's a great idea. Right? And that now you start talking to investors and they're also saying, good idea, but but we want to, you know, keep track of the attraction, what you're actually doing.
00;25;02;02 - 00;25;23;24
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So it's it's a different way of how they look at things and even though they believe it's a great idea, yeah, there are significant potential. We believe that there is a unicorn potential, but there's something that's stopping them to invest and that's usually commercial traction or in other kinds of track traction. When it comes to VC funds angles, they're different, right?
00;25;23;24 - 00;25;49;08
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
So they're like, okay, so let's, let's push in that sense. So I did not expect that it's going to take so much time to raise money and that is going to be so difficult. So it's not like this, you know, they are not hurrying up as well. So this a great idea. We might invest. We are interested to invest, actually, but we're going to wait, observe you for a bit of a more time and you're like, well, you know, I don't have I already raised money, right?
00;25;49;08 - 00;25;52;18
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Like 100 day of business angel investments. I did raise it also took.
00;25;52;18 - 00;25;55;17
Rob Napoli
Time but I've been through that process, an angel project.
00;25;55;17 - 00;26;15;07
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Angel. It was it was easier and quicker. Yeah, but now I'm looking for venture money. Yeah, venture capital money. And that's, that's hard. That's hard. That's the biggest challenge. I invest a lot of time and effort into it and yeah, hopefully we'll, we'll get some results soon.
00;26;16;13 - 00;26;18;16
Rob Napoli :Do you remember what I said to you in our first meeting about that?
00;26;19;10 - 00;26;22;19
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Can you remind me?
00;26;22;19 - 00;26;38;22
Rob Napoli : I remember looking at you, I said, you're not going to get the funding you want in three months. If you play your cards right and you do this right and you put the time and energy and effort, you're going to have a number of conversations that people who are highly interested that you can nurture when you leave. And I remember you kind of like, Oh, I don't know.
00;26;38;23 - 00;27;00;14
Rob Napoli : And I love seeing this kind of as you went through it, you kind of realize there is about a halfway three quarter way point where you're kind of like, I really need to like nail my pitch for the investor showcase. I need to leave a lasting impression. I need to solidify those that are interested and give them that kind of like that carrot that they want to be involved in.
00;27;00;14 - 00;27;32;28
Rob Napoli :The conversation and follow me for the next six months. Yeah, yeah. And I know I remember that moment when we had that conversation and it's something that I see often. The other thing that I think unfortunately happened right, you'd come about eight months ago. The market was flying, right. I'm not there is about a time where kind of coming out of 2020 and 2021 where I hadn't seen Capital be deployed as fast, you know, three, six months, you know, there's a lot of money to invest because people are holding on to it in 2020.
00;27;34;14 - 00;27;50;04
Rob Napoli : But then we saw the recession coming and you were in New York as the recession was kind of getting ready to hit. Also, you know, geopolitical with Russia, invasion of Ukraine, the supply chain issues. There's a lot of things that happened while you were in New York.
00;27;50;04 - 00;27;52;26
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah.
00;27;52;26 - 00;28;20;24
Rob Napoli
That also slowed down the deployment of capital. So the fact that you walked away with those types of conversations and interest is a big, big win, but also a huge challenge. I think so many people out there, I think a great idea is going to get them funding and it's a great idea. Plus solid business planning, plus execution.
00;28;20;24 - 00;28;37;00
Rob Napoli
And what people said, it's a great idea. You have a great business plan because that you showed them that go to market plan, which is why people say this is unicorn potential. Like you don't hear that often and now it's time to go show commercial traction. So it's a it's an exciting challenge, but it's a challenge many face.
00;28;37;06 - 00;28;37;17
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah.
00;28;38;03 - 00;28;53;20
Rob Napoli : And you have to kind of be ready to push that through. And this is it's a good transition to this question because I feel like this really lies how you're going to overcome. But what do you think your superpower is?
00;28;53;20 - 00;29;23;03
Dzhangar Sanzhiev :I personally think that I can build trust quickly. This is what I've been experiencing and observing all my life that when I was in the corporate world also, which helped me a lot in sales because I used to be doing sales and responsible for sales and Central Europe. And that ability to build trust helps me in my to move successfully further forward in my life.
00;29;23;03 - 00;29;34;09
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : And I think that's a very important skill or superpower, which I am glad to have. I don't know whether you feel that way about it. We built a that level of trust.
00;29;34;10 - 00;29;35;00
Rob Napoli : Yeah, we did.
00;29;35;27 - 00;29;37;22
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : I hope so too. Yeah, I think that.
00;29;38;16 - 00;30;08;10
Rob Napoli : Well, I think it's your ability to build a rapport and build trust because you do, you know, you're good at selling, but you don't oversell like you don't you don't ever try to push like you come across as genuine and it's a great rapport and you build that trust, which is why I think, you know, your big challenge is something that you'll be able to overcome because you've proven that you have a scalable business, you have a strong business idea, you've proven that you have a on paper, a very scalable growth plan, and now it's time to go execute.
00;30;08;10 - 00;30;31;13
Rob Napoli : And you've been executing on that, right? We've seen those events happen. We've seen the early traction and growth in having, you know, 5000 users in your first 30 to 60 days upon a launch site. Those are those are good traction numbers that that have shown this. I'm excited to see it grow. And I think your superpower will help you carry into that growth.
00;30;31;13 - 00;30;56;26
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : Yeah, I hope so, too, because we were considering a lot of different kinds of partnerships with organizations who are running events. For example, or those who are, you know, providing services, entertainment services for the kids, for example, this kind of things, or, you know, intonations or location agencies, corporates. We employ all of these ex-pats and families who move and relocate.
00;30;56;26 - 00;31;22;12
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : So for them, it's also a big problem because 40% of corporate locations fail because of family reasons, generally not being able to adapt. So there are many exciting avenues that are there that we're exploring. The interesting insight from all of these conversations in the US during the startup program also was that what I realize is very good is that it's also a good push like they're asking questions like we need traction.
00;31;22;12 - 00;31;43;25
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : So I'm asking like what kind of traction they're looking for and they say this, this and that, and then you go with a team with and see them think. And that pushes us. We build plans, so we need to achieve these leads. And so it's like forces us to achieve more. It's it's a big stimulus. So you kind of you have a for for growth and for better focuses in your business.
00;31;43;25 - 00;32;00;11
Dzhangar Sanzhiev /: So like you're really really careful thing like what would be our focus we heard these are these and that too to be able to show this traction what do we need to achieve? So that pushes us a lot and that's very healthy and good for the business. So and then you see like, okay, so it's developing our clients can come true.
00;32;00;17 - 00;32;22;28
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : They're heading towards the right direction. We need to do more. Everyone understands like, yes, we, we need investments, we need to work hard. You know, that's that's a good thing that's that's happening because they push you a lot so you can so you can, you know, crystallize the way forward. But also a good push for the entire team because they know and they also want to become successful and so forth.
00;32;22;28 - 00;32;38;28
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : So that's that's a great effect. So actually very thankful to the investors when they say we want more, we want to see more. I said, look, so, you know, push us and push us. Yeah, that's great. Because someone someone one of the coaches was in the study. They also said like, hey, man, you need to focus on your business, you know?
00;32;38;28 - 00;32;45;29
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : And then the investments in or investors will come because they will see what great things that you're doing. And that's what I'm focusing currently now.
00;32;46;26 - 00;33;13;17
Rob Napoli: I love that last question. Looking back, what advice would you give your younger self? You're looking at a younger age and are thinking about where you ended up. You know, in this to be personal, professional, right? You know, from traveling and doing all these things to having a family and running a business. Now, what advice would you give yourself or what would you tell your younger self?
00;33;13;17 - 00;33;35;22
Dzhangar Sanzhiev: Yeah, maybe be more courageous, maybe risk more because I feel like I was not throughout. So I spent like 13 years in corporate world. Right. And considering that from from childhood or from my student times, I always dreamt to be to entrepreneur to make a lot of money, you know, all those kind of things have great cars and so forth.
00;33;36;04 - 00;33;43;05
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : But then the life started and I have I have family that mortgage to buy, you know, an apartment they pay mortgage and their kids.
00;33;43;13 - 00;33;45;28
Rob Napoli : And all those cool, fast cars go out the window.
00;33;46;12 - 00;34;04;25
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : Exactly. Exactly. And you're like, after some time, you're like, damn, I'm not there where I wanted to be. But I have successful corporate career, I might say. So I really enjoyed that time. I learned a lot. So I developed as a person, as a professional, and in that competition I'm very thankful. So it was good. It's not bad.
00;34;05;07 - 00;34;27;26
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : But somewhere in the back of your mind, you think, like what? I haven't done what I really wanted, so I'm really glad that I've done it now. Now I'm like 37 years old. The good thing is that I'm very experienced, that I've done everything when it comes to business. lead teams, leadership experience all good. So all ready now, maybe I was not ready before, but maybe like I could have started that earlier.
00;34;28;05 - 00;34;44;21
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : So maybe I was maybe a mind wise would say like, hey, I evaluate your life whether you can really afford that more constantly and then be more courageous in making like bold decisions. Like, I'm going to pursue my dream, I'm going to, you know, found a company and do my thing.
00;34;45;27 - 00;35;01;15
Rob Napoli : I love that. I love that you say that and that you wanted to be an entrepreneur, younger, like me. Not everyone did, right? Yeah. Sometimes entrepreneurship just kind of finds us. But I and, you know, there's nothing wrong with people who go into corporate and I've talked about this, like, if that's what you want to do and that feeds into other things.
00;35;01;15 - 00;35;35;21
Rob Napoli : Awesome. But, you know, we're conditioned at a young age to, like, be ultra conservative, like you graduate student loan debt, especially in the U.S., where you have student loan debt. So but different over in Europe, it's like you go get a job, you work the corporate ladder, you start good. But like honestly, like your early to late twenties into your early thirties is a time where you could take a lot of risks, you know, and kind of like restart because 28, 29, 30 like you can always go find that corporate job or take that step back and like take the money you would have taken at 22 to go work in corporate after taking on
00;35;35;21 - 00;35;55;02
Rob Napoli : these risks. Like there's so many different variables that could happen. But at the same point, you know, there's this thought, you know, Gary Vee talks a lot, a lot about like your early twenties, early thirties, but like when you're 30, 35, 37, like I'm 35. I don't think that it I still think you can find yourself I still think you can take risk.
00;35;55;02 - 00;36;16;05
Rob Napoli : You can take risk later in life. And obviously your situation changes based on if you decide to have a family and, you know, moving and all these things, sometimes there's a money aspect to it. But, you know, I think that you need to not by the conventional wisdom that, you know, I wish I'd taken a risk earlier and that's my advice, my younger self.
00;36;16;05 - 00;36;18;18
Rob Napoli : But now I'm taking those risks now and see what we can make happen.
00;36;18;22 - 00;36;19;01
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah.
00;36;19;15 - 00;36;40;06
Rob Napoli : And you can kind of play on that spectrum of freedom out there listening. Like that's a great advice I'd give my younger self, but it's also great retrospective into maybe that's why now I'm taking the risk I'm taking because I didn't then and I wish I had. Maybe my life would have been different. But at the same point, like, you know, things are going the way they're supposed to go and you're making them happy.
00;36;40;15 - 00;37;06;12
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : Whatever happens, happens, happens for the better. I also believe so. It's not like I'm, you know, I'm unhappy that I didn't do it. It's just, you know, life. Maybe I could have done that earlier, but I'm telling this because I really enjoy what I'm currently doing in the startup environment and meeting people. A lot of people who want something from their life really want to achieve other founders, people who are in this ecosystem, startup ecosystem, they're all great people.
00;37;06;12 - 00;37;25;12
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : I really enjoy talking to them and you know, making connections and expanding my network. And the essence of what I'm doing with the app is also great that they have a team. You know, I managed it myself and you know, we were all together and doing our best to change the world for the better that that's that's a great feeling.
00;37;25;19 - 00;37;42;27
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : And I would advise everyone to pursue your dreams and do exactly what you want to do or solve the problems that you had. Yeah. So in that sense, when, when you realize this, that it's actually great, I don't want to go back to the corporate world like never. I will never do that again. Okay. So I enjoy what I'm doing.
00;37;43;13 - 00;38;05;12
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : Yeah, it's yeah, it happened now, but maybe it could happen earlier. Yeah, I know many people are thinking about entrepreneurship not being maybe courageous or not having to not have a good situation to start a business. So I'm very lucky and happy that I was courageous enough to get to found a company and pursue. Yeah, pursue my dream.
00;38;05;20 - 00;38;05;28
Dzhangar Sanzhiev
Yeah.
00;38;06;10 - 00;38;26;16
Rob Napoli : Yeah, yeah. And the other thing is think about is like there, there's no perfect situation to take those risks. Like I used to think out of the way at once. I did this once I did that, I started a business and I, yeah, it took me getting fired too. Like just going after it. And it's like, hey, now is the time to take actions.
00;38;26;17 - 00;38;39;25
Rob Napoli : Like, that's how I feel. I can't go any lower, you know what I mean? So Dzhangar, I appreciate you jumping on the pod and sharing, you know, a bit about your journey and the challenges you're facing. Where can people.
00;38;39;25 - 00;39;02;27
Dzhangar Sanzhiev: Say, my family has a very simple domain, it's match families dot com. This is a website from where users or people can download the app to start using it. Of course, we are present in all of the social networks and everywhere. The name is Simple Match families in one word.
00;39;02;27 - 00;39;28;01
Rob Napoli : Awesome. Well, I will make sure to put the Facebook group, the Instagram page, the website and then your personal LinkedIn and this show notes those listening. Feel free to drop down. Click on the link, connecte with Dzhangar. he as happy to help and check out match families? Check out what they're doing. If you've got somebody has a family that you think should check it out for this a lot.
00;39;28;15 - 00;39;41;11
Rob Napoli : We really appreciate it. Jan, thank you so much for being a part of Bear Nation for joining me all the way from Germany. Appreciate your time. Appreciate your energy and appreciate you. I can't wait to see what you continue to make happen.
00;39;41;11 - 00;39;46;09
Dzhangar Sanzhiev : Thank you, Rob. Appreciate it. Thank you for your invitation. I really love talking to you. Appreciate it.
00;39;46;17 - 00;39;52;14
Rob Napoli : Thanks as my guy. Thank you. Bear Nation. Until next time. Stay well and rise up.
OUTRO
00;39;55;15 - 00;40;04;28
Rob Napoli: Bear Nation. Thanks for listening to the bear necessities of entrepreneurship. If you enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe and leave us a review.