Two 21-Year-Olds Build AI to Run Online Stores
August 21, 2026 – 5:25 pm
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Innovation
Credit: Canva
Nurtilek Raimzhanov and Zuhayr Abdullazhanov, two high school friends, started selling hand sanitizer online at the age of 15. Today, their company, Siml, operates over 1,000 stores.
Their Journey
They met in high school and have been best friends since. During the pandemic, they decided to sell something online—hand sanitizer. This experience taught them valuable lessons, leading them to develop scrapers to automate tasks against competitor websites.
Siml Founders: Nurtilek Raimzhanov and Zuhayr Abdullazhanov —
Credit: Siml
Education and Early Projects
Both left Kyrgyzstan to study engineering at top US universities, continuing their collaboration across a two-hour time difference. Their previous venture, Tail AI (a personal finance app for college students), gained over 10,000 users within weeks of launch. They also published research on data analysis and agent orchestration. Nurtilek focused on building machine learning systems for freight and logistics companies.
Dropping Out to Build Siml
They subsequently dropped out of their engineering programs to focus full-time on Siml, which is backed by top Silicon Valley investors.
The E-commerce Landscape
Zuhayr notes that while the tools have become prettier, the work involved in running an online store has not changed significantly since they started as teenagers. The global retail e-commerce market is projected to reach $6.9 trillion by 2026, making it accessible for anyone with a laptop to start selling. However, running a successful online store involves various tasks: support, advertising, listings, creative work, pricing, returns, compliance, and analytics—many of which are outsourced due to their complexity.
The Shift in E-commerce
Their business was influenced by two major shifts:
- Tariffs: The US suspended the de minimis exemption in 2025, requiring formal customs treatment for millions of packages daily, making margin calculation a daily task.
- AI Shopping Assistants: Buyers are increasingly relying on AI-powered assistants to browse and purchase products instead of doing it themselves. Adobe Analytics reported a 393% year-over-year growth in AI traffic to US retail sites in Q1 2026.