Vitaliy Chiryassov: an entrepreneur on a mission to digitize business setup around the world

In his famous address to Stanford graduates, Steve Jobs encouraged young people to "stay hungry" — you never know where a transformative business idea will come from, but you'll never see it if you don't look.

The story of Vitaliy Chiryassov, founder UPPERCASE, an international consulting firm, is the story of what happens when a man keeps an open mind and wants to learn how business setup works in different countries.

Humble Beginnings

Like Jobs, Chiryassov built his success from the ground up. Born into a middle-class family in a small industrial village in Aktau, Kazakhstan (then part of the USSR), Vitaliy received a solid education by Soviet standards. However, from a young age, he harbored ambitions beyond his surroundings, dreaming of a career in law.

Turning dreams into action, Vitaliy enrolled in law school and moved to Karaganda, one of Kazakhstan's business hubs at the time. He began his career as an associate in a law firm, but the reality didn't match his expectations. While working, Vitaliy often found himself thinking of better ways to tackle challenges. However, management was set in their ways, insisting their method was the only approach.

This rigid environment didn't sit well with Vitaliy. He felt his potential was being stifled. "I realized I wasn't gaining new skills," Vitaliy recalls. "If I stayed, I'd be stuck in a rut." This realization became the catalyst for his entrepreneurial journey.

Breaking free

Vitaliy took a bold step. He quit his job and opened a small law firm with a partner. Their office was anything but glamorous — just 14 square meters, a far cry from the sleek corner offices you see in The Suites. But in this tiny space, the partners finally had the freedom to work on their own terms.

At first, clients were few and far between. But those who did come noticed the young lawyers' energy and efficiency. Impressed by their work ethic, these clients returned with more work, and word gradually spread.

As their reputation grew, the firm began to specialize in construction law. This focus proved timely, coinciding with a construction boom in Astana and Almaty. As investment poured into these cities, developers were in desperate need of quality legal support — a need Vitaliy and his partner were eager to fill.

Vitaliy witnessed Kazakhstan's economic boom firsthand. At meetings and conferences, he often encountered entrepreneurs expanding their businesses across regions or even multiple countries.

Their success sparked his ambition — he wanted that same level of growth for himself.

But consulting consumed all his time, and breaking into new markets demanded even more. Vitaliy realized he needed to step back from day-to-day operations somehow. He admits the company's process-heavy side had always frustrated him, but he couldn't find a way to bypass this work.

His search for a "magic pill" to solve these operational challenges unexpectedly led him to a compelling business idea.

When everything clicked

Steve Jobs was right — business ideas can come from unexpected places: the key is to stay hungry.

While exploring international growth opportunities, Vitaliy noticed something interesting. The business setup process was remarkably similar across different countries. In fact, he could break it down into a step-by-step algorithm. This realization sparked an idea: if he could digitize this process and package it into a platform, it’d be a perfect fit for a scalable IT business.

Vitaliy imagined an online service where clients could upload documents and follow step-by-step guidelines. They'd handle the parts they were comfortable with on their own, for free, with the option to delegate more complex steps to a legal team. The platform would keep users informed of their progress through a dashboard and notifications. This approach would not only save clients money but also give them more transparency into their company's incorporation process. And it could work in any jurisdiction!

To break ground in the Emirates

The idea looked so solid, that Vitaliy immediately believed it could fly. Next step was to choose a launchpad that’d give it the strongest wings. After a short while, it became clear that there wasn’t a better place than Emirates. Dubai, with its status as the financial center of the Middle East, relative proximity to home (four to five hours by plane), and a huge, free market, determined the location for the first international launch.

Chiryassov and his family moved to Dubai, hired a development team, and tasked them with creating an online service. In the meantime, Vitaliy kept on expanding his traditional consulting business, which gained a new presence in the UAE — a completely new market for Vitaliy. His first step? Get clients.

The first thing he tried was to notify existing customers about the Dubai office, but it didn’t get much results. Customers from Kazakhstan at that moment were preoccupied with local markets. It meant that Vitaliy had to do something he was no stranger to, find a unique approach.

This was in the early 2020s, and quality video content about business setup across jurisdictions was scarce. Vitaliy, decided to promote the platform through his personal brand and launched a YouTube channel.

In the spotlight

Vitaliy began sharing legal advice on YouTube in his trademark clear, energetic, and engaging style. And people loved it. His channel, "Business Without Borders," blew up.

It turned out that videobloging was a surprisingly effective lead gen tool. Views began converting into first clients, then the floodgates opened.

As of spring of 2022, the number of requests has increased so much that the entrepreneur’s Dubai business has passed the break-even point. Vitaliy used the profits to scale video production, and also to speed up the development of the online platform. “Thanks to YouTube, I feel like the whole world is truly open to me,” says Vitaliy.

Emirates first, then the world

"I often get asked if an entrepreneur without an IT background can create an IT business. My answer is yes, but with some reservations," Vitaliy says. He believes it depends on how you handle mistakes.

A while back, Vitalyiy spoke with a prominent Kazakh businessman who shared something that stuck with him. When starting a new venture, this businessman deliberately focuses on a specific goal, learning from every success and failure, allowing himself to make mistakes. "I was struck by his frankness. I'm grateful because he taught me that even multimillionaires make mistakes," Vitaliy recalls.

Now, Vitaliy follows this rule in his own business — methodically hitting one point. Instead of aggressively expanding to other regions, he's concentrating on establishing a foothold in the Middle East, improving his platform, and growing UPPERSETUP in the UAE.

That's why Vitaliy is cautious about predicting his business's future. Right now, his priority is for clients to see his company as a true driver of digital transformation in the conservative field of business and legal consulting. If things go as planned, it will attract investors' attention — potentially paving the way to going public. "I'll think about that later. I'm sure it'll be an interesting business adventure," the entrepreneur says.