I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Dainis Tkacovs, a coFounder of the Thailand-based web3 development agency, 42x Labs.
I really liked Dainis’s story as it is that of a true hustler… and a story that is very much representative of how to hustle your way to success these days.
He did not rely on getting funding or having a strong network or anything. Rather he started with very little and is building very quickly. This is his story on how he is doing that.
Dainis’s Backstory
Dainis is originally from Latvia and he moved to Thailand a little over a year ago. His story was one that is typical of many GenZers these days.
At first he had a job in a big company and fancy office. He thought it was his dream. But then he started feeling empty and felt the desire to do something that he felt mattered.
So he started his own company on the side, made it successful, and then sold it.
When he came to Thailand he made a post on Linkedin the day after he arrived. He asked for recommendations and pretty soon his post was going viral.
In total it had 400+ likes, 250+ comments and over 40k views. He’d just put together a very solid network in Thailand almost instantaneously.
Now it was time to figure out what to do.
Dainis meets his cofounders of 42x Labs.
From this initial surge in networking it wasn’t long before Dainis met his two cofounders who were also passionate about the web3 space. And they decided to join forces on a company called 42x Labs.
One was Richard Piacentini, the CTO, who had been living in Thailand for awhile and ran a dev agency named “BlockChain Magic”. Richard also was quite active on social networks and has a following of nearly 30k on LinkedIn.
Dainis actually got introduced to Richard directly in the comments of the above mentioned viral post, and this is how they decided to meet for a coffee in Bangkok. They discussed business and found many commonalities, so they decided to start running projects together.
And the other cofounder is JP Dumas who comes from a product background.
So what is 42x Labs?
It is a development agency that is primarily focused on building MVP solutions for primarily Web3 / Blockchain startups. But also they build regular app MVP’s and now also AI platform MVPs.
Their core product is something they call “Launchpad” where they take an idea to MVP in under 21 days. But it has a fixed scope for a fixed price, which I believe typically ranges in between $10-20k USD.
An example would be a mobile application, which would have a limited feature set that would be sufficient to test the hypothesis.
A lot of times these MVP’s they build are to show investors so that the team can then move on to raising a larger funding round and further building out the product.
What are some examples of projects by 42x Labs?
They create a variety of projects from Shopify sites to mobile apps to AI to Blockchain and more.
You can find a full list of their projects here: https://www.42xlabs.com/projects. In total they say they have engaged in over 350 projects, which is quite impressive.
And some of the clients they have worked with include some pretty big names like La Poste Groupe.
What can be learned from Dainis’s story?
For the aspiring entrepreneurs out there I think there are some valuable lessons in Dainis’s story.
Lesson 1: Start your hustle as early as possible.
You don’t necessarily need to quit your job to do it. Just do it on the side and leave when you feel like it is getting traction.
Lesson 2: Invest in your network
The story of his Linkedin post gathering 40k+ views and enabling him to meet his cofounders was a perfect example of this.
How many folks out there can post something as simple as arriving in a new country and gather 40k+ views? Not many.
The reason he was able to do that was the seeds he was planting in his network for many years before that.
Lesson 3: Do what you’re passionate about
I could tell from talking to Dainis that he brought his passion with him each and everyday he showed up at work. He didn’t have to motivate himself to work… because he loved what he does.
Do you love what you do?
Thanks to Dainis for the time he took to speak to me and I wish he and his team all the best on their fast-paced journey forward.
