# Ev Tchebotarev

> Toronto-based founder and advisor. Founded 500px (raised $25M+ including from Andreessen Horowitz, millions of users, acquired 2018), led Luminar's APAC expansion, and now builds Faraday Machines (frontier AI models running on Mac Studio for privacy and security) and Moai.cash. Consults on local and open-weights AI, stablecoins, and scaling consumer apps.

## Consulting

How it works: a free intro call, then a short written proposal (goals, deliverables, timeline and price), then hands-on consulting with a clear handover.

Areas:
- Private and open-weights AI: local and on-prem models (selection, hardware, deployment), RAG over company documents and systems, cost, privacy and quality compared with hosted APIs.
- Stablecoins: USDC payments, payouts and treasury; the Canadian legal framework in plain language; implementation and hands-on coding.
- Consumer growth and fundraising: zero to one, growth loops and distribution; fundraising narrative, deck and process; expansion into Japan and Asia.

Pricing (USD, scoped in writing before starting; the intro call is always free):
- Advisory: from $300/hour, 10 hours/month minimum. Best for ongoing guidance on AI, stablecoins or growth.
- Day rate and workshops: $2K/day. Best for a focused sprint or a workshop with your team.
- Success fee: tied to the outcome. Best for partnerships, fundraising and other deals.

Book a free intro call: https://cal.com/lets-get-started

## Track record

- Founded 500px: raised over $25M in venture capital including from Andreessen Horowitz; grew to millions of users and about 100 people; acquired by a publicly traded company in 2018.
- Luminar in Japan: grew sales 37x in three years, making Japan the company's 3rd largest market by revenue. Led an 18-person team across Japan and Taiwan.
- Startup fundraises: guided founders, mostly at pre-seed, from story and deck to closed rounds; over $5M raised across these companies.
- AI: runs inference for OpenRouter and tests new open-weights models every week (Alibaba Qwen, NVIDIA Nemotron, DeepSeek, Moonshot Kimi, MiniMax, Z.ai GLM and others).
- Collaborated on official partnerships with Apple, Microsoft, Uber, Airbnb, Sony, Pinterest, Adobe, Fujifilm, Google and Red Bull.

## Companies

- Faraday Machines (founder, current): frontier AI models running on Mac Studio for ultimate privacy and security. https://www.faradaymachines.com/
- Moai.cash (founder, current): the super app for everyone; backed by notable VCs, $2M raised. https://moai.cash
- Sloika (founder, sunset): the first photography NFT marketplace.
- Sociables (founder, sunset): social connectivity in web3.
- Luminar app APAC market expansion: led an 18-person team in Japan and Taiwan.
- 500px (founder, acquired 2018): photography community. https://500px.com

## About

Born in Moscow, grew up in Canada. Honours in Finance from Ryerson University (now TMU). Speaks English, Russian and Mandarin. Into history, geopolitics, city building, real estate, cycling and snowboarding.

## Writing

Forbes contributor: https://www.forbes.com/sites/evgenytchebotarev/
- AI Is Already Changing The Way We Think About Photography (May 30, 2018)
- 5 Photo Industry Trends To Keep An Eye On In 2018 (Jan 23, 2018)
- With Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars Burned, The Dockless Bike Sharing Market Is Imploding (Dec 16, 2017)

Available for podcasts, panels and press on local AI, stablecoins, scaling consumer apps and growth in Asia.

## Links

- Website: https://www.e15v.com
- Consulting: https://www.e15v.com/consulting
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tchebo
- X: https://x.com/ev_jpeg
- Telegram: https://t.me/evtch