driving a 504% Increase in Active Users for a large Innovation Ecosystem
The Octalysis Group partnered with Astana Hub to redesign engagement across the platform, turning a function-focused portal into a motivation-driven experience for Central Asia’s top startup community.
Kazakhstan’s Digital Ambition
Kazakhstan has declared 2026 the Year of Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence, backing a national strategy to position the country as a digital corridor connecting Central Asia to the global economy. The government’s Digital Qazaqstan program targets 99% broadband coverage, 5G in all 20 major cities, and $1 billion in annual IT service exports, a figure Kazakhstan reached by the end of 2025.
At the center of this push sits Astana Hub, the International Innovation Cluster and technology park for IT startups, founded by visionary CEO Magzhan Madiyev. Under Madiyev’s leadership, Astana Hub has grown into Central Asia’s top-ranked startup ecosystem and entered the global top 75. Over 1,500 companies are now registered as residents, having collectively generated $2.7 billion in total income and attracted $665 million in investments.
The Hub’s community has produced globally significant companies. Higgsfield AI, an Astana Hub participant specializing in generative AI video, became Kazakhstan’s first unicorn startup in 2025 with a valuation exceeding $1.3 billion after raising $130 million from investors including Accel and Menlo Ventures. Higgsfield took first place in the Best Generative AI category of Lightspeed’s global top-25 ranking and was featured on the Times Square screen in New York.
Astana Hub reached out to The Octalysis Group to bring behavioral science rigor to the Hub’s platform experience, with the goal of making its gamification system world-class.
Using Octalysis to drive innovation and social
Octalysis Behavioral Design drove a 504% Increase in Active Users for Kazakhstan’s Leading Innovation Ecosystem.
Further improvements are made with AI engagement and tokenization efforts to complement and deepen these results.
the challenge
Astana Hub had built an impressive ecosystem of programs, partnerships, and resources. The platform, however, was not keeping pace. Its portal was function-focused, designed around content delivery rather than user motivation. Engagement was low, dropout was high, and the features meant to drive participation were falling flat.
A comprehensive Octalysis audit uncovered key problems:
Cognitive Overload at First Contact
The homepage was cluttered with too much information and too many menu options. Users hit choice paralysis before they could explore. A login pop-up appeared immediately on landing, interrupting new users who were still trying to understand what the platform offered, and the pop-up itself had no visible registration option.
No Structured Onboarding
New users entered the platform without a clear path. There was no guided first experience, no progress indicators, and no early wins. Users struggled to find relevant features and could not see the platform’s value quickly enough, resulting in high drop-off during the critical first sessions.
long term motivation
Friction in Mandatory Processes
Application processes, post-event forms, and administrative tasks were cumbersome. Users needed a laptop and electronic signature for most actions, which they avoided except when absolutely required. The perceived value of completing these tasks was low.
Rewards That Did Not Reward
Social Coins, XPs, Badges, and a Leaderboard were all in place. None of them moved the needle on engagement. Achievement criteria rewarded mere completion rather than quality performance, and there were no meaningful celebration moments when users hit milestones.
No Endgame for Veteran Users
Users who had been on the platform for months or years had nothing to keep them engaged. There was no progression path for veterans, no way to become a mentor or content creator, and no incentive to act as a brand ambassador. The platform treated a day-one user and a two-year veteran identically.
the octalysis changes
The collaboration covered the complete user journey: from Discovery through Onboarding, Scaffolding, and Endgame. Screens shown here are live or in progress.
Full System Audit and Analysis
TOG delivered a complete audit report, player type analysis, behavioral personas. The audit mapped every friction point, misaligned reward, and missed opportunity across the platform.
Strategy and Design Documents
The team produced a Strategy Dashboard based on player types, Brainstorming Presentations with prioritized ideas, and a detailed P/E Feature List. These documents gave the Astana Hub team a clear roadmap from diagnosis to implementation.
UX/UI Design and Wireframes
TOG created designs, copywriting, and wireframes for onboarding flows tailored to different player types. Finalized wireframes covered the homepage, community page, marketplace, and network/feed page. Ongoing QA supported the implementation team throughout the build.
Engagement System Design
TOG designed specifications for challenges, streaks, badges, return triggers, and Journey Map completion mechanics. The gamification systems were rebuilt around XP (progress tracking), Social Coins (community reward currency), with clear earn/spend logic tied to meaningful actions rather than arbitrary task completion.
The system designed by Octalysis rewarded startups that were more active in giving back to the community with higher visibility. That visibility leads to more opportunities for investments and preferable Consideration for Funding and Financing Opportunities.
the impact
The first cooperation was a resounding success. Astana Hub had set a target for The Octalysis Group of a 30% increase in KPIs.
We achieved a 504% increase in active users on the Astana Hub platform., so the actual results were more than 15 times better than what was expected by the client.
Astana Hub and The Octalysis Group continue to work together to create even more engagement (and AI and blockchain integration) in the years to come.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q&A about our collaboration with Astana Hub
A1: Astana Hub is the International Innovation Cluster and technology park for IT startups in Astana, Kazakhstan. Founded by Magzhan Madiyev, it is the highest-ranked startup ecosystem in Central Asia and sits within the global top 75 (StartupBlink, 2025). The Hub provides tax incentives (0% corporate income tax for participants), acceleration programs, coworking infrastructure, venture funding through Astana Hub Ventures, and partnerships with organizations like Google for Startups and Draper University. Over 1,500 companies are registered as residents, collectively generating $2.7 billion in total income. Astana Hub has produced Kazakhstan’s first unicorn, Higgsfield AI, valued at over $1.3 billion.
A2:
The first major cooperation between The Octalysis Group and Astana Hub delivered a 504% increase in active users on the platform. TOG conducted a full behavioral audit of the Astana Hub portal, identified critical friction points across the Discovery, Onboarding, Scaffolding, and Endgame phases, and redesigned the engagement systems from the ground up. Deliverables included a complete audit report, player type analysis, behavioral personas, wireframes for key pages, a RICE-prioritized conversion backlog, and gamification specifications for challenges, streaks, badges, and return triggers.
A3:
It depends on scope. A typical full Octalysis design process runs three to six months and covers the audit, strategy, brainstorming, feature design, and wireframing. Quality Assurance (QA) then continues alongside the client’s implementation team, often for an additional three to four months. Some clients, like Astana Hub, extend into ongoing support programs that cover new feature areas or platform expansions. Shorter engagements are possible for focused audits or single-phase redesigns. TOG structures every engagement around clear phases with defined deliverables, so clients know what they’re getting and when.
Feel free to reach out to us via info@octalysisgroup.com
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