# Max Prilutskiy of Lingo.dev: from hackathon to YC

> Max Prilutskiy, CEO and co-founder of Lingo.dev, traces his path from coding since age nine in Belarus, to selling his first bootstrapped startup, to building Lingo.dev, an AI-powered localization platform out of a hackathon with zero ideas. He and Victoria Melnikova discuss how cold exploration calls shaped his entire go-to-market strategy, why word of mouth is still the only reliable growth channel, and what agent experience really means for developer tools in 2026.

- URL: https://evilmartians.com/events/max-prilutskiy-lingodev
- Date: 2026-04-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Conference: Dev Propulsion Labs
- Speakers: Victoria Melnikova
- Event website: /devpropulsionlabs
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1K0ONjN4ECg