The beginning of Neural Evo wasn't a company registration, or even a name on paper—it was just an idea planted during the strangest time of our lives: the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.

Seeds in Uncertainty

Like millions around the world, I suddenly found myself confined at home, with nothing but time, the internet, and a laptop. Work was uncertain, opportunities had dried up, and yet the digital world was buzzing with possibility. Everyone was online, every business was shifting, and I thought: if there was ever a time to experiment, this is it.

Remote full time jobs were hard to find, so I turned to freelancing. I started applying for projects, big, small, complex, simple, anything that came my way on Fiverr, Upwork, any site I could find. I wanted to learn, earn, and most importantly, stay occupied when everything else was at a standstill. In those months, I built a few websites, made small games I loved to play, tinkered with automation, and tried to stretch myself beyond what I thought I could handle.

Then something happened that completely shifted my path: ChatGPT was released. Almost instantly, It was a game changer. Never had I even imagined something like that was so close to existence. When it was finally available in Nepal to use, I never left it for a minute only taking breaks when it went down due to heavy usage. I created a specialized Fiverr profile that focused purely on software integrating the ChatGPT API. And the response was beyond anything I had experienced before. Clients started pouring in, my inbox filled up faster than I could reply, and suddenly, I was drowning in opportunity.

It was exhilarating, but also overwhelming. For the first time, I wasn't chasing projects, they were chasing me. And with that came a new set of challenges. I was ambitious, sometimes too ambitious. I took on more than I could handle. I overestimated my abilities. And I over-promised. I didn't want to miss any opportunity. No matter how small it was.

Not every project worked out. Some succeeded beautifully, others collapsed halfway through. At times I felt on top of the world, other times I felt like I had let people down. But every success and every failure carried a lesson. Looking back now, those chaotic freelance years weren't just about making money; they were about discovering what kind of professional I wanted to be, and what I wanted my future to be.

Neural Evo wasn't born yet. But the foundation; the idea that someday I would build something bigger than just my freelancing profile was laid during those long nights of coding, client calls at odd hours, and the rollercoaster of delivering projects across time zones.

Lessons in Integrity and Representation

As the projects kept coming in, I began to realize something: writing code was often the easy part. The real challenge lay in understanding requirements, managing expectations, building trust, and learning how to deal with people across cultures, backgrounds, and time zones.

In the beginning, I didn't always handle it well. When projects got messy, or their complexity started to overwhelm me, I made a mistake that many freelancers do. I delayed communication. I thought I was avoiding conflict by telling clients, "Everything is going fine" even when I knew it wasn't. In my mind, saying I had troubles with something meant I was not good at it. I was only postponing the inevitable, and making things worse.

One project, in particular, still stands out. I had worked with a client for three months. We had put in long hours, even spent some of the project's budget on extra resources, but nothing seemed to click. Whatever we delivered just wasn't useful to them. The frustration was building on both sides.

At the end of those three months, I was faced with a choice. I already had a partial payment and could keep it, arguing that I had put in my time and effort. That was very tempting, given the amount of time I had already invested and spent on the project. Or I could do what felt right: refund them in full.

It wasn't an easy decision. For someone just starting out, a few hundred dollars was a big deal. But I kept thinking if the roles were reversed, how would I feel? I had to choose between protecting my short-term gain or protecting my long-term integrity.

I refunded the client. Entirely.

To my surprise, they appreciated it deeply. They didn't leave bitter or angry, they left with respect. That moment changed something in me. It made me realize that professionalism isn't just about delivering working software; it's about how you carry yourself when things go wrong.

And there was another layer to this lesson. When we work with international clients, we're not just representing ourselves as individuals. We're carrying the weight of how people perceive our entire country. I've had clients tell me things like:

"We had hired an Indian developer earlier and..."
"While working with an engineer from Germany ..."
"I have a few Nepali employees in my restaurant, very hardworking people."

These experiences showed me that clients don't see us in isolation. Each of us becomes part of a larger story about what it means to work with Nepali professionals. Every failed project, every broken promise, every ignored email, it doesn't just hurt one relationship, it shapes how the world sees all of us.

That realization became one of the cornerstones of Neural Evo's philosophy: integrity, communication, and responsibility come first, always.

Why are we here?

The more I worked with international clients, the more I started noticing a difficult truth: Nepal wasn't really on the global IT map.

Many haven't even heard of Nepal or don't know where we are.

India, for example, has a massive talent pool. Their engineers are working at the top companies of the world, surrounded by hand-picked talent from across the country. Global tech giants have opened offices there because the ecosystem is so strong. Pakistan, too, has made its mark. Millions of Pakistani freelancers are online, consistently taking on projects from clients worldwide. Working with them, and they are very knowledgeable and well spoken, and so are from different South East Asian countries.

And then there's Nepal.

Our talent pool is smaller. Our presence in the global outsourcing industry is almost invisible. Yes, there are brilliant Nepali developers, but not nearly enough of us are stepping into the global stage. What's more frustrating is that many of our IT professionals are leaving the country. They head to Western countries, not always to join top companies or push the boundaries of their skills, but often for lifestyle, social status, or the allure of a "foreign tag". Meanwhile, the rest of the world is outsourcing work here, and we are missing out on opportunities at our fingertips.

This reality used to bother me a lot. Why aren't more Nepali professionals freelancing, building companies, or creating products for the global market? Why are we so quick to leave, instead of proving what's possible right here?

I realized that waiting for everyone to wake up wasn't the answer. Change doesn't start with the crowd; it starts with a few examples. If we can build something credible, professional, and globally competitive from Nepal, we can show others what's possible.

That's where we like minded folks came together.

It wasn't just another IT company idea. It was a way to take all the lessons from my freelancing years: the overpromising, the failures, the integrity checks, the moments of growth and turn them into a guiding philosophy. Neural Evo would stand for transparency, responsibility, and quality. A company that doesn't just deliver code, but builds trust. A company that represents Nepal in the right way, client by client, project by project.

Neural Evo was never about competing with other nations head-on. It's about showing that even from a smaller talent pool, we can deliver big results; if we focus on integrity, skill, and consistency.

That is why Neural Evo exists. Not just to serve clients, but to set an example for fellow Nepalis, for the global market, and for the idea that great work can come from anywhere.