Those of us who live in metropolitan areas take for granted the convenience of ordering food from an app on our phone and being picked up by a delivery driver 30 minutes later. However, this is not the norm in many other parts of the world. In small cities and towns, food availability is limited by a variety of factors, including poor transportation and technological infrastructure, few restaurants offering delivery, and relatively limited demand compared to densely populated areas. Delivery can be difficult.
these are, heartis a Middle Eastern start-up that specializes in food delivery in cities without infrastructure where traditional food delivery services are currently not offered. The company’s delivery platform utilizes AI/ML algorithms to optimize delivery routes and reduce delivery times. It also features a mobile app that customers can use to place orders, track deliveries, and receive real-time updates on order status.
I sat down with CEO and co-founder Hasan Abasi to discuss the logistical challenges of meeting this unique need.
turn a disadvantage into an advantage
“HAAT is an Arabic word that means ‘bring something,’” says Hasan. “Our platform enables food delivery to secondary cities with no infrastructure. They may not even have a POS system or menu.
“Because of poor GPS accuracy, it is difficult to reach a user without an address. You may know the point on the map, but not the name of the road. The road could be on the right or left. Yes, and it can take 10-15 minutes to figure it out, and that time can make the difference between good food and OK food once it’s delivered.
“So we developed a technology that supports addressless locations by learning each user’s roads and specific entrances through previous orders from the driver’s path. Tracks driver behavior, text and labels. and use this data to correct your GPS position and learn new roads that don’t exist in your maps app.”
Heart’s mission and market potential
Hasan said the company’s mission to democratize food delivery began with a personal need.
“I worked in many big cities, including Zurich, Tel Aviv, and Haifa, Israel,” says Hassan. “Now that I have a family, I decided to move back to my hometown, a less structured city where there were no street names and no house numbers. I ran into a problem: the restaurant didn’t take credit cards, no cash, no digital menus, and even if the order was successful, the driver wouldn’t be able to get me home because I didn’t have an address. We have launched a mission to make food delivery easy for everyone, wherever they are.
“Everyone has the right to have food delivered to their home, and the market in secondary cities and cities without infrastructure is huge. We serve about 20 cities and show potential over the next five years.”
Develop ideas into startups
“Since HAAT is located in a city with high unemployment and no infrastructure, I felt the need to develop not only engineering and leadership skills, but also skills to make a difference in the community. But it was a risk for me, being married with three children, it was a challenge to leave it all behind.
“When I started, I had three goals I could aim for: a low goal that was more realistic, then a mid-range goal, and a high goal where we could do amazing things. We made our business plan for next year with a focus on low targets, hoping we won’t see any results until the end of the year, but I think we underestimated the size of the market, because within three months we’re going to have the highest because the goal of
“Until you get the first yes, it’s going to be a no.” That’s the investor dynamic. You get dozens of no’s and feel like the worst CEO in the world. ”
“We have proven the potential of ideas and technology. Within a year of phasing out my role in a full-time job, people in cities without infrastructure began to embrace us. My intuition was right. I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it now or never.
ups and downs of money
“Fundraising was one of the biggest challenges and I felt like I couldn’t do it. I didn’t know how to do this, so one of the first people I hired was a business savvy friend who had a startup background.We evaluated together. We had a plan to estimate the amount and earned the trust of others that they knew our plan and had very clear goals.
“The gap between raising small amounts and raising large amounts is huge. You have to speak the language of investors, and if you don’t know the unwritten rules or understand the nuances, present them to investors. I need an advisor to help me with this, we talked to over 100 investors and each of them asked me questions I didn’t have an answer for, but next time I’ll study more and finally what questions I felt like I could answer
“Until you get the first yes, it’s going to be a no.” That’s the investor dynamic. You get dozens of no’s and feel like the worst CEO in the world. Usually when I talk to investors I say he’s not the only one. Some of the team will participate and provide feedback later. We will never offer the same to the next investor. Even if it’s just adding a slide and a sentence.
“I am in my fourth year in business and one thing I have learned is that money is the least attractive in the short term. When I hired people they weren’t getting paid and for now they’re staying with me I think the best thing is that they don’t see themselves as employees, but rather feel like co-founders, they’re building this and it’s their is from.”
What should aspiring startup founders know?
“I never thought it would be this much fun. I had no idea how people in their 60s and 70s, people who were very wealthy, worked on startups.” Why would you do that when you have a job?” Then, after spending a few years as a founder, I realized that they weren’t doing it for the money, but because they enjoyed building something from scratch.
“But it’s very difficult. You need luck to get a lot of things going, like the right people and the right time. In other words, even if it costs twice as much to hire one really talented person, it’s better than hiring two middle-class people for the same cost. Talent brings more money to a company than it costs to hire.I brought in one great engineer who was very expensive.I thought I had no money and thought I would bring him. On the first day he discovered that there was a problem with our map and the associated cost savings were able to cover his salary. , it was not part of his job!
The Microsoft for Startups program has helped us get our business off the ground, especially with access to Microsoft industry experts and free Azure and GitHub credits. Thanks to this program, we were able to work more efficiently and grow much faster than we would have been without it. The Founders Hub is the perfect place for startup founders to connect with like-minded people, learn from industry experts, and support those just getting started. Joining this program allows you to focus on what matters most: your company.
Next steps for HAAT
“Our vision is to shape the future of food delivery that requires empathy, innovation and a desire for complex logistical challenges. We’re going to start operating in a country, and thinking in an international way is very different from a local market, because suddenly you’re marketing in two languages with two different mindsets and cultures. We need to support different currencies in time zones.It’s like rebuilding a company from scratch, but it requires more experience and knowledge.”
To get started with the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, sign up here.