Hasan Abasi | Haat | How Do You Launch a Product in a Market That Isn't Ready?
Host: Eyal David · Guest: Hasan Abasi · About the host
Hasan Abasi, a Technion computer science PhD who left Google to found Haat, built a delivery service for a market that wasn't ready for one: no digital menus, no card payments, no addresses and no couriers. His answer to launching in such a market: solve each real blocker up to the next milestone, break the chicken-and-egg problem with expectation-setting and money, and educate the market step by step. Haat grew from nine restaurants in Umm al-Fahm to over 3,000 restaurants in 45 cities.
In this episode
- In an unready market, the customer is the easy part: with enough good restaurants, a good product (for couriers and dispatch algorithms too, not just the app) and a strong operation, demand follows. Invest in the supply side first.
- Cheap validation before code: three prize posts (burger, shawarma, pizza) and 500 shekels brought 2,000 sign-ups from Umm al-Fahm. The ratio between the three predicted today's order mix, and the list powered the launch without spending another shekel on marketing.
- Let the market's blockers define the MVP, not what looks modern: full cash support, mapping routes and house entrances because GPS isn't enough, and a printer terminal instead of a tablet because restaurants work on paper.
- The chicken-and-egg problem is solved with expectation-setting and money: ask restaurants for six months of patience, and compensate couriers for idle hours until the city covers itself.
- Educating a market to accept commissions is gradual: from 0% to 6% (with a fight, rival apps and restaurants leaving), only after peace returned to 10%, and up to 20-25% today.
- Work in milestones: plan about 15% of the time, set decision thresholds in advance (under 100 orders a day means shut down, 400 means success), then execute for a year without reopening the questions.
Listen to this episode
Episode Description
Hasan Abasi, founder and CEO of Haat Delivery, moved back from Zurich to Umm al-Fahm and found a city of 70,000 residents and over 200 restaurants with not one digital menu, no card payments and no proper addresses. In this episode he explains how he tested the market with 500 shekels and three posts, how he built an MVP that supports cash and maps routes to homes without addresses, why he swapped tablets for a printer terminal from China, and how he only signed restaurants once he showed them a ready-made menu. He breaks down the chicken-and-egg problem between restaurants, couriers and customers, the commission war from 0% to 6% to 10%, the $3.5M raise after learning to speak the investors' language, the expansion attempt into Morocco, and the hard decision to stop, return to the core and reach profitability.
Chapters
- 0:04 · Intro: the customer is the easy part
- 1:17 · Who is Hasan: math, Technion, Intel, IBM and Google
- 2:51 · The problem in Umm al-Fahm: no menus, no cards, no addresses
- 6:42 · Validation for 500 shekels: three posts and 2,000 sign-ups
- 9:37 · Why cash, and why restaurants wouldn't sign
- 14:01 · The MVP: cash support and route mapping instead of addresses
- 16:07 · A printer terminal from China and a demo that sells
- 21:14 · A year of execution with no questions: 100 to 400 orders a day
- 26:59 · Chicken and egg: restaurants, couriers and money
- 31:17 · First raise and learning to speak the investors' language
- 35:09 · The commission war and the $3.5M raise
- 46:45 · Morocco, October 7th and the return to the core and profitability
- 56:18 · Hasoub, how to get in touch and what's next
Full transcript with speakers and timestamps
Selected quotes
“In my eyes the customer is the least complicated part if you nail what comes before it.”
“It's good I didn't know how hard the problem was. Because if I had known how hard the problem was, I would have said, I can't solve it.”
“The way you solve it is expectation-setting and money.”
Questions & answers
What does Haat do?
Haat ("bring" in Arabic) is a delivery platform that started with restaurants in Umm al-Fahm and today serves over 45 cities in Israel, with more than 3,000 restaurants and businesses, about 5,000 couriers and about 350 employees. It was built from day one for a market that runs on cash and lacks proper addresses, and has expanded into retail and financial services.
How did Hasan Abasi test the market before building a product?
He ran three sponsored posts for 500 shekels, with a picture of a burger, shawarma and pizza, offering a prize to anyone who orders food at least once a week. 2,000 residents signed up, and he later used the list to launch without any additional marketing spend.
How do you deliver in a place without addresses?
GPS wasn't accurate enough to know where a home's entrance is. Haat found that about 60% of customers reorder from the same spot, so it started learning and mapping routes and customers' house entrances over time.
How do you solve the chicken-and-egg problem in a delivery marketplace?
According to Hasan, with expectation-setting and money. You ask restaurants for about six months until orders arrive, and compensate couriers for the time without enough orders. Ten extra couriers can cost about 200,000 shekels a month until the city stabilizes and covers itself.
Why did Haat stop its expansion into Morocco?
Haat launched in Morocco in July 2023 with a strong local team, but after October 7th it couldn't raise its next round. The company halted all expansion, shut down Morocco, cut back in Israel and became profitable. Since then it has grown on its own money, by going deeper and adding new verticals in Israel.
People & resources mentioned
People
- Hasan Abasi, founder and CEO of Haat Delivery
- Gigi Levy, investor who led Haat's round
- Haim Ben Sosson, former CEO of Cibus
Companies & orgs
- Haat Delivery
- Intel
- IBM
- Dynamic Loop
- Cibus
- Technion
- Hasoub
Tools
- Fiverr
- Waze
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