Hasan Abasi | Haat | How Do You Launch a Product in a Market That Isn't Ready?

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.

Key moments

1. 0:04 · Intro: the customer is the easy part
2. 1:17 · Who is Hasan: math, Technion, Intel, IBM and Google
3. 2:51 · The problem in Umm al-Fahm: no menus, no cards, no addresses
4. 6:42 · Validation for 500 shekels: three posts and 2,000 sign-ups
5. 9:37 · Why cash, and why restaurants wouldn't sign
6. 14:01 · The MVP: cash support and route mapping instead of addresses
7. 16:07 · A printer terminal from China and a demo that sells
8. 21:14 · A year of execution with no questions: 100 to 400 orders a day
9. 26:59 · Chicken and egg: restaurants, couriers and money
10. 31:17 · First raise and learning to speak the investors' language
11. 35:09 · The commission war and the $3.5M raise
12. 46:45 · Morocco, October 7th and the return to the core and profitability
13. 56:18 · Hasoub, how to get in touch and what's next