In this episode, we’ll have a chat with Benjamin Mouflard, Co-Founder and CEO of the Dubai startup ChatFood. In 2018, Ben and his co-founder Vinny launched ChatFood, a technology platform designed to help restaurants drive their online orders from a centralised system. ChatFood has since empowered 6,000 local businesses across 62 countries to grow in an increasingly digital world. Their platform has helped deliver over $5 million in orders, saved $10 million in commissions, and attracted 1.2 million community-conscious customers globally.

In this episode, you will get a glimpse into how ChatFood carved their place in the saturated food delivery industry, Ben’s initial learning from running a startup and more.

Important Points

• Stick to the vision & mission and never lose touch with your customers
• Competition is everywhere, you need to find your demographic, niche and market
• Great product offering and user experience is the key to winning over your customers
• Raising money is the easy part, finding the right investor is where the challenge lies.
• Establishing the company culture in the beginning will help you find the right people 
• Always go back to your first customer to resonate with why you started this in the first place

Timestamps

• 01:36 Turning a childhood interest into careers at Microsoft and Facebook
• 03:01 - Stop thinking, start doing
• 05:21 - The importance of creating a support system as an entrepreneur
• 06:52 - How a chance encounter led to a successful business partnership
• 07:45 - What Ben’s first few ventures taught him
• 10:54 - Finding a problem you’re passionate about solving
• 12:49 - Shedding the fear of being a startup
• 13:37 - Connecting with communities and building conviction around your business
• 16:05 - Cultivating a competitive edge in Dubai and going international
• 19:25 - Growing pains and scaling-up funding
• 21:52 - Leading a mission-driven company 
• 24:08 - Empowering your team to take risks and the value of providing feedback
• 26:03 - Balancing process and outcome
• 28:22 - Defining your customer profile and building principles surrounding it
• 30:52 - Companies that Ben draws inspiration from
• 32:14 - Attracting long-term investors and avoiding power dynamics
• 37:20 - Finding peace in adversity and staying true to your values  
• 41:56 - Improving your approach by learning from experience and consuming content 
• 45:01 - Reminding yourself of your purpose

Links

• Benjamin Mouflard’s Twitter
• Benjamin Mouflard LinkedIn
• Vinny’s LinkedIn
• What is ChatFood?
• ChatFood Website
• ChatFood Instagram
• ChatFood Youtube

Noteworthy

• Saas Academy (Youtube)

About the Host

• COTU Ventures Website
• Amir's LinkedIn
• Amir's Twitter