From MENA to the World
Ben Mouflard (Chatfood) - How his first business was selling golf balls at 7 years old, why he was working on idea #20 before reaching PMF, how he met his cofounder, and why they chose to bootstrap Chatfood
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
About the Host
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
About the Host