Hussein's travel startup was doing $10s of millions when COVID hit. His revenue didn't just go to zero, it went negative. There were more customers asking for refunds than new sales. He was 4 months from running out of money.
He ended up making a complete pivot, he changed the company's name from SnapTravel to Super.com. He went from travel to fintech and launched a banking card. It seems like a strange pivot —but through deep research he'd realized what his customers truly needed. They needed more money—not for travel or vacations—but for every day life.
The new card helped customers earn points and rewards, it helped them save on everyday expenses. The pain was so acute and the solution so perfect, that just 3 years later, Super.com is doing $150M in ARR.
Like Hussein said, he got 50 'no's from VCs for every 'yes' he got. He saw his business grow and then crumble over night. He was literally going to zero.
But he turned it all around. Now he's not just growing, he's profitable now.
And here's how it went down.
Why you should listen:
- How to think from first principles to figure out the right product expansion.
- Why cross-selling is much harder than you think, and how to make it work.
- Why finding an unfair advantage is key to scaling a startup.
- How to use actual customer behavior to understand what customers truly want.
- Why testing and validating ideas through smoke tests is essential.
Keywords
Super.com, SnapTravel, COVID-19, travel industry, pricing strategies, customer needs, market fit, entrepreneurship, AI, business growth, COVID-19, resilience, travel industry, financial innovation, membership model, customer insights, entrepreneurship, investor relations, business strategy, cross-selling
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:39) The original startup: Snap Travel
(00:08:40) Why a great user interface is a big edge
(00:11:26) How to acquire customers
(00:13:30) When your entire hypothesis is wrong
(00:22:52) Meeting Steph Curry
(00:29:03) Nearly crashing to zero-- and going bankrupt
(00:33:51) Starting over and rebranding
(00:42:42) Creating the Fastest Growing Membership Program
(00:52:17) Finding Product Market Fit
(01:00:00) One Piece of Advice
Send me a message to let me know what you think!
