Fast rising to startup stardom, QueQ is taking its business to the Series-B round of funding, valuing the company at 600 million baht. The seasoned Thai startup has experienced the ebb and flow during its entrepreneurial journey since its inception in 2015 and impressively made it through the coronavirus crisis. Adapting well to changes, it can bounce back and survive the challenging situation by entering the new market. The business impact caused by the great lockdowns and social-distancing measures is huge, the company however makes up for it.
Rungsun Promprasith, CEO and co-founder of QueQ, has shared his visions and experiences at Startup League Talk on the sixth topic: How to make your business survive. Rightly identifying a primary market will give your business the best chance to survive and succeed, says he. During its first year, a startup may wither away due to the wrong target market, meaning there are no real demands or the market is dominated by tough competitors.
QueQ at the beginning was an SME providing custom software development services. The company then developed an innovative solution to a very common pain point- people usually waiting in line at banks for a long time before going on long holidays. Here comes the QueQ mobile app that helps us virtually stand in line and minimizes waiting times. The app’s system will send notification to the users when it’s their turn, so they can make the most of their times.
“We did the business model canvas to determine total addressable market, uncovering market opportunities. Our primary market is Bangkok’s shopping mall restaurants where there always are customers queuing up. We primarily focus on chain restaurants because we want to expand our business very quickly. In addition, it is the market that small companies can easily break into, given that there are no big competitors,” says Rungsun, adding “With a small number of personnel, the company is not ready to penetrate the upcountry market yet.”
On the plus side, chain restaurants in shopping malls have frequent visitors so QueQ can provide its much needed queuing solution to their branches. “Shopping malls are usually packed with restaurants, therefore it’s very convenient to come visiting our customers, maintaining the system,” says CEO of the startup with the “No more queue line” slogan.
He further says the first customer always count and the first-customer reference is truly a must for the business. It takes QueQ six months to seal a sales deal, convincing its first customer to sign the contract and make a repeat purchase.
“When we first implement the new system, it’s not unusual to have a software bug. We need to be with our customers for a whole week, solving problems and fixing errors. We’re learning with them and making improvements. And we’ll go all out to take care of our customers, making them feel they can rely on us,” explains Rungsun. The sure sign that your business is going to be a roaring success is your existing customer not only makes a repeat purchase but recommends your products and services to other customers, he says.
QueQ was one of Thai startups chosen to join Google’s Accelerator, the mentorship program. At that time, it was arguably the first startup in the world that developed a virtual queuing system. There are later on several companies in other countries following in its footstep, developing queuing apps with different technologies. But the impact QueQ app has made to users in Bangkok is truly unparalleled, he says.
Shortening a long queue in restaurant can convince customers not to change their mind. That way restaurants won’t waste any opportunities to sell products and services. Studies have shown that 20-30% of customers, especially males, tend to change their mind and will go to other restaurants when seeing a long line. “We literally find this pain point in many countries,” he says, adding “So we’ve been trying to enter market in Malaysia for the past 2 years, followed by the Taiwanese market. At the beginning of this year, we’re expanding our business into Japan but it comes to a halt due to the Covid-19 outbreak.”
QueQ not only provides the queuing system to restaurant chains but develops a great feature which allows their customers to order takeaway foods in advance without wasting times in line. QueQ’s queuing application is also implemented in many hospitals and banks. But when social distancing policy was enforced, it means the clients have eventually reduced usage of the app and asked for lower fees.
When one door closes, as the famous quote goes, another opens. QueQ was then quickly seeking a new business opportunity; it developed a medical appointment scheduling software for health care providers to reduce overcrowding. QueQ app users can also make advance reservation to visit national parks for the sake of carrying capacity or when planning to get pampered at hair or spa salons.
In the new normal era, startups should find new market opportunities. The government sector, which will adapt to changes to provide better services, tends to be lucrative. There are investable market opportunities in community-based tourism. New type of tourists is emerging, thanks to the pandemic. To escape the Covid-19, they are looking for a long stay in Thailand’s secondary cities. This, too, should not be overlooked. Online business, transportation sector, fulfillment service, online food ordering and telemedicine are all profitable business opportunities, he suggests.
“Startups hit hard by the crisis, especially those in tourism industry, should go with the flow, seek opportunities in new markets finely attuned to the new normal,” says he. “Do not fear changes but adapt to changes. New business may grow bigger than the old one,” he adds. Well-adapted startups surviving the Covid-19 crisis will gloriously emerge with increased valuation because they can prove they can withstand the hardship. These challenging times can be great turning points for startups. Thanks to their entrepreneurial spirit, they won’t raise the white flag but seek out changes as well as new business opportunities, says QueQ co-founder.
More importantly, like SMEs, startups should maintain a healthy cash flow, raise more capital, grow at slower pace and try to make profits. But at the same time, they should come up with innovative solutions that address customer pain points, working toward becoming a Unicorn. In addition, giant companies lightly hit by the crisis will rush to buy up small promising companies. A strong business partnership will accelerate business growth and attract new customers, which can be great barriers to entry, says Rungsun.
