Behind Raqeeb: After two years of bootstrapping, I was ready to give up. I was told my startup is not investable.
The story of Tabish Akhter, Co-Founder of Raqeeb, is full of emotions. It's very relatable, as most founders usually go through similar struggles. But at the same time, it's very rare, because not many are willing to really talk about it.
Talk about being on the edge of giving up, being exhausted, building and putting all money and energy into something that's not working and pivoting.
Well, thankfully there still are founders like Tabish, who aren't afraid to share the good and the bad. Because there always is both, no matter what.
Enjoy the story!
You're one of us, founders who left their careers to build a startup - tell me how it all started?
Since I was young, I knew I wanted to have my own business by the age of 30. I wanted to first gain some experience, work with different people, different cultures, learn how business is done. And I think my CV reflects this a lot - I never stayed long at a job, moved from one place to another.
It really helped me to learn a lot; I got into the ICT & smart cities domain from legacy automation field thanks to one of my employers, however, I always hit the ceiling quickly. Either I wasn't growing in my role, or my salary wasn't moving at all. Once I got to the head of business role and things went sideways again, I knew it was time to start what I always wanted - my own business.
How did you know you have the right idea and now is the time?
Well, I did not really have an idea. I left the job without a plan because there was no other option at that point, thinking I can do some Forex and Crypto trading or put my money into a restaurant business.
Then an ex-colleague of mine called, who also left the company and eventually suggested why don't we start something together, something we did in the past - consulting & offering services within the IoT & smart cities market. I gave it a thought for a month and went straight into. The main focus was to set up the company, rebuild relationships and find clients.
How did you get your first customer and how did you grow?
We're in a pretty traditional business here, and our young age didn't help with being seen as someone who can give advice, even though we had the experience. However, we secured our first business quickly, through the BNI networking group.
Everything is done through wasta here (arabic for use of personal relationships).
It was a simple job, installing CCTV cameras for some project. And we had our first 10 thousand dirhams. It felt really good and easy. And that was the mistake. We spent the next 4 months spending all money on marketing this service, paid ads, brochures, and no business from it. This was a big learning - don't get over-optimistic after securing your first order.
When was the time you realized things aren't working out? And what did you do next?
We were all over the place and could not really gauge what should be that one thing or a problem that we solve. Every time we got asked about it, I could not provide a simple answer.
So 2022 was when the pivot started. We simplified our offering and started getting some small orders. We started to understand the market needs and global trends more, which led us to combining fundamentals of AI or machine learning, and IoT for our prospects in the smart cities market.
In 2023, the focus was on fundraising; I made my first pitch deck, stared reaching out to investors. Everyone had similar feedback - that our pitch was not clear. I still didn't have my one-liner, we didn't get any investors on board. One of them said, "Your business is not investable." August 2023 was a peak of my emotions. We renewed our company license, but personally I had reached a point where I didn’t want to continue anymore.
My father suddenly came up with an idea of a family trip to Georgia. I was shocked; he was the last person I would expect this from. No internet, no work, no phone calls. I just made one LinkedIn post - couldn't resist 😃. This changed everything. I had time to decompress and suddenly knew exactly what to do. We'll build a deep learning platform.
So what's next for Raqeeb?
We're building our product. A software to predict and improve energy consumption in buildings. Facility teams here could save 4-25% of energy consumed by the building, but they don't have enough data and the right tools to identify the improvements. Our tools and software will help with this.
We're currently building the MVP, and I'm again focusing on fundraising. The goal is to raise $350k pre-seed in Q1, hire a full-time team, and start onboarding first clients. We already have a couple in the pipeline. The thing is our product isn't a typical SaaS, and the pool of VCs interested in this industry is quite limited.
In the long run, I want to make a sustainable business. Not something I'll sell in 2 years. I want to provide stability to my teams, provide jobs, bring value to people. Give them something I never got from my employers.
How do you plan to secure the investment?
Networking and warm introductions are everything. I perfected my pitch by taking feedback from my mentors, and through the 24SIX9 community.
I'm very active on LinkedIn, and thankfully, these days people are reaching out to me. You should build your business in such a way so that investors are reaching out to you. I don't have 10 cases like this, but 2, and that is something I'm already proud of.
VCs usually have strategies that doesn’t align with our vision for Raqeeb. We’re looking for angel investors, private investment groups, family offices, or even getting acquired and just building the product I believe in.
What would you recommend to starting founders?
Network! Not just in networking events, but reach out to experienced people, and never second guess yourself if you’re too young. Talk to people about your idea. Don't be ashamed of your young age. You'll have a pool of opinions and can take something from them. Talking to people changed the course of my business.
Second is if you have a weak heart, don't start your business. Nothing should affect you. Have thick skin. If you have a mindset "I'm going to start and figure out the rest later," in six months, you'll crash.
Thank you, Tabish, for being brutally honest about all the struggles you've been through and all the best to you and Raqeeb in 2024!
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