Michael Askew (#046)
Solve a problem. Love what you do. Get ready for the ride.
Company: ASKWHO
Headcount: 7
Stage: Seed
Tell us your story
From a young age, I would always question things. As a result, I developed something of an entrepreneurial mindset. I was always on the lookout for the next great idea or ways in which to improve existing ones. I’ve had many business ideas along the way, and many failures to go along with them. I like to focus on pain points I personally have and build effective solutions around them. That’s definitely the case with ASKWHO.
In my early twenties I decided to make a big move and relocate to Saudi Arabia from London. I took on a Project Management position and after being away from all my friends and family for some time, I began to feel incredibly lonely.
I wanted to meet like-minded people in Saudi. I used all the apps that were available at the time but they were all really built to keep you connected with existing friends. This actually made things worse as I could only see what I was missing out on at home. I felt so isolated that I decided to change location and move to Dubai instead, home to millions of expats. Even here, meeting like-minded people was incredibly difficult. While Dubai has lots of things to do, I still struggled meeting people to do things with. I became fixated on this problem and conducted some research which confirmed that many other people were feeling the same. So I decided this was a problem worth fixing.
I called a friend of mine (Matt) who I worked well with in Saudi, showcased my research and discussed bringing the idea to life, he agreed, and we got to work. Our initial launch didn’t go well. The solution wasn’t structured correctly. We couldn’t retain users or monetise the product. As a result we couldn’t raise external capital. Basically, we hit a brick wall. But we remained convinced there was still a huge and real problem. So we didn’t give up.
10 months of iterations later, we pivoted in a new direction. We started seeing the traction that allowed us to raise our seed round, start monetising and start hiring. Our metrics line up pretty well with Facebook and we’ve raised c.$2m to date. Most importantly, our customers love our product! We’ve brought happiness and local connectivity to people who otherwise struggled to access this through well organised groups and events. And we’ve built a valuable business along the way.
Tell us a story that has really resonated with you
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that’s why I succeed”
– Michael Jordan.
What can't you stop thinking about?
ASKWHO is the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last before I go to bed. We remain extremely focused on the problem we set out to solve. And we’re driven by improving our product to grow our business every day, with data and our customers at the forefront of our decisions.
If I could tell you just one thing...
Point 1: Solve a problem
Make sure you validate the whole business, including how you will make money. I recommend checking out “The Lean Canvas” to help you with your checklist of what you need to validate but here are some headlines:
What is the problem?
Who has this problem?
Is the problem worth solving?
How will you make money?
Point 2: Love what you do
There’s no doubt about it, starting a business will be one of the most difficult challenges that you will ever undertake. If you can get through the first two years and still have your sanity, personal savings and all of your relationships, you have done very well.
You’ve got to love what you do as if you don’t love it and you’re not really enjoying the journey, it’s highly likely that it’s not going to succeed.
Point 3: Get ready for the ride
Start-ups are very much like rollercoasters: you are super excited to get on the ride, and when the ride starts, that excitement is fulfilled but you are definitely terrified at times! You’ll go through major highs and major lows (many more lows than highs, that’s for sure). And when the ride comes to an end, you often have to find the courage to get back in the queue no matter who’s in it or how long it is and go again and again and again. You have to be resilient, passionate and obsessed. If you aren’t, failure is guaranteed.
A little space for shout-outs
My Business Partner and best friend Matthew Gaziano, who is our COO at ASKWHO. If we didn’t have each other, it may not have worked out. Matt is a big part of my life both at work and outside of the office.
If you could get a warm intro to anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Mark Zuckerberg – Mark has achieved so much in terms of connecting people. I’d love to understand how he juggles his involvement in all the companies he has to pay attention to daily. A Day in the Life of Mark would be fascinating to see.
Jack Dorsey – I’ve been following Jack’s journey for a number of years and he’s in a similar space to me really. It would be amazing to shadow him and see how he operates.