Tell us about yourself and your background
I am originally from the UK, and moved to the UAE in 2018, to work with Deliveroo, launching their Corporate offering in the region, Deliveroo For Business. After working with bars, restaurants & other hospitality venues over 2.5 years, I noticed some gaps in the market and decided to launch my own venture, Playbook.
Tell us about Playbook and your journey to founding Playbook
Playbook initially started as a marketplace to purchase unique experiences from restaurants. The inspiration came from realising that ‘good’ venues were often very anti-discount, i.e. not wanting to be on any 2 for 1 sites or brand damaging platforms, yet they were still happy to offer and launch specific activations, such as business lunches.
Within our first 6 months we on-boarded 100 premium brands to our app, who were able to offer one of a kind experiences and packages that consumers could purchase. This model failed. We came to the realisation that restaurants do not give third parties (us in this case) a better ‘deal’ than what they are currently offering internally. We also could not achieve enough scale quick enough to on-board enough brands to appeal to every app users demand.
We quickly pivoted and became a platform that allowed brands to push out their internal activations (ie what they are already offering in store). Consumers can now search & discover over 4,000 live promotions, in real time – something that has always typically been hard to do.
How long did it take from your initial idea to launching the company?
It took us one year to launch, and quickly fail, to then pivot to a model that does work. Since pivoting, over the last 16 months we managed to scale up the team to 18 team members, and launch into our second city, London.
What makes Playbook unique in the marketplace?
Being in any city, everyone has had the experience of trying to find out what is actually going on around you. Restaurants can change their activations in some cases on a weekly basis, websites are rarely updated, and known search engines never show ALL of a brand’s activations. We have all of this information available to our users, in one place. Businesses love us as we do not require anything from them (no discounts, integrations, staff training, to name a few things). We provide a way for them to put their activations in front of tens of thousands of relevant users, in an automated way.
How did you secure funding for your venture?
I was very lucky to have a lead investor, who joined the business when we were conceptualising the business, initially as an investor, and since is now a Co-Founder. Over the last year, we have leveraged our networks and have looked to bring in influential people within the industry who can see clearly the problems that we are solving.
What are your top tips for startups looking for investment?
I believe initially we attempted to raise capital too early, Pre-Revenue, Pre-Product (and pre-before we knew what would work). As our user base started to increase, brands started coming onto our platform, it became easier to raise as investors could see how we were progressing so quickly. We are yet to raise from any VC, instead we have focussed on bringing on the right Angels, who have the ability to help us beyond capital. The most powerful thing that has enabled us to raise money, is utilising our network.
What has been your biggest success since launching?
Achieving profitability was always our first milestone. Our second milestone, and biggest success, was entering into the UK. It was always our vision to prove concept, and get into additional markets. We have also been incredibly lucky to have an amazing team behind the business – in nearly 3 years, we have only had one member of staff leave.
What is the biggest challenge you have faced in growing the company?
Cash flow has always been our biggest challenge, especially in our first year of business. The team had to innovate, and innovate quickly to ensure we could keep moving forward.
You founded Playbook in 2022 and have continued to grow the business successfully, what qualities/actions do you believe are integral to building a company for longevity?
I think the most important thing is having people behind and around the business, who wholeheartedly believe in what we are trying to achieve. Investors who have experience in other/similar businesses, and staff who are motivated and prepared to go over and above. We have tried to build a company culture that encourages innovation, whereby everyone feels happy & respected – something that has been crucial to our success to date.
What marketing strategies have you focused on in the last 2 years? Have you used social media to grow your business? Or another advertising channel? Or are strategic partnerships the main driver in your business growth?
We have used a combination of strategies and channels to grow our business. Leveraging social media through both organic posts and paid ads and running digital campaigns, such as Google search ads, to increase our online visibility. Strategic partnerships have also played a key role.
What advice would you offer other founders looking at launching into the Middle East market?
The UAE is booming – I feel that there is not a better place in the world to launch a business. I also feel that there is no one size fits all for advice for start-ups, the only way is to jump in head first and figure it out as you go!
What are your growth goals for the next 3 years?
Our next business milestone is to enter 16 target UK cities over the next 18 months. We have other business plans to enter other GCC markets. We are also launching new arms of the business that will help businesses track and understand their ROI on marketing spend – something we feel is really missing in almost every business that we speak with. We anticipate that we will scale up the team to 50+ staff by 2026.
Where can readers find out more about yourself and Playbook?
