DANA BAKI’S JOURNEY BUILDING MUNCH:ON AND EXITING TO RIDE-SHARING GIANT CAREEM
Dana Baki, Founder and COO at MUNCH:ON
We spoke to Dana Baki, a Lebanese-American founder living in Dubai, about her journey building MUNCH:ON, a food tech delivery platform in the Middle East. MUNCH:ON raised $16M USD in total from top tier funds in the region, and came out the other side with an acquisition offer from the region’s ride-sharing giant, Careem. Dana tells us all about the wins and the challenges of her journey, and what’s next.
Tell us more about your journey building Munch:On.
MUNCH:ON offered meals from the best restaurants at a significant discount and with free delivery with it's MUNCH:ON Pro membership, by utilizing the underutilized capacity of kitchens and building scheduling, bundling and routing software that drives massive efficiencies for restaurants and cloud kitchens, thus disrupting the entire food delivery landscape.
We started off focused solely on corporate lunch which was a space delivery aggregators hadn't cracked. The pandemic forced us to pivot and expand our subscription significantly though to also include residential delivery, and to deliver throughout the day to provide users the flexibility to use their subscription, when they wanted it, at work and at home.
It's been an incredible journey, and I feel like we have seen it all -- the good, the bad and the ugly -- building a product and brand from scratch, scaling, geographic expansion, fundraising in good times, fundraising in bad times, having to make deep cuts, significantly pivoting during the pandemic, testing everything under the sun, managing an M&A transaction. It's definitely been a rollercoaster, but one hell of a journey that I cherish dearly.
Do you consider yourself a serial entrepreneur? Did you always know you wanted to build a business?
Funnily enough, I never had aspirations to start a business. I always thought it was too risky and crazy (and I was probably right :)). But now, I can't imagine doing anything else. Starting a business takes a lot out of you, so I will definitely be taking a break from it for a little while, but I imagine I will get the itch again within a few years.
What sustained you in the low moments, and what was the source of your resilience?
Many things sustained me during the low moments -- my family and especially my kids were always a breath of fresh air that would fill my heart, my friends that wouldn't let me be too hard on myself, and then a multitude of interests that kept me emotionally and mentally sane at different points in the journey -- triathlon training, meditation & healing practices, painting, etc.
Tell us about your acquisition journey with Careem - how did you navigate it, and what were some key pieces of advice you received during that process?
Much of this is confidential, so I can't share too much about the journey with Careem, but as far as advice, I would say - start acquisition conversations early, identify your realistic potential acquirers and keep the conversations open as you continue to focus on growth. Understand their pain points and their strategic focus areas so that those data points can help inform your future strategy as well.
What's keeping you busy these days, and what do you think you'll do next?
I'm definitely taking some time to decompress. It's been an insane few years, so I definitely owe it to myself to rest a bit, enjoy life and do a few things I have been meaning to do. Knowing myself, I probably won't be able to take too long of a break, but I'm not sure what I'll do next yet. I'm sure I'll do some exploring of completely different industries that I'm passionate about and maybe see where that takes me.
If you could start again, what are the things you would do differently?
The world has changed so my next venture will focus on less saturated industries, with higher margin potential.
What's changed in the venture ecosystem since the time you started out, if anything? What changes would you like to see going forward?
The venture ecosystem has definitely expanded and evolved in the region, which has been so amazing to see. There were very few resources, VCs and programs when we started off, and now there are just so many options! Moving forward, I'd like to see more flexibility with structural pieces that could really help startups accelerate - flexibility with office space and visa options that aren't cost prohibitive, quick company formation and bank opening processes, etc. I see the passion that the region has for this space and believe many of these initiatives are underway, so I'm excited to see how the ecosystem continues to evolve over the next few years!