INTRODUCTIONS
I'm Riz Akhtar, 27, Graduated from RMIT with a mechanical degree. Went through the corporate path for 2 years, decided it was not for me. And I have been on the startup journey for the last 3 years working through multiple ideas until finding the one that I really connected with and wanted to solve, which is what I'm doing today.
What do you do as an entrepreneur?
I'm the founder of a Carloop, where our mission is to provide everyone a simple, delightful and confident experience in finding the perfect car for their family's lifestyle.
What inspired you to start carloop?
Over the years, I have grown to like 3 things and have developed somewhat of a passion for. They are:
- Helping people
- Technology
- Cars
Through this, I soon found myself helping family, friends and workmates to find the right car that matched their family’s busy lifestyles.
It also became quite clear that finding the right car wasn’t easy.
It’s a tough choice, especially those with growing families and busy lifestyles.
To top that off, the overall experience of buying a car can be anxiety inducing for most of us.
Our minds get flooded with questions such as, am I getting the best deal? Is the dealer ripping me off right now? Is this really the right car for me?
So I thought to myself, surely in this day and age, there is a way to improve this experience and allow everyone to confidently find the right car that suits their family’s lifestyle.
Carloop is what we came up with to do just that.
What have been your biggest learning points that you'd give to other aspiring ENTREPRENEURS?
1. Be in love with the problem, not the solution/idea you have
Your solution will definitely change as you get a better understanding of the problem. If you're in love with the problem, you can change the solution. However if you are in love with the solution, you may not be able to solve your customer's problems.
2. When you construct a house, the most important thing is the foundation that it sits on
If you have a weak foundation, the whole thing will come down. The point of that is: You have to have a great founding team. The chances of your startup succeeding is higher like that than a team that falls apart.
Research shows that the number one reason why startups fail is not because they can't build a product but instead that the founders cannot work with each other long term.
3. Talk to as many people as you can before building your product
Listen to what they have to say, without telling them about your solution.
what did you gain from resa and what was your best experience with us?
What I've gained from RESA, is seeing a group of young future founders that wanted to build a community where it didn't exist, that is what a startup is.
A startup is basically community of founders and their customers, and seeing them build that from scratch has been a great experience.
Want to learn more from Riz? Feel free to get in touch with him on LinkedIn and Twitter
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