13/05/2023
Hello Everyone! I'm so excited to tell you the story of my startup, Hostayl. It's been a wild ride, and I'm so proud of how far we've come.
So let me start from the beginning. It was July 2021, and I had this idea for a startup that would disrupt the accommodation marketplace for bachelors. I called up my boys, friends Sudais and Omar, and pitched them the idea. They loved it, and we were off to the races!
We started by creating a Facebook group and spamming other groups to get some members. And guess what? It actually worked! Our community grew to 14.6k members till now, and we didn't even spend a penny on paid marketing. (Can you believe it?!)
I was so passionate about Hostayl that I'd call and message all my friends every time we posted something on social media. I wanted to make sure we were getting the word out to as many people as possible.
But that wasn't enough for me. I wanted Hostayl to be more than just a Facebook group. So in July 2022, two more friends, Fahad and Bilal, joined the team. We were all in the same university, and we were all super excited to make Hostayl a reality.
We started developing a mobile application and conducted different surveys to ask people about their problems and how Hostayl could help them. And let me tell you, there were some wild responses! We learned so much from those surveys, and we were able to build a product that truly met people's needs.
Now, after almost two years of hard work, our mobile application is almost ready for beta launch. And I'm just bursting with pride. Hostayl has become more than just a startup. It's a community of people who believe in shared living and working. It's a place where bachelors can find affordable accommodation and workspaces. It's a platform that connects people from different backgrounds and helps them achieve their dreams.
I'm so grateful for my team and everyone who supported us throughout this journey. We've had our fair share of challenges (and late nights), but we've never given up. We're ready for whatever comes our way, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for Hostayl.
- Abdullah Fareed