Meet entrepreneur Yazan Daas, the founder of NoQue. The apps that will bring like-minded people together in a fun and inspiring environment.
Please tell us a little bit about your company – what is NoQue all about?
NoQue mobile App lets users book bottle service tables or share a table with other VIPs, Influencers and Celebrities at clubs around the world.
Seamless and easy to use, NoQue makes it easier to look around and see what places are happening tonight then users can easily reserve a spot and invite their friends.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you started your company?
An MBA graduate, Yazan started his career as a banker with a technology background, then moved back to technology to pursue his passion. Combining his skills and expertise, energy and focus on detail, he is the engine and driving force of NoQue.
Fahd and I started NoQue in May 2015 and continue to pursue the dream of growing it into a successful startup.
What are some of the projects you are working on right now?
NoQue’s launch is the main focus for me at the moment, and optimizing the developing the product and the market fit is on the top of the list.
What are your plans for the future, how do you plan to grow this company?
NoQue is planned to launch in the US in the first period of the launch. Expansion is planned to be city-by-city and then launch globally.
Growth is a very important factor in NoQue’s strategy as every aspect of the product was built to scale and localize.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Bringing ideas to life is one of the most challenging points in the startup world. But trusting people and working with the right people makes it achievable.
Starting from sketches on paper to rounds of discussions with important stakeholders and understanding the problem and the market.
Then moving into the building of the solution, again with the right team for the mission.
What’s one trend that really excites you?
The sharing economy trend is changing everything we know. More resources are available on the market then any time ever before and that is creating a very healthy competition. Which in turn will benefit the consumer by having better service at competitive prices.
What were the top 3 mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it?
1- Focus should be on the startup 100%. Working on building a company part time would really slow things down and make your release a bit late to the market.
2- Spend time and money only on developing the product and acquiring customers. Everything else wastes your resources as a startup.
How do you go about marketing your business, and what has been the most successful form of marketing for you?
In NoQue we are heavily depending on social media marketing, engaging with our potential users and creating content that they might find useful continuously.
What would you say are the top 3 skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur – and why?
- Focus on details.
- Understanding the market.
- Ability to trust people and work well with them.
All these skills or attributes help an entrepreneur come closer to their vision of the future. Combining all three successfully can lead to amazing results.
What are the top 3 online tools and resources you’re currently using to grow your company?
At NoQue we avoid using emails for any internal communication. We do Slack and try to have conversations rather than paragraphs.
As for other tools and resources, we make sure that we use solutions that are built to help startups grow and take off quickly. Such as Stripe (Payment Gateway) instead of having to build our own and carry all the risks that come with it.
Also for infrastructure we use AWS to run all the services and servers we need making it easier to expand and also focus on what we need to achieve.
What are three books you recommend entrepreneurs to read?
I would recommend Never Eat Alone as an important book and resource to help any entrepreneur start planning and work better with people.
Also I would highly recommend the all times classical business literature book The Circle of Innovation by Tom Peters who opened my mind to great things and inspired me a lot.
What is your favorite entrepreneurship quote?
Probably it would be as simple and short as “Start a fight” taken from the Tyler Durden character in the world famous film Fight Club.
It’s just that everyone needs to find their fight and go full on towards it and fight it till the end. Finding your fight helps you focus on your goal and also overcome your fears.
You will also find lots of other people with similar fights which can help create an atmosphere of camaraderie between all.
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