I recently had Touradj Barman on my podcast to discuss his entrepreneurial journey and founding Up’n Go, a contactless payment solution for restaurants.
Here are some of the key lessons I took away from our conversation:
Start with solving a specific, narrow problem - Up & Go began by simply focusing on easing check splitting
Get a customer before building the product - Partnered with a restaurant first to customize the product to their needs
Constraints force focus - Bootstrapping kept costs low so they could focus on the essentials rather than getting distracted
Turn challenges into opportunities - Pandemic accelerated contactless payment adoption, driving huge transaction growth
Persistence pays off - Depth of experience matters in competitive space; Up & Go now leads competitors in volume
From $0 to $9 Million per Week: The Up & Go Startup Story