Started by three people with similar background in arts, online food portal HungryGoWhere had tough beginnings. The developer in the company at any time was the only technical person and thus dictated the web startup development. 4 years on and 16 people later, Hungry is leading the pack with its flagship site having inked a partnership with xinmsn, and spurned dedicated portals with HungryDelivery and HungryBBQ.
Despite its current leadership position as the default restaurant review site for most in Singapore, Hungry is not a team that stays still. The founders have observed the changing market and are working on a new Groupon-style offshoot, HungryDeals.sg that aims to launch next month. We speak to Dennis of HungryGoWhere.
Back when the founders were not the bosses
Founders Dennis, Hoong An and Yung Yih were highly dependent upon any developer they could attract to join them back in 2006. Because they were just a startup then, the developers that came on board refused equity stakes and only looked to the position as a temporary one with which they could earn some upkeep as well as get their foot into Singapore.
Back in the day, at any one point, there was only one developer to the three cofounders. Being the only technical brain in the company, the developer was “effectively the boss”. Developer after developer joined and left, while the three men struggled to pay them a salary, all the while maintaining their vision and continued hanging on.
Now looking at Hungry’s current growth and success, taking equity would have been the smarter choice for those developers as Hungry is expanding yet again.
(Check out our interview with Hoong An about a year ago.)
Introducing HungryDeals
To be launched next month, HungryDeals is a site dedicated to offering discounts and deals to users daily.
Mockups sent to me by the Hungry team:
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