Amee Parbhoo (00:11):
Hello, and welcome to the third episode of Fintech for the People. I'm Amee Parbhoo, your host and managing partner of Accion Venture Lab. Accion Venture Lab is an early-stage investor focused on inclusive fintech. We've invested in 60 companies, all expanding access to financial services for underserved populations around the world. This is the third installment of our five-part series, where we're showcasing some of our latest investments into women-founded companies.
Amee Parbhoo (00:40):
So far, we've spoken to entrepreneurs from Brazil to India, we've learned about the challenges their customers face and how their companies and they are stepping in to help. This week, we'll head west to the US, where we'll chat with Sofie Abdulrazaaq. Sofie is the co-founder and CEO of Goodfynd, a vertical payments company targeting a greatly underserved and fast growing small business segment in the US, food trucks. Sofie, thanks so much for joining me today.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (01:08):
Oh my gosh. Thanks so much for having me, Amee. I'm excited to be here.
Amee Parbhoo (01:12):
Great. Well, before we dig into what you're building at Goodfynd, I'd love to hear about your journey as an entrepreneur. Would you tell me a bit about your background and how you ended up becoming a founder?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (01:23):
Yeah, absolutely. I always say I meant to be a lawyer, my education and career took me down that path. I spent a lot of time in big tech, big bank, leading product while I was in law school, going to law school part-time, and I fell in love. I fell in love with the product journey, the product experience. In so doing, I felt a little out of love with the law and decided I'm not going to practice a law in the traditional standpoint, I'm going to do it from a tech lens.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (01:59):
While I was on that journey, one of my really good friends, Lemaire, who is my co-founder and CTO, was talking to me about just ideas that we could do. We both love food trucks, we love the experience of eating from them, but didn't like the experience of connecting with them and paying from them and thought we could make it better. Just by happenstance, by me being in product and having a legal background, him able to build, we embarked on something brand new, which is this entrepreneurial journey. We literally fell into it. I consider myself a recovering lawyer because of that. But yeah, it just happened to me and it's been the wildest and best ride that I could ever imagine.
Amee Parbhoo (02:42):
That's awesome. I feel like that's a lot of entrepreneur's stories, is falling into something because they just see a need and have a real passion for it. Tell me more about Goodfynd, what is it that you all do?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (02:54):
We are a end-to-end payment solution and marketplace for food trucks. I've got to point out that it is the most diverse segment of the restaurant industry, as well as the fastest growing. We think about the segment of the industry as entrepreneurs in their own right, a lot of solo owners out there doing their thing and this is their foray into ownership and economic mobility. We love this space.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (03:23):
My co-founder and I are both first generation Americans. When we were eating from food trucks, we noticed that the people that we would be serving were much like ourselves, immigrants serving really great authentic food. We noticed that there was a gap, a technology gap, for these founders, and we wanted to solve that problem.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (03:45):
What we do is exactly that, we make food truck owners more visible and more profitable through our suite of services, which includes payments and discovery, as well as some of the backend operation that they also need. We do it in one seamless full-scope platform, so just providing some great technology to some really amazing founders.
Amee Parbhoo (04:10):
Yeah, and that's one of the things we were excited about you guys. The customers you're serving, these largely immigrant-run businesses, are truly underserved by the existing offerings that are out there. I'd love to hear more about those food truck owners and how they're running their businesses today. You mentioned that a lot of the support you provide is in the backend, what are those problems you're solving for them?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (04:35):
Food trucks are mobile, they're always on the go. Generally, food trucks can be anywhere at any time in a given day. That movement presents a particular pain point that hasn't been solved in the tech industry, writ large, as well as just smaller spaces to house inventory, not only to house and store food, but also to move around and cook. If you think of a restaurant, but just smaller and always on the go, that's a food truck. It was important to be able to have technology that could literally move with them, be on the go, meet them wherever they are.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (05:13):
We provide a mobile-based platform that allows food truck owners to tap into a payment system no matter where they are in a given and day, but also manage those operations that are more truncated and smaller, so helping them to manage inventory, helping them to manage scheduling, helping them with marketing, being able to talk to your customers and interact with them in a very authentic way, the platform also does that.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (05:40):
We make sure that our food truck owners and operators have a full-scope system that they can tap into and that the analytics are all housed in one place so they don't have to piecemeal systems together. Before our technology, that's what they were doing. They would have payment systems for payments, they would have a marketing system to do their marketing, they would schedule with spreadsheets and do that manual scheduling process. They would have to find locations to be at for themselves, also work with licensing and regulations. I mean, these businesses, to be small business, they have so much to tackle right across the board. Having to do so, having to manage your business, as you can imagine through many different services, gets a little complicated and a little complex. In fact, a lot complicated and a lot complex.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (06:33):
We thought there's no better way than to add all the full-scope services into one and streamline them in a really simple, easy to use platform that allows them to focus on what they really love to do, and that's cook really amazing food. I have gained so much weight being in this business, it's all been worth it. But that's what they love to do, and we wanted them to be able to focus on what they love by taking the technology piece out of the way and not having to use so many different systems to run their day to day.
Amee Parbhoo (07:05):
That convenience, that simplicity that you offer, that Goodfynd offers these food truck owners is huge. I know that there have been some product launches recently. Tell me more about that. What are those newer products that are officially now in the wild? How are your customers responding?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (07:22):
Our customers are responding amazingly. We just came out with our end-to-end payment solution so they can take all types of orders from one platform, which is awesome. That launched just three-an-a-half weeks ago. It feels a lifetime just in anticipation of building out this great product, having so many of our food truck owners be beta testers and to understand and to give us feedback, which really spoke to the need of what we were doing. We really appreciate several of our food truck owners and operators being in beta with us and testing while we were in stealth. That end-to-end payment solution is out and they're loving it. We're also doing some other customizable vendor solutions that are coming out in the next couple of weeks, so really excited about that.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (08:09):
From a consumer perspective, we are launching our new iOS and Android experiences, so making it even easier for the end users to order from food trucks, wherever they are, and to have that beautiful seamless experience that is also available online. We launched a new online experience as well. We've been releasing so many products. It's been great. Customer feedback has been awesome and we're being told it's exactly what's needed at exactly the right time, especially as the industry continues to accelerate and ramp up.
Amee Parbhoo (08:48):
Tell me more about that, at the right time. What are you hearing from food truck owners in the US right now, especially how have they been impacted by the pandemic?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (08:59):
You know what? I talk a lot about how food trucks, where they came from. 2008, we had a recession and there was this influx of food trucks because, one, lower barrier to entry in terms of price, the ability to serve really great cuisine and go to wherever people are. The pandemic, just like in 2008, has proven why food trucks are here to stay and here to last, because they can do things that the brick-and-mortar just can't do.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (09:34):
Remote work has changed the working landscape for many. It's also changing urban communities. People are moving to more suburban areas, big companies are allowing their employees to be home permanently, and if they're not allowing them to be home permanently, they're doing some type of hybrid. No longer are these super dense populations where food trucks can just sit and wait on walking traffic, or even brick-and-mortars, which is why they're not growing as much as food trucks now, aren't able to just be in these dense populated areas. Food trucks are uniquely designed to provide proximity as a service. A food truck can be wherever you are, whenever you are, to provide you with great food.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (10:21):
The pandemic, again, has just fortified what their value proposition is and have made them even more accessible to the everyday user and more commonplace. We live in DC and so we could go to 14th Street and you'd see all the food trucks, you'd just happen upon them, but now you see them in neighborhoods, you see them at office buildings, you see them everywhere. They're commonplace because they can be anywhere. The pandemic has really helped them in a lot of ways.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (10:49):
At the same time, as the restaurant industry just writ large take a hit because less people are outside, but that's where of great technology steps in the gap to allow people to order ahead, let you connect with customers, be convenient. The pandemic also accelerated their need to tap into convenience-led technology so that they could meet their consumers wherever they are from a technological standpoint. But as far as a business model and the proximity as a service, they were already standing in that gap and are proving themselves to be even better than ever.
Amee Parbhoo (11:21):
How does that, as well as these new products, the launches you're doing, how does all of that inform what you see Goodfynd looking like in five to 10 years?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (11:32):
Oh my gosh. My vision is just to continue to accelerate the growth of this industry. Food trucks were 5X that of brick-and-mortars in terms of growth in 2021 alone, and there's no signs in slowing that down. Goodfynd's mission and purpose is to continue to fuel this industry, one, making it easier to have access and gain entry, to be a business owner, to own your own shop, and then to help you to be on that path. If you want to brick-and-mortar, we want to help you do that. If you want to have seven food trucks, we want to help you do that. Our technology is holistic in that way.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (12:14):
Continuing to double down on the FinTech services that matter so much for the economic mobility, we see how good they are with money, what they're able to bring in all through our analytics. That helps with being underbanked and underserved. We know that they're great money managers, we know that we can help them grow their top line revenue to give them access and the ability to have more than one food truck or to have a brick-and-mortar. Our technology will continue to bridge the gap for them, to help them be more visible and to increase revenue, because that'll help them grow their businesses beyond hopefully their wildest dreams.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (12:55):
We really want to be a catalyst for change in this industry and make it more accessible to as many people as we can because the industry is so deserving and it is consisted of diverse individuals. The impact that people can generate when they're their own business owners, when they're able to bring value into community, you can't put a price tag on that, on that type of impact.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (13:21):
Five years from now, I see Goodfynd being everywhere, US and internationally. I said I'm first generation American, so I'm a dual citizen of Nigeria as well, and there are mobile carts all over. If I wanted to buy something before, I would have to get it right then because they wouldn't be there tomorrow, which is the same problem that we're solving here. Just continuing to fuel this industry, continuing to provide opportunity, and our products are services will continue to build everything that they need and nothing that they don't so that it can always be at a price point that allows them to keep most of their margins.
Amee Parbhoo (14:01):
Yeah. It's the right moment in terms of the impact you're creating and the need for this industry, but it's also the right moment in terms of just where the industry and the fintech space is. Vertical payments are hot right now, with the IPO of Toast and other notable funding rounds from players like Squire, Slice, and Service Titan. Where do you see Goodfynd fitting into that landscape, and are there parts of those company's playbooks that you're repeating, are there other things that you want to do differently?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (14:31):
All those companies that you mentioned are excellent companies and they give us so much motivation and fuel to the fire. I think we're squarely in that space. I think what Toast proved is that even in a jam-packed, or what people may consider a jam-packed, POS market that there is still room to carve out space for yourself when you're adding a different differentiator and value there, particularly for the restaurant industry and space. But what I love about Slice and Squire, which we're more analogous to, is that full scope in the vertical space. I think we are going to continue to see a lot more vertical payment innovation because the horizon payment companies, for better or for worse, and I begrudge no one, great technology is great technology, you won't get any pushback from me there, but when you're building for everyone, a lot of times, in essence, you're building for no one. You can't release fast enough for their particular pain point when you have to focus on a wider variety of customer base.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (15:33):
What's really great in this vertical industry, and where I see Goodfynd continue to do is double down on the actual needs of our users and being able to grow and build product around their unique needs, allowing it to always be easier and more cost efficient for them to run their business. I think, in turn, we've been able to receive great loyalty from them, because we understand that technology is a choice and we're really humbled that they choose us to help them manage their end-to-end solutions.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (16:02):
So just continuing to be innovative in the vertical space is where I see us continuing to play. You see a lot of success in that more holistic approach in companies like Slice and in companies like Squire, who are also thinking, okay, if I know my user through and through and I build for them what they need to be able to increase their revenues, to be able to increase their visibility, make their lives easier, that there's no limit to how you grow together and also how you can accelerate industry.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (16:35):
So playing in the same space, just a different customer base, but definitely love seeing what they're doing and looking to them as leaders in this game and excited to join them in our own right.
Amee Parbhoo (16:48):
Yeah, I love that. Building from the customer up and building for someone, not no one, is really powerful. Just shifting gears for the entrepreneurs in our audience, the market for talent is incredibly competitive right now. How do you think about attracting and retaining the best talent for Goodfynd?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (17:09):
Yeah, absolutely. The market, like you said, I mean, is insane right now. We have tons of job postings right now and we're lucky to see hundreds of applicants per job. I think it is the culture that we really lean in on. For us, what is most important is that a member of our team, one, embraces diversity. We have a vastly diverse team, every person is different and everyone on the team embraces that. This is also indicative of the people that we serve. We serve a community of diverse individuals. In fact, 87% of our vendors are diverse. You've got to be able to understand different cultures and be able to do that. We care a lot about that, and then we also care about being skills-based as a fast follow.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (17:59):
We're doing the things that I think great companies do, in terms of benefits and services as well. We have great benefits, great work-life balance, we care a lot about that and taking care of our employees. When we bring employees in, we care that they become advocates, that they want to wake up and work every day. Then also, we love people that love food. This is a food business, you're going to gain the Goodfynd 15, in my case, the Goodfynd 20. If you're going to work on food trucks, no day is going to be the same. It's always going to be interesting and fun and high pace, and so we look for people who love those environments.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (18:40):
So far, we've been killing it. We believe that we're doing a good job and so we'll just continue to double tap in on those good vibes.
Amee Parbhoo (18:50):
I will say, yours was my favorite diligence I've been on as an investor. Everyone on our team was jealous and wanted to join because it involved let's go spend the afternoon eating at different food trucks in DC. I can totally see how that's a draw and a love for everyone on the team.
Amee Parbhoo (19:08):
Final question here, Sofie. As investors, we feel so lucky to be on this ride with you, but as you know, many women founders struggle to get capital at comparable rates and amounts as male peers. What advice or what request would you have for the broader industry, whether that's investors or other founders, in order to start to bridge that gap?
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (19:33):
Yeah. From an investment standpoint, what I loved about my current investors is I wasn't treated differently or as other. I wasn't invested in because I am X category of person, I was invested in because the data show that this is an industry worth serving, the economics made sense. But I feel like a lot of founders, women founders specifically, women minority founders even more specifically, they don't have the opportunity to get to those conversations where you can see that the data makes sense because they're looked at as other or they're put in a special category of funding, but we're giving oversized returns.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (20:20):
I think to the extent possible that there's a mindset shift, of it doesn't matter where a founder is from, but it's a real assessment of the business, a real assessment of the traction, and how much you're able to do with how maybe little resources you were able to have at the onset, and for those things to speak for themselves and so that you have a equal playing field of conversation, I believe is a great way to bridge the gap from an investment standpoint.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (20:51):
I also believe that that's why my own journey was so different than what I read about in the books, because I was lucky to have you, to have Artemis, to have Valor, really look at me as a founder and assess the business and and the questions were about that. I was put on an equal playing field and consider myself very lucky.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (21:15):
From a founder perspective, I think if you are lucky enough, and hopefully more and more women and minority founders are included in this number of being able to be venture backed, the process of diligence and going through getting funding oftentimes seems like it's one sided, like the investor is making the decision on the founder and that the founder has no say in what those outcomes end up being, but I would encourage founders to say, "You know what? I have something that's amazing and that's worth investing in and that's why I'm being talked to. Now I need to do my diligence to make sure that this is the VC or angel investor or whatever that's going to be the best fit for my company."
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (22:04):
For me, we had bootstrapped ourselves up until the point of investment and so I really needed support, a suite of services that were beyond the check. The check was the thing that made my dreams possible and I am forever thankful that I am able to do something that many people aren't able to do, but what really made me choose my investors in the same way that they chose me was that they were giving me support. You can say I call you whenever I need something and it's natural. I'm just like, "Amee, have you seen this? Has another founder experienced this? What resources might you have?" I'm able to do that with all of my VCs, and those were the questions that I asked from the very beginning. How do you work with founders? How do you support founders? If this, then X, what does that look like? The answers that I was given made me say these are the right people for me, this is the right team for me.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (23:06):
Look at us now. What we've been able to do, to announce the products that we were able to release in just seven months of stealth time are insane by any measure. I do believe it's because we had the right people back us and I didn't look at it as this is not my decision. I looked at it as this is my decision, it's my decision to take this money, and that, for me, was contingent on the type of support that I could get as a founder, because I needed that.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (23:37):
Founders, you have power too and it is okay to ask questions about what you think that you need for your business and then to choose the right investors, because it's a long relationship, and it's one that I'm lucky enough to be on a ride with people that I enjoy being with every day. The opposite can be true, and I think those experiences don't lead to as good of outcomes on the business side, as well as on a balance side.
Amee Parbhoo (24:02):
That's great advice for founders. Diligence doesn't just mean an investor diligence, it goes both ways and how do we shift that power balance that everyone seems to think we have all the power on our side of the table, it's not at all true.
Amee Parbhoo (24:16):
But, well, thank you so much, Sofie, this has been a wonderful conversation, so thankful for your time and so excited for the future of Goodfynd. We are excited to be on this journey with you.
Sofie Abdulrazaaq (24:28):
Happy to have you on the journey with us. You're one of my favorite people. It's always a good time whenever we link up, so appreciative of the space and the time to talk with you today.
Amee Parbhoo (24:42):
Join us next week as we head to Kenya and hear from Jihan Abass, co-founder and CEO of Lami, an insurance-as-a-service platform that enables any business to develop and sell insurance tailored to the needs of their customers.
Jihan Abass (24:56):
When I went back and did research, the statistics were really shocking. Less than 3% of people in Africa buy insurance products. When I assessed the Kenyan market in particular, there's more than 50 insurance companies that operate. I didn't really understand why there was such a huge gap between the number of providers and actually the people who were buying these products. People might want to buy insurance products, they don't really trust the system, they don't trust the processes because they were actually broken.