Waiz Rahim is an investor at Sturgeon Capital and was the founder of Deligram, an e-commerce startup. Deligram raised $2.5 million, about ৳30 crore at the time of this episode (June 2024), and was featured on TechCrunch. It was flying high, but in the end it did not survive. His account of what happened is a close look at building a consumer company in Bangladesh.
In this episode Ahmed Fahad goes through the Deligram story with Waiz: how the company was founded, how he found a CTO, how he raised the money, and the mistakes he made along the way. They talk about the tough times he and the team went through and the reasons Deligram eventually shut down. Waiz shares the lessons he took from the experience and what it taught him about the consumer market in Bangladesh. The conversation then moves to his entry into real estate, including his experience flipping apartments, and takes a closer look at the real estate market in Bangladesh. They also cover his predictions about the economy and his advice for young entrepreneurs.
What the conversation covers
- Who Waiz Rahim is
- The founding story of Deligram
- Finding a CTO
- Fundraising: what went right and the mistakes
- Tough times as a founder and for the team
- Real estate and flipping apartments
- The real digital consumers of Bangladesh
- Predictions about the economy
- Lessons from Deligram shutting down
- Advice for young entrepreneurs
The conversation is in Bangla.