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𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗨𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘁𝘀 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗲 Markus Villig was just 19 when he took on Uber. No experience. No investors. Just a bold idea and €𝟓,𝟎𝟎𝟎 borrowed from his parents. Today, his company, 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐭, is worth $𝟖.𝟒 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 —and growing fast. Here’s how he did it. 𝗔 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹-𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗞𝗶𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗗𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 Markus grew up in 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐧, 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐚, a small country with just 1.3 million people. In 2003, something big happened—Estonian engineers launched 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐩𝐞, the world’s first free international calling app. His older brother worked there, and Markus got a front-row seat to how startups could change the world. At 12, while most kids played video games, 𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 and sneaking into hackathons filled with top engineers. He didn’t know it yet, but he was preparing to disrupt an entire industry. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗗𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗡𝗼 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝘄 By 2013, Uber was growing fast. But Markus saw a 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐰—it was spending billions and ignoring smaller markets. His idea? A simple app to book taxis instantly, with 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 and better service for riders. But there was one problem—𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 With no money for marketing, he tried everything: 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐝-𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 to get media attention. 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐢 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐲 to convince drivers. 𝐆𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐬 for pitching them too much. At first, the app had just 𝟐𝟎 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐲. Investors told him: “𝐔𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮.” But Markus saw something they didn’t. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 Instead of burning money like Uber, he stayed smart: 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞 (cheaper but highly skilled). 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 so drivers preferred Bolt. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝—like Africa. Everyone laughed when he launched in South Africa 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞. But soon, Bolt was everywhere. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲: 𝗕𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗨𝗯𝗲𝗿? Today, Bolt has: 𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝟒𝟓 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞’𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐀 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞-𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐫-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 And Markus? He still 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐲. His vision? 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Start small. Stay frugal. Go where others won’t. I hope you've found this post helpful. Follow me Vishu Bheda for more posts on business and startups.