The Exchanges

Q So that was going to be my next question, which was, we mentioned Amazon not being all over the world, you know, get here, have the chance to expand anywhere in the world, which is so exciting. But is it those two components which drive your criteria for decision-making on which new market you enter, labor cost and AOV? Is that the two? What does the selection criteria look like?

A No, no, no. We have about 400 questions about a new market. When we look at a new market, there's this 400 question questionnaire we fill in about that market. Once we put the answers to that, it gives us a getter suitability index about that city we're going to operate. And no one city is superior in all aspects in that. So like, let's say population is an important thing. So the more people, the better. But then population in Los Angeles, for example, It's so widespread. Do I like the Los Angeles population, or do I like New York population? I like New York population, alright? So like, population alone says something, but how concentrated is this, says another thing. And then buying power, and then demographics, and you know, who are your early comers? I mean, are these college towns? Are these retiree neighborhoods? Are these this? Are these that? Ok? So there's many, many aspects To compare different cities and different neighborhoods. And at the end, depending on that, you pick and choose where to go first. But in the long run, let me tell you this, Harry. The long run, if there's pizza delivery in any small town, there'll be a service like Getir, whether Getir will be there or something similar, will be there. Next five to 10 years, everywhere there's pizza delivery, there's going to be a 10, 15 minute grocery delivery service, period. It's just a matter of time. Because…

AI assessment note: “No, no, no. We have about 400 questions about a new market.”

Q Why is that? Like, why is 2000 too much, and why is 1500 right?

A I don't decide that. The consumer decides that, ok? So like, if you put too much stuff in the warehouse that doesn't move, then you shoot yourself on the foot. You can have 3000 instead, but the second 1500 is not gonna move. It's gonna be so slow moving. This is fast moving consumer goods. If it's slow moving, it's going to kill your business. You're going to pay high rent for just warehousing stuff that doesn't move. Our business is not doing 10 minutes and also giving you the option of 30 different kinds of shampoo, ok? I can give you eight different kinds of shampoo, and you should be fine with that, because more than 80% of the people buy those first eight brands. And I have that variety. And if you want the 30 different kinds, then you shop From a slower digital place, or you go to the big supermarket, so, you know, everybody does some business. You cannot play both, ok? You cannot say, I'm A to Z, I will sell everything, and also, I'll be in 10 minutes. That's not the case. You cannot have a truck and act as a sports car. Sports cars are small, but just two people. Trucks, they carry lots of, you know, a big load, but then they're slower, so. It's the same here.

AI assessment note: “if you put too much stuff in the warehouse that doesn't move, then you shoot yourself”

Q So that was going to be my next question, which was, we mentioned Amazon not being all over the world, you know, get here, have the chance to expand anywhere in the world, which is so exciting. But is it those two components which drive your criteria for decision-making on which new market you enter, labor cost and AOV? Is that the two? What does the selection criteria look like?

A No, no, no. We have about 400 questions about a new market. When we look at a new market, there's this 400 question questionnaire we fill in about that market. Once we put the answers to that, it gives us a getter suitability index about that city we're going to operate. And no one city is superior in all aspects in that. So like, let's say population is an important thing. So the more people, the better. But then population in Los Angeles, for example, It's so widespread. Do I like the Los Angeles population, or do I like New York population? I like New York population, alright? So like, population alone says something, but how concentrated is this, says another thing. And then buying power, and then demographics, and you know, who are your early comers? I mean, are these college towns? Are these retiree neighborhoods? Are these this? Are these that? Ok? So there's many, many aspects To compare different cities and different neighborhoods. And at the end, depending on that, you pick and choose where to go first. But in the long run, let me tell you this, Harry. The long run, if there's pizza delivery in any small town, there'll be a service like Getir, whether Getir will be there or something similar, will be there. Next five to 10 years, everywhere there's pizza delivery, there's going to be a 10, 15 minute grocery delivery service, period. It's just a matter of time. Because…

AI assessment note: “No, no, no. We have about 400 questions about a new market.”

Q Not at all. As I said, I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I want to start with a little bit of context, because we've seen this meteoric rise of Getir over the last 18 months in particular internationally, but it's actually a six-year-old company, so take us back. What was the founding aha moment for you with Getir?

A Six years ago, I was at the time the founder of B-Taxi, it's taxi hailing up of Turkey, and I was looking at the screen of B-Taxi, and at that moment, I saw we were able to give taxis on an average of three minutes. That was in the KPI we were really pushing hard to catch, and right at that moment, I said, ok, we got this right, what next? And I said, ok, taxis, one need, people have many other needs, why don't we bring them everyday necessities? And at the time, I thought, couple hundred, I'd Now we carry 1500. The thought came to me like a couple hundred, and put them in, in vans, and instead of ordering the taxi, I can show those couple hundred items, and as you get connected to the van, van can start moving to you. That was the idea, ok? Of course, we changed it a little bit later when we started to get here. And bring it in 10 minutes. The idea was, taxis in three minutes, everything else in 10. Yeah, that was the idea, and then I talked about this to a few friends who could both Fund me, and some of them joined me as co-founders, and here we are, six years later. This is one of the hot topics in the tech industry today, and we are the first company in the world to come up with the idea six years ago. I'm proud to say that, yeah.

AI assessment note: “The idea was, taxis in three minutes, everything else in 10.”

Q good. I have to ask, I get super excited about two other areas of the business, which I think people often overlook, and one is like the search business capability that you have, which is like when someone types in tomato ketchup, Heinz, Can pay for their tomato ketchup to be number one. I'm really interested. How do you think about the search as a business for Gatir moving forwards?

A Look, I believe my first priority is you as my consumer. So if you want other ketchup, then that brand, I should show that to you. Okay. So monetizing that is a good idea and we probably will do that, but there's a limit there. Okay. And the thing is, I shouldn't hurt you. So like, if I know from your previous purchases that you use a different ketchup, when you use the word ketchup or tomato, number one should be the one you use. And number two can be this guy who's paying. So you are my number one priority, not the advertiser. I'm not running an ad business, ok? I want your business for the next 2030 years. So you're my first priority. It will stay that way.

AI assessment note: “monetizing that is a good idea and we probably will do that, but there's a limit”

Q Not at all. As I said, I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I want to start with a little bit of context, because we've seen this meteoric rise of Getir over the last 18 months in particular internationally, but it's actually a six-year-old company, so take us back. What was the founding aha moment for you with Getir?

A Six years ago, I was at the time the founder of B-Taxi, it's taxi hailing up of Turkey, and I was looking at the screen of B-Taxi, and at that moment, I saw we were able to give taxis on an average of three minutes. That was in the KPI we were really pushing hard to catch, and right at that moment, I said, ok, we got this right, what next? And I said, ok, taxis, one need, people have many other needs, why don't we bring them everyday necessities? And at the time, I thought, couple hundred, I'd Now we carry 1500. The thought came to me like a couple hundred, and put them in, in vans, and instead of ordering the taxi, I can show those couple hundred items, and as you get connected to the van, van can start moving to you. That was the idea, ok? Of course, we changed it a little bit later when we started to get here. And bring it in 10 minutes. The idea was, taxis in three minutes, everything else in 10. Yeah, that was the idea, and then I talked about this to a few friends who could both Fund me, and some of them joined me as co-founders, and here we are, six years later. This is one of the hot topics in the tech industry today, and we are the first company in the world to come up with the idea six years ago. I'm proud to say that, yeah.

AI assessment note: “taxis in three minutes, everything else in 10.”

Q Can I ask, and you know, always say if it's not comfortable and whatever, like, you know, imagine GoPuff there and the respect you have for them, and you know, essentially, you both really pioneered this over the last five, six years. What do you actually make of the newcomers? The people kind of jumping on the bandwagon because it's hot?

A Yeah. The first thing is we have a good idea. That's why they're coming. Okay. And the world is a big place. We're not covering the whole world. And some of these people see something like this taking off in one country and they say, okay, I can do this in my country too. And they do a check nobody else is doing. So it's an empty market for them. And so they find some money and they say, okay, let's go for it. Why wouldn't they? I mean, if you think of it, more than Clones of the origins, actually. And sometimes clones do a better job than the origins. If the original cannot grow fast enough and cannot evolve its own business, a latecomer can do a better job too. So it's not like always the first guys are the winners. I mean, like Google is not the first in search, but they were the better one. They came later, but now they own the market. Okay. So, but Amazon was early and they own the market. Sometimes it's like Google, sometimes it's like Amazon. We'd like ours to be like Amazon, so we'd like to keep the distance, but I don't blame anyone coming in. It's fine.

AI assessment note: “I don't blame anyone coming in. It's fine.”

Q good. I have to ask, I get super excited about two other areas of the business, which I think people often overlook, and one is like the search business capability that you have, which is like when someone types in tomato ketchup, Heinz, Can pay for their tomato ketchup to be number one. I'm really interested. How do you think about the search as a business for Gatir moving forwards?

A Look, I believe my first priority is you as my consumer. So if you want other ketchup, then that brand, I should show that to you. Okay. So monetizing that is a good idea and we probably will do that, but there's a limit there. Okay. And the thing is, I shouldn't hurt you. So like, if I know from your previous purchases that you use a different ketchup, when you use the word ketchup or tomato, number one should be the one you use. And number two can be this guy who's paying. So you are my number one priority, not the advertiser. I'm not running an ad business, ok? I want your business for the next 2030 years. So you're my first priority. It will stay that way.

AI assessment note: “monetizing that is a good idea and we probably will do that, but there's a limit”

Q Why is that? Like, why is 2000 too much, and why is 1500 right?

A I don't decide that. The consumer decides that, ok? So like, if you put too much stuff in the warehouse that doesn't move, then you shoot yourself on the foot. You can have 3000 instead, but the second 1500 is not gonna move. It's gonna be so slow moving. This is fast moving consumer goods. If it's slow moving, it's going to kill your business. You're going to pay high rent for just warehousing stuff that doesn't move. Our business is not doing 10 minutes and also giving you the option of 30 different kinds of shampoo, ok? I can give you eight different kinds of shampoo, and you should be fine with that, because more than 80% of the people buy those first eight brands. And I have that variety. And if you want the 30 different kinds, then you shop From a slower digital place, or you go to the big supermarket, so, you know, everybody does some business. You cannot play both, ok? You cannot say, I'm A to Z, I will sell everything, and also, I'll be in 10 minutes. That's not the case. You cannot have a truck and act as a sports car. Sports cars are small, but just two people. Trucks, they carry lots of, you know, a big load, but then they're slower, so. It's the same here.

AI assessment note: “the second 1500 is not gonna move. It's gonna be so slow moving.”

Q Can I ask, and you know, always say if it's not comfortable and whatever, like, you know, imagine GoPuff there and the respect you have for them, and you know, essentially, you both really pioneered this over the last five, six years. What do you actually make of the newcomers? The people kind of jumping on the bandwagon because it's hot?

A Yeah. The first thing is we have a good idea. That's why they're coming. Okay. And the world is a big place. We're not covering the whole world. And some of these people see something like this taking off in one country and they say, okay, I can do this in my country too. And they do a check nobody else is doing. So it's an empty market for them. And so they find some money and they say, okay, let's go for it. Why wouldn't they? I mean, if you think of it, more than Clones of the origins, actually. And sometimes clones do a better job than the origins. If the original cannot grow fast enough and cannot evolve its own business, a latecomer can do a better job too. So it's not like always the first guys are the winners. I mean, like Google is not the first in search, but they were the better one. They came later, but now they own the market. Okay. So, but Amazon was early and they own the market. Sometimes it's like Google, sometimes it's like Amazon. We'd like ours to be like Amazon, so we'd like to keep the distance, but I don't blame anyone coming in. It's fine.

AI assessment note: “I don't blame anyone coming in. It's fine.”

Q you know, the courier side was essentially, you know, drops per hour in particular, and for them, four drops per hour was the sign of good. They're doing, you know, their job, and like, GoPuff is happy with four drops per hour. How do you think about the measurement of success for couriers, whether it's drops per hour, whether it's time to drop, and how you think about measuring success?

A Yeah, drops per hour is the main indicator of cost, okay? Let's say, You're paying this person 20 dollars or pounds an hour, let's say, or whatever. The cost is, let's say, 20, whatever the money is, and if he does four, your cost is five. If he does two, your cost is 10, alright? So it's as basic as that. So more drops in the same hour lowers the cost. It's the same for everybody, alright? But that can't be the only KPI, because in their business, they aim for 30 minutes, And on average, I think they hit 30 minutes, maybe they do 20 on some, maybe they do 40 on some others, and they can batch orders, you know, they can batch several orders in, in one trip, so this guy can drop four orders within the same hour, and that is gonna lower their cost. But both promised 10 minutes and hitting three or four deliveries in the same hour is more difficult than batching orders. Our algorithms need to be much more efficient to hit those numbers, and luckily we are hitting some very good numbers in the old markets we operate. Let's say old market is actually a market we're in after six months. When we open a warehouse in a new neighborhood, six months later, it's probably a mature warehouse. So after six months, the efficiencies come up really good.

AI assessment note: “drops per hour is the main indicator of cost... But that can't be the only KPI”

Q with you, totally agree with the land grab. Do you ever worry that with the amount of money going into the space and with the amount of players now chasing, essentially the caps are going so high that actually it's just getting fundamentally challenging in these very mature markets when you've got seven all spending a shit ton on billboards, on buses, on you name it. Does it worry you?

A No, because this amount of money spent on this industry is so little. It's just because the industry is new, and these new startups are coming up all at the same time over the last six months, pretty much. The noise this makes looks big, but there's a couple trillion dollars out there waiting to invest in tech sectors. The whole industry just got a few billion dollars. Compared to the amount of money that can be invested in tech, it's still very little our industry got. It's gonna get Much more money in the next few years. You're gonna see that. But will it be on 20 or 30 different players, or will it be on the remaining five or 10? We'll see that. I don't think in one big city market, there'll be 10 players. There may be now, but in the long run, this is probably a two, three player game in each market. But then, all around the world, you know, nobody can do the whole world immediately within a year or two. Look, Amazon, such a great company, they're not all around the world. When you have operations, There are different Amazons all around the world. They're the biggest in the world, but you know, there are similar companies in Europe, in Asia, and so forth, and it's gonna be similar here. So there's gonna be some regional champions here, because look, I can't do 200 countries within the next two years. It's not humanly possible. So there's gonna be some other companies doing …

AI assessment note: “No, because this amount of money spent on this industry is so little.”

Q I think Getty have Europe covered. We shall see on the US expansion plan, you know, fingers crossed for you, they've Obviously goes very well, but I think like those are the two definite regional winners, and then consolidation will happen within, you know, other two to three in those markets, and the rest will die. How do you think it pans out in the next five to 10 years?

A First of all, don't discount us on the U.S. market. GoPuff is a serious competitor, but they're not doing the 10 minutes. We have a faster model, so give us some time to start operations in the U.S., And let us operate for at least six months, and then be the jury then, ok? So let's see how that plays out. But they will be there most probably in the long run. And as I said before, you know, I have respect for these guys. They did a good job in US. And the others, everybody will be erased, you said. I don't think so. There are a few will stay. The ones who can learn quick and adjust can stay. Because in the grocery business, it's not gonna be winner takes all. It won't be that way. Grocery is a necessity, and in the long run, now this is like, 10 minutes seems like a nice to have thing, but 10 years later, whether it's 10 minutes, 30 minutes, same day, it will be more than 50% of grocery shopping, I think, will be done digitally in most countries, and it'll be within the same day, most of it within under an hour, ok? And I hope the bigger piece is the 10 minute delivery. We'll see how that plays, alright? So, in that aspect, Just as you look at the grocery business in the world today, you know, supermarkets weren't there. There were small grocery stores a hundred years ago. There was no supermarket. And then supermarkets came, and then they became chains, and they had hundreds o…

AI assessment note: “in the grocery business, it's not gonna be winner takes all.”

Q with you, totally agree with the land grab. Do you ever worry that with the amount of money going into the space and with the amount of players now chasing, essentially the caps are going so high that actually it's just getting fundamentally challenging in these very mature markets when you've got seven all spending a shit ton on billboards, on buses, on you name it. Does it worry you?

A No, because this amount of money spent on this industry is so little. It's just because the industry is new, and these new startups are coming up all at the same time over the last six months, pretty much. The noise this makes looks big, but there's a couple trillion dollars out there waiting to invest in tech sectors. The whole industry just got a few billion dollars. Compared to the amount of money that can be invested in tech, it's still very little our industry got. It's gonna get Much more money in the next few years. You're gonna see that. But will it be on 20 or 30 different players, or will it be on the remaining five or 10? We'll see that. I don't think in one big city market, there'll be 10 players. There may be now, but in the long run, this is probably a two, three player game in each market. But then, all around the world, you know, nobody can do the whole world immediately within a year or two. Look, Amazon, such a great company, they're not all around the world. When you have operations, There are different Amazons all around the world. They're the biggest in the world, but you know, there are similar companies in Europe, in Asia, and so forth, and it's gonna be similar here. So there's gonna be some regional champions here, because look, I can't do 200 countries within the next two years. It's not humanly possible. So there's gonna be some other companies doing …

AI assessment note: “No, because this amount of money spent on this industry is so little.”

Q I think Getty have Europe covered. We shall see on the US expansion plan, you know, fingers crossed for you, they've Obviously goes very well, but I think like those are the two definite regional winners, and then consolidation will happen within, you know, other two to three in those markets, and the rest will die. How do you think it pans out in the next five to 10 years?

A First of all, don't discount us on the U.S. market. GoPuff is a serious competitor, but they're not doing the 10 minutes. We have a faster model, so give us some time to start operations in the U.S., And let us operate for at least six months, and then be the jury then, ok? So let's see how that plays out. But they will be there most probably in the long run. And as I said before, you know, I have respect for these guys. They did a good job in US. And the others, everybody will be erased, you said. I don't think so. There are a few will stay. The ones who can learn quick and adjust can stay. Because in the grocery business, it's not gonna be winner takes all. It won't be that way. Grocery is a necessity, and in the long run, now this is like, 10 minutes seems like a nice to have thing, but 10 years later, whether it's 10 minutes, 30 minutes, same day, it will be more than 50% of grocery shopping, I think, will be done digitally in most countries, and it'll be within the same day, most of it within under an hour, ok? And I hope the bigger piece is the 10 minute delivery. We'll see how that plays, alright? So, in that aspect, Just as you look at the grocery business in the world today, you know, supermarkets weren't there. There were small grocery stores a hundred years ago. There was no supermarket. And then supermarkets came, and then they became chains, and they had hundreds o…

AI assessment note: “in the grocery business, it's not gonna be winner takes all.”

Q you know, the courier side was essentially, you know, drops per hour in particular, and for them, four drops per hour was the sign of good. They're doing, you know, their job, and like, GoPuff is happy with four drops per hour. How do you think about the measurement of success for couriers, whether it's drops per hour, whether it's time to drop, and how you think about measuring success?

A Yeah, drops per hour is the main indicator of cost, okay? Let's say, You're paying this person 20 dollars or pounds an hour, let's say, or whatever. The cost is, let's say, 20, whatever the money is, and if he does four, your cost is five. If he does two, your cost is 10, alright? So it's as basic as that. So more drops in the same hour lowers the cost. It's the same for everybody, alright? But that can't be the only KPI, because in their business, they aim for 30 minutes, And on average, I think they hit 30 minutes, maybe they do 20 on some, maybe they do 40 on some others, and they can batch orders, you know, they can batch several orders in, in one trip, so this guy can drop four orders within the same hour, and that is gonna lower their cost. But both promised 10 minutes and hitting three or four deliveries in the same hour is more difficult than batching orders. Our algorithms need to be much more efficient to hit those numbers, and luckily we are hitting some very good numbers in the old markets we operate. Let's say old market is actually a market we're in after six months. When we open a warehouse in a new neighborhood, six months later, it's probably a mature warehouse. So after six months, the efficiencies come up really good.

AI assessment note: “drops per hour is the main indicator of cost, okay?... But that can't be the only KPI”

Q Can I ask on that consumer experience, what she is really good. Is it like three times usage a week? Is it five times usage a week? Is it one times usage a week? Where are you like, aha, We've got this consumer, that gap.

A I'm not gonna tell you the numbers for obvious reasons, but let me tell you this, what's more important is that frequency increases in time, and it does increase in time. Let's say it's three for a certain time frame, then it becomes 3.5, then it becomes four, then it becomes five, then it becomes 5.5. So the same customer is coming over and over more frequently, and another thing is, is the customer buying more from you. What's the basket size? 20 dollars, 20 pounds, or 30, or now 50. So, the growth here is not only gonna come from more customers, it's gonna come from how frequent that customer is coming to you, and how much more on each visit is he buying from you. In Getir, Turkey, in six years, we have scored very well in all these aspects. We saw them buying more from us, buying more frequently, and all the time these numbers are increasing. So there's still a lot of room for growth. So early markets that were just operational for a few months, we know what's going to happen next year, two years down the road, because, you know, we've seen this movie before.

AI assessment note: “I'm not gonna tell you the numbers for obvious reasons, but let me tell you”

Q Can I ask on that consumer experience, what she is really good. Is it like three times usage a week? Is it five times usage a week? Is it one times usage a week? Where are you like, aha, We've got this consumer, that gap.

A I'm not gonna tell you the numbers for obvious reasons, but let me tell you this, what's more important is that frequency increases in time, and it does increase in time. Let's say it's three for a certain time frame, then it becomes 3.5, then it becomes four, then it becomes five, then it becomes 5.5. So the same customer is coming over and over more frequently, and another thing is, is the customer buying more from you. What's the basket size? 20 dollars, 20 pounds, or 30, or now 50. So, the growth here is not only gonna come from more customers, it's gonna come from how frequent that customer is coming to you, and how much more on each visit is he buying from you. In Getir, Turkey, in six years, we have scored very well in all these aspects. We saw them buying more from us, buying more frequently, and all the time these numbers are increasing. So there's still a lot of room for growth. So early markets that were just operational for a few months, we know what's going to happen next year, two years down the road, because, you know, we've seen this movie before.

AI assessment note: “I'm not gonna tell you the numbers for obvious reasons, but let me tell you”

Q Can I look, what's been the biggest takeaway from working with Mike Moretz?

A Okay, Mike is an interesting guy, ok? He's a self-made guy. He calls himself an outsider, ok? So, being an outsider, actually, in some ways, is a good thing, because you can see better. The insider blindness sometimes, ok? So, he was the guy who saw the value in Getir's proposition. First time, you know, the Turkish entrepreneurs saw the value in us. We had some funds investing in us in early days. But worldwide, we talked to many investors, and until Mike Morris invested in us, the others weren't brave enough to put their money in a Turkish business. And Mike Morris didn't see this as Turkish, Egyptian, or Malaysian, or this or that. He looked at it as a, I think, whether this is a good business or not, he thought it was a good business. And he looked at the team, and he trusted the team, so he was the first to put, and he invested his own money. Sequoia came later, ok, so, and then we did a good job, and he followed up with his investments, and everybody else followed, and actually, we did three rounds this year, but two years ago, we did another round, so last two years, we did four rounds, and each time we do a round, you know, we give investors some numbers that we want to hit, In the near future. We almost always hit those numbers, and we did better than what we did. So this is quite rare, actually. Startups give numbers to get the money.

AI assessment note: “being an outsider, actually, in some ways, is a good thing, because you can see better.”

Q Yeah, I mean, that was going to be my next question, Richard. Like in new markets, how have you seen the time to profitability and unit economic kind of efficiency, but does it get better market by market? Is it generally six months is kind of the timeframe that it takes? How do you think about that time to profitability?

A The thing is, if we don't need to grow fast, this business is a profitable business today. It's just that we spend more money on growth than we make margins on. Okay. And it may be similar with Gopaf. I don't know what their financials are, But there's so much out there that needs to be done. It won't be wise to shoot for short-term profitability and grow less. Otherwise, you can make some money today, but you will see the competition owning the market in a few years. So it's like a little land grab is the name of the game, at least for the next few years, because still the percentage of people using digital means to do their grocery shopping is insane. In the low double digits in some of the economies in Europe, in Asia, in the US, a small portion, a very small portion of that is the 10 minute delivery grocery. So this is a very small percentage market share. It's at its infancy in the grocery market share, ok? So next few years, there's so much room for growth. It will be wise for players to go for growth rather than profitability. Of course, if they can afford this. I mean, saying this and doing this are two different things.

AI assessment note: “It won't be wise to shoot for short-term profitability and grow less.”

Q Can I look, what's been the biggest takeaway from working with Mike Moretz?

A Okay, Mike is an interesting guy, ok? He's a self-made guy. He calls himself an outsider, ok? So, being an outsider, actually, in some ways, is a good thing, because you can see better. The insider blindness sometimes, ok? So, he was the guy who saw the value in Getir's proposition. First time, you know, the Turkish entrepreneurs saw the value in us. We had some funds investing in us in early days. But worldwide, we talked to many investors, and until Mike Morris invested in us, the others weren't brave enough to put their money in a Turkish business. And Mike Morris didn't see this as Turkish, Egyptian, or Malaysian, or this or that. He looked at it as a, I think, whether this is a good business or not, he thought it was a good business. And he looked at the team, and he trusted the team, so he was the first to put, and he invested his own money. Sequoia came later, ok, so, and then we did a good job, and he followed up with his investments, and everybody else followed, and actually, we did three rounds this year, but two years ago, we did another round, so last two years, we did four rounds, and each time we do a round, you know, we give investors some numbers that we want to hit, In the near future. We almost always hit those numbers, and we did better than what we did. So this is quite rare, actually. Startups give numbers to get the money.

AI assessment note: “he was the guy who saw the value in Getir's proposition.”

Q Yeah, I mean, that was going to be my next question, Richard. Like in new markets, how have you seen the time to profitability and unit economic kind of efficiency, but does it get better market by market? Is it generally six months is kind of the timeframe that it takes? How do you think about that time to profitability?

A The thing is, if we don't need to grow fast, this business is a profitable business today. It's just that we spend more money on growth than we make margins on. Okay. And it may be similar with Gopaf. I don't know what their financials are, But there's so much out there that needs to be done. It won't be wise to shoot for short-term profitability and grow less. Otherwise, you can make some money today, but you will see the competition owning the market in a few years. So it's like a little land grab is the name of the game, at least for the next few years, because still the percentage of people using digital means to do their grocery shopping is insane. In the low double digits in some of the economies in Europe, in Asia, in the US, a small portion, a very small portion of that is the 10 minute delivery grocery. So this is a very small percentage market share. It's at its infancy in the grocery market share, ok? So next few years, there's so much room for growth. It will be wise for players to go for growth rather than profitability. Of course, if they can afford this. I mean, saying this and doing this are two different things.

AI assessment note: “It won't be wise to shoot for short-term profitability and grow less.”

Q I had Raph from GoPuff on the show before, and he said that, you know, one of their core strengths was their warehouse management system and the processes they built from the ground up in their micro fulfillment centers. I guess, how do you think about your moat with the WMS and some big lessons for you in terms of optimizing that process efficiency within the micro fulfillment centers themselves?

A I'm not going to get into much detail here. Gopal has been around the block for many years, too, so I have respect for them. Their model is slightly different. They aim for about 30 minutes. We aim for 10 minutes. But they've been there for many years. They're not new. So they're believers in fast grocery delivery, too. I'm sure they built some systems in the mini warehouses. Of course, we have devised many algorithms on how to run them. I'd rather not get too much detail, because these things take many years to build. Actually, to build them, you first need to know what the problems are. The newcomers, they need to scale first, and then realize what the problems are, and then try to come up with the solutions. So my job is not to really help competition, but rather keep a little to myself at this point. But good luck to all the competition. I mean, it's competition is competition. They're not my enemies. They're my competitors. So like, some of them are going to be formidable competitors. It is going forward. Some of them may not be around in the coming years. It is the way it is. It's a little crowded now, but because it's a good idea, any good idea attracts crowds. So I'm fine with the crowds.

AI assessment note: “I'm not going to get into much detail here. [...] my job is not to really help competition”

Q and I do want to kind of start by breaking down the, you know, the business into its component parts, and we're going to start with supply, and so starting on supply, as we said, one of the first to really pioneer, especially also the vertically integrated Supply side. First, like, why is that such a superior model, and what does the vertical integration really allow that other models don't?

A Harry, these questions are, like, very intense questions, so, like, I may answer some of it, and I may choose not to answer some of those, because at the moment, there's more than 20 different companies cloning us, and every day we see some more adding to it, and I'm sure some of them will listen to this Podcast once it's aired. I don't want to give them an easy ride to the intricacies of our business. Of course, they will get a taste of how we're doing it if they already don't know, but I may not answer some of your questions in too detail, so excuse me on that. It's not that I don't know the answers, it's just I choose not to, ok?

AI assessment note: “I don't want to give them an easy ride to the intricacies of our business.”

Q and I do want to kind of start by breaking down the, you know, the business into its component parts, and we're going to start with supply, and so starting on supply, as we said, one of the first to really pioneer, especially also the vertically integrated Supply side. First, like, why is that such a superior model, and what does the vertical integration really allow that other models don't?

A Harry, these questions are, like, very intense questions, so, like, I may answer some of it, and I may choose not to answer some of those, because at the moment, there's more than 20 different companies cloning us, and every day we see some more adding to it, and I'm sure some of them will listen to this Podcast once it's aired. I don't want to give them an easy ride to the intricacies of our business. Of course, they will get a taste of how we're doing it if they already don't know, but I may not answer some of your questions in too detail, so excuse me on that. It's not that I don't know the answers, it's just I choose not to, ok?

AI assessment note: “I don't want to give them an easy ride to the intricacies of our business.”

Q Can I ask, do driver acquisition strategies, do they change dependent on geography? Do drivers care about different things in different geographies? Turkey versus London, London versus somewhere else. Does it differ?

A Most drivers, most careers, we call them, they're trying to make a living. Some of them are just doing this as a temporary job, in between jobs, or there's students trying to make a little extra. Listen, and some people are doing it for long term, ok? So, this is not an easy job. I mean, you as a consumer, you sit at home and somebody delivers to you. Okay, so that delivery guy, especially during the time of COVID, all delivery workers are heroes, I think. They did a great job, and the whole society should have much more respect to the career workforce, okay? So, and in normal times after COVID, you know, whoever makes us, our life happier, these careers give us an extra happiness, because otherwise, you have to go do this errand yourself. Grocery shopping for urban people, For most urban people, it's no fun. It's an errand. It needs to be done, and it's not fun. It's repetitive. Very few people enjoy going grocery shopping, ok? So, we take errand off of you as a model in Getir, and we do it through these people. So, they need to be treated well by their employers and by the consumers. I think we should respect this industry more.

AI assessment note: “all delivery workers are heroes, I think. They did a great job”

Q I had Raph from GoPuff on the show before, and he said that, you know, one of their core strengths was their warehouse management system and the processes they built from the ground up in their micro fulfillment centers. I guess, how do you think about your moat with the WMS and some big lessons for you in terms of optimizing that process efficiency within the micro fulfillment centers themselves?

A I'm not going to get into much detail here. Gopal has been around the block for many years, too, so I have respect for them. Their model is slightly different. They aim for about 30 minutes. We aim for 10 minutes. But they've been there for many years. They're not new. So they're believers in fast grocery delivery, too. I'm sure they built some systems in the mini warehouses. Of course, we have devised many algorithms on how to run them. I'd rather not get too much detail, because these things take many years to build. Actually, to build them, you first need to know what the problems are. The newcomers, they need to scale first, and then realize what the problems are, and then try to come up with the solutions. So my job is not to really help competition, but rather keep a little to myself at this point. But good luck to all the competition. I mean, it's competition is competition. They're not my enemies. They're my competitors. So like, some of them are going to be formidable competitors. It is going forward. Some of them may not be around in the coming years. It is the way it is. It's a little crowded now, but because it's a good idea, any good idea attracts crowds. So I'm fine with the crowds.

AI assessment note: “my job is not to really help competition, but rather keep a little to myself”

Q Can I ask, do driver acquisition strategies, do they change dependent on geography? Do drivers care about different things in different geographies? Turkey versus London, London versus somewhere else. Does it differ?

A Most drivers, most careers, we call them, they're trying to make a living. Some of them are just doing this as a temporary job, in between jobs, or there's students trying to make a little extra. Listen, and some people are doing it for long term, ok? So, this is not an easy job. I mean, you as a consumer, you sit at home and somebody delivers to you. Okay, so that delivery guy, especially during the time of COVID, all delivery workers are heroes, I think. They did a great job, and the whole society should have much more respect to the career workforce, okay? So, and in normal times after COVID, you know, whoever makes us, our life happier, these careers give us an extra happiness, because otherwise, you have to go do this errand yourself. Grocery shopping for urban people, For most urban people, it's no fun. It's an errand. It needs to be done, and it's not fun. It's repetitive. Very few people enjoy going grocery shopping, ok? So, we take errand off of you as a model in Getir, and we do it through these people. So, they need to be treated well by their employers and by the consumers. I think we should respect this industry more.

AI assessment note: “Most drivers, most careers, we call them, they're trying to make a living.”