How I built a $2 billion a year super app called Grab: '20 hour' work days

Anthony Tan didn't request to commencement a concern to beryllium rich.

He grew up arsenic the youngest of 3 sons successful 1 of Malaysia's wealthiest families. His father, Tan Heng Chew, is the president of Tan Chong Motor, a multinational automobile distributor founded by Tan's gramps successful the 1950s, that's publically listed connected the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

You mightiness telephone maine a "rebel without a cause," Tan said. But I was connected a ngo to make thing that could beryllium "a unit for good."

Now, Tan is the co-founder and CEO of multinational ride-hailing elephantine and ace app Grab. After the concern went nationalist successful the U.S. successful December 2021, it brought successful implicit $2 cardinal successful gross successful 2023, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Grab

Today, on with offering thrust hailing, the institution offers nutrient and groceries delivery, arsenic good arsenic fiscal services specified arsenic payments, lending and integer banking. As of 2023, Grab besides serves implicit 35 cardinal customers and provides 13 cardinal gig jobs crossed 8 countries successful Southeast Asia.

"I retrieve erstwhile I was gathering with [former President Ferdinand] Marcos successful the Philippines, and helium reminded my committee and I... [Grab] virtually changed the unemployment numbers nationally," helium said. "That's what I would accidental makes america each truly happy."

In 2009, Tan began his studies astatine Harvard Business School, wherever helium met his co-founder Hooi Ling Tan. Having some grown up successful Malaysia, they became bully friends aft sitting adjacent to each different successful a people called "Business astatine the Base of the Pyramid."

One time successful 2011, they were having a chat astir the Malaysian taxi system, which astatine the clip was notorious for being unsafe, peculiarly for women. The 2 decided to instrumentality connected the challenge.

"We privation to marque it conscionable modular hygiene that women tin get to wherever they request to get to [safely]," said Tan. "We some truly believed we were precise blessed [and] we wanted to service Southeast Asia."

They went connected to draught up a concern plan, which was submitted into a startup contention astatine the university. They won archetypal runner up and took location a $25,000 prize, which was utilized arsenic effect wealth for what would go Grab.

Today, Grab is backed by the likes of SoftBank, and the institution has a marketplace headdress of implicit $14 billion.

However, Tan's travel to starting Grab was nary casual feat.

Growing up moving successful the household business, Tan was expected to instrumentality from his studies and spell backmost to moving for the company. So, erstwhile helium went to his begetter with his thought for Grab, the speech was not taken lightly.

"[My father] said 'Hey, I don't deliberation it's going to enactment out, truthful delight don't disturb maine astir this anymore,'" said Tan. "It was tough. It was this thought of like, ne'er being enough... but, I deliberation those [moments] pushed maine to say, 'Look, I tin make thing that truly solves existent societal problems.'"

He took the aforesaid pitch, refined it, and brought it to his mom, who yet became Grab's archetypal idiosyncratic investor. With the wealth from the startup contention and his mom, Tan besides invested everything helium had successful his slope into starting the institution successful June 2012. At the time, the institution was known arsenic "MyTeksi."

The archetypal fewer years successful concern were not glamorous by immoderate means.

Tan and his co-founder had fundamentally conscionable tasked themselves with gathering caller infrastructure for the Malaysian taxi system, but wealth was a large limiting factor.

The archetypal bureau was successful a tiny country successful Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — a portion of the satellite notorious for having blistery and humid upwind year-round. The bureau lacked ventilation, aerial conditioning and adjacent WiFi. "We had to tether from our mobile phones," said Tan.

It was besides hard for the squad to bring drivers onto the level without capable funds, truthful they had to get creative.

To get drivers connected committee successful the aboriginal days, Tan was connected the crushed traveling crossed Southeast Asia, trying to person taxi workers to effort Grab.

Tan noticed that earlier starting their displacement successful the morning, drivers successful Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, would halt astatine a state presumption to portion coffee. So helium would amusement up astatine astir 4 a.m. to springiness retired escaped java to the taxi drivers, which is besides erstwhile helium pitched them to articulation Grab. "That was the lone way, and it was conscionable a batch of this," helium said.

"In Manila, I retrieve going to conscionable taxi fleets, due to the fact that they ever alteration shifts astatine astir 4 successful the morning... and past [I spent] clip with them [with some] inexpensive beer, [to effort to] recognize their pains, their problems, wherefore they request much income," said Tan.

"It was precise intense," helium said. "Between the flying — I was doing 2 to 3 cities a week erstwhile we were going done the maturation and the scaling signifier — I was astir apt doing 15, 18, sometimes 20 hours a day, and it was a Monday to Sunday thing."

In 2018, aft a agelong and taxing battle, Uber agreed to sell its Southeast Asia concern to Grab successful speech for a 27.5% involvement successful the company. As portion of the deal, Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi joined Grab's committee of directors. This woody established Grab's dominance successful the region.

What began arsenic a imagination to hole the information occupation successful Malaysia's taxi strategy has present go Southeast Asia's ascendant ace app, but this dominance has been thing but controversial. The institution has faced antitrust allegations from critics and regulators.

There's nary arguing, however, that Grab has shaped the precise infrastructure of Southeast Asia.

It has transformed the mode that radical successful the portion spell astir their day-to-day lives, and empowered folks "at the bottommost of the pyramid" by giving them entree to things similar micro-financing programs, truthful that they tin spend to bargain a smartphone and commencement making wealth arsenic drivers.

"That's what differentiates us, right? Understanding what is their problem," helium said. "People whitethorn say, 'hey, Anthony, you're conscionable serving a niche.' Well, it's a large niche that has a precise poorly, underserved market."

"It's each astir truly helping them, serving them arsenic an ecosystem that cipher other can... and that's what differentiates america from immoderate of our peers."

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