Hayfa Al Abdulla (left), QSTP Innovation Director, presenting first prize to team ClassTap co-founders Rana Majeed and Bashar Hudhud, at the Demo Day of XLR8 cycle 8.
Two start-ups – ClassTap and PARTIX – that excelled in the eight cycle of the XLR8 program are set to commercially launch their ventures in the local market in March.
ClassTap has developed a digital platform offering fitness fans easy access to classes and day passes to gyms around Qatar through one smartphone application and under a single membership. While PARTIX will launch an online platform that aims to digitize the automotive spare-parts business.
At the outset, ClassTap’s mission was to develop a digital product that motivates people in Qatar to lead healthier lifestyles by inspiring, connecting, and introducing them to new experiences. The team recognized the difficulty people have with committing to one specific routine which becomes demotivating. ClassTap’s solution to the problem is to introduce the community to all the workouts and fitness classes available across Qatar via one app and membership, thereby giving them much-needed flexibility. The fact that 30 gyms have already signed up to ClassTap is a measure of the app’s future commercial potential.
Heading up ClassTap are co-founders Bashar Hudhud, CEO, a seasoned entrepreneur, and Chief Creative Officer Rana Majeed, an entrepreneur with two Master’s degrees from IE Business School in Spain. The pair recall how, when XLR8, a program at Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation, began in September 2019, ClassTap was just an idea. They credit the “hands-on” program with helping develop it into a market-viable product.
They praise their dedicated mentors and advisors, citing their high-quality, regular feedback as vital to all aspects of their start-up development and future strategy.“Throughout the program, we learned to define our value proposition, segment our market, conduct interviews, and validate the market,” they said, adding: “By the end of the program, we had a full business model, product prototype, and market validation data to support it. The experience has been tremendously positive.”
Bashar and Rana described the excitement of “demo day”, and the announcement that the team had been awarded the Best Investment Opportunity award. The win, they say, has helped build their product’s “visibility and viability” in the market. As a sign of its potential commercial impact, following their win, ClassTap were immediately approached by Qatar Sportstech, a Start-up Bootcamp branch, to join their program ─ an offer including financial investment.
Since winning, the team has been busy preparing for the March launch of their product, building the program and working to increase market traction.
ClassTap advise future XLR8 participants to always look to the market: “Whether this is market demand or supply, competitors, or the trends and customer habits that are constantly changing.”
As for XLR8’s impact, they said: “The network we currently have, thanks to QSTP, has been amazing in helping us achieve our goals and making ClassTap a winning XLR8 project.” Throughout the program, team members could confer with other entrepreneurs within QSTP’s ecosystem, which helped them meet the many challenges they faced: “It was extremely beneficial for us to hear how they overcame the many challenges they had.”
Shortlisted as a finalist in the 8th cycle, team PARTIX described how the XLR8 program helped them develop their idea of an online platform that aims to digitize the automotive spare parts business. Via a single app, users will be able to immediately access a comprehensive list of relevant suppliers in the area, along with their prices, allowing motorists to obtain the spare parts they need at a price that suits them, rather than having to hunt for suppliers and manage price variations in the traditional way, saving both time and money.
The four-strong team comprises Ali Abbas Mohamed, Mohamed Khodadady, and Mohamed Hamid Elfadl, all mobile application developers, and Fahad Al Naimi, a chemical engineering graduate of Qatar University and a project manager at Qatar Shell.
Team PARTIX also spoke of having to learn to respond quickly to the challenges they faced during product development, but expert help was always available: “Cycle 8 was amazing. There were a large number of mentors to support the teams, and during the program we had to pivot the idea more than once.”
The XLR8 program has three main modules: Product-Market Fit, Customer Traction, and Attracting and Pitching to Investors. PARTIX cited the “customer validation” workshop as the most interesting and important, saying: “It asked us to live and experience our customers’ lives, speak their language, and witness their challenges.”
The team related how, following the workshop, they discussed the challenges with their chief mentor, which led to a day spent in their marketplace, the “Industrial Area”.
“We learned so much from talking to our partners, customers, and consumers. The information and guidelines from mentors helped us at every workshop, and we could meet and discuss things with our mentors, even by text messaging, if we had any doubts. At times, you feel that you are the only team they are taking care of.”
Like ClassTap, PARTIX continues to get good advice from its mentors as it prepares to launch its product, boosting their confidence in its potential for future success and growth.
PARTIX will reach a milestone soon after XLR8 with its official product launch this March: “After graduating from the program, we put in place a plan to test the market and customer reaction to help make our application more reliable.”
Launched almost a decade ago, the XLR8 program has scored major successes and propelled the growth of several aspiring tech entrepreneurs around the world. A total of 23 start-ups have emerged from XLR8 so far, including five companies currently enjoying commercial success, both in Qatar and foreign markets.
