This week I received a letter (well, an email) from a CEO that grabbed my attention.
It was from Anthony Tan, CEO and co-founder, of GrabTaxi telling me (well, it felt like he was talking to me but I am sure it went out to hundreds of thousands of customers) that he’s decided to change his company’s name to Grab.
Simply Grab, and he wants to tell me why. But first he flatters me. “Many of you are our pioneers, you took a chance with us when many others doubted us.”
Then he thanks me. “You were so patient with us when we couldn’t deliver. You helped us grow to be the largest tech start-up Southeast Asia has ever seen.”
Then he flatters me again. “But we still have so much more to learn from you. Your loyalty has been incredibly humbling and is what motivates us to strive and improve even more everyday. We’re not slowing down at all. In fact, we’re just getting started.”
He shares the early start-up days – how his first office was a little guardhouse and the whole team could fit around one plastic table. “We didn’t even have Internet and had to tether off the Internet from our phones to our computers. It was 2012 and all we set out to do was to help people by improving the taxi service.”
Then he talks about growth – how they realised they could do so much more than taxis and “truly change the way people travel for the better” throughout South-east Asia.
He talks about what’s ahead – that they are more determined than ever to make sure no one is left behind, and keep raising the bar for safety.
And he invites me to be part of this next journey.
It’s a simple letter that makes me feel proud I’ve been part of his growth story, proud that a fellow Asian/Malaysian has done so well not only for himself but also truly effected change in ordinary people’s lives, and now I want to help him with the next chapter.
It also shows how businesses evolve to levels not even thought of by the founders at the time – he and his team thought only of taxis – and how entrepreneurs have to grab new opportunities and move quickly.
Anthony Tan, CEO of Grab
For me, GrabTaxi is a success story not because it has raised so much funding but because it’s made my life as a commuter and traveller easier. Okay, there are couple of things it could do better – I hate that I am forced to submit a review after every ride – but overall, the constant improvement in its service shows this is a team that pays attention to the details.
It also proves that local disruptors, when they do it right, can beat foreign players at their own game. EasyTaxi has since made a graceful exit from South-east Asia, and GrabTaxi is a name used more often by locals in the region than Uber.
And now Grab it will be.
It so happens that I am writing this sitting on an AirAsia flight to Kuching and I couldn’t help but connect the dots between what Tony Fernandes set out to do 10 years ago and what Anthony Tan (pictured left) is doing.
Fernandes set out to change the way people fly and in the old days, he used to write personal letters to his customers. He still does occasionally, I guess – the last time I heard from him was during the crash of AirAsia Indonesia.
He started out with Malaysia as his market and then fanned out across South-east Asia and later the rest of Asia. You could say Grab is travelling in AirAsia’s slipstream.
I am impressed by how AirAsia continues to innovate and plays to local tastes. Because it’s Lunar New Year, it’s offering a special Martin Yan longevity noodles onboard and you get a text message prompting you to order it before you board.
It makes you realise how important localisation and differentiation is in an increasingly commoditised world and well, if you want to win customer love, you’ve got to write personal letters that share, not sell, every now and then.
