Faizan Aslam

Early life and background

Faizan Aslam is from Sahiwal. He describes his family background as modest and says that he knew no one in Lahore at the start. [1]

Education

Aslam finished matric in 2003 and FSc in 2005, completing the FSc in Sahiwal. He chose a software engineering offer over management sciences options such as BBA and went to Islamic University, Islamabad. He describes himself as an average student at university, not an extraordinary one. He graduated in 2009. [1]

Software services business

While at university, Aslam started work from his hostel room, beginning with a printer setup. He saw a gap in internet services in university hostels. He made good money from that early hostel business. [1]

In 2008 he started a software services business from his hostel room. He started online freelance work with a roommate. Early work was data entry and small web projects on freelancing sites. When he graduated in 2009, six people worked with him, mostly seniors or classmates. Real clients, proper companies that outsourced their projects, started working with his team. [1]

The Sahiwal software company ran from late 2009 to 2013. At its peak the company had about 60 to 70 people. In 2013 the company's major client went bankrupt, and its payments were lost. After the client went bankrupt, many staff left, demotivated. The team moved to Lahore after staff said they were interested. [1]

Move to Lahore and the search for a product

Aslam felt that services work was steady and not high-impact, so he wanted to build a product. He noted that the world had long adopted e-ticketing. He and his team explored cinema, transportation and airlines as similar domains. [1]

He and his wife decided to watch movies in Lahore on weekends. Sahiwal had no cinema. Cinema staff told him they did not take bookings by phone. That was when he started to think this could be the product he was looking for. [1]

He said Sahiwal could not host the business, so the team had to move out. He went to the judges, spent time with them and told them his idea. He said it was make or break for him, as he was married and had responsibilities. At that time his savings were being burned and he had no earnings. He moved his wife to Lahore, while his parents stayed in Sahiwal. [1]

Bookme

Aslam said cinema audiences were tech-savvy smartphone users who understood digital payments. His team charged a premium and delivery charges. For almost the first year, his team had little back-end integration and no particular system deployed. He sometimes took calls himself, as there were not many people. The seed money was very small and barely covered survival. [1]

Bus ticketing and cashless payments

Bookme digitised bus operators quietly, as it knew that publicity around transportation could bring another company in. Bookme kept bus ticketing hidden until 2017. At the end of 2017 Bookme changed everything and made buses visible. [1]

Bus operators gave Bookme tickets at up to 35% less than the usual price. Bookme's selling point was that online tickets were 35% cheaper than offline tickets. Bookme's commission was included in the same price. [1]

In 2017 the team decided to switch off cash over a 12-month period. Bookme raised the cash-on-delivery charge from 100 to 200, then to 300, while giving online payers a discount. In 2018 Bookme went completely cashless. Bookme's sales dropped sharply in 2018 because customers were not willing to accept a change in behaviour. [1]

Funding and expansion

Aslam believes Bookme grew about 16% month on month before it raised investment around the start of 2019. After raising investment, Bookme started branding and marketing spend. Bookme announced a Series A round of 7.5 million US dollars. Bookme is live in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, and is expanding into 27 more cities. [1]

Covid-19

During Covid, sales fell to zero for some months until transport resumed. Bookme had some money set aside that helped it survive Covid. Bookme did not lay off anyone during Covid, and the whole team stayed. [1]

Aslam says Bookme grew four times during Covid. He credits Bookme's Covid survival to being a real business rather than one that relied on fluff. He says smartphone adoption during Covid helped tech adoption, including app downloads. [1]

Cricket ticketing

When TCS was awarded the contract, Bookme was in its very early days and did not meet the tender requirements. Aslam said those five years passed with great difficulty, as the team waited for a contract to end so that it could prove itself. PCB awarded Bookme a contract for PSL 2021, which Aslam describes as an experiment. [1]

Bookme decided to go a step further and build the system instead of only producing a document. The system described would scan a visitor's CNIC from a distance, or use a photo with image recognition or QR scanning, to fill in details automatically. A format was suggested in which all parties would each have half an hour to present their solutions. Two or three days before the PSL, Bookme was told it had been selected. The team set the system up and took it live over two nights. [1]

Due to Covid protocols, PSL tickets were online only, with no physical outlets. Bookme's system automatically displays a person's picture, CNIC and other details on screen. He said PCB provides only security guards and security agencies, while Bookme handles the operational matters. Bookme partnered with NCOC, so the process requires only a vaccination certificate number. He said a vaccination certificate is effectively the ticket. [1]

The first experiment given to Bookme ran for six months, and he said it went well. PCB re-tendered the contract for two years, and Bookme holds all PCB events until the end of 2023. [1]

Services and partners

Major banks, wallets and e-commerce platforms such as Daraz use Bookme to offer ticketing. Ticket buying is also available on a bank's cash deposit machines. He said that working with agents, such as EasyPaisa agents, creates visibility across Pakistan. Most bus operators' systems are integrated with Bookme. Bookme offers domestic and international airlines and about 1,800 hotels across Pakistan. [1]

Logistics

Aslam described real-time tracking that shows the exact location of a package on a mobile phone. A parcel can travel from Lahore to Islamabad within six hours, Aslam says. He said the price his company charges is almost 30% lower than that of a leading courier company. [1]

Views

Aslam says that when one idea works in Pakistan, about ten startups copy it overnight. He says Pakistan has problems everywhere, and each one can be an opportunity. He expects billion-dollar startups to emerge within 12 to 18 months. [1]

He says customers are not interested in what workarounds a business uses on the back end. He believes a product does not need to be perfect at launch if the market has demand. Aslam says Bookme still calls itself a startup. [1]

Personal life

Aslam got married in 2013. He says a few years ago he rode the university bus, and now his situation has changed. [1]

Timeline

2003

Finished matric.[1]

2005

Finished FSc.[1]

2008

Started a software services business from his hostel room.[1]

2009

Graduated.[1]

2017

Bookme made buses visible at the end of the year.[1]

2018

Bookme went completely cashless.[1]

2019

Bookme raised investment around the start of the year.[1]

2021

PCB awarded Bookme a contract for PSL 2021.[1]

Appearances

Frequently asked questions

References

1. How Bookme quietly digitised Pakistan's bus market . Thought Behind Things , 2021-12-22.