Entrepreneurship and Innovation

This interview with Hasan Basyigit, the founder of Gateway Cabs Pty Ltd, explores his journey in starting and running a successful cab business. Learn about his inspiration, challenges, and goals in entrepreneurship and innovation.

Running head: ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Name of the Student:
Name of the university:
Author’s Note:

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Introduction
The entrepreneur that has been chosen for the business is Hasan Basyigit, who is in the
business of the Gateway Cabs Pty Ltd (Taxi Base). This entrepreneur has been chosen for the
interview as his business is very functional and a practical business Hasan Basyigit was a very
hardworking and business minded person. Righ6 from his childhood he wanted to do something
that would benefit the common people. He was a science graduate from the IIT-B. Right from is
young age he wanted to do something for the welfare of the common masses. As he belonged
from a middle class family, he always had a proper idea regarding the economic challenges that
have often been faced by them.
He knows that often his family and relatives had to walk long miles or tae the highly
crowded buses and other public transportations in order to travel from one place to the other.
This would often become the major reason behind getting delayed in reaching to the desired
places. He himself faced many hurdles while travelling from one part of the city to the other.
Often there was less availability of the transportations, and the behaviour of the drivers would
often be very bad. As a result of this, he had the idea of starting a new business. Thus he began
his new venture of the cab business. Gateway Cabs Pty Ltd.(Basr Cabs) 70 Raynham Street
Salisbury QLD 4107
Findings from the interview
Before starting the first venture
The interview with Hasan Basyigit started on a very happy and peaceful note. On being
asked if he knew anyone else in business while growing up, the first thing he mentioned was his
father. His father had been his greatest inspiration throughout his life. Though his father was

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occupied in a different line of business, he was always much inspired by the business ideas that
were shared by his father. He said that his faster always influenced him with the efforts and the
ability in using up the right opportunity at the right time to flourish in business. Currently, he
knows his business partner who is helping him to carry on this business. As young entrepreneurs,
they have to gain a good hold over the R&D department. His business partner helps him to do in-
depth market research in order to find out the changing needs and demands of the customers.
On asking if his parents were entrepreneurial, he answered that his father and most of his
uncles were business persons. However, during their time, there was a lack of proper finance and
resources. As a result of this, they were not able to execute all their ideas that they conceived. He
said that his role model was Andrew Demetriou. He has always been influenced by the hard
work and the zeal that has been shown by him. It was also answered by in that while starting his
start up he was working with the Atlassian Company in Austria. He had the experience of
working for a good number of years, and he was also from the software developing back ground.
Thus he felt that his knowledge from the software background along with his thirst for
developing something new and dynamic would help him in undertaking his new business
venture. He said that his experience in the software development field really helped him to
develop the business. He wanted to reduce the gap between people and convenience. Thus he
knew the right usage of technologies and software.
After starting the venture
The interview focused on his experience after starting with the venture. On being asked
what was that one special incident which helped him to get this idea, he began with a one word
answer. That was ‘inconvenience” He responded that he saw this opportunity in the large scale

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inconvenience and the hassles that are faced by so many office goers and the masses as a whole
on an everyday basis. In other words, he wanted to make the lives of the people easier by helping
them to get easy access to cabs. He largely found his opportunity within the m marking or mobile
making. In this modern day scenario, mobile marketing and smart phone usage are increasing at
a very rapid rate. Thus he wanted to grab this opportunity by connecting his business via mobile
marketing. He said that his goals were to make use of the modern day scientific technologies and
apps in order to carry on with this business. Though he wanted to develop this cab business at the
same time, he wanted to make sure that the customers are able to get these cabs just by one
single touch on their smart phones. His goal was also to develop a cab service that would be
affordable by all the people belonging from different income groups of the economy. Apart from
this his goals included bridging the geographical distance or the barriers that existed between one
place and the other. He said that his lifestyle mainly needed forming some secret schedules and
time management so that I could strike a proper balance between work and life.
On asking him regarding the critical elements for the success, he said that starting this
cab business was a good idea. There was definitely a demand for the easily accessible cab in the
market. However, at the same time, it was also many risks oriented. This was, mainly because of
the fact that there was already some of the cab business that was already established by then.
13Cabs, Taxi Australia and other such ventures had already been established by then and were
being used by the customers. Thus he knew that in order to succeed in this business he has to
work hard and gave his customers something new that they would not get in the other cab
agencies.
He has a good idea regarding the market and the demands of the targeted customers, but
at the same time, it was a challenge to meet with all the needs and demands of their customers.

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The criteria that he wanted to meet were to provide convenience and affordable price for the cab
booking agency. It is for this reason that he started with the scheme of providing a discount to all
the customers ‘making their booking for the first time. He also got some outside help from his
relatives and friends who were in the law profession. He had to develop a good networking and
contact system in order to know the right ethics and the rules that were needed for this business.
He had to take help from the lawyers as it would help him to deal with the insurance and the
license policies for making sure that no illegal activity is taking place in his business venture.
However a good amount of time was needed to establish this contact, it took about an approx
time of about 8 months. 8 months is approximately a year’s time and this much time is needed
for the purpose of getting good referrals and connecting at the right place. The outside mentors
have been a good and useful source of help as they helped me to understand the current market
trends going on.
Ongoing venture
There were also some or the other kinds of problems or gaps that he had to encounter
while he started with the business. The major gap was to contact with the drivers. The amount of
capital and resources needed to carry on with the business was also a major challenge in the
beginning. Gathering the finance from the investors was one of the major problems. The key
personnels particularly the employees that were being searched by him had to meet certain
criteria. He wanted to see if the employees were of a hard working nature and were well versed
with the handling of the navigation map. These two traits would be very helpful for the future of
the business. This would help in expanding the business.

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The recruitment process was mainly carried on via the job portals and the over phone
internet calls. The attributes that are undesirable in employees for this business, mainly included
impatient, anger and dishonest attitude. An employee who is impatient will not be able to handle
customer calls or customer complaints. There are surely some tradeoffs that have been faced by
him in his business. On being asked about the tradeoffs, he said that it was to strike a balance
between his business and his family. It was really very tough to bring a balance between the two
as it needed a huge amount of effort and time. There were complaints coming from his family as
he was becoming workaholic, but somehow he managed to bring parity between the two.
Reflections from the interview
I have been able to gain huge knowledge by conducting this interview. I have been able
to interview a fascinating personality. Hasan Basyigit has shared all the valuable tips that must
be followed by young entrepreneurs. I have been able to learn from this interview that there will
be a lot of hurdles coming in the path and they are to be overcome by some or the other means.
Developing a secure connection and networking system is also something that was learnt from
this interview. To flourish in any venture, I will have to establish a stable relationship. I will
always keep this in mind that to carry on with any business venture. I will have to take help from
my relatives and friends who are influential in the entrepreneurial field. Taking advice from
seniors or known contacts is always very good for carrying on with the business.
Conclusion
The interview was concluded by Hasan Basyigit saying that his determination and
willpower were the most valuable assets that helped him to carry on with this Gateway Cabs Pty

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Ltd (Taxi Base) business venture. He also added that he would be more than happy to start any
new and innovative business venture in the future. He would carry it on with the same potential
and hard work. The most critical concept skills that have been useful for building up the business
to where it is today are the proper customer management skills, navigations skills and willpower.
In the next five years, Hasan Basyigit would like to see his company at the top of the travel and
tourism department. He also wishes to venture into other collaborative business branches in the
coming five years. He said that there are surely stress and pressure in being an entrepreneur, but
at the same time, there is a pleasure in dealing with these challenges. The interview was finally
ended with few words of wisdom from this famous entrepreneur himself. He suggested all the
upcoming entrepreneurs have self confidence and strong determinations. No matter how difficult
is the path; they must never give up hope and must never give up trying.

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