byFood: The Foodie Travel Platform Tackling Hunger

Serkan Toso launched byFood, a platform connecting foodie travelers with unique culinary experiences, in 2019. Since then, the company has donated 600,000+ meals to children in need through its ‘Food for Happiness’ program. Having moved from Turkey to Japan, Serkan shares his fascinating journey into entrepreneurship and his many learnings from building and scaling his company. He candidly shares how byFood diversified its revenue streams during the pandemic, merging companies with another like-minded entrepreneur, and the company’s successes and challenges, including raising funds from investors to scale their service globally. We discuss how Serkan - a Forbes 30 Under 30 Honouree - deals with stress and maintains balance as a founder and recent father, his key insights on scaling a startup through different phases of growth, and how to differentiate in the competitive online travel industry. Highlights 08:02 Starting byFood & Overcoming Challenges 26:43 Scaling and Hiring the Right People 34:11 Maintaining Work-Life Balance as a Founder & Father 43:16 Overcoming Challenges as a Foreign Entrepreneur 53:21 Advice for Aspiring Changemakers Find out more about byFood and follow their journey here: https://www.byfood.com/