Case TakeIt: How Alexander Onikienko makes public transport out of taxis

- Overheated market, pumped up participants - how are you going to compete, in addition to low costs?

There is an expression: "There is always a brushwood under a big tree." Approximately with the same thoughts we entered this market.

There was a niche cheap taxi, which until recently did not exist in nature. If we compare our prices with the three largest players in the market, they are still more expensive. And the cheap taxi market is in demand - we have already checked and found out.

- Recently, we all learned about this truth, after the publication on the topic “Maxim Taxi” and their approximate turnover in the regions ... the demand is growing, can you confirm it?

Of course, demand is growing.

- In that case you, if I understand correctly, simply declare that you will be cheaper than competitors?

Yes. And the goal is to be not “slightly cheaper than competitors,” but twice as cheap. We will come to this, in my opinion, in 2-3 blocks.

- That is, during 2016 you want to achieve this goal?

Yes, this year.

- What does your structure look like now? Where are you already working, where are you planning to expand?

Now we work in 35 cities. We were entrenched in Moscow, and in the 34 remaining ones, we are still “groping” for opportunities, carefully distributing orders for partner taxi companies, for private drivers with suitable cars and patents for activities.

Now our choice has fallen on the Krasnodar Territory, within six months we plan to begin to work actively both in Krasnodar and in the Rostov Region.

In foreign countries - we, of course, look at the CIS. Georgia and Armenia are warm countries, they are interested in us. As well as Eastern Europe and Southeast - this region is also of interest to us, but there is no formed market yet.

Software for "taxi", that is, software for managing orders and the park, is scaled quite simply, we do not see any problems. In the formation of the market, we are naturally interested.

- We on “Megamind” wrote about your round of financing in the amount of $ 2 million - a serious amount for a young startup, today, in Russia. Two years ago I would not say that, now the reality has changed. You have invested your own funds, for me it demonstrates the seriousness of intentions. The question is, what will happen next - the next rounds? Or development in the framework of working capital?

We believe that the pre-seed and seed rounds should be based on their own funds - the money of the team members. Of course, in the future we will need both the A-round and the round break, perhaps even the third ...

- To paraphrase - do you plan to actively attract third-party capital and further?

Yes. It is no secret that in this market it is difficult to play without third-party funds, and later - without public offering. We want to do this, and after 2-3 years to go to the exchange.

- What do you have with the team, Alexander? What departments, how many people?

We, as a team, are very small - we are five.
There is an outsourcing staff, there is a partner. Moreover, we work with outsourcing not quite normally - we outsource not from the professional “outsourcers”, but from the successful partners: the dispatcher, the heads of the columns, the technical center.

Among the five members of the TakeIt team is the owner of the PostWeb agency, his team has a PHP developer, and an Android developer. On iOS, we still do not pay much attention, since we are running it all on Android, and only after we plan to launch an iOS application.

Is Android chosen because of the depth of distribution and availability of (priced) devices?

That's right. Our client, for the most part, is not an Apple consumer. And not even a fan.

In addition, the development under Android, from our point of view, is slightly simpler. If you focus on the client, the picture is the same - the device on the Android OS.

- And in the future you will organize a large personal development experience and transfer everything else to your side (control room, technical, etc.)?

We will focus on the situation, according to needs. While we cope, there are enough resources, even on small volumes. In our company, everything is calculated up to kilograms of coffee consumed per month - we cut off all the costs that we could. This allows us to give a low price.

- Alexander, something from yourself, so to speak, on a free topic?

There are a couple of things I want to say.
I myself came from a taxi (Alexander was the marketing director of the “Rostaxi” transport company) and I know that it is not available to everyone, 5 years ago a taxi was not available to me - I could not drive, it was expensive.

Now the bar for the average cost of the trip and, accordingly, the minimum cost of the order has dropped significantly and everything has become easier. Initially, starting TakeIt, we dreamed of making a taxi ride as affordable as a public transport trip. It is still the number 1 goal - to provide an opportunity to make a taxi ride to all those people for whom this is relevant and who may need it. Now the bar is still high, the average check is too high.

- With the fact that the cost of a taxi was unreasonably high, I agree, and in general there were no arguments why this happened.

We all look at Uber and, of course, it seems that "this player can not be replayed." But, of course, we understand that there are niches where Uber has not yet climbed and, quite possibly, will not go in principle.

To unite traveling people, even within one country, is quite realistic and this can be done fairly quickly. I want to believe that we will do it first - this is the second goal, to become the main supplier of taxis for people constantly traveling in the CIS - they still use the services of 2-3 taxi stations, coming on business trips or on vacation. I think that such a need is unfulfilled.

- Speaking specifically, how much should a trip in Moscow at TakeIt? Suppose that “earlier” would cost a thousand rubles. In my opinion, Uber in a similar situation, today, carries 500-600 rubles. Your price?

350 rubles, at the moment - a foreseeable check in the near future, for the “average” trip in the capital.

- Right now? Not next year?

Yes, right now. Through the whole city, not by nine-traffic jams, now it’s already worth 400-500 rubles to drive. So we get it quite often.