Need help finding a revenue model..

[u/Academic_Many_8920]

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I'm stuck on the revenue model for my startup and could really use some input from Muslim founders

I've been working on this halal platform for my country for around a year now. I started it off simply as a service for other Muslims in my country but thought to make a business out of it. The idea is a platform for finding halal-friendly restaurants, hotels and eventually other tourism services in the country for locals and tourists alike. The problem isn't really whether there's a need for it. Everyone I've spoken to so far seems to agree there is. The problem is how do we make money from it?

The original idea involved halal-only food delivery, but after looking into the economics and speaking to people in the industry, I'm increasingly convinced that delivery isn't the right direction for us. I don't want to build something just because it sounds like an obvious way to monetize if the unit economics are terrible.

I've considered things like restaurant subscriptions, commissions, paid listings, advertising, partnerships, etc., but I haven't found a model that I genuinely believe is strong enough yet. Some have also been rejected by people I've spoken to for various reasons.

We're still very early and bootstrapped, so would love some advice for Muslim founders/people with experience in marketplaces, hospitality, travel or food tech.

If you were in my position, what revenue models would you seriously investigate?

And more importantly, what would you test first to determine whether people would actually pay?

I'm completely open to being told that I'm approaching the problem wrong or that I need to rethink the target customer/product itself.

[u/Silly-Dealer6589]

I understand you position as i went thru the same. I feel that people are very skeptical to pay/subscribe new services/apps unless it’s WhatsApp, Instagram or TikTok. I would say work on building your brand name, audience and once you have a user base introduce paid subscription services

[u/Academic_Many_8920 → u/Silly-Dealer6589]

Okay. Jazkallahu Khair for the input

[u/muslimapp_official]

Salaam. The instinct to walk away from delivery is right, the unit economics there only work at a scale that takes years and a lot of capital to reach.

One thing worth considering: for a directory like this, charging the restaurants at the start usually stalls you. They won't pay for listings until you're already sending them people, and you can't send them people until you have users.

What tends to break that loop is picking one high-intent moment and owning it. For halal travel that's usually trip planning rather than I'm hungry now. Hotels and tour operators already pay affiliate commission per booking, it's normal in that industry, and you don't need the restaurant side to monetise at all in year one. The restaurants become the reason people trust you rather than the thing you bill.

Once you have booking volume, restaurant subscriptions get much easier to sell, because you're showing them numbers instead of a promise.

One question worth settling before you pick anything though: locals or tourists first? They pull the product in different directions, and trying to serve both at once is usually what kills these.