Hey Maxers,
Exactly one year ago today, we launched Max Miles in Singapore. I vividly remember how naive and unprepared we were. We didn’t even know that 9.9 was a big shopping day!
On September 8th, we rushed to launch Max Miles just in time for 9.9, so that Maxers could start earning flexible, customer-centric Max Miles while shopping on one of the biggest sale days of the year.
Here’s the original launch post on Telegram. (I sure asked ChatGPT to add way too many emojis…)
In the last one full year, we owe everything to the overwhelming support from the Miles community, especially those who clicked the “Shop with Max” button on the first day it launched.
Looking back at this post, I’m almost in tears. I am profoundly proud that we held on to the key value of “No expiry, no fee, 1:1 transfer ratio” that made many love Max Miles.
We were bluntly honest on how limited (read: crappy) the initial Max Miles program was, and we vowed to improve it over time. And so we tried hard.
(First generation Max Miles screen)
(First ever order that generated Max Miles during a test)
We went from:
- 50 Merchants, with only shopping available
- 10 Airlines and Hotels Transfer Options
- No Apps, No Chrome Extension
- 3,000 Monthly Active Maxers
- Less than 1000 Telegram users in our Telegram group
To:
- 500+ Merchants, ranging from Credit Cards, Insurance, Online Shopping, Travel to Restaurants.
- 27 Airlines and Hotels Transfer Options + FlyAnywhere Programme
- iOS, Android and Chrome Extension
- Nearly 30,000 Monthly Active Maxers
- 7,000 in our Telegram Group
- Close to 91 Million Miles issued, the equivalent of 5000 trips
I’m super proud of our small yet mighty team’s progress. But yet, I want to be bluntly honest that the experience still kinda sucks, which includes that:
- There is still a 1-3 month wait for “Shop with Max” miles to be confirmed
- Missing Max Miles still occur
- Not enough places to earn consistently huge amounts of Max Miles
- “Where is KrisFlyer?”
- Other reward currencies, like credit card points, are still fragmented
We promise to consistently and humbly deliver more customer value with these principles guiding us:
- Stay the closest with our Maxers. You’ll find us in the Telegram channel, owning up to our mistakes and understanding customer needs, every single day.
- Not being afraid of mistakes, iterating fast, creating more chances of generating outsized value for customers.
- Be transparent, forthcoming and open in our way of communication to Maxers, partners and investors. (A few of you are all-three-at-once!)
- Deliver sustainable long term value, not short term gimmicks.
More memorabilia
Our very first User Pizza Party
(More user parties in our old Blk 73 office)
(First Post to get beta testers 3 days before the Max Miles launch)
(The door of our first real office - Blk 73 at Launchpad)
(Very first office - shared desk for the 4 co-founders at Work Central)
(Some of our small but mighty team)
Fun facts:
- Iterating Value propositions - We tried “Your Personal Finance Butler”, “Make your credit card work for you”, “One Card to Rule Them All”, “Double Dip Your Miles” and “Get a Free Trip Every Year”
- We established the company value in the following order: Maxers and Employees > Partners > Shareholders
- Max Miles is the only loyalty currency that’s created primarily to satisfy customers and not to drive business.
- We moved office from Block 73 to a bigger office in Block 75, and grew our team from just 4 engineers, to close to a 20-person multi-functional team!
It's hard to make something new, useful and sustainable. I want to thank you again for your honesty, criticism, skepticism and feedback, one year ago and now. Thank you for your support that gave us a chance, especially when we didn't deserve it. I promise to channel the energy into giving you more memorable trips in the coming years.
Looking forward to giving more people free trips next year.
Special thanks to Dawn, Timothy, Aaron, Seth, Chris, Kelvin, and many other early adopters and supporters, who gave us a chance to prove value to you and your audience in the early days.
Sincerely,
Joe
CEO and Co-Founder at HeyMax
P.S. As something extra, our 9.9 deals start going live this evening, and we’re celebrating our Birthday Bash all month long with special surprises for you. We’d love for you to be a part of it as we continue this journey together.
