From Telco Exec to “Empty Tables Are Perishable”: Lessons from Michael Cluzel

What makes someone leave a cushy corporate gig to build a category-defining startup? In Episode 7 of The Exponential Show, host Mayank Singh sat down with Michael Cluzel — former CEO and co-founder of Eatigo — to unpack the insight, team chemistry, and regional savvy that took a simple idea global: treat empty restaurant tables like airline seats—perishable inventory that can be priced and filled dynamically.

The spark: frustration → focus

Cluzel traces his founder origin story to a frank realization in his late thirties: if hard-won recommendations die in corporate bottlenecks, it’s time to build elsewhere. A chance call from a former intern with a restaurant-booking site in Bangkok, plus a slide comparing capacity utilization (airlines/hotels ~80% vs. restaurants ~40%), crystallized the opportunity. As an economist, he saw a big, universal problem with a clean solution: yield management for dining.

A different kind of founding team

Forget the “two friends in a dorm” trope. Eatigo’s four co-founders were seasoned execs — an economist (Cluzel), two CPAs, and an engineer — none of them coders. They outsourced the tech, obsessed over unit economics, and bootstrapped for the first 2–3 years, preserving ownership and discipline. Their shared telco past meant they could “fight without breaking up,” combining direct communication with deep respect for domain strengths. Culturally, the team was intentionally diverse (Thai, Singaporean, Indian, European), and that meritocratic lens flowed into hiring across the company.

Why Southeast Asia — and why it worked

Eatigo launched first in Thailand (as a proxy for emerging markets) and Singapore (for mature markets). The logic was crisp:

• Large population & dining-out culture: Southeast Asia spends a meaningful share of disposable income on eating out.

• Discount affinity: Timed offers to nudge off-peak behavior fit regional consumer psychology.

• Mobile-first penetration: Strong smartphone usage enabled adoption.

Crucially, food travels well across borders. To handle local decision styles, the team didn’t force one UI paradigm. Thailand’s “browse” culture got image-led categories and maps; Singapore’s search-forward users got powerful filters. The product met people where they were, not vice versa.

Surviving shocks, choosing strategy

Cluzel is candid about the pandemic’s impact on a business that sends people to restaurants. The lesson wasn’t about rosy forecasts; it was about resilience, capitalization, and optionality. He underscores how multiple revenue streams and complementary strengths (operational scaling, funding, and diversified business lines) matter when black swans hit. The takeaway for founders: shocks force you to re-evaluate your playbook, not just rebuild the same hotel after the tornado.

Editor’s note: Michael is no longer CEO of Eatigo. We’ve intentionally omitted forward-looking plans discussed in the episode that did not materialize.

Tactics & takeaways for founders

Cluzel’s advice is refreshingly practical:

1. Don’t go it alone. Share the financial and emotional load; co-founders improve idea-quality, speed, and stamina.

2. Start with a real (paid) problem. “Ideas” aren’t enough; validate that someone will pay to make the pain go away.

3. Pick your monster: innovate or out-operate. Competing on “better/cheaper” invites price wars. True innovation buys you pricing power and forgiveness for early execution mistakes.

4. Monetize from the wallet that pays. Eatigo charged merchants, not users—because companies pay bills far more reliably than consumers do.

5. Localize how people decide. UI/UX is culture. Design multiple paths (browse, search, map) to the same action.
   

Why this story sticks

Eatigo’s “empty table as a perishable good” is the kind of one-sentence insight that changes markets. It didn’t require inventing yield management; it required porting it to a universal category with three daily purchase occasions and then building the operating system (team, economics, localization) to make it real.

For aspiring founders, Cluzel’s journey is a reminder: great companies aren’t just born from big ideas — they’re built by experienced teams who sweat unit economics, respect culture, and choose the right customer to bill.

Watch Ep #7: Michael Cluzel — Dining with Eatigo. If you found these lessons useful, subscribe to The Exponential Show for more candid conversations with founders and operators across Southeast Asia.