Tal Meser always wanted to start a business. But he dropped out of University and found himself in debt and “living off noodles” when he came to Creative HQ and started working with us.
After a couple of startup attempts, he focused on solving a problem he was passionate about – the challenges of living in a rental home – and went on to build a company called Tapi that is now a household name in the rental market. Tal’s story is one of determination, very hard work and believing in yourself. We sat down with Tal to help us tell his founder’s journey story.
Creative HQ and Lightning Lab
Tal’s connection with Creative HQ began in 2013, when he walked into the Creative HQ Manners Street office with an idea, little funding and a strong desire to build something meaningful. He attended an early Creative HQ workshop, learning lean methodology and validating startup fundamentals. From there he started working on ideas.
After a few struggles and pivots, Tal figured that he should solve a problem that he knows from personal experience. While living in a flat in Wellington, a persistent ceiling leak went unrepaired for months due to miscommunication between his landlord and property manager. The ceiling eventually collapsed, costing the landlord thousands and leaving Tal frustrated as a tenant.
Talking to friends, Tal discovered his experience was common so he co-founded a company called Flatfish. In 2017, Flatfish, which later was renamed to Tapi, joined the 2017 Lightning Lab FinTech Accelerator, which Tal describes as the pivotal moment for the company. Through customer discovery sprints, mentorship and access to investors, the team learned to refine their focus, moving from a B2C model to serving property management businesses directly. After speaking with property managers, he realised the problem wasn’t a lack of care — they simply lacked the tools to manage property maintenance effectively.
“Let’s build (property managers) good tools , help them be really great at their job, and make them superheroes to their tenants and landlords.”
Scaling up
The results came quickly. After securing early pilot customers, Tapi grew from 1,000 properties in Wellington in their system to 36,000 properties within two years. They had some challenges that called for some really hard decisions, but their persistence has paid off and today they have over 500,000 properties across New Zealand and Australia in their system.
Tapi is now used by 80% of property managers in New Zealand and is on track to reach 90% market penetration by the end of the year. Tal and his team have since expanded into Australia, achieving 10% market share in just two and a half years, with plans underway to launch in the UK.
Lessons on resilience and leadership
Tal credits much of Tapi’s success to resilience – the ability to navigate the “desert” moments of building a startup.
“It’s easy to have a vision on a slide. The journey is the hard part. The destination will be epic, but the journey is the battle.”
Over time, Tal has developed a deep understanding of every aspect of his business — from tech and sales to property management itself, even completing the industry’s formal training to become a qualified property manager.
“I had a mentor tell me, ‘I invest in companies with a CEO who is an expert in their domain.’ And I said, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong’. because I think you can learn anything, you just have to want to go out and do it.”
Advice for founders
Reflecting on his journey, Tal offers simple but powerful advice for early-stage founders:
“Believe in yourself. Listen to everyone, but make your own decisions. Be bold, be humble and be proud of the risks you’re taking. Some people will never take them, but if you do, there’s a reward on the other side – no matter the outcome.”
