Case study · Hospitality marketplace
Zero to one for a stays marketplace.
Sumit Shaw came to MGS with a half-formed business model and a hard question: who will build the venture with me, not just for me? We started at the brand and stayed on as the partner, shaping the model, the identity, the systems, the website and a full product build for a stays marketplace in India.
- Engagement
- Monthly retainer, active since April 2026
- Services
- Brand · Strategy · Product · Web · Social
- Phases
- 1–3 active · Phase 4 (React Native) planned
- Live
- hookoom.com ↗
A founder, not a brief.
Sumit had a partly-formed business model and was agency-hunting online. Most shops were too expensive, and most would only execute deliverables, take a task, return a file. What he actually needed was different: a partner to shape the venture from zero, someone to engage with the business itself, not a vendor to hand a brief to.
That gap, between execution-for-hire and a partner who owns the outcome, is exactly where MGS starts.
We joined at Phase 1, as a partner.
Rather than open with deliverables, MGS positioned itself as a strategic partner and worked the business model and strategy alongside the design. Get the venture right first; let the artefacts follow. From that footing the engagement widened naturally, into systems, the website, and a full product build.
Even the logo carries the idea: a room, with a face looking back.
The mark
A face, hiding in plain sight.
The rounded square is the room. The two circles read as a pair of eyes, present, attentive, and, not by accident, as the double-o of Hookoom. Bracket notches on all four corners reward a closer look. In the brand book the mark grows into a living face with six expressions, the right note for a hospitality brand.
Four phases, one rope line.
Brand
A logo and a complete brand book: logo usage, colour, typography, and the brand positioning statement.
Strategy, systems, presence
Business-model correction and research; org systems set up (Google Workspace and operational tooling); social planning for both the brand and the founder profile; pitch decks; and a prelaunch website, designed, developed, hosted and maintained by MGS.
A working marketplace
Product R&D; a host dashboard; property listing and onboarding; a customer-facing hotel-booking web application; and a super-admin to manage hosts and listings. Currently in testing.
Native apps
A React Native application, to carry the marketplace to iOS and Android.
A footprint that’s ready to test.
A strong digital footprint is now in place. All social channels are active and growing organically, brand awareness is up, and the founder profile is building through Instagram founder-engagement videos. Sumit is pitch-ready and market-ready, set to begin testing with hosts.
No performance metric is claimed while the product is still in testing. Founder milestones will be added here once cleared.
Hookoom’s testimonial is on its way, real words from their founder, coming soon.
Your brand could be next.
Tell us what you’re building and we’ll reply within a day. No pitch necessary.