Keep doing what you are best at

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11/22/2022

Levana Nourishments Plant-Based Meal Replacements- with all the mandated nutritional elements of an actual meal

Please introduce yourself and your startup Levana Nourishments to our readers!

Throughout my career, I have always worked in the natural foods space, long before the public consciousness was raised about the importance of eating clean. Although I spent my student years studying for and earning a Master’s Degree in Psychology, my life work has been accomplished in several fields of the Natural Foods Industry: I co-owned Lévana Restaurant in Lincoln Center, which earned me the title of Pioneer of Upscale Kosher Dining; I had an all-natural catering service; And I wrote three cookbooks, my Magnum Opus being The Whole Foods Kitchen; I teach natural foods cooking regularly.

Lévana Nourishments came as a natural next step.

How did you get the idea of Levana Nourishments?

When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, he became regularly subjected to intensive chemotherapy treatments. Although his response to the treatments was positive, he reached almost skeletal weight due to extreme appetite loss and inability to tolerate most foods, including all the standard institutional meal replacement products. I was put off by the high sugar content and synthetic ingredients found in many commercial nutritional powders. Drawing on my lifelong experience with natural foods and cooking, I decided to create my own, concentrated nutrition shake powder based on pure, simple and familiar plant-based ingredients.

Even in its first formulation, the result was a very promising and highly effective version of what eventually became the Levana Nourishments line of natural meal replacements. Even today, these powerful complete-meal shakes make up the lion’s share of my husband’s nutrition needs.

Why did you decide to start with Levana Nourishments?

I looked around me, and found precious few good choices when it came to complete meal replacements, made with real foods. Not all meal replacement shakes are created equal. Too often they contain synthetic and chemical ingredients. Also, many of them target weight loss or sport nutrition and are not designed to close a dietary gap or provide the whole-meal nutritional value that many consumers desperately need. This is where I saw my opportunity to make an essential difference in that space with a nutritious, plant-based meal replacement. My mantra became: create maximum nutrition in a minimum volume.

What is the vision behind Levana Nourishments?

My vision is that the line I have developed will get a central spot in the Integrative Nutrition Community; that it is recognized not as just another protein powder or as another supplement, but as a valuable all-inclusive completely balanced meal replacement, with all the mandated nutritional elements of an actual meal: calories, protein, fat, fiber, minerals, amino acids.

We were very mindful of every area of compliance, so as to accommodate all consumers: the line is low in sodium, non-GMO, certified natural, soy-free, nut-free, gluten-free, Kosher, sugar-free, dairy-free.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

The built-in challenge was that my husband’s dire straits forced me to be doubly creative and doubly productive even as I cared for him all day and all night. But seeing him regain his strength was the greatest encouragement and the greatest reward I could get. It was in fact his idea that I should take my project well beyond the confines of my own home to the larger public: it could help so many people!

The main challenge in developing the plant-based meal replacement line was to stay true to my vision and not compromise on the quality of the ingredients and make sure that the products will be clean-label.

Who is your target audience?

Our clean-label line of complete meal replacement shakes suits people with special dietary needs, picky eaters, children, and active persons who live on the go with little time to prepare meals.

What is the USP of your startup?

The USP of my line is that it results in visible well-being improvements, while using a short list of clean, plant-based ingredients. It also keeps you regular, which is the Holy Grail for people relying on supplemental nutrition. Too often we see a meal replacement achieve one health benefit at the cost of other benefits (where it provides enough protein it contains too much sugar, too many allergens, too much sodium, too little fiber, too many synthetic additives etc).

Can you describe your typical workday?

My days are arranged around tending to my husband’s needs, exploring possible collaboration with potential partners, and developing new exciting savory flavors in my meal replacement line.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Levana Nourishments in five years?

Because I have done so much of the groundwork to put the line in place, my ambition, my dream, is to partner up with Functional Foods and supplement companies that will recognize the value of what I have built and how many people it can help, We have created a working proof-of-concept and it is practically ready to go on to the market on a private label basis and we would like get commercialized with a partner that can take this line to health food stores.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

1. Many of us do not work with an unlimited budget: this often turns out to be a blessing in disguise. Working with a small budget pushes every envelope: You will be delighted to get fully acquainted with your own resourcefulness, ingenuity and creativity. I believe this is precisely what will lead us to the bigger people and will make them want to work as a team with us and partner with us. Keep doing what you are best at, you will soon meet the people who can do some other essential things better than you can.

2. You will often be exposed to conflicting and contradicting opinions and recommendations by well wishers, which will often result in diffidence and even discouragement. Listen to that still small voice that keeps whispering encouragement in your ear, and keep trucking!

3. Your project might go through periods when it looks like nothing is happening. You started so long ago, and you didn’t get there yet. But your project is not the only thing going on: your regular life gets in the way! You should indeed be proud that even with the all-consuming undertaking you took on, your life with your loved ones, your friends and your community is going strong: enjoy their support and the togetherness they offer you.

More information you will find here

Thank you Levana Kirschenbaum for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

How to Enter the Ride-Sharing Services Industry

By

Quepatagra

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11/15/2022

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Successful ride-sharing services businesses like Uber and Lyft can be an inspiration to launch your very own app that offers similar services.

In essence, you’re optimizing travel costs for people who are about to visit the same destination all while preserving the environment by keeping CO2 emissions to a minimum, making it a win-win proposition.

The question becomes, how to go about it? In this guide, we’ll briefly walk you through the steps involved.

1. Analyze the market

As any business-savvy entrepreneur is well aware of, market research always comes first. It could be that launching a ride-sharing app ends up being profitable in one region but not in another where you’d be competing against big players.

Then, you have to ask yourself whether there’s enough demand in the region you’re targeting. While there’s little point in offering ride-sharing services in the middle of the desert, a suburban area just might have enough inhabitants for the business venture to be worth the effort.

2. Double-check the local regulations

Since there are potential safety risks involved, you’re going to have to pay close attention to the local regulations and learn what to do to stay compliant. For starters, you’re going to have to verify the documents of drivers who’ll be signing up as service providers.

It’s a good idea to read up on NFC-based verification in mobility since it has become industry standard. Keep in mind that laws and regulations may differ from one region to another, so make sure to do your due diligence.

3. Plan out your monetization strategy

By examining how Uber monetizes its services, you’ll see that a commission is being charged upon successfully completing a ride. The reason being is that Uber acts as an intermediary between the driver and the customer, thus being able to charge a fee to connect the dots and bring the two parties together.

Although a commission-based monetization model seems to be standard in this industry, don’t forget to explore other alternatives. You could, for instance, decide to be different than your competitors and offer a credits-based system or charge a monthly membership fee that comes with its perks.

4. Develop the app

Unless you’re a coder yourself, you’re likely going to need to outsource the task. Even so, there are multiple ways to go about it, meaning you won’t necessarily need to code an entire app from scratch.

For instance, there are certain white-label apps you could re-skin and use for the purpose. Not only does this allow you to launch the app faster, it also keeps the development costs manageable. Still, you should look for ways to be better than your competition so as to give the users an incentive for doing business with you.

5. Initialize the marketing campaigns

Once your app is ready to go, how are you going to market it? If you’re hoping to get even a single booking, you need to make sure that people can find it and download it.

Consider marketing it via:

– Paid ads

– Social media

– Articles

– Videos

– Presentations

– Podcasts

– etc.

Since each of these marketing channels requires a completely separate approach, it’s on your to find the most suitable avenue for advertising your business, so allocate a budget, stick to it, and don’t give up.

Conclusion

Those who are looking to compete with the likes of Uber and Lyft certainly have some big shoes to fill. Even so, not every region is covered by these, so this may be your opportunity to dominate the local market.

Author: Andrea Clause

Picture: Mohamed Hassan/ Pixabay

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Don’t compromise – on the vision, your team and your purpose

By

Quepatagra

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11/07/2022

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Flox is a revolutionary and intuitive metaverse event platform. It helps drives more engagement in virtual and hybrid events.

Please introduce yourself and your startup Flox to our readers.

I’m Alistair Bryan co-founder of Flox and on the right is my co-founder and CTO Jaie Genadt. I held senior leadership roles at global marketing groups including Havas, IPG and Omnicom, spearheading the technology experience offering for clients including Microsoft and American Express. Flox is a revolutionary and intuitive metaverse event platform. It helps drives more engagement in virtual and hybrid events.

How did you get the idea of Flox?

Having worked in physical real life events and seen the first virtual event platforms that came out we could see there was a need to create something new. Flox came from the idea of a murmuration of birds. The idea that the individual powers the collective experience. So we focussed on the individual user experience to create a far more creative collective one.

Why did you decide to start with Flox?

There was a great quote from Richard Branson “The best thing that can be said about webinars is they give you the sensation of being in a coma without the worry or inconvenience”. That’s the problem we wanted to solve: the 2D gallery view user interface and passive viewing. So we set out to create an active state with meaningful engagement and participation.

What is the vision behind Flox?

We want to create the most human and engaging virtual and hybrid events. Harnessing the ideas and creativity of each individual to fuel the power and progress of the collective.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

It’s never easy starting a business, but we had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve. Money and investment are always the difficult moments, but we were lucky enough to raise £1M quickly with investors who could see the market was growing and we had the experience to deliver. Then getting the first client was a big challenge, but we launched with a Fortune 500 global brand and then others, including two more Fortune 500 companies, came afterwards.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone that puts on a live event or experience – CMO’s, CXO, event management, HR directors to name a few. They want connection and collaboration that comes with social interaction, but also the digital sharing, recording and analysis their organisation needs. They might additionally have a sustainability or cost-saving agenda, so prefer a purely virtual platform instead of a virtual-physical hybrid.

Social connection is at the heart of Flox and has been built into our core product, with movement around virtual space and artificial intelligence helping users find and connect with the right people.

Beyond live events and experiences, our customer could be anyone building a ‘digital twin’ – an exact replica of a corporate headquarters, a retail environment or pop-up, a university campus, lab or surgery to make collaboration and education accessible and immediate.

What is the USP of your startup?

To create the most immersive and memorable virtual and hybrid events. With our backgrounds in events and experiential marketing we have created a platform that’s easy to use for event marketers by people who know what it takes to put on an event. We move extremely fast: we can be up and running in 10 days.

Flox’s metaverse offer is far superior to 2D digital alternatives by offering an experience that’s as close to in-person as you can get digitally. Attendees move their digital avatars (personalised to their face with scanning technology) around a defined space, with active intention and more freedom than you would ever get in a video conference.

Can you describe your typical workday ?

I get up about 6am. I don’t function without a cup of tea so the kettle is the first point of call. And I usually start messaging my business partner and co-founder Jaie about 7am. I get the kids off to school and then a dog walk or run (depending on the day) to collect my thoughts on the day ahead. We have a team stand up in the morning to check in on product, development, clients, prospects and the team.

Then it’s a mixture of demos, client meetings and team meetings afterwards. We are cloud-based so we make time to schedule calls – without meaning – to just catch up with the team and check in. We are opening up in the US so the afternoon tends to be more focussed on the calls with the West Coast. Then I finish the day with a check with Jaie and an understanding of what needs to be done next.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Flox in five years?

There are three things I’d like to have achieved:

1. People – a culture-rich and world-renowned integrated family of talent

2. Products – a suite of creative applications targeting Learning, Retail and Entertainment

3. Planet – reduced the CO2 impact of 10,000’s of events and be NETZERO

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

1. Do it now. I think wish I had started this journey years ago.

2. Go for it every day. Chase the leads, have the conversations and ask for what you want.

3. Don’t compromise – on the vision, your team and your purpose.

More information you will find here

Thank you Alistair Bryan for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Pick the best team to start and don’t settle for convenience

By

Quepatagra

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11/03/2022

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Minimising false declines and optimising subscription billing

Please introduce yourself and your startup Revolv3 to our readers?

I’m Frank Arellano, founder and CEO of Revolv3, a fintech SaaS platform based in Laguna Beach, CA. I’m a versatile, top-tier techno-commercial executive with 20+ years of experience including, strategy, technology, business operations, client relationships, providing executive leadership and elevating the business to market leadership. I’m passionate about blending visionary insight and sharp business planning skills for strategizing global change initiatives and turnaround management. Being involved in creating and sustaining a dynamic work environment that fosters development opportunities and that motivates high performance amongst team members has been the key highlight thus far.

Before founding Revolv3, some of my career highlights include serving in a key leadership role at Experian Consumer Services, most recently as Vice President of Business Operations. Prior to Experian, I worked with Ingram Micro for 16 years, lastly as Snr Director of Corporate Development & Strategy. I’ve also successfully delivered turnaround of operations for 300+ B2C and B2B e-Commerce sites and strategically led a multi-billion dollar acquisition integration program, and established a global technology management office.

I founded Revolv3 in 2020, as a full stack SaaS payment orchestration and optimization platform for subscription billing that utilises adaptive technology to deliver the industry’s highest credit card acceptance rates. Our seamless integration enables merchants to instantly achieve transformational revenue growth and superior customer retention at the lowest cost in the industry. We support our clients in achieving a frictionless transaction approval process. Since we want to reduce card processing fees for our clients, they only pay for successful transactions. This unparalleled approach we take in card processing makes us the only recurring billing platform that is solely focused on payment orchestration and optimization as part of our core offering.

How did you get the idea of Revolv3?

As an executive at multiple fortune 500 companies, I noticed that recurring billing had an unusually high customer churn rate associated with credit card declines. Turns out the majority of those were false declines, meaning they were good transactions just denied because of data errors in the processing network.

So I searched the marketplace for a solution and tried multiple 3rd-party payment platforms all of which failed to solve the problem. After confirming with a lot of other enterprises about what they were using and armed with lessons from the failed implementations, I concluded that there was a large market opportunity since large companies had to build their own bespoke systems and the cost to build and maintain was very high relative to what a third party platform would cost. Thus, the idea of Revolv3 was born, a unique payment system that could minimise false declines and maximise first pass payment approvals. All at a fraction of the cost for a bespoke system.

Why did you decide to start with Revolv3?

Many years of searching for and ultimately coming up empty handed led to me having to build a bespoke billing and payments system. Nothing existed in the market to meet the demands of the enterprise business. By 2025 the size of the software subscription billing market will reach $10.5B, however, companies will spend ~$58.5B. That is a significant delta that points to a gap in the market and supports the research on why all enterprises build their own. The opportunities this market presents is too great not to leverage.

What is the vision behind Revolv3?

Our mission is to disrupt the payment ecosystem with innovative breakthrough technology and thinking for the betterment of the system and the Merchants who rely on it. Revolv3 allows merchants and ISV platforms to focus on their core business while continually managing ongoing recommendations, whilst leveraging the benefits gained from teaming with an experienced payment orchestration and optimization partner.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

Starting any business is difficult but starting during a global pandemic brought quite a few additional obstacles. Investors went dark, finding talent was challenging, the future of the economy and markets were at risk. But we kept building with hopes that things would bounce back. We were fortunate to have early seed capital and an experienced team in place to move forward, plus we were well positioned once investors showed more interest and business came back.

Who is your target audience?

Basically we target any business with a billing system. We subsegment that into 4 target markets. Enterprise Systems, Scaling Businesses, Integrated Software Solutions that support businesses with subscriptions, and High Risk Businesses with recurring billing. We’re targeting the executive suite in those businesses with education about why so many of their businesses have low approval rates, what false declines are and how they can be avoided to help retain customers and improve top line revenue. We strive to reach the broad audience of industry executives and mid-level professionals in these subscription businesses. The goal would be to educate them about a problem they may or not fully understand or know about. They probably are aware of customer churn, our product reduces that.

What is the USP of your startup?

Revolv3 is the only solution in the market built to optimise the credit card approval process ON THE FIRST PASS. Revolv3 was architected upon issuing and acquiring bank and payment processors rules and utilises machine learning to deliver the highest approval rates in the market. Effectively solving false declines before they happen. Revolv3 also only charges for approved transactions while the competition charges platform & transactional fees plus a percentage of revenue on all attempts whether they approve or not.

Can you describe your typical workday?

I like to start my day early and am generally in the office by 7am. And i still work from a “to-do” list and start each day reviewing open items, planning for the day or week ahead. I always dedicate the first hour reviewing financial market performance and fintech and payments news. Generally, my agenda then moves to product stand-up meetings, customer and partner calls, and administrative activities. It’s nice that face-to-face meetings are back, and I appreciate spending time at conferences and meeting with our partners and customers in person as much as possible. When I’m not travelling, I like to take a break from work so that I can have dinner with the family and usually wrap up any open emails or comms as a nightcap.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Revolv3 in five years?

I see Revolv3 as an industry leader in optimised and orchestrated payments. From a product perspective, the recurring billing platform, payments artificial intelligence, and payfac capabilities are core for us. However, our strategy is to evolve the current offerings with more frontend tools, deeper third party integrations, and embedded product offerings, providing an end to end payment suite. For the company, I anticipate organic and M&A growth with the possibility of exit in the five year time frame.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Start a company with a product or service that you’re passionate about. Startups are challenging, requiring patience, perseverance, and a significant personal and professional commitment. If you don’t love it, you won’t have the fortitude to face the obstacles with grace.

Pick the best team to start and don’t settle for convenience. Find masters in your vertical who can provide expertise and experience in your market and rely on your team to help navigate and deliver on the strategy.

Be humble and gracious. It’s a long road that will require support from many others (employees, partners, investors, family) to be successful. Those around you will appreciate you more and be willing to make sacrifices for founders that have humility and are respectful and kind.

More information you will find here

Thank you Frank Arellano for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Believe yourself

By

Quepatagra

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11/02/2022

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COAT paint company: sustainably produced paint in modern muted shades- everything you need to decorate

Please introduce yourself and COAT to our readers!

I’m Rob, one of the co-founders at COAT. (The other founder is called Rob, too!). We’re a digital paint brand for this generation, and the next – focusing on simplicity, style, and changing the game in sustainable decor.

How did you get the idea of COAT?

Rob and I both did up houses in our 30’s, and it became a running joke how long we spent in DIY stores. Buying tester pots, stressing over colours, going back to buy paint, then back for more…. incredibly time consuming, and wasteful. We make that whole buying process super easy, with a modern luxury brand that’s deeply conscious too.

Why did you decide to start COAT?

I worked for BMW and a few startups in my career, so I know the power of strong brands, and how to grow companies quickly. Rob Green worked for the world’s biggest paint company, so what he doesn’t know about paint isn’t worth knowing!

Between us, we knew there was a consumer problem based on our own experiences – and we knew that the paint industry wasn’t positioned to solve it. We also saw a real brand gap in the “modern luxury” space, with deeply conscious foundations. It was the perfect marriage foundation for COAT.

What is the vision behind COAT?

We’re the go-to paint company for our generation, and the next. We want people to think of COAT first, because we stand for the easy and simplicity that makes painting fun – and the planet-first values that make it right.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

We started the business and operations ourselves, just the two of us, from a roll-up unit in Surrey. That’s everything from building the brand and website, through to mixing and shipping paint directly to customers.

We even painted thousands of Peel & Stick swatches ourselves for the first 6 months or so…

All the above was difficult! Getting interest from suppliers as a pre-product business, during lockdown, was hard. Setting up a unique production system that’s small but scalable, was hard. And of course, launching the brand to the world and getting our vision in front of people, was hard.

We’re in a great place now of course, but I think all of that is down to our individual expertise and commitment to getting things moving.

Who is your target audience?

Our generation, and the next. We’re focused on homeowners, aspiring to create beautiful spaces that are kind to humans and the planet. Something that I think resonates with everyone, but particularly millennial and Gen Z audiences – if you had to put boxes around things!

What is the USP of your startup?

Our strength isn’t one thing – it’s the sum of our parts. Yes, we’re leading the charge in environmental responsibility, with unique production zero-waste models and all the certification you can muster… And sure, we’re putting ourselves firmly in the style space for ‘modern tastemakers’ with a curated colour range and deliberate aesthetic. But honestly, we’re strong and different because we keep things simple. Paint, done better.

Can you describe your typical workday?

Erm, I’m not sure typical exists for me at this point! I’m in the office 3 or 4 days a week, which I think is important given the stage of business and how we like to communicate as a team.

Half of the day might be meetings, centred around some core ones like team stand ups and leadership sessions. The work environment is quite fun – we might be shooting social content in the office or painting out new paint colours on the board table. We’re all based in one place so the spectrum of conversations can be anything from a customer service call through to financial forecasting.

I think that’s the best thing about my role – the dynamism and constant change. That’s why I (and Rob G) left corporate. Having said that, sometimes I think it’s the worst thing, and crave a 9-5. But that’s usually fleeting.

Where do you see yourself and your startup COAT in five years?

COAT will be huge by then. In the face of every challenge, you face as a founder, that belief is what gets me through. We’re doing something special, with a brand that resonates, in a space that’s super dusty.

Personally, who knows! I’m big into coaching and quite self-aware – but I’m very much in the moment with COAT right now, so let’s see how the waves ebb-and-flow over the coming months/years.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Pick a lane and stay in it. That sounds like it contradicts the principles of being a dynamic/agile/insert-buzz-word startup – but it doesn’t. You started a business for a reason, so keep going back to that reason and change the ‘how’ not the ‘what’. We do paint – really well – and that’s it.

Say no. Similar to the above point and verging on cliché – but saying no and prioritising is tough. There’s always some shiny opportunity, or the “what if” things that come along, but it’s important to keep focus on the things that drive the goal. The world isn’t short of opportunities, but the execution is the critical bit.

Believe yourself. I still struggle with imposter syndrome and wanting to over-analyse everything. I ask too many people for their opinion, which is rarely helpful. I’ve realised that I do know what I’m talking about a lot of the time – through coaching. So, trusting intuition can be the route to speed and differentiation in the business.

Picture: left to right Rob Abrahams and Rob Green

More information you will find here

Thank you Rob Abrahams for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Important to explore Web3 and what it’s bringing to the industry

By

Quepatagra

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10/25/2022

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OTM a fully automated stack of buying and selling ad inventory

Please introduce yourself and the OTM platform to our readers!

I’m Vitaly Gerko, CPO and co-founder of OTM, a technological programmatic platform established in 2008. We provide a fully automated stack of buying and selling ad inventory, we work directly with publishers, aggregating the traffic and selling it to our own DSP platform, where we have a lot of direct clients and agencies and also to BigTech (Google, Yandex, VK) and third party DSP. We help businesses create 360 degrees advertising to reach their customers in the digital space. OTM was acquired in 2021 by VEON Ltd. global digital operator.

I have over 15 years of experience in AdTech and MarTech, leading development of tech products. My expertise spans across product management, unit economy, and paid marketing. I’m a limited partner at the True Global Ventures fund (Web3 technologies, crypto and blockchain projects) and a member of venture capital club Angels Deck, a mentor and an investor of startups Amma and Checkme.

Why did you decide to start a business?

I started my first business the same year as I graduated from the university in 2005, so, entrepreneurship has been my state of mind for a long time. My debut company was a web development and programming studio because I was interested in technologies and the growing power of the internet. When the first iPhone was released, I got highly enthusiastic about mobile apps and the AppStore. Eventually, in 2011 I joined the team of a mobile app that offered motivated traffic.

I saw the great potential of the internet advertisement because the spread of the World Wide Web was pretty fast and smartphones were becoming a common thing among all audiences. So, I shifted my focus as an entrepreneur to this sector.

What is the vision behind OTM?

OTM was founded at the dawn of the internet advertisement, and since then we have been striving to create a set of tools and services that could address all the needs of a business situated in any part of the world. Now we have a complete stack of programmatic products and a strong team of in-house experts. OTM lets its clients achieve all their advertising goals without the need to go to anybody else.

The AdTech market is constantly changing, and we strive to be flexible and offer the most up-to-date solutions. We understand that any business needs assistance in reaching its audience and it’s beneficial for both consumers and companies if they can find each other easily.

From the idea to its inception, what have been the biggest challenges so far and how did you finance yourself?

Prior to launching OTM, I ran advertising campaigns for my clients via various demand-side platforms, including Google’s DV360, Facebook and MyTarget. Through that experience I explored the approach to AdTech practiced by the global market leaders. It shaped my understanding of what features our platform should have to be an efficient advertising tool. When we started OTM, we looked for investors but, in fact, we didn’t really need them because we could invest our own money into the platform.

Who is the target group of OTM?

Our main clients are the largest brands in Russia: P&G, Unilever, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Sberbank, Aeroflot and many others. However, OTM’s clients can be situated in Asia Pacific or in the United States ― we are a global company.

How does the platform work? What are the advantages? What makes you different from other providers?

Unlike many other platforms on the market, since the very first day we’ve been building a full-stack platform that covers the full value chain by working with both publishers and advertisers. It lets us have the best control over the whole money chain between them and provide marginality on every step. Also it helps us to be flexible.

On the one hand, we can control pricing. On the other hand, for the exact same reasons we can grant discounts to our clients and provide high revenue for publishers. It makes partnering with us beneficial for both sides.

OTM has full-service and self-service DSP, DMP, several SSP, and ad exchanges, a lot of predictive and ML models which allows us to optimize traffic for KPIs and benchmarks of clients.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

We are on the verge of a new era in digital advertising. The attention economy created by tech giants, like Google, Meta and Tiktok, where users’ data, content and engagement are a product monetized by those companies is gradually coming to its end. Web3 will grant people the right and the opportunity to control their data and content and use it in their own interest, including monetization, without huge tech corporations getting involved.

It, of course, will impact advertising. I think that in five years we’ll be working with Web3 platforms within this new paradigm. It’s important for me to stay on the cutting edge of technology.

At the end: What are three trends you see in the AdTech and MarTech industries?

I agree with The Trade Desk co-founder and CEO Jeff Green when he says that the open internet is the future of AdTech and MarTech. Decentralized and transparent Web3 eliminates the issue of “walled gardens” when big tech companies create ecosystems within which they collect user data and sell it to advertisers. It’s beneficial neither for users, nor for advertisers because the former basically work for free giving away their data and content and the latter don’t know what content they support.

In Web3 people will be able to decide when they want to watch ads and learn through them about new products and services which will make advertising less intrusive. Users will decide on what data they want to share and with who. It’ll motivate brands to work with their audience more thoroughly and thoughtfully. I think that it’s crucially important to explore Web3 and what it’s bringing to the industry for everybody who works in MarTech and AdTech.

More information you will find here

Thank you Vitaly Gerko for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Listen to your customers and identify their struggles

By

Quepatagra

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10/24/2022

0

Melodea plastic free-packaging solutions that are good for the planet and very functional

Please introduce yourself and your startup Melodea to our readers! How did you get the idea of Melodea?

Melodea, Ltd. was originally founded as a spin-off project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by Dr. Shaul Lapidot, PhD, Melodea’s CEO, together with composites expert, the late Tord Gustafsson, and Prof. Oded Shoseyov, PhD, a renowned expert in nanomaterials and plant biotechnology who is on the Melodea advisory board.

Why did you decide to start with Melodea?

Since its inception, Melodea focused on the production of Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) as a bio-based raw material for various applications that would serve both the industry and the environment. Our CNC is made from pulp – the raw material used to produce paper.

We recognized the planet’s need for more sustainable development, and in the packaging industry,–the urgent need to find solutions for the plastic waste challenge. We already had in hand the strong bio-based material Cellulose Nanocrystals (CNC) that we produce through a patent protected process. We believe that the solution for a sustainable packaging industry grows on trees – as the industrial forest is the best source for bio-based raw materials such as CNC. Therefore, we invested in the development of a unique formula that has high performance in high humidity conditions – MelOx. In order to offer our clients the entire solution for their sustainable packaging that has high performance while being recyclable, we also developed the Melodea VBcoat that offers protection from moisture transmission.

What is the vision behind Melodea?

Our mission is to provide the market with solutions that will improve performance, and serve as a sustainable alternative to the market.

Sustainability is not only an integral part of our goals, it is in every element of what we do – from our production and development process, to the products we sell and the way we operate.

We are committed to offer solutions that address environmental challenges – most pressing one being the plastic waste challenge, for both short and long term.

How difficult was the start and which challenges you had to overcome?

The plastic industry has been around for many years – plastic is considered a high performing non- expensive material. Melodea’s challenge was to find solutions that are economically affordable but maintain the same high-performance attributes. For that reason, we are using wood pulp as a resource since it is economically affordable and available in vast quantities being sourced from industrial forests. We have invested in extensive R&D efforts to get the best performance and enable our clients to use existing machinery that they already have for easy integration.

Who is your target audience?

Melodea’s target audience are packaging companies, converters and food/consumer goods companies that are looking for sustainable packaging solutions that require barrier performance to protect packed products from oxygen, water vapor and/or oil & grease transmission.

What is the USP of your startup?

Melodea is on a mission to provide plastic free-packaging solutions that are good for the planet and very functional. The advantage of Melodea’s solution is that we have the only barrier products on the market with a comprehensive combination:

highly performance for oxygen, water vapor and oil & grease

Affordable prices compare to some structures of plastic

Recyclable

Can resist high humidity conditions

While other companies offer packaging solutions with a few advantages, to our best knowledge, our products provide a “complete package”. In addition, our barrier coatings can be applied using standard industrial coatings lines.

Can you describe your typical workday ?

Whoever works in a start-up knows there is no such thing as a typical day.

Everything isdynamic, which makes it very interesting and challenging. In general dealing with fund raising, sales of existing products and developing next generation products, all with my highly skilled team.

Where do you see yourself and your startup Melodea in five years?

Our barrier coating products will be produced and distributed worldwide, reducing the global use of plastic products. In parallel, being a technological company we will continue to produce and commercialize next-generation products that include epoxy composites, electronics, cosmetics and others.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Recruit and invest in the best team possible. It all comes down to the people.

Have passion for what you do – a start-up is something you need to be passionate about and you have to find someone who gravitates toward the idea with the same passion or even more

Listen to your customers and identify their struggles

More information you will find here

Thank you Shaul Lapidot for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

Holidu raises €100M in oversubscribed Series E round

By

Quepatagra

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10/19/2022

0

Holidu , the fast-growing vacation rental company, announced today that it has closed a €100 million Series E financing round led by 83North.

The round was joined by Northzone, HV Capital, Vintage Investment Partners and Commonfund Capital. Furthermore, it has seen strong participation from existing investors Prime Ventures, EQT Ventures, coparion, Senovo, Lios Ventures and Possible Ventures. This round also includes a venture debt component of €25 million of funding from Claret Capital and Silicon Valley Bank.

Holidu, founded in 2014 by the brothers Johannes and Michael Siebers, has built a rapidly growing booking platform for vacation rentals which reached more than 110 million visitors in the last 12 months. In addition, Holidu has established a synergistic and highly successful software and service solution for hosts called Bookiply. It helps single property owners generate more bookings with less effort and creates a reliably great guest experience. This is achieved by providing hosts with a powerful software solution paired with on the ground support from local teams.

In the past three years, the number of managed Bookiply homes has grown from 5,000 to nearly 20,000. Revenues from Bookiply homes have grown 13x from the pre-pandemic year 2019 to 2022 year to date. It now accounts for more than half of the Holidu Group’s revenues. Bookiply is now active in 19 local offices across Europe and has become the market leader by the number of managed properties in several key tourist areas in Spain and Italy. With the acquisition of two major vacation rental companies in Germany this year, Bookiply is on its way to building market leadership in the DACH market too.
The investment will fuel Holidu’s and Bookiply’s roll-out of local office locations, unlock organic and inorganic growth in existing markets and drive additional product investments into Bookiply and the booking platform Holidu.

Johannes Siebers, co-founder and CEO: “We see that our company delivers true value to hosts and guests, which is reflected in our very strong host retention and guest satisfaction. We will now scale our region-by-region approach into Europe’s large and attractive hosting market. This financing round is a great vote of confidence in the current environment. We are on the path to build a big company.”

Michael Siebers, co-founder and CTO: “Holidu has always aimed to solve customers’ problems by leveraging the best technologies and data. Our goal is to build the world’s best software and service platform for hosts and make the guest experience reliable and great.”

Laurel Bowden, Partner at 83North: “The Holidu Team are excellent operators which is crucial to serve the fragmented long tail of vacation rentals with great unit economics and to bring the market to the next level. The team stands in front of a large roll-out opportunity. We are thrilled to be part of the journey and look forward to the road ahead.”

Picture: Credit Renate Forster

Source Holdiu GmbH

Expect the unexpected at all times

By

Quepatagra

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10/19/2022

0

hishare.that tech platform for the development, booking and support of influencer performance and branding campaigns

Please introduce yourself and the startup hi!share.that to our readers!

My name is Silvia Lange and I am the founder and CEO of hishare.that, Germany’s first influencer tech company. We offer our clients a tech platform for the development, booking and support of influencer performance and branding campaigns that ensure the economic success of influencer marketing. The impact and ROI of influencer campaigns are rarely clearly proven – we want to change that with our product and ensure that advertisers and influencers can meet on an equal footing. Our team now consists of over 40 brand, community and marketing professionals. Our clients include momox, OBI, Douglas, payback, idealo, Outletcity, and Docmorris.

How did you get the idea of hi!share.that?

My co-founder Tivadar Szegeny and I have known each other since childhood. We started a marketing agency called ‘medialabel’ together in 2016, with which we served many clients in mobile marketing. Back then, we experienced firsthand how unpredictable and opaque influencer marketing often is. It quickly became clear to us that certain rules were needed to turn the potential of influencer marketing into a truly measurable and successful marketing channel. To tackle this problem, we founded hi!share.that in 2018.

Why did you decide to start with hi!share.that?

My co-founder and I have worked both on the corporate and agency side in the past. So we have always had a good understanding of what is important for the respective parties when they work together, and what has been neglected in many agencies so far. As mentioned, we already successfully launched medialabel in 2016. Back then, the idea was to create a kind of boutique agency, where we take clients on board and advise them when it comes to the topics of performance and influencer marketing. Back then, there was no education about this marketing discipline. Many customers were left in ignorance and there was almost no transparency in the field.

With our business, we didn’t simply want to manage budgets, we wanted to be proactively and operationally involved. Our idea was to walk the journey together with our clients, sharing our knowledge and thus building a healthy foundation for a long-term partnership. When we built up the business in a healthy and sustainable way, there was only one thing missing – our own technology. We didn’t have a tech platform at the time, it was purely a service-based business. This was the starting point for hi!share.that as our second company. Our proprietary technology was supposed to differentiate us even more from existing competitors on the market.

What is the vision behind hi!share.that?

Our vision is to become the ‘state of the art’ in influencer marketing. We combine the best of two worlds – people’s business and technology. We want to be the first choice for influencers and advertisers who want to measure and scale their joint success. With our so-called ‘hi!tech’ platform, we finally want to make the success of influencer collaborations measurable. Not with meaningless data such as likes, comments and shares, which tell us nothing about the actual success of a campaign, but with hard metrics like cost per mille (CPM) or cost per click (CPC).

Since we don’t just see the business as a brand awareness or storytelling channel, we also want to use the basics of performance marketing to boost sales figures and achieve directly visible, financial success. The actual impact, or the ROI (return on investment), of influencer campaigns is too rarely clearly proven – that’s what we want to offer with our product and ensure that advertisers and influencers can collaborate more effectively.

How difficult was the start and which challenges did you have to overcome so far?

On the one hand, we struggle daily with prejudices against influencer marketing, such as that this type of advertising is expensive, but its effects and success are not measurable. In short, many people think that “it’s not even worth it.” We are still doing a lot of educational work with our company. Influencers are not yet very familiar with the topic of ‘performance marketing’ because influencer marketing has often been solely about storytelling and less about clear KPIs that also pay off on other business goals. On the influencer side, we have to do a lot of work to get them closer to the topic of ‘performance’. On top of that, we finance all of this ourselves. We don’t have any external funding, only income from the last few years when we already had a media presence on the market with medialabel – which is hi!share.that’s ‘parent agency’ after all.

Who is your target audience?

Our target group is B2C companies of all sizes and in very different segments that are interested in taking an unconventional approach to influencer marketing. We work with start-ups as well as well-known large companies such as PAYBACK, Bonial, momox, REWE or Outletcity.

What is the USP of your startup?

The core of our product and service offering is our hi!tech platform, which we developed ourselves. With our technology, you can easily upload campaign goals, including briefings, which our creators can then apply to. During an influencer marketing campaign, all relevant KPIs are transferred to our platform in real time so that everyone involved has access to them. We are integrated with all major tracking providers, whether in app marketing or even e-commerce solutions like Shopify, WooCommerce or Shopware.

Still, numbers aren’t everything for us: while our product is based on a technical offering and heavily data-driven, it also has a human component: We carefully scout all influencers before they can register on our platform. At the same time, we support both clients in planning and implementing the campaign, and creators in creating content that performs well. Because our influencers receive variable compensation based on predefined KPIs, they are not only particularly motivated to create successful content – we also ensure that customers receive a good return on investment and that influencer marketing actually leads to economic success.

Not only are we very successful with this concept, but we can also reassure customers who are just getting started with influencer marketing. Many fear that they will automatically experience false indicators and fraud in influencer marketing. At the same time, there is sometimes an inexplicable fear of transparent data in Germany. With our proactive support, we prevent these worries and open invisible barriers in the mind.

Can you describe your typical workday?

I start at 8 AM with an absolutely necessary morning coffee! Then I read about what’s happening in the world and what industry news is out there for about 15 minutes. One of my tricks is to make my to-do list for the day either the night before or in the morning. In fact, I always do it in a notebook and not digitally. Written on paper, I keep things in my head better. I usually use the morning to get an overview of currently running campaigns or projects and see if there are any difficulties somewhere or if everything is running smoothly. I go through my emails and bring myself up-to-date.

Because there’s only one coffee in the morning and I don’t eat breakfast, I’m usually at lunch by 12 PM sharp. I keep my break quite short. I prefer to take more time for private enjoyment and eating after work. From 12:30 to 5 PM, I usually have customer meetings or update calls with the team. I have very high standards when it comes to account management. It’s important for me to spend a lot of time with my customers in order to get regular feedback, optimize processes, and be able to push future projects as early as possible.

From 5 PM onwards, I’m back at processing emails. I look at what correspondence has come in and work through it. As it gets quieter in the office at the end of the day, I check which topics have been left over and which things I can prepare for the next day. These then end up back on my to-do list. I then usually start my well-deserved evening off around 6:30-7:00 PM.

Where do you see yourself and your startup hi!share.that in five years?

We are in the process of conquering more markets, our expansion strategy is already being planned. We will also enter into more strategic partnerships in the future so that we not only work directly with customers, but are an interesting sparring partner for agencies or influencer management companies too. In the long-term, we see ourselves as a useful hub to partners and less as competition, as our approach is very different from everyone else in the market.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

As a CEO, never give up! Keep going no matter how good or difficult situations present themselves.

Expect the unexpected at all times. Always stay flexible as the market can change unexpectedly, which you can see now with growing inflation or the COVID-19 pandemic in the past two years. Such situations can be a big game changer.

Customers and employees are the be-all and end-all and their satisfaction should always be your highest priority.

More information you will find here

Thank you Silvia Lange for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.

The culture and values and with that our rituals and expected behaviors towards one another

By

Quepatagra

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10/18/2022

0

Wooga created a series of successful and unique mobile app games, so-called casual games, including June’s Journey®, Pearl’s Peril® and Switchcraft®.

Please introduce yourself and your startup Wooga to our readers!

We are a Berlin-based mobile games developer established in 2009 and have created a series of successful and unique mobile app games, so-called casual games, including June’s Journey®, Pearl’s Peril® and Switchcraft®. In 2018, Wooga® was acquired by social games company Playtika® from Israel. Our Hidden Object game “June’s Journey” has now reached US$500Mln in Lifetime Revenues since its launch five years ago, which we are very proud of.

Why did you decide to start at Wooga?

I have been working in the Gaming industry for quite some time now, with other stations based outside of Germany. Yet, Wooga was the natural choice for me, as I was and still am extremely driven by the team’s energy and the whole basis on which we create our story-driven games for our users.

What is the vision behind Wooga?

We want to inspire the players of our story-driven games to have joy while playing, equally to our employees having joy while creating these experiences. We are all used to watching movies and series, which are all built up by a storyline. Our users can use their own imagination and creativity to build their own story, which is very rewarding.

How difficult was your start and which challenges you had to overcome?

I joined Wooga right at the beginning of the Pandemic and was one of the first employees who had to be onboarded remotely. I did not know my fellow Management Team members before joining and we all experienced in the past 2 years that building trust when only working remotely takes much more time and effort from everyone involved. My predecessor Jens Begemann founded the company and did an outstanding job running it for more than a decade. I am following in big footsteps.

Who is your target audience?

Our games are made for players who enjoy a gripping narrative while playing through beautifully made game content. Around two thirds of our players are women.

What is the USP of your company?

Next to really driving the story-driven gaming category, we are very proud of an extremely diverse team that has become a huge family. Also, the company has been increasingly promoting environmentally friendly and climate-active messages in its games. We gamers have a big heart for our planet, and we want to demonstrate and prove that. Our players have shown that they want to actively take responsibility. Wooga has been a climate-neutral developer of mobile games since 2020.

Can you describe your typical workday ?

All Management Team members kick off every day with a daily check-in to align where we might need each other’s input and learn what is top of mind for all of us. Generally my focus is to work “on the company” and with that ensuring that all teams can perform at their best, which comes with regular internal interactions with game teams but also publishing and operational teams as well as our mother company Playtika in Israel. Since the Pandemic my typical workday is packed with calls, which probably many people can relate to, so that I aim to end my day in time for family dinner and bed-time stories for my two young children.

Where do you see Wooga in five years?

Wooga four years ago was one of the first gaming companies that set out to focus on story-driven casual games, and since then we are proud to have grown into one of the industry leaders in this category with the growing global success of June’s Journey. We have a strong foundation in story driven casual games, with casual games that push the boundaries of the story-driven category – crafting compelling player fantasies where the player is the star and their actions drive the narrative forward.

Wooga also, so far, in 2022 has already hired 80 new employees and currently employs around 300 Woogas, including 42 percent of women, a particularly high proportion for the gaming industry. These points have made us strong and we want to continue on that journey.

What 3 tips would you give Company leaders?

Focus on building a strong foundation – this will make the organization more effective in achieving its vision and goals as well as more resilient when dealing with any unexpected internal or external situations

3 core parts of a company’s foundation I focus on is:

The company vision and with that the direction we’re headed as well as our desired impact

Having a clear vision creates more alignment and engagement: The people who identify with the vision will opt-in and feel more engaged, and the people who are not aligned with the vision will opt-out and leave.

It also enables more autonomy: If everyone understands where we’re going, then they can operate independently.

The culture and values and with that our rituals and expected behaviors towards one another

Establishing a strong culture built on clear values gives people guidance and sets common expectations for behavior. How should we behave? How do we expect others to behave when achieving results?

This compliments the vision and leads to both stronger relationships between employees and stronger connection to the company vision

The people and talent and with that our strengths and weaknesses in terms of skills and how to improve

Focusing on talent mapping based on what we need in terms of skill & mindsets from all of our employees, to achieve our vision and establishing robust talent development processes that allow us to mold the organization’s capabilities to best fit what we need in order to achieve our vision.

Thank you Nai Chang for the Interview

Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.