Stay focused

By

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2 February 2022

ARION ultra-thin smart insoles with nano-tech sensors and advanced training pods

Please introduce yourself and your startup ARION to our readers!

I live in Eindhoven in the Netherlands but was originally born in the UK/Britain. I’ve always had a passion for technology and the human body and took this with me in many of the choices I’ve made. I studied Physics and also Sports, Exercise Sciences, and Biomechanics as a double major at Loughborough University and went on to do a PhD at the Sports Technology Institute.

During my PhD I met with TNO, the Dutch National Research Institute, who were collaborating with the Sports Technology Institute on a project focused on 3D printing of running shoes. TNO ultimately invited me to come and work with them as part of a research group based in Eindhoven focused on wearable sensing systems to measure the human body for a variety of applications ranging from elderly fallers, rehabilitation, safety in the workplace, and a variety of sports of which running, and running related injuries was a key focus.

I was working on a project that was focused on measuring human biomechanics using sensors that included pressure sensing insoles, and co-ordinated research with several institutes across Europe including, the Luxembourg Institute of Health and Maastricht University. After almost 8 years of research we had established a number of patents and a huge amount of knowledge related to human movement, particularly in the field of running and running-related injuries which would ultimately form the basis for our ARION innovations.

How did you get the idea of ARION?

During my first research project at TNO, we were approached by Dutch elite running coaches that were searching for a way to better understand how their athletes were moving to be able to objectively measure and compare running biomechanics in the top athletes they were working with. At this time, back in 2008, it was about the time the very first iPhone was being introduced to the market, and most peoples ideal of wearable technology was a basic Nokia phone or a standard wrist watch, so most of the world was not familiar with such small compact sensing devices and it was the first time researchers were able to start making measurements in the field in scalable fashion and opened the door to a huge number of opportunities to learn how humans move in natural environments.

In my years of studying and researching the human body and the power of exercise on our physical and mental health, it became clear that there is a huge amount of science that can bring benefit to people around the world, but this science is often captured and trapped in research papers, and in the minds of experts and scientists. With ARION we aim to make exercise sciences accessible to anyone through the interactive experiences and visualisations that our products provide.

Why did you decide to start with ARION?

After almost 8 years of research and development, the patents and knowledge that we had developed at TNO could only reach users if all this work would be translated into products and a commercial proposition in the market. As a research institute, TNO was not in a position to do this, and required entrepreneurs or company’s to take over the knowledge position and translate it into products. With the years I had worked on this proposition and the potential I saw in the opportunity, I made the choice to leave the comfort and stability of my job at TNO and searched for a business partner that had the skills and experience to develop products. Ultimately I teamed up with Jurgen van den Berg and together we founded our first start-up company in 2015, which would ultimately lead to the creation of ARION.

What is the vision behind ARION?

We believe that every runner, and every run, is completely unique. Because of this, we require a better understanding of ourselves as individual runners. Our unique metrics, the meaning behind them, and the relationships between them. Specific to our bodies, our technique and our goals. This is our individual Running Identity.

ARION is a next-generation innovation that grants you an unparalleled understanding of your Running Identity. Helping you to run faster, longer, and safer. At ARION we help people improve the way they move, by making cutting-edge movement and exercise sciences accessible and meaningful for everyone.

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

Building a start-up is hugely challenging. We started our adventure with little more than personal savings and some patents and technical knowledge. Building a team with no resources is incredibly challenging, and it means everyone in the company has to learn and experience things well outside of their comfort zone, a lot of the things you might take for granted when working in a large organization. We had to be the legal department, the financial department, the sales and marketing department, build our own supply chain and production processes, and everything in between. All the time you’re trying to build the business, you also need to attract the attention of investors and try to raise funds to be able to hire a bigger team and move to market more quickly.

The early days of the start-up adventure are incredibly exciting but require a huge amount of tenacity, commitment and drive to get through some tough times when there’s little or no money to help solve your problems. In the beginning it’s a typical chicken and egg challenge, you need money to build and manufacture, or at least prototype, to get proof from the market that there is sufficient commercial opportunity for this truly innovative and new product. Investors can provide the funds you need, but they usually want to see proof that there’s a sufficient market to justify the investment.

In the end we unlocked this challenge over a period of more than 18 months by committing all our waking hours to building and testing our first basic concept products together with enthusiastic believers, and using tools like pre-orders to build sufficient proof points for the first investors to be sufficiently convinced to fund our proposition and allow us to build the foundations of the company we are today.

Who is your target audience?

As Nike says, “if you have a body, you are an athlete”. So we believe our innovations can benefit anyone looking to improve their mobility and movement. Our key audience right now are the specialists of the running industry, running brands, retailers, and runners that are passionate about running and everything it has to offer. Our earliest customers were runners themselves, dedicated enthusiasts that are inspiring athletes, participating in running events and marathons, and tend to be thought leaders and influencers in their local communities.

We have stayed close to the heart of the running community as we have increased our focus in running retail, working together with and supporting the hubs of the running communities, providing exceptional expertise and services, supported by our products. Today we are targeting strong partnerships with the most influential players in the industry, running centered brands that are leading shoe innovation, and retailers that are leading the way in next-generation retail experiences and digitization.

What is the USP of your startup?

Since founding the company in 2015 we have built a tightly knit, multidisciplinary team of talented individuals that have embraced and built upon the foundations of over a decade of research. This team translates the rich knowledge base, expertise, and patents into products that have formed the unique ARION eco-system. Capable of providing meaningful services at every level of the running industry. I think ARIONs extensive roots in science, research, and technical expertise is unique in this industry and means we are able to make cutting-edge movement and exercise sciences accessible to the world of running.

Can you describe your typical workday?

Almost every day is different in the start-up world, so I’m not sure there is such a thing as a typical workday. We usually start the day with a stand-up, each sub-team spends a few minutes together to align what they’re working on and where they are spending their time, identify bottlenecks and dependencies and ask for help from each other. I try to pull meetings next to each other, right at the beginning or end of the morning/afternoon to create space for focus blocks to spend uninterrupted time on my focus.

We try to hold a regular off-site strategy day once every quarter to give us space to think outside of day-to-day operations, and recheck our strategy and plans and make decisions regarding the course we are following. I also find it highly valuable to find opportunities to join sales team visits to customers from time to time. It can be very insightful to be able to hear and understand how customers look at your products and company.

Where do you see yourself and your startup ARIONin five years?

With ARION we are building an eco-system capable of providing services at every level of the running industry. In 5 years time we aim to be a key enabler in the industry, ensuring that runners are able to find shoes that perfectly match their personal biomechanics and movement patterns to reduce injury risk and improve performance.

We want to become part of the consideration process when buying new shoes, helping people understand their own unique running technique, and guiding them to select the optimal shoe technologies to match their individual needs

Ultimately we also aim to help shoe brands and manufacturers identify opportunities for new shoe innovations to create even better shoe designs. We are already working directly with retailers and brands to help create even better, faster, and safer running shoes based on the data and insights we have generated through our product innovations.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Don’t give up – it will get difficult, it will feel impossible at times, but tough times will pass and if you find a way through, you’ll know you’ve really achieved something.

Don’t be afraid to change your plans – whilst it’s important to test your plans and ideas fully, and this will mean investing time, money, and energy into them, there can be a point when it is important to make the decision to change course, and try another direction. Agility is one of the most powerful assets of a start-up. It’s not a failure, it takes bold and brave steps to change your plan when something is not working. You need to continually evolve and respond to the world around you.

Stay focused – whilst changing course is positive, you need to choose a course first to be able to change it. It’s very tempting to jump on every opportunity that comes across your path, especially when you might be short on funds or resources, but spreading yourself too thin will mean you don’t really validate if anything is, or is not, working. From making these mistakes ourselves, I would, and I’m sure the rest of our team would advocate focus, push all your energy into a clear course, then change the course if it doesn’t work.

Hedging your bets by doing too many things at once is a trap almost every entrepreneur will fall into. It’s incredibly hard to say no to tempting opportunities when you don’t know if your current plan will work out, but failing fast is now recognised as a strong strategy and is only possible when you have sufficient focus.

Thank you Andrew Statham for the Interview

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

Conviction: You will meet significantly more doubters than believers

By

StartupValley

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20 January 2022

0

Zoog adapts children’s books to the medium of creative video communication, enabling family members to communicate with the children in their lives across the technological gap in an entertaining way

Please introduce yourself and your startup Zoog to our readers!

My name is Yoav Oren and I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Zoog. Prior to building Zoog, I held several leadership positions at SimilarWeb, including serving as the company’s Chief of Staff and General Manager of Greater China.

Zoog adapts children’s books to the medium of creative video communication, enabling grandparents, parents, other remote family members or educators to communicate with the children in their lives across the technological gap in an entertaining way. Through Zoog’s mobile app, anyone can bring a book to life and literally become “part of the story” utilizing AR masks, filters, and other visual overlays.

Kids are engaged and excited when they see their loved ones “in” the stories they love. Zoog was created so that even oceans and generations apart, your family can enjoy memorable moments through creative interactions.

How did you get the idea of Zoog? Why did you decide to start with Zoog?

When the pandemic hit us all, the world as we knew it changed overnight. Everyone was affected by the changes that COVID brought, especially feeling the uncertainties of how the world will change and when we will go back to normal. However, the most immediate effect I personally felt was not necessarily in the line of my work, but rather how my children were directly impacted by the boundaries and hurdles that the pandemic brought with it.

Communication took the first impact. Suddenly, we were isolated from the world and all communication turned to video – with Zoom and FaceTime leading the way in our families. My kids couldn’t stand this. In fact, they couldn’t do it at all and did anything to avoid these calls with their distant relatives.

Despite my wife and I nudging them to spend a few minutes on the phone with their grandparents, they couldn’t do it. I learned that they experienced these calls as boring and repetitive, and they simply weren’t interested in small talk.

I looked for alternatives and tried several options -products that claimed to solve the problem – but nothing worked, my kids stood their ground.

This created a frustrating situation for all parties involved in the call-for my kids who simply wanted me to leave them be, for my parents who were used to communicating or seeing their grandchildren and suddenly were not able to, and for us as parents, feeling like we needed to bribe our kids every time we wanted them to spend some time with their grandparents, or other distant family members on a call.

Although the pandemic amplified the cross-generational video communication problem, it also presented a unique opportunity. Video communication, for the first time, became the overarching norm in the world and affected us in the business world, the education world, and even in our own homes – everyone got used to the fact that this is the new way to communicate and felt the need to evolve and adapt. This opened a special window of opportunity for us to solve a growing problem that would only become more severe, while also giving us the opportunity to work on something that we were affected by in our own homes. In addition, we felt that our initial target audience, young grandparents, were ready and receptive to video products more than ever before.

We found a problem that directly affected not only us, but the people who we cared about the most; we found purpose and right then decided to quit our respective jobs, take the leap of faith, and build Zoog.

What is the vision behind Zoog?

Our vision is to become the world’s leading content-driven family communication platform. As we continue developing our product, we will offer a richer variety of content, different ways to interact, and experiences to be shared together both live and asynchronously. We see that communication, especially with children, will be intertwined with content, and Zoog sits at the epicenter of this crossroad. In order to carry out this vision, we are currently building tools that could be used by any content creator. Soon, any author, illustrator, or publisher will be able to create fun, engaging, and educational content directly on Zoog, using our built in templates or by connecting with an AR designer on our platform.

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

Matan, my co-founder, and I met in January of 2020. I decided to quit my job a few months prior to that and pursue an entrepreneurial dream. And I had an idea that I was passionate about and was searching for quite some time for the right co-founder.

I spent different periods with different potential co-founders, some very talented and great people, but there are so many variables that go into finding the right co-founder. First, there needs to be a complimentary skill set – each person needs to bring to the table something that the other does not have. Second, the person needs to have the right professional experience. Third, the timing needs to be right as starting a startup is probably one of the most difficult decisions anyone can make. And to top all this – and probably the most important thing – there simply needs to be a click – you need to like the person you will be spending most of your time with.

What’s interesting is that the person who introduced Matan and me is actually one of the potential co-founders I was considering. He ticked most boxes, but in the end it came down to boldness and his ability to take that leap of faith to leave his job and just go for it.

Matan and I immediately clicked. We simply enjoyed being together and really felt that at our core we shared the same values as well as a complimentary skillset. More importantly, we trusted each other. After our second meeting, Matan said, “let’s do this.” He quit his job and we started the following day.

During our first week working together, we sat down and had a two day intensive session answering 50 questions for founders – tough and revealing questions. It was like going through basic training, even though neither one of us could predict that this was the easy part of the beginning of our journey.

A month after we started working together, my wife gave birth to our third child. Two weeks after that, my wife was rushed back to the hospital with a severe kidney infection. I stayed home with three kids (including a newborn) while she was hospitalized for two weeks. The day she returned home was the day that the Prime Minister announced a nationwide quarantine due to COVID-19. All this, while we were trying to build a startup.

Matan stuck by me the entire time, working around the clock and according to my schedule. I remember telling him: “This is our beginning and I know it is rough, but if we get past this, we can get past anything.”

My kids ended up spending 56 days at home throughout the first year of our startup – not an easy task to juggle at all. Nevertheless, we were able to find the right balance, to develop our product while balancing a delicate family situation and prevail.

Who is your target audience?

Zoog’s target audiences: 1. Children between the ages 1-10; 2. Young grandparents/baby boomers; 3. Parents.

Digital engagement among the baby boomer generation has grown dramatically. From mobile to social, gaming to streaming, we’ve seen boomer numbers go way up during the pandemic on all digital fronts.

What is the USP of your startup?

Our solution offers several key factors that differentiate us from our competition:

1. Hands-on research:

We’ve designed and adjusted our product roadmap together with a unique group of people from our target audience– a group of 50 young grandparents who’ve been part of our beta since day one. This has allowed us to learn how our users see our product, how they use it, and what is essential for them in our solution.

2. Tapping into the creator economy and democratizing it:

We’ve made it easy and intuitive for anyone to become an AR content creator! While typically this is reserved for younger audiences (generations Z, Y, etc.), using Zoog, anyone (literally) can create AR content that is engaging, fun, and at the same time educational, which they can share with their loved ones and with the world. People like to be creative and we’ve developed a tool that allows anyone to do so.

3. Experiences don’t have to be live:

Creating bonds, if it is between grandparents and their grandchildren, between traveling parents, teachers, servicewomen and men, and the children in their lives works perfectly well when we do not need to rely on synchronization and sufficient bandwidth. Zoog allows AR creations to be recorded, stored, and shared, so we can create everlasting memories and experiences that are meaningful and enjoyable for everyone. Amongst our competitors, we are the only company that offers asynchronous experiences that are enjoyable both for the creator as well as the receiver; experiences that are saved, forever.

4. Easy feedback loop:

Zoog offers a super easy solution for reciprocating comments – from emojis to text, and even video responses – the kids (or any family member) can share their responses with the video creator in an easy way, and just like the videos, the responses are saved and can be viewed, always.

Can you describe your typical workday ?

As a startup, there isn’t really a “typical day” as each day presents its own unique challenges. However, we are creators at heart and have a typical creative process which includes either working with an existing book/published text or actually writing a story from scratch with one of our in-house authors. After our author completes the text according to our format, our storyboard artist puts together a first storyboard draft, which is the script defining what will happen artistically in each “scene” and page of the story.

In the storyboard we define which elements will be in 2D, 3D, what kind of backgrounds we want, where the storyteller is going to be placed and what AR masks we want to add to make them part of the story. We also define the sequence of events and the soundtrack we want to add, as well as how we want the text to appear in the story. After this part is done, our creative director assigns tasks to our 2D animator and our 3D artist and then they prepare all assets needed for the story. We then create the scenes inside Camera Kit (powered by Snap) and then our engineering team adds the new story to our app. We then have multiple QA reviews before we release the content onto our app and to our audience.

While this is happening, our marketing team creates campaigns around our content and promotes them on our social media channels. Simultaneously, our product and engineering teams continue to develop new features and improve our product flow within our app as well as our frontend site. All this while our CEO speaks with investors, brands, and major studios and publishers to create more content partnerships for Zoog.

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

In five years, Zoog will offer a platform for any content creators to be able to produce AR content meant for children, directly on Zoog. In addition to opening up Zoog to external developers and creators, we will expand our offering into additional verticals, the first of which will be education – offering Zoog as an educational product both for teachers to create engaging content for their students, and for children in order to encourage them to read on Zoog. And in addition, we will be able to offer deeper insights to our audiences about the usage of their content: For the publishers and authors—engagement metrics about the usage of their content, for the parents and teachers—reading progress of the children.

Last, as we develop more content and grow our audience, we will be able to add a layer of AI–a recommendation engine that will offer more specific content per individual user across many categories and interests.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Focus:

There is a lot of noise when building a startup and a lot of potential distractions. Try your best to focus on the single KPI that will move your business forward at each stage and time, and make sure this KPI is aligned with the entire team’s work.

Partner:

The entrepreneurial journey is a lonely one. Find a partner that you trust, enjoy being with, and that compliments you professionally. The same goes for hiring the right people, especially at the beginning, as you are building the company’s culture. Can’t emphasize the importance of people and finding the right people you trust and believe in your vision enough.

Support:

Make sure that you have the right support system at home. It is a crazy ride and you want to make sure that your significant other, your family, children (if you have them) understand what you are going through and are supportive. Very hard to succeed without this.

Communicate:

Both with your family, but also internally with your team – be honest, open, and share your struggles. I find that the more I am open with my team, the more helpful they are, and the more committed they are to help make our collective dream a reality.

Conviction:

You will meet significantly more doubters than believers. Smart people who will tell you that they do not believe in what you are doing. Remember your own “why” and reiterate (outload to the world and to yourself) your own conviction.

Marathon:

It can be frustrating that while you are trying to run a sprint, the rest of the world isn’t moving at your pace. Remember that, and remember that the entrepreneurial journey is a marathon, not a sprint.

Last, take whatever I just said (and any other advice you get) with a grain of salt–trust your own instincts and go for it! It is a ride of a lifetime!

More information you will find here

Thank you Yoav Oren for the Interview

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

How to Survive the Death of Cookies with Chat Marketing?

By

StartupValley

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20 January 2022

0

For a long time, cookies were the cornerstone of most online marketing campaigns, providing valuable information about potential customers that helped to target those most likely to respond in a positive way. With Google planning to eliminate cookies from its platforms in the near future, marketers are looking to adjust to the new circumstances. A great solution could be already at hand, but despite the fact that chat marketing is a well-known technique its potentials are still not obvious to many business owners and even digital marketing professionals.

What Does the ‘Death of Cookies’ Mean for Online Marketing?

Online promotion requires access to user data in order to be efficient, and cookies are able to provide troves of information about the online actions of each user. Their expected replacement with a more privacy-sensitive mechanism in 2023 raises some serious questions about the viability of targeted online campaigns that were so prevalent in the recent period. Brands are facing the possibility of having to ‘operate in the dark’, without any insights about their potential customers. This is why in the industry circles the upcoming change is sometimes referred to as ‘Cookie Apocalypse’, illustrating the level of uncertainty and fear in the marketplace. Even more seriously, the changes reflect the shifting attitude of online users who are increasingly concerned about their privacy and less likely to tolerate invasive ads.

How Can Conversational Marketing Replace Traditional Online Ads?

Elimination of cookies will effectively prevent collection of third-party data, but there are other ways to learn about users. In conversational marketing, information is freely offered by the participants in the chat and collecting it is both legally and ethically acceptable. Since most brands are already in direct contact with customers through social media platforms, adopting a new approach based on one-on-one communication through live chat is simply the logical next step. Conversational methods may not be a true replacement for cookie-based campaigns of the past, but they offer an alternative that won’t be affected by the coming ‘apocalypse’. If used the right way and with the right technological tools, this approach can actually lead to improved performance of your online campaigns.

Advanced Chatbots Open New Possibilities for Interaction

To truly maximize the impact of social media conversations on their sales and profits, marketers should strongly consider chatbot technology. Chatbots designed specifically for social media chat conversations can be programmed to interact with online contacts and convert some of them into paying customers. This process is more interactive and less invasive than bombarding users with repetitive messages based on their demographics and interests, and it opens some amazing possibilities for relationship building. Instead of chasing clicks and rewarding instant action, with chatbots it’s possible to focus on long-term loyalty without sacrificing short-term revenues.

“To reduce dependence on third-party data and enable one-to-one customer relationships, I believe you’ll start to see brands launch first-party data strategies to gain new insights and engage consumers in new and innovative ways. Businesses need to re-invent how they connect and build relationships.” Explained Ryan Dearlove, founder at Chit Chat Agency, a leading bot development agency.

Embracing Large Scale Automation Based on AI Algorithms

Once they are set up, chatbots operate independently and are capable of maintaining natural conversations about topics relevant to the brand. This is possible thanks to their software configuration that incorporates some of the latest Artificial Intelligence concepts. Those bots are smart, can be customised in many different ways, and they learn about the people they interact with. Those features make them ideal for large scale automation efforts, which may be a necessity in the rapidly expanding social media universe. Embracing this trend early brings numerous advantages, especially for businesses that market products or services to mass audiences. The campaigns of the future will be larger, more direct, and more focused on customer satisfaction, and they might well be managed by smart chatbots that are already available today.

Photo by pixabay

Autor: Frank Hamilton

More articles from Frank Hamilton you can find here

Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.

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

Be optimistic with your vision, but pessimistic in your planning

By

StartupValley

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19 January 2022

0

Partium enables field service technicians and aftermarket service teams to identify spare parts in seconds

Please introduce yourself and your startup Partium to our readers!

My name is Philipp Descovich and I am the CEO of Partium (https://www.partium.io/). Partium enables field service technicians and aftermarket service teams to identify spare parts in seconds. In very large industrial environments. From anywhere. With their mobile.

Partium saves customers time and money wherever machines need to be repaired or serviced. Our customers include companies like Deutsche Bahn (German Railways), Bosch and Home Depot (the world´s biggest DIY brand). Partium, as it is today, was founded in 2020 through a merger of 3 companies. Partium’s focus is 100% on Enterprise Part Search.

How did you get the idea of Partium?

The idea for Partium originally arose from a project with a large German industrial company. The goal was to drastically reduce the maintenance technicians’ search times for spare parts in the production plants. Despite good SAP databases, the average search time for spare parts was on 12 minutes, 36,000 times per year in each of the more than 50 production plants. With Partium we brought this number down to 15 seconds per search. 50 times faster.

Why did you decide to start with Partium?

During the project with this first customer, we found out that all the companies we talked to had a similar problem. So we knew we were onto something. But we needed to productize the solution. That was when Partium was born.

What is the vision behind Partium?

Wherever you look in industrial environments, people spend incredible amounts of time searching for parts in their systems and warehouses. With Partium our customers solve this problem. Fast and without having to enhance their master data.

We offer a fast and reliable way to identify and find parts in those complex environments. Using an AI-based combination of visual and text search combined with smart filters. Partium identifies industrial parts within 15 seconds, regardless of whether they are worn out, dirty, or damaged. It´s a big deal for maintenance technicians and customer service agents around the globe.

From a business perspective, the main advantages of Partium are:

Reduced search times

Simplified spare parts orders

Reduced downtimes

Minimized incorrect identification attempts and orders and

Skilled workers don’t need to help others looking for parts.

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

Our background is in computer vision. So we originally approached the problem with visual search technologies only. But in industrial environments that doesn´t do the trick. Two main reasons: a part really doesn´t look like its new counterpart after 3 years at the bottom of a high-speed train. And unlike in fashion or generally retail businesses, our industrial customers don´t have image data to train typical visual recognition systems.

We had to drastically enhance our system´s capabilities. We found a very smart way to combine visual search, text input, and additional information about the user´s environment. And we developed a patented way to visually identify industrial parts without image training data. All this didn´t happen overnight. It took time, effort, and money. But it was worth it. We lead the market. By far.

Who is your target audience?

Our target audiences are medium to large scale industrial customers dealing with spare parts – machine and vehicle manufacturers and operators within various sectors, and home improvement retailers.

What is the USP of your startup?

Thanks to our holistic approach when it comes to Enterprise Part Search, we have a couple of truly unique selling points.

The most important one is that our customers can have visual recognition of spare parts without having image data of their spare parts. It sounds like magic … but we made it work. And this is highly relevant for our customers because a lot of them have images from their parts and components. Secondly, we can stand up a Partium setup in just a couple of weeks rather than the months and years it would take to generate image data.

I think that it really is a bit magic. But behind it is a very powerful AI model.

Can you describe your typical workday?

Waking up early to have zoom calls with Australian customers. Then zoom calls with Europeans. Then zoom calls with US customers until late. Sounds a bit stressful. But it really isn´t. When you went through difficult times to build something, every moment you spend with people who like what you did just feels fantastic.

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

5 years is a long time for a company in a high growth mode. But with our product-market fit I believe that in 5 years Partium will be the de facto standard for any company who´s technicians or customers spend too much searching for parts.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Plan for new cash early. Cash is the one thing that can kill your company no matter how great your ideas and work are.

Be optimistic with your vision, but pessimistic in your planning.

If the map and the terrain don´t match, always believe the terrain. Meaning, if you see the market behave differently than you want it to, don´t give up, but don´t ignore it and be ready to adjust your strategy.

Thank you Philipp Descovich for the Interview

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

Don’t worry about being perfec

By

StartupValley

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18 January 2022

0

REFRAMD create eyewear products designed to fit people and not the other way around

Please introduce yourself and your startup REFRAMD to our readers!

I’m Shariff, and together with Ackeem, we founded REFRAMD. The basic concept behind REFRAMD is that good design empowers, acknowledges, and reflects society’s rich diversity. Our idea started with the aim to design eyewear products for people with low and wide nose profiles (nose profiles found on many Black people) concerning our sunglasses. Quite quickly, it became clear that other overlooked groups would benefit from our products as well, such as people from East Asia and people with Down Syndrome. And so, we set out to create eyewear products designed to fit people and not the other way around.

How did you get the idea of REFRAMD?

REFRAMD, as an idea that eventually became a business proposition, was born out of personal frustration. Whenever we tried glasses, we felt unease at how they looked on us; for a long time, we felt that our face was just not meant for glasses. At some point, we realized the problem wasn’t with our faces but with the glasses themselves. After this eureka moment, it became clear that the glasses were not made for people like us, and we decided to do something about it.

Why did you decide to start with REFRAMD?

REFRAMD has its roots in years worth of personal frustrations and an unwillingness to accept the world as it is. We felt that we could change something in an industry that has been neglecting millions of people for far too long,

What is the vision behind REFRAMD?

We want to make the eyewear industry more inclusive. Therefore we need diverse voices and inputs at different departments of the eyewear industry, particularly in positions of power. We can address our blind spots by embracing diverse points of view. REFRAMED wants to make the world more inclusive by challenging the status quo.

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

Starting a business itself isn’t complicated. However, becoming a success is a different story. The biggest challenge we face is the general assumption that people have of Reframd that we only gather to black people. I think that’s because we are two black founders ourselves. We also noticed that there are investors who believe our product is too niche or not a real problem. I think those reactions are coming from a very privileged place. They assume that it’s not a big issue because it never affected them. That’s also the reason why we are fighting for more diversity. For the eyewear industry, or any industry to ensure it is catering to all races and identities, we need to have diverse teams throughout. We need inclusion, representation, and participation of various groups of people at different levels of any industry.

Who is your target audience?

We started with a focus on people with low and wide nose bridges; However, We believe that we have the most inclusive approach in the eyewear industry because our frame algorithm can adapt to any nose and facial profile. This means that everyone who struggles with finding correct fitting eyewear is a potential customer. We want to acknowledge that some groups of people have been excluded in one way or another from the current product offering in the eyewear industry. Given that we are both black founders, it seemed apparent to start closer to home. Initially, our products had fixed nose profiles and sizes. Still, through conversation amongst ourselves and other people who face a similar problem of not finding the correct fit, we decided that it would be better to have adaptable designs to serve wider facial shapes and make our products available to the mass.

Over time these initial assumptions have been validated by positive feedback and interest in our products from people across (Western Europe, the USA, Brazil, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Japan). A real eye-opener for us has been the number of people expressing that they feel acknowledged, seen, and valued because products are being developed especially for them.

What is the USP of your startup?

We’re offering the most inclusive eyewear standards in the market. Our frame generating algorithm can make our glasses fit anyone with any nose profile and facial shape. Our technological advantage allows us to manufacture a large batch of glasses, all different from one another, within only a few working days.

Can you describe your typical workday?

There is no such thing as a “typical” workday. This is one thing that makes entrepreneurship in the company’s early days extremely exciting.

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

We believe that the world will be a more inclusive place than it’s now. For REFRAMD, we hope to have a customer base worldwide and expand into different product categories where the status quo has also neglected large groups of people. It’s our goal to become the number 1 inclusive brand of the world.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Get comfortable with the unknown. As a founder, you will always be forced to decide without fully understanding what is coming. That is just something you have to get comfortable with.

Don’t worry about being perfect. The more time you spend building your product without getting feedback from real customers, the higher the risk you are taking. At some point, you might even realize that your customers want something very different from what you have just given them. Build your MVP, ship it, get your early adopters on board, and establish a good connection with them. From there, you can focus on improving your product or even pivot.

Enjoy the ride. You’ll have a lot of ups and downs as a startup founder; you’ll meet interesting people, you might even see some exciting places. Don’t forget that nothing lasts forever. Zoom out regularly to see how far you have come, and don’t forget to celebrate your milestones!

Thank you Shariff for the Interview

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

7 Quick Ways to Make Money Investing a Minimum of $ 1,000

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StartupValley

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13 January 2022

0

If you sit at least $ 1,000 and it scratches in your pocket, consider investing it instead of wasting it on something useless. But the question is, Can you make a quick buck by investing in just $ 1,000? The answer to that question is, “Yes.”

While there are many ways to make money quickly by doing odd jobs or producing them with things like integrated marketing or email marketing, actually making money by investing just $ 1,000 can bring many challenges, and without a doubt, additional risks. That is, unless you know what you are doing.

How to invest $ 1,000 to make money fast:

If you have $ 1,000 to invest, you can make money in a variety of ways. But there are other ways to help others. The game here is speed. We are not talking about long-term strategies, buying strategies. That is great if you want to invest at least two to five years. We talk about ways to make money faster.

Although there is talk of markets that can take time to move or have long cycles, investments can turn into tangible and immediate profits using the right strategies. What is the right strategy? Indeed, long-term jobs. Real estate agents and other time-consuming strategies will eventually get you there.

Raghee Horner of Simpler Futures says that “long-term interest rates are the next big trade;” while Jim Cramer of Mad Money says “there are tons of people who naturally drink the trend and take the trend after it’s gone. Fashion.” By jumping in and out of such a long-term investment, you are more likely to lose your shirt than you are when you set aside time to play well.

It’s not so much about trying to capture the latest styles. It’s not about being a webinar guru like Jason Fladlien or Liz Benny – or even building marketing channels or improving your overall conversion. Your investment is about paying close attention to indicators that can move the needle in the short term as opposed to the long term. It is also about finding the strength and fencing of your investment in the right way without putting too much risk on the line.

That doesn’t mean you don’t need a long-term plan. He certainly does. But if you are looking to build momentum and generate some money quickly, in the near future, then the following investment strategies may help you do just that.

1. Play the stock market

Day trading is not for the weak. It requires strength and determination. It is necessary to understand the dynamics of different markets. This is not something that is intended for beginners. But, if you have read and studied well, it is a way for you to quickly – within hours – make a large amount of money with relatively small investments.

There are also ways to combine your bet when it comes to playing the stock market. Whether you are playing in the regular market or trading in penny stocks, be sure to set limits on stop losses to minimize any potential for a major downturn. Now, if you are an advanced trader, you probably understand that market makers often move stocks to play amid our fears of failure or greed. And they often push the stock down at a certain price to boost that fear and play right into their pockets.

When it comes to penny stocks, this is also an exaggeration. So you have to understand what you are doing and be able to analyze market strength and get significant benefits. Note the moving averages. Generally, when the stock breaks the moving average of 200 days, there is a chance of an upward trend.

2. Invest in a money making course

Investing in yourself is one of the best ways to invest money. While you may not be able to pinpoint the real return on investment, there is no money that can be better spent. Invest in yourself. Invest in your education, Read, Change, Grow, and Find out what you like.

There are many courses to make money online. The hard part is choosing the right one. From ebooks to social media marketing, well-organized search engines and beyond, the possibilities are endless. While most gurus making money may appear on social media, not all courses are created the same way. Spend time doing your best and research to choose the right one.

3. Commercial goods

Commodities such as gold and silver offer a rare opportunity, especially if they trade at the end of their five-year term. Metrics like these give a strong indication of where the goods might be headed. Carolyn Boroden of the Fibonacci Queen says, “I have long-term and long-term support in the silver markets because silver is a strong barrier to inflation. Also, things like silver are a tangible asset that people can hold on to.”

Economic foundations drive the price of goods. As supply decreases, demand increases and prices increase. Any supply chain disruption has a negative impact on the supply chain. For example, fear of animal health can drastically change prices as shortages are reduced. However, livestock and meat are just one type of property.

Metals, energy and agriculture are other types of goods. To invest, you can use exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, among many others. Generally, investing in assets means investing in futures contracts. Effectively, that is a prearranged agreement to buy a certain amount at a certain price in the future. These are the contracts that are used, which offer both high altitude and the ability to have a large descent, so be careful.

4. Trade crypto currencies

Cryptocurrencies are on the rise. While trading may seem risky, if you hedge your bet here again, you may limit the exit of something at the wrong time. There are also many trading platforms for cryptocurrencies. But before you go in, educate yourself. Find lessons on foundations such as Udemy, Kajabi or Teachable. Also learn the complexities of trading things like Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin and more.

Although there are more than 3,000 secret currencies available, only handfuls are important today. Find exchanges, research trading patterns, see the emergence of long-term moving averages and get busy trading. You can use trades like Coinbase, Kraken or Cex.io, and many others, to make real trades.

5. Use peer-to-peer borrowing

Peer lending is a hot investment these days. While you may not plan to invest in a peer-to-peer loan network, you can still make money. Which loan platform do you use? Today, there are many options, but the most popular are Lending Club, Peer Form and Prosper.

How does this work? Peer-to-peer lending forums allow you to offer businesses or individuals a small amount of cash while collecting interest on repayments. You earn more money than you would if you put it in a savings account, and your risk is limited because the algorithms do a lot of work for you.

Once you have identified the offer, you can go in and do some research – then, you can either contract or not. You will be assessed on your risk based on a proprietary algorithm that combines employment and credit history, and you will be able to make an investment decision based on a variety of well-thought-out data.

6. Trading options

Speaking of options, Tom Sosnoff of Tastyworks says, “Sell less and trade more often.” What type should you trade for? There are a lot of crates, like FOREX and stocks. The best way to make money by investing when it comes to your options is to get into it within 15 days before the company salaries are released. What type should you buy? Money calls.

The best time to sell those cash mobiles is the day before the company withdraws its money. There is so much excitement and anticipation about the profits that it usually raises the price, giving you a consistent winner. But do not cling to the benefits. That is a game you don’t want to take if you are not a seasoned investor, says John Carter of Simple Trading.

7. Investigate housing contracts

Making money through real estate may seem like an eternity, but it is not. There are ways you can take a small amount of up to $ 500 to $ 1,000 and invest in converting real estate contracts to make money faster. How? Use a program like Kent Clothier’s REWW to begin understanding how the market works. It will then provide you with data and tools for identifying vacant homes, depressed sellers and money buyers.

While many people think that real estate is won by investigating traditional homes and repairing them yourself, the quickest money you can make with real estate involves investigating the contract itself. In arbitrage, Identify motivated traders and buyers of money, combine them and sell the deal successfully. It may seem strange at first, but once you do, you can become a mini-mogul in the real estate industry by simply rolling out this one strategy. It works, and is attracted to some of the world’s most successful homeowners.

Picture pixabay

Author: Muhammad Abdullah

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

Cutting Sugar Loads from Hazelnut & Chocolate Spreads

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StartupValley

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11 January 2022

0

CAMBYA™ tackles the sugar-reduction challenges in sweet spreads and filling, naturally

As children head back to schools, monitoring their sugar consumption in food and beverages becomes more challenging. Food-tech start-up B.T. Sweet, Ltd. introduces CAMBYA™, its plant-based, sweetening platform to cut loads of sugar from favorite treats, such as hazelnut and chocolate spreads. B.T. Sweet cracked the code on helping manufacturers create tasty hazelnut and chocolate spreads with less sugar.

The company offers leading sweet spread, filling, and coating companies’ new abilities to meet their sugar-reduction targets without compromising on much loved flavor qualities (especially those imposed by new regulations).

According to the UK’s National Health Service, while it is recommended that adults have no more than 30g of free sugars daily, children ages 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g per day. And children ages 4 to 6 should have no more than 19g of free sugars in a day.

CAMBYA is a plant-based, one-to-one drop-in sugar replacer for use in multiple food & applications.

The proprietary formula, based on soluble fibers, monk fruit, and select botanicals, is a 1:1 equivalent to sugar both in function and flavor, while acting as a source of naturally derived beneficial fibers. CAMBYA delivers optimal sweetening capacity, without the need for masking agents. It is ideal for lowering sugar levels in confectionary, cereals and ice cream. Most importantly, it does not leave any lingering aftertastes.

“For many, a breakfast or school sandwich is incomplete without chocolate hazelnut spread,” confesses Yoav Gaon, CEO of B.T. Sweet. “Parents struggle with their kids’ demands for it and have a hard time resisting it themselves. We succeeded in developing a tasty solution that kids of all ages love simply by switching white sugar with CAMBYA.”

Beautiful chocolate cake with rough strokes buttercream spread on a metallic cake stand

Shockingly, sweet spreads typically contain up to 50% sucrose.

The start-up’s food technology team and chief confectioner tested the sweetening platform in several spread formulations with the goal of creating low sugar spread applications that cut the sugar load by at least fifty percent according to clients’ requests. The challenge was to perfectly mimic the flavor, color, and texture of a traditional category leading sweet spread, without any change to the mass of the product. In addition to extensive sensory lab testing across all parameters, the start-up trialed the products among children and their parents.

Kids are the primary market for chocolate spreads, birthday cakes, cookies filled with cream and similar products,” explains Dagi Pekatch, Founder and Chairman of B.T Sweet. “We received excellent feedback from them. They loved the taste of our CAMBYA sweetened hazelnut and chocolate spreads, and we all know kids are hard to fool,” Pekatch grins.

Since CAMBYA is one-to-one equivalent to sugar in taste, body and texture, there is no need for additives to keep the same weight of the product. A low-sugar spread with CAMBYA, offers a rich, chocolatey, nutty taste with a creamy sensation, without adding any colors, preservatives, or added flavorings. Moreover, it is enriched in fiber and is low in calories.

CAMBYA’s “plug and play” sweetening platform allows food companies to reformulate their spreads, as well as other products with less white sugar. Manufacturers have the flexibility to completely switch to BT Sweet’s natural sweetening system, or balance it with sugar and other sweeteners according to desired levels without any adjustment to the recipe, thus saving R&D time and money.

Source NutriPR

Make sure your team also grows along with the business

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StartupValley

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6 January 2022

0

MyMobiForce B2B service marketplace where Enterprise & OEMs get their technical Services delivered using a National level Plug and Play network

Please introduce yourself and your startup MyMobiForce to our readers!

I am Dheeraj Khatter, Founder & CEO at MyMobiForce. MyMobiForce (MMF) is an organized B2B service marketplace where Enterprise & OEMs get their technical Services (Installation and After Sales Service) delivered using a National level Plug and Play network of GIG workers.

MMF is redefining the way Enterprises and OEMs can interact with Gig workers without worrying about on-boarding, training, compliance, payment and paperwork with complete service assurance.

How did you get the idea of MyMobiForce?

We have been part of Telecom Sector for almost 18 years now and have seen the service industry struggle to find a perfect match between Demand and Supply.

While we have been part of many large-scale service implementation, it was always a challenge to hire, Onboard and Train Field Force specially for projects where there is no assured continuity of Business.

In order to bridge the gap between businesses and services, we did our research & feasibility study with the value proposition of connecting with an on-demand workforce, not just for discovery but for getting the work done.

We developed the concept to bring skilled workforce on the aggregation platform, take care of verification & skilling of potential partners while connecting them with Enterprises, OEMS and MSMEs for millions of work opportunities.

Why did you decide to start with MyMobiForce?

The potential around the on-demand service industry and lack of efficiency of multi-level outsourcing is what motivated us to get into the field. With a plan to help businesses and services get the most out of professional on-demand workforce, we initiated our startup and formed a plan out of it.

Solution which can help organizations meet the right skilled force (freelancers), at the right time at the right place.

What is the vision behind MyMobiForce?

MyMobiForce is working with enterprises, MSMEs and Product manufactures to execute their Pan India implementation and Service maintenance projects by riding on the huge aggregation of Service Technicians and Service Partners available over the platform.

Our vision is to empower 2 million GIG Workers not just by giving them work opportunities, but also digitally upgrading them in terms of skilling, earning, helping them access to right spares, accessories etc. which can help them build a better financial profile so that we can help them with Microfinancing loans if required.

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

One of the Major challenges was to balance the demand and supply as we are building an organized marketplace. It’s important to onboard partners only when you can give them enough work opportunities. Another challenge which we had to overcome was to bring in a sense of discipline and professional approach among the diverse gig community around the country.

Who is your target audience?

MMF is trying to aggregate the Service demand from larger Enterprises, OEMS and MSMEs in high end Technical services in telecom, Networking, Home appliances, EV, Solar etc.

What is the USP of your startup?

There is a difference between transaction and engagement. We are into engagement business where we need to provide consistent value to both enterprises, MSME and our Service Partners. Our focus is to deliver high end services through an organized service marketplace.

My Mobi Force will ensure these customers are never away from Skilled Service, Installation and Repair solutions.

Can you describe your typical workday?

Workday start with scrum meetings with critical business functions like Sales, Operations and Product to align the daily priorities. I am Part of most of the important Sales meetings to get the customer Pulse and firsthand feedback about their issues, vision and how we can be part of their digital transformation journey. Spend remaining time on responding to emails and analyzing the business and thinking about new initiatives or ways to improve the business. I try to speak with few of our service partners almost every day to make sure they are happy and take suggestions from them.

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

Over the next five years, MyMobiForce aspires to be one of the leading Indian platform for all kind of Installation and After sales service. Platform which can create work and wealth for Gig Workers and Micro/Medium Entrepreneur. However, our initial focus is to build an ecosystem for general technical services and improve the chances of employment via the gig economy in the country. We would also love to take things to the global stage!

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Stay focused and always remember your purpose of starting a business.

Be fast and Agile, that’s the beauty of Startup to solve problem at a fast pace.

Make sure your team also grows along with the business.

Thank you Dheeraj Khatter for the Interview

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

Be very clear what you are trying to achieve

By

StartupValley

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5 January 2022

0

Silver Power Systems battery analytics for all types of electric vehicle, from cars to commercial vehicles

Please introduce yourself and your startup Silver Power Systems to our readers!

Silver Power Systems are a team of experts leading the way in real time, advanced performance-enhancing battery analytics for all types of electric vehicle, from cars to commercial vehicles. Our battery monitoring and analytics capabilities have one overall goal: to improve the performance of electric vehicles and prolong the life of their batteries.

We work with everyone from large vehicle fleets who are increasingly exposed to the asset-related risk of ageing batteries, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) who are exposed to risk around battery warranty and automotive Research and Development (R&D) departments who are developing the next-generation of electric vehicles, who need the very latest in analytics expertise.

How did you get the idea of Silver Power Systems?

We have been working with Li-ion battery systems for over 10 years in critical power applications for telecoms and developed a cloud hosted network management system for monitoring them along with partnerships with leading cell suppliers like LG Chem and Panasonic. As Li-ion batteries began to be deployed in automotive applications we saw the opportunity to develop technology to support this rapidly growing market and founded SPS to bring that automotive focus

Why did you decide to start with Silver Power Systems?

Pete: I started Silver Power Systems because I could see that there was a huge opportunity to take our battery and energy management expertise, developed in the competitive but mature telco sector, into a new industry sector which was undergoing rapid change due to the transition to EVs.

Prior to starting SPS I had already been approached by a number of large well known UK vehicle manufacturers asking if we could support them, as they had such limited expertise on electric powertrains. Founding SPS allowed us to take on some initial research projects, and through innovation funding we were able to quickly partner with other players and establish some credibility, The fact I’d set up a company meant I was also able to quickly assemble a core team of experts to work with me, people who I know and trust.

What is the vision behind Silver Power Systems?

Not all batteries are born equal – our technology and tools can put insights about an electric vehicle’s battery into the hands of our clients – everything from state of health to how the battery is being used/charged throughout the vehicle’s life.

Our vision for the company is to scale our business by being the best battery analytics company in the EV industry, and offering tangible, useful insights to our clients. We’re passionate about improving the performance and prolonging the lives of EV batteries so that drivers can continue to travel sustainably for longer, and help the world transition towards net zero.

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

The biggest challenge was how to gain traction in the automotive industry given the large number of incumbent suppliers. Whilst EVs brought in a technology inflection point it is still very difficult for a new tech company to gain the attention of the vehicle manufacturers. We were fortunate to win a grant award and be supported and mentored by the Advanced Propulsion Center which was invaluable in refining our development strategy and gaining credibility.

Who is your target audience?

We work with fleet owners and operators for all types of electric vehicles – from taxis, to vans and buses – providing vehicle type agnostic battery data collection and analysis which optimises fleet operations now and maximises battery value in the future We also work with anyone interested in the overall operation of EVs – such as vehicle developers, battery manufacturers, insurance providers, transport authorities and local councils.

What is the USP of your startup?

When fleets buy new EVs we believe they don’t currently have enough insight around the current health and future degradation of the batteries – we want to change that. There are many things set us apart but perhaps one of the most important is that we provide independent analysis of electric vehicle batteries

Can you describe your typical workday?

Our days are never the same as week-to-week we’re always looking at new opportunities and potential new projects. Although most people have a free rein to work how they like and, these days,are mostly at home, we do find some structure helps us to keep track of priorities and deliverables.

So our typical day starts with a 9am Skype call, when everyone calls in and talks through their priorities for the day, any assistance they need from anyone else, or shares some news of interest. We use the Monday call to identify any resource bottlenecks and will often decide on the call whether, for example, fixing a new, just found, software bug is a higher priority than a planned development task on a project plan. We might arrange follow-on calls that day if something requires particular attention.

After 30mins or so we each get on with our day and that would be a mix of planned software or hardware development tasks , business planning and management, or dealing with queries and questions from partners or customers. Often these will spark conversations on Skype or phone, so even though we are all remote, it always feels like we are working as a team. At 5pm we have another whole team call, but this is a voluntary one and people only join if they have something specific to ask or report, or just want some social contact!

Where do you see yourself and your startup Silver Power Systems in five years?

In 5 years we expect to be moving into the next phase of our growth, from a small number of high value customers to more volume and potentially international customers. We will almost certainly be looking to or have moved to a larger premises to accommodate more staff, although given the tendency for home working , this might not be a full time office but maybe a space we rent for a certain number of days per month. Our day to day activities will have grown to include significant operations and customer support functions, and given the rapid evolution of the EV industry in the UK we may by then be part of a larger company. Either way the passion for interesting and innovative technology projects will remain.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

Be very clear what you are trying to achieve – this allows others to follow and efficiently help you get there, but also……..

Be prepared to change direction fast to seize opportunities or adapt to challenges. Often the most useful output of a project is not what you originally set out to achieve.

Lastly, business is about people – look for people to join you who share your vision and energy level, and network widely in your industry. ‘Give to receive’ – develop trusted connections with people who can help you in the long run.

Thank you Pete Bishop and Liam Mifsud for the Interview

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

Work on something you would buy yourself

By

StartupValley

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4 January 2022

0

MoveNation help people to achieve their lifestyle goals through relocation

Please introduce yourself and your startup MoveNation to our readers!

Peter: CEO. Peter comes from a background in VC & PE finance. He is also the co-founder of Nest CPH that has incubated startups worth more than 500M USD.
Simon: CTO. Simon comes from a background of multiple development roles and is about to graduate from DTU.

MoveNation is a global migration tool to help people achieve their lifestyle goals through relocation. The MoveNation search engine aims to filter 100.000 cities and towns and can process massive amounts of city data that are relevant to deciding where to live and match it to each person’s lifestyle preferences and financial situation. We aim to help users understand their options, demystify the impacts of relocation and enable confident decision-making. While we make quality life abroad a reality and help uplift local economies, we simultaneously help solve the global pension crisis that impacts everyone by inspiring relocation as a strategic solution.

How did you get the idea of MoveNation?

Having worked around the world with the topic of finance I (Peter) found it fascinating that you in 2021 literally could buy a ticket into space, but not quickly get an overview of what country would be ideal for you to live in from a leisure and financial point of view.

Why did you decide to start with MoveNation?

Because I had followed competitors that had tried to do something similar over the last 10 years, but never quite fulfilled my needs. Also, I did not believe it would ever come if we did not make it.

What is the vision behind MoveNation?

To help people live better for less using relocation as a powerful tool. On top we are also proud to be a partial solution to the $400 trillion pension problem coming in 2050, due to exponential aging and underfunded pension plans. Relocation can be a great alternative for many.

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

So far it has been the classical startup hard with finding a team, capital and so on. However, the hardest thing has to be extracting the right data and build the tool. 92% of city data is not collected.

Who is your target audience?

20% early retirees or FIRE people as they are called (Financial Independence Retire Early) 80% actual retirees that have a certain amount of funds and would like to make the most of them.

What is the USP of your startup?

We take something very complex and make it simple. We gather data that was not there before and filter it to our user’s needs.

Can you describe your typical workday ?

30% deep work 20% team talks 30% investor talks 10% hiring 10% marketing

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

The world’s best relocation platform that also works with cities and nations to make them more attractive for users/citizens.

What 3 tips would you give to founders?

1) Do not start a company before having worked with 1-2 startups before. Learn from them, so that you do not have to pay for costly mistakes.

2) Work on something you would buy yourself. At least you will have one happy customer. At MoveNation our hedge is that the intel we get from building our product is 100X our investment already because the financial upside of a smart relocation beats many asset classes in alternative returns.

3) Planning with nothing going wrong is delusional and like when a boxer is punching a boxing bag and no one is punching him/her back. It is too easy. Make plans that can take punches and still move forward. We call our plan Z. Parinoind yes, but happily surprised.

Thank you Peter and Simon for the Interview

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