Author: Helena Hagan
In Conversation with Contemporary Web Startups at the Web Summit
For the second year running, our Euspert team decided to take part in the Web Summit in Dublin, a unique event that connects virtual businesses from all over the world. This time, we wanted to discover not only who the new interesting players in the world of startups are, but also to find out if and how they are supported by their countries. We spoke to representatives from several countries, but our main goal was to learn about the real-world experiences of real companies. Since an important slice of Euspert's focus is the world of work, we also wanted to know how new startups are dealing with work processes. Let's see how the challenges of being a new startup have been faced by businesses from the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, Italy, Slovakia, the UK and more. #1 BimBimBikes Bike Rental Platform – When a hobby becomes a life’s business #2 Handiscover ...
Handiscover, accommodation-booking website dedicated to people with physical disabilities
This article is part of In Conversation with Contemporary Web Startups at the Web Summit Handiscover is a groundbreaking community-based holiday accommodation-booking website dedicated to people with physical disabilities. We asked its founder Sebastien Archambeaud for more information about his project and expectations, and to share his experience regarding the support offered by Sweden, where his business is located, toward new startups. Sebastien is an entrepreneur who holds an Msc in Engineering from UTC in France. He has worked in FMCG at international companies like L’Oréal, where he was European marketing director, and Unilever, where he was business manager and marketing director. He is also the former CEO of MrBid, now known as Tradera (eBay Sweden). I wondered what motivated a person with such a strong professional background to build his own startup. The impulses that drove Sebastien to set up this kind of business were the terrible muscular disease ...
BimBimBikes Bike Rental Platform – When a hobby becomes a life’s business
This article is part of In Conversation with Contemporary Web Startups at the Web Summit BimBimBikes is the first online platform for bike rental companies. It is currently present in 40 countries, with over 700 rental points in the BimBimBikes community of bike rental companies. Its founder Michel Willems sat down with us to answer our questions: Helena: What was the main inspiration for you to start this business? Michel: I had a wonderful vacation in San Francisco. We booked a lovely apartment, we ate at great restaurants (with good online reviews). Then we went to a bike rental shop. They were out of bikes. As I didn't want to disappoint my beautiful and lovely wife, I said I would handle the situation. I picked up my smartphone, looked for an independent bike booking site with reviews and availability.... and it wasn't there. We found a rental bike after all, but ...
Daytrippi, Find an activity at your destination
This article is part of In Conversation with Contemporary Web Startups at the Web Summit Daytrippi.com is a free online platform designed for holiday destination specialists to promote their products and for travellers to more easily discover new activities and sights in a certain area. Currently, travellers can use the platform to choose between more than 72 activities provided by verified organizers in ten countries. Daytrippi aims to offer the lowest prices, and their website has been nominated for the 2015 Accenture Innovation Awards. Its founder Bas Hof shared with us his point of view on the support availible in his home country, the Netherlands, and his future expectations for the company. Helena: What are your biggest current ambitions? Bas: The objective is to grow to 15,000 activities in the world within 3 years. We contact the supplier directly and enrich content manually. Helena: Does your government offer any economic ...
Upgrade Digital offers hotels’online presence a five-star upgrade
This article is part of In Conversation with Contemporary Web Startups at the Web Summit Upgrade Digital helps hotel groups to take advantage of new technology in order to give their online presence an upgrade. It aims to significantly increase their profitabilily by improving their websites and booking engines, and speeding up the links to hotel management systems. Upgrade Digital's booking API improves performance enormously. We asked its founder Damien Allison to tell us more about his project and the competitors in his field. We wanted to know his point of view regarding support from the UK, where Upgrade Digital's headquaters is based, towards new startups. Damien: Upgrade Digital was founded to allow website builders and media agencies servicing the hospitality market to build websites faster. Our technology enables the creation of amazing booking experiences in a matter of weeks instead of six to nine months. Based on our own ...
Zusa: Businesses tailor-made for everyone in one app
This article is part of In Conversation with Contemporary Web Startups at the Web Summit Zusa is the world's first diversity directory business search provider. The app categorises businesses by a range of diversity filters, and allows users to find small and medium enterprises based on personal preferences. Zusa filters businesses by language, ethnicity, race, religion, age and gender of staff or customers, as well as listing businesses that share alliances with specific sporting or social clubs, and employ or support disabled, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender workers. Its founder James Hazelton told us about his expectations and the government support offered in Australia, where the company resides, towards his company and towards startups in general. Helena: What are the most important objectives for you right now? James: We've just recently launched our Android beta, and are currently developing our iOS beta, which should be live in the AppStore by ...