Do you travel as an entrepreneur and wish you could easily meet local entrepreneurs?
We interviewed entrepreneur Anders Hasselstrøm about his team’s solution called Startuptravels. Below, Anders provides some interesting insights about how his team went about creating their service and what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset. Hope you enjoy!
Anders, what inspired you and your team to create Startuptravels?
Startuptravels was started because all members of the founding team have experienced the challenge of meeting local entrepreneurs while traveling. We have been traveling a lot and when you are a foreigner in a new city it can be a challenge to find the local startup scene and the local likeminded entrepreneurs. We wanted to make it easier for people to find and connect with each other.
How exactly does Startuptravels work and who would benefit most from it?
Using Startuptravels is very simple and only requires a few clicks before finding some interesting likeminded entrepreneurs to meet. You type in the destination you are going to and a list of all the local entrepreneurs, that has created a profile on Startuptravels, will appear. You can reach out to everyone on the platform, despite having no previous connection to the person. You can watch this short video of how it works:
Entrepreneurs that travel a lot and entrepreneurs in search of likeminded people to connect with are the ones who will benefit the most from the platform. Consider it to be a cross between meet-up.com and LinkedIn – a platform for entrepreneurs with a focus on connecting them.
What makes your service different from others that try to solve the same problem? Or, is this the first solution to address this problem?
Most entrepreneurs today resort to LinkedIn, Facebook or their personal network when they want to find local entrepreneurs to meet while traveling. However, LinkedIn and Facebook is not made for reaching out to new people to meet – it is made for networking and interaction with current contacts. Even though some companies focus on solving a similar pain I believe the concept is unique.
Please tell us a little bit about you and your team’s background.
Rasmus Elkjær Frandsen (Business Developer):
- Currently studying Applied Economics and Finance at Copenhagen Business School and has been granted a scholarship to an MBA at Duke University in USA. Rasmus has been involved in a successful startup before, and he is working as a management consultant at PwC in Denmark in the area of strategy, operations, HR, financial effectiveness and risk management.
Anders Hasselstrøm (Business Developer):
- Currently studying Msc. Management of Innovation and Business Development at CBS. He has been awarded the honorary title of being “Most Outstanding Student” at CBS and has been involved in several start-ups before.
Henrik Haugbølle (Software developer):
- Currently studying Msc. Software Engineering at IT University of Copenhagen, being a top student and one of the absolute most skilled software engineers in Denmark. Henrik is also CEO and founder of Bonzai Development – a software development company.
Give us an interesting fun fact about the research or product development process you went through to develop Startuptravels.
We did more than 250 Skype interviews in order to pinpoint the exact pain the entrepreneurs, and the target audience, were having. Very early in the process we made a small pivot away from the concept of “Couchsurfing for Entrepreneurs” and focused instead on emphasizing the meet-up between individual entrepreneurs, which is a pain that is not being solved today.
Given your interest in entrepreneurship, what is the best piece of advice for an entrepreneur you’ve ever received?
I’m a firm believer in LEAN Startup and I believe every entrepreneur should know the LEAN principles of building a startup company. Besides that I think the most important advice I have received is to treat every day like a school day – You must never stop learning!
How do you define what it means to have an entrepreneurial mindset?
Having an entrepreneurial mindset is first of all about looking for opportunities in problems instead of only stating the problems. When the problems have been identified it is the creative spirit of an entrepreneur to do something about it. Having an entrepreneurial mindset is also about accepting and facing the obstacles but keep smashing through the challenges until you succeed.
Where can people find out more about Startuptravels and your team?
You can read more about the team, the concept and the process we have been through on our blog, our website or on Facebook.
If you are an entrepreneur or have any interest in the sphere of entrepreneurship you are more than welcome to join us at www.startuptravels.com
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