What was your first job ever?
Dishwasher at one of the local restaurants in my home village. I did it as a summer job when I was 15 I think. I loved the interaction with the staff in the kitchen, the job itself not so much 😉
What’s the background story? How did you start your company and what is your company?
I was working on an idea that involved lodging taxes but was not the core of the concept. Then, as I suppose these things often go, lodging tax compliance turned out to be a whole niche in itself and a great way for us to get off the ground relatively easy. It still took us almost a year to shape the idea properly and build our first version of the product, but I still consider that not too bad.
Can you provide an example of a situation where security concerns impacted a decision or strategy within your startup?
Our product, Trippz, serves the biggest travel platforms in the world. As such, we’ve always paid attention to solid security when starting to develop the product. How wise that was we only learnt later on, when we were confronted with an external security review for one these companies. That was a tough review (and it was still their ‘’light’’ version), but luckily many of the things required we had anticipated. We still had some things to do, but if we had started then only, the contract would have delayed by 6 months easily.
If relevant, when did you realize compliance was a non-negotiable?
During the forementioned security review. Of course, there is always context in which certain measures or controls can be put, but negotiable it never was.
How do you maintain a work-life balance while dealing with the constant challenges and demands of running a startup?
Quite honestly, we work hard, but nothing like that it ruins the balance between my private life and work. Every now and then you have weeks that require you to be on top of everything, but generally I am very happy with work-life balance.
Any tips for other startup founders that are new to the scene?
I would say the single thing most important is to try to assume as little as possible. When you’re in ideation stage of your business, you have a lot of assumptions around your concept as to why it is such a good idea. Once you move on, I think moving towards listening (to potential customers, business associates, friends) is the key to avoid expensive or even fatal mistakes. And I am deliberately not saying you should be ‘’validating’’, because validations are typically done against a concept (mostly your assumptions). Of course when you listen to people, in the back of your mind you still validate against those assumptions. But the trick for me is to do it quietly; hear what people have to say without pre-conditioning them (or as little as possible) with your ideas. My experience is it really helped us move forward quickly, as we used that early input to sharpen our thoughts and concepts and only properly validate them later on, as we had incorporated most of the feedback received early on.
Anything you wish you could take back or do differently since starting Trippz?
Nothing pops to mind that quickly. Not to say we did not make mistakes or placed the wrong bets on features and the direction of the product. But I believe that’s inevitable, so there’s no real point in thinking about those things in the sense of ‘’what if had known xyz…’’ I didn’t, and that’s why a decision was made in a particular way. Just try to avoid making mistakes that in hindsight were avoidable. A concept also known as ‘’learning’’ 😊
What’s your go-to podcast or publication?
I don’t read or listen to podcasts that much. Running the business and spending time with family and outdoors already consumes most of my time. Which I am really happy with. I do have wishes in my mind on things I’d like to spend more time on, but that’s for when the girls are older and/or the business requires less time. But that’s fine for now.
