Sendy: “A Giant Marketing Budget Doesn’t Guarantee Success.”

Describe Sendy in 50 words or less.

Sendy is a mobile app that matches people who want to send items with people who can deliver them.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

To quote Julius Caesar – I prefer to be the leader of a small town than number 2 in Rome. I don’t think there is one person in the world who would follow someone else’s vision as enthusiastically as they would follow their own. It is simply instinctive and natural. I decided to be honest with myself and with others, and this honesty is expressed in following my own dream.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

By this time Sendy is the world’s largest same-day and next-day delivery company. It has resonated with people around the world. This is not only because people can be trusted to deliver good for each other, as non-professionals, but because each of us cares about helping the environment, saving resources and saving money. In other words, we can create a global company that can provide the same service as the incumbents, but at a lower price and in a more sustainable way. What could be better than that?

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

The typical working day never really starts and never really stops. It just is, like the universe! What I mean by this is that even when I am not in the office I may get an idea, or remind myself of a task, randomly and without doing it consciously. Talking practically, I always prioritise my tasks – there are some which are of paramount importance, they usually have to do with raising money, saving money, increasing visibility of the company, listening to customers, listening to employees. Other things come second.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

Success has multiple faces. First of all one must always be true to one’s overarching, macroscopic mission. In Sendy’s case, delivery goods worldwide in a cheaper and environmentally friendly way. Once that is done, we must focus and making this possible – keeping costs low, hiring the right people, getting as much visibility as possible. If ever in doubt of the path forward, always revert to the mission statement.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the app like you imagined it in the beginning?

We have already partially pivoted to include national and same-day delivery services across the UK in addition to our international same-day and next-day delivery service. We just realized that there is also much demand for delivery services in a large urban area like London, and people are both willing to deliver and send with Sendy just as much as they are willing to do it internationally.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

A bit of both. We bootstrapped at the very beginning, got some money from the Virgin group and myself, now looking to raise a larger amount of seed financing. Sendy is fuelled by ideas because resources are limited – even after we do have more resources, I will never change this mindset. If you keep humble and nimble, with an eye for every cent spent, then you can be as agile as before when you are bigger.

What were the biggest challenges you faced building your startup?

Above all visibility, and of course financing. The fact is, a giant marketing budget does not guarantee the success of the company, or a positive customer response. We are focusing on telling people a fantastic, interesting story that they can all understand and share. If people agree with our view, they will tell their friends, and we will get the visibility we want.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

Listen to everyone – customers, competitors, yourself, employees. This is an evolutionary process as all companies risk becoming obsolete if they do not adapt to changing circumstances, changing trends and changing competition. Whoever nails the art of change, structural, philosophical and technological, will come out ahead.

What do you look for in team members?

Mainly passion and willing to sacrifice personal gains, be they monetary or of other nature, for the good of the company. This applies also to the CEO of course. Sendy is more than a company, it is a mission, it is a vision, it is a philosophy. All these things are bigger and more important than the individual, and that includes me. I am just a means to an end.

Why would a talent join your team?

They would be joining a tremendously vibrant, exciting and fast-moving startup with a very lofty, grandiose vision of the future. They would be at the forefront of P2P delivery technology and compete against some goliaths of the logistics and delivery industries. We are David – we are small but we can fight anyone without fear.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

Probably winning the Virgin startup competition finalist prize in 2015, meeting Richard Branson and hearing him saying that Sendy is a brilliant idea. It does not get much better than hearing from one of the world’s most dynamic entrepreneurs that you are on the right path. Plus, I loved having just come up with the idea two months before and being in the final of the UK’s largest startup competition. Talk about exponential progress!

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Act fast, think fast, change fast. The battle goes to the swift. There are so many ideas, so many opportunities out there, that you have to be quick enough to identify which ones are the ones that have the greatest potential and the ones you are the most interested in. Also, always look at the downside in terms of money, time.

 

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