StartUs Presents: TaxiStartup

Describe TaxiStartup in 50 words or less.

My TaxiStartup helps taxi companies and entrepreneurs compete with Uber.

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

I saw that I have reached the ceiling on my old job. Yes my salary would grow, but quite slowly. Yes, I would be developing personally, but too slowly as well. And there was this potential inside me that nobody cared about at work. So I had to find the way to release it. And what is a better way that trying to build something yourself? In the three years working on TaxiStartup I have developed and learned more than I did over 10 years working for someone. So my advice either go for your own venture or work for another startup – that’s the fast track to success.

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

Today we are used to ordering pizza online when we are hungry. What if you are “hungry” for diving or a yacht trip? Imagine you can pull your iPhone 20 and book a yacht. A driverless car would pick you up at your location and bring to the port, where a yacht with a captain is already waiting for you. Or if you need something to be delivered right away, a courier would pickup the package and the app would inform you upon delivery. An on-demand platform is what TaxiStartup is aiming to become in a nearest future.

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

If we talk about business it’s KPIs, the number of drivers and orders, sales, revenue, retention, customer satisfaction. If it’s about myself I try to develop not only as an entrepreneur, but also as a person – do sports, learn new languages, read books, explore new domains. Especially sport helps me to stay focused.

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

Oh, everyday is so not typical. But there are some things that I do everyday:

1. Select a task and start working on it first thing in the morning.
2. Check status with my team and their tasks.
3. Go through my emails.
4. Follow-up on team’s requests.
5. Try to finish my task that I started in the morning before my Brazialian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) training classes. Fail.
6. Go to BJJ training.
7. Try to finish my morning task before falling asleep.

It is important to select real things from all the noise.

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

Nope. We are still keeping several possibilities for pivot in our pocket. We had several business models that overlap and tried to support them all in our product. That helped to make a product that can fit many markets and customers – but also requires a lot of effort to support and develop new features.

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

Today we are sustainable, even with a new hires. We are self-funded and that feels good, since no one dictates you how to run your business.

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

It may be a trend, but most entrepreneurs are still “beginners” or don’t have an expertise. Our advantage as founders is that we came to build this company with years of experience (success and failures), and that’s crucial for success.

What do you look for in team members?

Enthusiasm. Expertise or desire to quickly gain it. Hands-on approach. Whether a person will fit with a rest of the team. Nothing else really matters.

Why would a talent join your team?

Depends on the position:
If it’s a junior software engineer then it is a quick skill development on an international project with the latest development tools. You can’t get that in an enterprise.

If it’s a senior software engineer then it is interesting regarding advanced projects, real impact on peoples’ lives, no corporate bullsh*t 😉

If your are a strong sales person it would be – international customers, global market, lots of opportunities, % of sales.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

How it all started. We gathered on The Next Web conference in Amsterdam and there we knew we need to do it. What we didn’t knew is how much time and effort it will take 😉

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

Brace yourself! Fight, but don’t be afraid to fail. You first need to fail a lot to learn how to build success.

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