International Entrepreneurs

This month I spoke to Nikoloz Gogochuri, CEO at VRex Immersive, a platform that connects people to places through virtual reality. After having worked in the computer graphics, animation and technology business for a long time, Nikoloz decided to start his own company together with a co-founder with a web development background. Though the market was at first far more old-fashioned than he'd expected, sticking to his team really payed out and sailed him through some hard times .

 This month I went over Alan Frei's advice on B2C Sales Funnels on the Swisspreneur podcast. Since I've never really done it myself (at least not on a big scale), it's nice to rely on the expertise of a B2C veteran! "Website traffic", "conversion rate", "lifetime value"... these are all terms that should become part of your daily vocabulary if you really want to kick off your customer retention rate.

 In June I got to chat with Olga Royenko, CEO at Royenko Marketing Agency! Olga told me all about her hesitation to leave her steady job, how she thinks creative people can put their talent to better use, and what she has learned along her entrepreneurial journey. Click play!

This month I tackled the challenge of creating a B2B sales funnel - which is basically an entrepreneur's ticket to acquiring his or her first clients and building a steady stream of income. Click play!

This month I interviewed Brian Kennedy, who I met through the YTILI program! Despite having majored in social work, Brian went on to work for the Pittsburgh Technology Council - though he will tell you that the transition made quite a lot of sense! Click play to hear about Brian's passion for helping people, in whatever way that ends happening.

This month I give you some introductory advice on how to snatch those tricky first clients. I also tell the story of how Gymhopper got started, and what we had to do to mold that business idea into its proper shape. Click play!

This month I got to talk to Tinatin Babakishvili, who left her 9 to 6 job to start her own business: Post Red Audio. Tina talks about how hard it was at first, even for a sociable person such as herself, to take her initial steps in the business world - and how she managed to get from that to having dinner with Netflix! Check it out.

On the month of April I talked a bit on how to secure an accurate evaluation of your business idea. I go over a number of topics: the right motivation to start a company, the importance of bootstrapping, attracting the right customers, managing margins, achieving a good return for investments... Basically, all of the ingredients that make up success, and that should determine your decision of pursuing a business idea or leaving it behind.  Check it out!

On the month of March I got to chat with Elena Shkarubo, founder and CEO of MeetnGreetMe. After being fired from an international banking group, Elena decided it was time for her to start her own business - so she created MeetnGreetMe, a data-driven marketplace for personal assistance and concierge services for business travelers. And she's been incredibly successful! Listen to the full episode to find out how.

 This month I come to you with some freshly-baked, incredibly useful entrepreneurship advice that I was lucky enough to receive at the SaaStr Annual 2019 Conference! On investment, hiring, bootstrapping and more.