On June 2011, at Startup Weekend New York, the project inBed.me was born, winning 2nd prize.  Last week, less than 6 months later, after enlisting a talented team, completing the product, testing it with users, incorporating the company, establishing key partnerships, bringing on board top-notch advisors and raising a significant seed round from prestigious investors, inBed.me launched to the public, generating a good press buzz and getting a promising initial traction (+10,000 visits, +1000 users in one week).

We are extremely proud of having being born in SW and of being part of this fast-growing global community. Many projects born in SW don’t really keep going after the event. We believed that it was possible and we did it. So the guys at SW asked us to think what we consider were the things we did right during SW, and after SW, that allowed us to actually build a real company after the event. That’s why we wrote this post. We hope that this can help others “Startup Weekenders” to keep going with their project. Hopefully this way we can increase the impact of SW around the world!

But first! what is inBed.me? > inBed.me is a social booking site for Hostel travelers that allows users to connect with other travelers going to the same destinations before the trip even starts. Users can see who else will stay in each accommodation and city, and connect with them to share tips or plan activities together, and based on that, book a hostel to stay. Here a little video that explains it better!

Top 5 things that we did right on Startup Weekend:

Here are the main things that we believe (in our humble opinion) that we did right on SW, that set the foundation of our company, and helped us to actually build a company afterwards. But first, here is our actual pitch on the Demo Day of Startup Weekend NY, back in June:

1. Enlist a diverse and skill-complementary team.

We managed to assemble a group of people with really different backgrounds, and complementary skills. The diversity was fundamental in the brainstorming process, and the complementarity of skills was extremely important to be able to build a product, analyze the market, and envision the challenges of the company. Most of the original team members are still involved with the project, directly or indirectly.

2. Think BIg.

We’ve seen many teams on SW thinking that because it’s such a short time to build and launch something, it makes more sense to build a small project. Then more than a potential company, they really build a product feature (e.g. “an app that gathers all your foursquare check-ins and shows them in a cool map”). As much as it can be fun and educational to build this cool small projects, the reality is that the chances of building a company afterwards, convincing others to support you along the way, etc, are… well, small. Rather, we choose to envision a big company, with the potential to disrupt multi-billion dollar market. It sounds like something too big to build in 2 days; but everything starts with a vision. It’s free to dream, so let’s dream big!

3. Build a Minimum Viable Product

Even the biggest companies started with a really minimum product. Dropbox with a video and Groupon with a WordPress blog. You don’t have to build a super featured product, but a minimum entity with which you can start validating hypothesis about your potential customers. (More about this on the great The Lean Startup book). We created a basic version on inBed.me and were able to show it to the world. Afterwards we needed to refine it, of course, but obtaining a working prototype was really really powerful.

4. Get feedback from your target users (not other geeks)

Instead of going around and asking other geeks like us what they thought about the concept and the basic product, we were out and walked our way to actual hostels in New York, and talked with real backpackers. A part of our team spent a big part of the weekend taking feedback from them, and processing the results in cool stat charts. This was of tremendous value for us. SW it’s a great opportunity to go and get real feedback in non-scalable ways.

5. Take the most of the mentors

Generally the mentors at SW are rockstars. And they are there, during 3 full-time days, just to help you out building your company. We took the most of them, and we took their feedback very seriously. They helped us to think bigger, to make more sense in small and big things, to craft our pitch, etc. We made them feel part of the creation of the company, and as such, they helped us out, even after SW.

Top 5 things we did right after Startup Weekend:

And here are the things that we did after SW, that we consider were key to keep going and building the company.

1. Believe it!

Whether you win or not the final pitch battle on SW, next Monday you wake up, and think something like “hey! that was cool! we could actually try to push it forward”. There, many “mind-monkeys” jump saying “yo! this was just a game, in the real world it won’t happen”. We decided to believe that we could. And there, is where everything starts. If you happen to find a good team in SW, and you feel that you can actually build something meaningful together, go for it! Believe that it can happen, and it will!

2. Take part in some accelerator program to continue building-learning

Few chances are that an investor will write you a check with the results of SW (even if you won the SW Global Battle). However, a new sort of really-early-stage investor came to scene: the accelerators. Accelerators are more focused in the team than in the product or the traction, so they will consider to invest in a team right after SW. So we did, we took part in 2 accelerator programs: Startup Chile and NXTP Labs (part of TechStars Network) [More on these great experiences coming soon]. This was the perfect following step for us, because it gave us an initial funding to keep going, and the ideal environment to keep building and learning. It also helped us to surround our self with amazing people (next point).

3. Surround yourself with great people

We learnt in SW the importance of mentoring and feedback from experts, that’s why we focused in enlisting advisors and mentors really early on. We managed to get on-board experienced entrepreneurs such as Rod Cuthbert (founder of Viator Travel), Fabrice Grinda (founder of OLX and Zingy), Alec Oxenford (founder of DeRemate, DineroMail and OLX), Facundo Garreton (founder of InvertirOnline), James Haft (mentor at TechStars), etc. We also partnered with great lawyers, Dan Green from Goodwin Procter, who advised us in all the legal matters of incorporating the company and raising investment.

4. Keep the momentum growing

SW is a great kick-off pad that can create some initial momentum for your project. However you need to keep this momentum growing by adding new value to the company every week. The value addition can come in the form of team members, advisors, investors, product features, users, or simply learning. We kept in mind that the first few months were essential to really take off, and that the opportunities are urgent, se we got obsessed with keeping the momentum.

5. Launch! (even with a lot of flaws)

As Reid Hoffman (founder of Linkedin) said “if you are not embarrassed with your product at launch; then you launched too late”. The oxygen for your product will come from real users in the real world. That’s why we decided to launch to the public, less than 6 months from our starting point. Our product still have some bugs, and is really far from being what we envision. However we are already out there, learning, and making our dream a tangible reality.

We still have a huge mountain in front of us, and have a big road to ride before being able to call ourselves successful. But, as Lao-tzu said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step“. Startup Weekend was this first step for us. We dared to believe that the spark that we fired on SW were a real possibility of creating high-impact value for world. And we are hands on, making it happen. We heartily wish that more startups born out of SW across the globe generate new real companies, that create jobs, innovation and hope for the world. Thus, all together, we can change the world.

So, go ahead and find when Startup Weekend is coming to you city!

This post is sort of a note to myself. As we’re in the first months of existence of our startup inBedme, and as a first time startup CEO I find myself often thinking about what the #### I should be doing these first few months to make it happen. I have been talking to several mentors, advisors, fellow entrepreneurs, researching, and putting my observation skills to good use. With that I came up with a sort of basic list of the main things a CEO  (in this case me) should do the first few months of the startup (in this case a consumer web startup). [so warning made: don't do this at home because it comes from an unproven CEO].

1. Set up the vision of the company

Draw a mental (or paper) map of where the company is going to go, what is the market you’re tapping into, how you’re gonna get there, what’s the problem you’re solving, who’re your customers, your competitors, your acquirers, what are the key challenges you’ll face, what are the key team members you’ll need, what are the values behind the mission, how you’re gonna change the world forever. Prepare yourself to communicate this vision to the world. Tell a compelling story.

2. Enlist a team and engage them with the big vision

Recruit a highly skilled team to cover all the main key areas of the company at this stage. Get them excited with the big vision, convincing them that is worth joining you at such an early stage. Make them partners of the company. Make sure they understand the company’s roadmap and their role/mission. Put them to work. Hire fast, and fire fast.

3. Design the Product

Envision the product. Design the product. Define the key parts of your product. Think about what is going to make people love the product. Give the product personality and a soul. Play with your competitors’ products and learn from them. Keep in mind the user. Even if you are not technically prepared to actually build the product, have an obsession with the product and its design (remember Steve Jobs quote “design is not how it looks, it’s how it works”). Make sure that a MVP (minimum viable product) is built fast. Apply the Lean Startup methodology.

4. Deal with all the legal stuff

Get an awesome lawyer, and negotiate with them good terms. Make sure you protect the IP of the company and that there is not any issue uncovered: start 100% clean. Incorporate the company and get prepared all the agreements you will need. Make sure your lawyer teaches you and defends you more than your grandma does.

5. Get good backers

Get mentors, advisors, accelerators, godfathers and any sort of authoritative figure that will help you with advice, intros and validation in front of others. Convince them with your passion, and put them to work for you. Learn from them and from any source of knowledge available.

6. Establish Key Partnerships

You need key partnerships to help you gain time in terms of reach, distribution, technology, etc. Partnerships with big established companies also give you credibility. As the CEO, you should go and establish these partnerships selling the big vision of the company to the potential partners.

7. Fundraise

Raise money so that the company gets the necessary resources to actually play the game and has enough time to figure out what the f•ck your product actually is, and get market/product fit. Do a killer 6 slides deck. Shake your network, increase your network aggressively. ABP (Always Be Pitching). Get an anchor investor. Build momentum. Avoid bullsh•t investors. Control your emotions. Close, get the cash and move forward (with out any sort of celebration, there is nothing to celebrate). Keep fundraising.

8. Evangelize and connect

Get out and tell everybody about the company. Attend events and conferences that make sense, connect with other entrepreneurs, participate in competitions. Get Press. Connect with the bloggers, with the community of potential customers, with potential partners, with the competitors, with anybody in the industry. Do shameless self-promotion (but with taste). Harness social media. Build a brand. A brand is about values.

9. Get the initial traction

Get the first 5,000 users. Yes, you the CEO should find the first few thousand users, even if you have to spam the sh•t out of all your friends and acquaintances. Obsess with traction. Design the dashboard with the key metrics (the real key metrics and the vanity metrics too [you'll need them for the press and for some investors]) and get really obsessed with the progress of these metrics, check out the dashboard daily. Optimize the landing page, A/B test everything, learn from the feedbacks, iterate, change the product accordingly. Move faster. Be bold. Don’t sleep.

10. One more thing: Say No.

Focusing is about saying no. Say no to anything that can take time out of your calendar that doesn’t actually add real value to the company. Even those tempting things. Even if you p•ss people off. Say no to any feature that is not core in the product right now. Say no to any expense that doesn’t directly increase the valuation of the company. Say no to any activity that is not essential at this very moment.

Dream Big. Or go home.

Being in Chile at this moment, as an entrepreneur taking part in the Startup Chile program [in which the government granted us with $40K and plenty of support to grow our company from Chile, thus creating jobs and innovation for the country..], I wanted to share my view of today’s demonstrations here.

Today we witnessed one of the biggest students demonstrations in recent years. We were advised by Startup Chile staff about the situation, so most of the entrepreneurs worked from home. I worked from a Starbucks downtown (still don’t have Internet at my place!! #$%!) and after that I walked to a fellow Startup Chile entrepreneur’s place, witnessing first-hand the demonstrators and police in the street.

I’m writing this because I just saw a post on the popular entrepreneurship blog Launch, reporting on the situation and its impact on the Startup Chile entrepreneurs, in a certain tendencious way. I didn’t like it. Being originally from Argentina myself, and having lived in several countries (Spain, France and the US) I know how these kind of sensationalist headlines create distorted perceptions of a country and the actual situation there.

Sincerely, I’m not that informed about the issues that are being discussed in the country regarding their education system that are causing the protests, so I haven’t formed an opinion about the situation. However, I do think that people’s demonstrations should always be envisioned as a healthy democratic exercise. Especially in countries that have experienced authoritarian dictatorships in the past century, in which people weren’t allowed to express their opinions publicly.

So I wanted to send a message to all my entrepreneur friends applying to the Startup Chile program: there is nothing to worry about! Chile is an amazing and safe country, fun, beautiful and a great place to do business. In any democracy and dynamic social system, there are issues that the society discusses, and street demonstrations are part of these social dynamics. So, move your ass and complete your application for the program, because there isn’t enough place for everybody!!

Last week I was flattered by an invitation to be interviewed by the prestigious Argentinian foundation Fundación del Tucumán, that fosters business education and entrepreneurship in Argentina. They were interested about my experience as an entrepreneur and my lessons learned on the road. Here I share the interview, translated by Google Translator (not bad job!). You can find the original version in Spanish in this link.

______________________________________________________________________________

“Ideas are overrated, what counts is execution”

Confirming assumptions, defying stereotypes, inspiring, suggesting and sharing. All this Diego Saez-Gil is doing in a talk about the sides A and B in the life of an entrepreneur. His itinerary anti-salaried-job: Tucumán (Argentina), Barcelona and The Big Apple. Tips, anecdotes and reflections.

Diego Saez Gil graduated with a Bachelor in Business Administration at the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. He started working for Pluspetrol, then he jumped to Altran, and while pursuing a Master’s degree in Spain, he got hired by one of the Big4′s: PricewaterhouseCoopers. His executive career was underway, and smooth to the eye. But a trip to New York would change everything …

Early 2010. For several months, Diego had been feeling the desire to start his own company. And in a corner of the Big Apple would occur the “click” that was necessary, both figuratively and literally. ”I got involved by chance on the project of creating Off Track Planet, an online community that offers interactive travel guides, personalized and based on the new mobile technologies and social networks. I met Fred, who would be one of my partners, in a hostel in Brooklyn and started to build the business plan. After a while, I decided to do this 100% and I jumped: I sent an email quitting to PwC and dropped my NYC-Barcelona flight, “says Diego. ”I talked to my girlfriend at the time, and I called my mom. Although they didn’t understand me well, they supported me. There was a huge adrenaline and some fear, but somehow I had a feeling deep inside me, saying ‘It is the time, I’m ready’” says the 29 years old now full-time entrepreneur, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of his brand new start-up.

Diego will participate in Tucumán, next April, in the event Endeavor NOA, which the Foundation is sponsoring. Already planning to visit his province, he talks about his doubts and certainties, about the what’s, why’s and how’s of being an entrepreneur.

Fundación del Tucumán: What do you think about the label “entrepreneur”? What does it mean for you, essentially?
Diego Saez Gil: I like it! and I feel is very good that people started using this word in Argentina (a few years ago no one used it). What I think distinguishes the “entrepreneur”, from for example an “executive”, is that the entrepreneur starts from scratch, from nothing creates something innovative that has value to the world. For me, it has a certain epic and romanticism, like explorers or adventurers have. Still, I think there are many ways to be an entrepreneur, anyone can do it, whenever it detects an opportunity and go for it to build something new. The entrepreneur does not seek to be rich as its first objective, seeks to change the world.

FT: To be an entrepreneur, what personal qualities are most valuable or useful?
DSG: At a personal level, I think it’s important to have the ability to convey a vision and enlist everyone in that vision, inspiring them with a valid purpose, convincing them that it is achievable. An entrepreneur must be a good “storyteller”. Much of the initial work is to tell a compelling and exciting story , and enlist others in the mission. At first there is nothing more than a team, an idea and a minimum product, and with that you have to get on board employees, partners, suppliers, customers, investors, and even your family and friends to you support.
Besides this, I believe that certain personal attitudes are critical, such as persistence, positive attitude, self-motivation and self-confidence. Adversity and rejection are daily bread, which demands tremendous attitude.

FT: What about the technical and professional skills…?
DSG: I think three key areas of skills, especially at the beginning, the entrepreneur ideally should have: Product Design, Team Building and Sales. In addition, Business Development (being able to design a Business Model & Plan) and Finance are important. And of course, knowledge the industry in which you’re getting into.

FT: How is your day today as an entrepreneur? In short, what’s your schedule different from that of an analyst on one of the “Big4″ consulting firms.
DSG: My current schedule has a lot of writing and answering e-mails, coordinating and having meetings (in person or via Skype), planning with my partners or alone, organizing action and plans, evaluating progress and feedbacks, creating presentations, researching on the Internet, staying informed (via Twitter, blogs, online newspapers, etc.), going to networking events, etc … At PwC my schedule included much time in front my dear Excel sheets, or analyzing and preparing documents, and some meetings from time to time. The main difference actually is the weekly schedule at the Big4 was 9×5,  and now is 24×7.

FT: Let’s do a ping-pong! in a couple of words, for an entrepreneur… what is exciting?
DSG: to create something new and big.

FT: … counterproductive?
DSG: Make red tape.

FT: … dangerous?
DSG: not survive the “death valley” (the first 1 or 2 years of a venture, in which most of them fail)

FT: … the rewards?
DSG: View others inspired by your vision.

FT: … essentials?
DSG: The passion.

FT: What do you remember, read, think or hear when the “emotional rollercoaster” tuck down? What motivates you in the inevitable moments of down …?
DSG: Uff …! I appeal to all types of inspirational material: on YouTube, blogs, books …Of course, the stories and testimonials from entrepreneurs who I admire (Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Wences Casares, Marcos Galperin), as all them went through similar challenges; also stories of individuals who overcame very adverse experiences and emerged triumphantly (like Mandela, Frankl, the Andes rugby players), and spiritual literature. I also remember challenges that I overcame in the past, to remind me that I have the strength to surmount the current challenges. And I even sometimes listen to music that inspires and motivates me, ranging from Beethoven and Fito Paez, to Green Day …You have to grab onto anything! The important thing is to never let the down stop you.

FT: To those who feel “what” would you recommend to start thinking seriously about becoming an entrepreneur?
DSG: As we are liberate ourselves from dogmas, family and social mandates, mental limitations and fears … our heart tells us what we really want to become. And then, we should listen. We have to believe again that dreams can come true. So, if you feel that you just want to create something new, move out of the comfort, take risks, lead a team, plan and execute, and be the master of your own destiny, then perhaps entrepreneurship is for you. But hey! It’s a really hard lifestyle. However, since Argentina and the world needs more entrepreneurs, I think it’s important that we all should start to take responsibility. Also the society should start appreciating the value of entrepreneurs.

FT: They say that opportunities to are all around, you just have to look thoroughly… in your case, how did the idea for Off  Track Planet? What was the reasoning behind the construction, conceptually, of the website?
DSG: Totally, there are thousands of opportunities out there, and I think today is easier than ever to detect them and start. Off Track Planet’s idea came from the founders’ needs while traveling, that we thought might be better solved with the new technologies.
Freddie, my partner, had been backpacking Europe and noticed that the printed travel guides could be much more useful on-line, interactive and personalized to your travel tastes. Anna and I had also been traveling and had noticed how two phenomena had emerged that were to profoundly transform the web: the iPhone (which sparked the mobile revolution) and Facebook (which made social networks massive). Then, starting from a basic need that we had (organizing and planning our trip), we thought how we could use new disruptive technologies to best meet this need. I think that’s a good way to find ideas: find own needs or problems and think how they could be better solved with available technologies.

FT: If there is something like a 101 for an entrepreneur, what advice would you give to someone who already has his idea and is seeking “partners” to start-up (financiers, investors)?
DSG: I think the first thing to do is to put together a team of co-founders, the team is the most important thing. And then just start building! Investors and partners will show up later. ”Bootstrapping” is the best thing you can do, which means to start without external investment, reducing costs to a minimum while maintaining side incomes (to survive), and thus building the team, the product and the networks, focusing on monetization and grow early. Then go out and find investors.

FT: Now, what “safeguards” must be taken not to give away and / or left to steal the idea, the single most important asset you have until then?
DSG: Regarding protection of ideas, I think that ideas are “overrated” in general. What really matters is execution. An idea without execution is worthless … unless you have a unique scientific formula, or something like that. That’s why we almost never ask people to sign NDAs. There are people who keeps having ideas, but never performed. So my advice would be: Just launch! Test, get feedback, adapt, improve, and keep running. Seldom successful start-ups keep the original idea, often they mutate into something different from what the founders originally thought. From Google to Twitter, nearly every start-up mutated their original idea.

FT: For those who still don’t have an idea, where would you advise them to explore to find a potential venture?
DSG: I think we’re at a unique moment for start-ups related to the Internet. Apart from the high scalability and low entry barriers that we know the Web has, I think we are at a historic moment: the first 20 years of the Web has passed, in which the “foundation” of the new connected society has been built. We have finally reached really high penetration of the Internet globally, we’ve made progress in storing and processing of large amounts of data, we’ve learned about User Experience, etc … It is up to us now, the new generation of entrepreneurs, to build the “buildings” of this new reality.

FT: The mobile revolution …
DSG: It is estimated that in some few years on average each person will have 5 points of access to the web, including perhaps a couple of mobile devices, your car, your house, your TV, etc. Almost all human activities will be transformed from education, to shopping, even to go fishing!
On the other hand, it is more accessible and cheaper than ever to build Internet-related products: with two kids, from any garage in any corner of the planet, there could be the next Google or Facebook being built. Wouldn’t be great that they were from Latin America?!

On January 6th 2011 a group of 180 passionate tech entrepreneurs from Latin America, Spain and Portugal gathered at a paradisiac venue in Punta del Este, Uruguay, for the PuntaTech Meetup, an event that focuses on technology and innovation co-organized by La Red Innova.

I had the honor of being invited to present our start-up Off Track Planet, along with other two young entrepreneurs Diego May (Junar), and Gabriel Gruber (Sumavisos)

The event was completely sold-out and the main session counted with the special participation of Andrew McLaughlin(twitter, bio) moderated by the great entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky (twitter, blog) founder of 7 companies in the last 20 years.  Andrew has an impressive resume and his past roles include those of  fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center, co-founder of ICANN, director of  Global Public Policy at Google and most recently deputy U.S. chief technology officer of theObama Administration. In December 2010 McLaughlin announced that he would leave the White House to return to private practice with two Internet startups.

It was amazing to see such a hot start-up scene in South America, with so many brilliant people full of energy and ideas!!

I wanted to share with you my presentation at the event. (It’s in Spanish, but I’ll try to add subtitles in English soon)

Google recently launched a marketing campaign called “Search Stories” that I think it’s great. With a few videos, in a very simple fashion, they show how Google Searches changed people’s lives. When I saw them was inevitable for me to project my personal story so far and think of how the Internet defined and changed my life. I recognized that all major decisions and changes I had in my life in recent years were helped tremendously by tools and information from the Internet. Surely my life now without the Internet would be completely different!

This reasoning supported my belief that Internet is one of the most important innovations of the century: the democratization of information generated, how it facilitated global connections and how actually allowed access to previously unreachable resources. I think there is much to be done! And that will be the challenge for us in the decades to come: Exploiting the full potential of the Internet and the mobile revolution to make a better world for everyone.
I leave two videos of the campaign that I liked a lot. After the videos, I write some “Searches” on Google that changed my life. Now, how the Internet changed yours?

Internet searches that changed my life:

“Internships Tucuman Business Administration”
“Scholarships Masters Programs Europe”
“Roommates Barcelona”
“Basic Terms catalan”
“How to write a Resume for Spain”
“Finance Jobs Barcelona”
“Cheap Hotel Venice”
“Calling Argentina Cheap”
“French Courses Grenoble”
“Travel Deals to Europe”
“Train Tickets Europe”
“Hostels Paris, London, Amsterdam …”
“Free English Course Online”
“How to Get Work Visa USA”
“Cheap flights Barcelona to New York”
“How to Start Up a Company in New York”
…. and the search continues! :) …

We often find the statement of Values and Working Philosophy in large corporations (and unfortunately are often just statements, and nothing else), but are not usually seen in startups. We however, think that for a startup it is essential to declare the founding Values and Work Principles, since the DNA of the new company is being formed, and all employees who join from birth must possess or acquire the same ’gen’. The Values and Philosophy should reflect those of the founders, and will be the foundation of the corporate culture. Of course, more important than ‘to state’ them, is to act and live according to those values.

In this post I share the Values & Work Philosophy that we declare for our company, Off Track Planet:

Our Core Values:

• Idealism: We dream of changing the world and believe it is doable through a focus on independent youth travel.  We imagine a better, more environmentally sustainable, equal, peaceful and fair planet.  For this big dream to become reality,  we believe youngsters need to develop a broader perspective of the world through travel.   We are idealists in a way and apply our “dream big” mentality to every aspect of the company.
• Passion: We have a burning fire in our hearts that moves us to make our dreams and plans reality. This powerful desire to fulfill our mission, makes us capable of overcoming any challenge and constantly propels the company forward.
• Action: We have no fear and an unbreakable drive.  We don’t expect things to just “happen”; rather, we make them happen. We organize, coordinate and put our minds, resources and bodies in action at full force, always.
• Balance: We believe that balance is essential in every aspect of business and life: Between short and long term, analysis and action, the quantitative and qualitative, the left and right brain, emotion and reason,  personal and working life and experience and youth.  We keep things simple, with a touch of the complex.
• Unity: Independent travel is a unifying force. We are one with our users,  employees,  partners,  advertisers,  supporters,  shareholders and communities.   This concept in practice is an extremely powerful tool for success.
• ‘OffTrackness’: We don’t follow the traced paths. We change the game and create new routes. We challenge the paradigms, refuse the dogmas and intentionally break the conditions. We encourage and inspire others to reinvent new ways of thinking and acting.

Our Work Philosophy:

• The value of the given word: In our organization, we place enormous value on the given word. When we assume a commitment, we honor it. We possess coherence between our thoughts, words and actions.
• The power of diversity: Diversity is intentionally built into our company. Our team members come from different places, speak different languages and have varying opinions.  We know the power of diversity in creating innovative ideas.  Our diversity is a great advantage and we use it to realize successful projects.
• Option of mobility: New technologies have made the stationary office obsolete.  Although we do have a central office, our staff stays connected to travel and is constantly exposed to networking opportunities by being encouraged to work portably whenever possible.
• The power of connecting: Traveling has the power of connecting: people, ideas, information and stories.  Our ideas are inspired by travel, travelers and the connections made in between.
• Sense of purpose: Everyone in our organization knows their actions serve a significant purpose.  Whether we’re sweeping the office or closing a big deal with a partner, all contributions are valuable toward our mission.
• Positive nonconformity: We are nonconformists.  We do things differently and we do them well.  We believe everything can be improved,  every performance can be exceeded and that we can always go further.  Devoid of criticism and blame, we positively launch ourselves into new, better ways of doing things and inspire others to break the  standards and strive for innovation.
• Never half-a** things: If we assume a responsibility, we honor it to the best of our abilities.  Everyone in our organization is fully committed to his or her responsibilities.
• The power of focus: We understand that behind every great accomplishment lies a great amount of focus.  Our energy, attention and desire is focused on one single thing at a time creating a powerful driving force toward achievement.

Do you want to join us?!