The Up Group

Last night, we were privileged to host an informal dinner at The Langham Hotel for fifty CEOs and C-level executives from across the European start-up and corporate technology community.

Our thanks go to all who attended, for making the evening such a vibrant source of discussion and insight. 

Attendees

Made.com, Chairman

Criteo, CEO

MindCandy, COO

Web Reservations, CEO

Housetrip, CEO

Vouchercodes.co.uk, CEO

JustEat, COO

Wahanda, CEO

Kelkoo, CEO

BaseKit, CEO

Skimlinks, COO

StylistPick, CEO

Livebookings, COO (The Up Group, NED)

Lyst, CEO

onefinestay, CEO

GlassesDirect, CEO

Currency Cloud, CEO

Chemist Direct UK, CEO

Funding Circle, CEO

Brainient, CEO

Quill, CEO

LoveHomeSwap, CEO

MyBuilder, CEO

7Digital, CEO

GreenManGaming, CEO

USwitch, CEO

Busuu, CEO

Qype, former CEO

Dressipi, CEO

Media Ingenuity, CEO

Mangahigh, CEO

Long Tall Sally, CEO

Videdressing, CEO

WAYN, CEO

Weve, COO

Ezetop, CEO

Qubit, CEO

YPlan, CEO

Codemasters, CEO

Rangespan, CEO

TrialReach, CEO

Avangate and CloudBag, Co-Founder

Payment Sense, Founder

Guardian, Chief Digital Officer

Yahoo!, VP & MD EMEA

Google, Country Sales Director UK

Facebook, Regional Director EMEA

Braintree, GM International

viagogo, MD Europe

The Up Group, CEO

Last week saw the third annual Dublin Web Summit. We were lucky enough to be there and experience first hand talks and pitches by some of the Web’s most successful and most promising entrepreneurs. With so much going on over the two days, one of the main benefits of such an event is the sense it gives of the shifts in some of the macro-trends that are happening across the Web and in technology more broadly.

Whilst pure-play platforms, social or community-based plays, and eCommerce continued to dominate, one of the key takeaways was the shift in conversations from the Web as a separate entity, to how it is being increasingly used to solve ‘real-world problems’ in areas such as transportation, travel, health, home management and just day-to-day living in general. The key thread that linked all of these together was very clearly Mobile. In the broadest sense of the term, whether it be phone or tablet or even robotics, mobility was the driving force behind the majority of the most disruptive and innovative businesses present at the conference.

With over 200 speakers and 4000 attendees it would be foolhardy to try to distil the whole event into a single blog post, so, over the course of the next few weeks we will be publishing some of our highlights from the talks we attended. We begin with travel:

Democratising travel: hitch your way across the web 

Moderator: Alexia Tsotsis, Co-Editor of TechCrunch

Edial Dekker, Founder and CEO of Gidsy

Nicolas Brusson, Co-Founder and COO of BlaBlaCar 

Jen O’Neal, Founder and CEO of Tripping

Sam Shank, Founder and CEO of HotelTonight

Greg Marsh, Co-Founder and CEO of onefinestay

Why is travel broken?

The general feeling amongst the panel was that the whole booking experience, from the price you pay to the supply chain, is broken. Each company is trying to solve an aspect of that overall problem:

HotelTonight is a mobile-only business that is targeting the ‘last minute’ market. Rather than receiving long-winded lists of good and bad hotels that the user has to filter through, they curate their list and show a select few hotels that always highly recommended. They also continue to moderate it.

BlaBlaCar offers a new peer-to-peer transport network based on real-time available cars and taps into people travelling often on long distance journeys between cities. This also offers a great facility for last-minute transport needs. The proposition centres around booking a seat in someone else's car and as a result presents a challenge in terms of educating its target audience.

onefinestay  is focussed on providing a commercial opportunity to those who wish to rent out their homes with minimal effort. Their rationale is that the people with nicest houses often have lifestyles that require them to travel, thereby leaving empty houses but not necessarily the time to manage the commercial opportunity. They seek to enable the capacity for owners to offer a high-end accommodation option with minimal effort. $650 billion is spent on hospitality globally, so by adding convenience and capacity they see that they are unlocking huge value.

Tripping is focussed on a similar proposition to onefinestay, though with emphasis on community and real-time booking. Tripping started as social platform and has grown virally so they really haven’t had to do any marketing yet.

Gidsy is pitching itself as an ‘AirBnB for local experiences’; a community based market-place where travellers can book unique, ‘off the beaten track’ tours and fun things to do. So far the business is focussed predominantly on Europe and the US, with hubs in Berlin and San Francisco.

What's harder, building out from Europe to the US, or vice versa?

Many of the businesses present were more focussed on the European market though it was felt that the fragmented make-up of Europe presents challenges from a payments and languages perspective, and that localisation is therefore harder in Europe. Most of the panel acknowledged that the US is still a very important market to be in, though Greg from onefinestay pointed out that there are not a huge number of UK to US success stories. Despite that, onefinestay recently launched in New York and it went a lot better than they expected. He felt that was largely due to having been able to raise capital beforehand, which gave them confidence in executing the launch, and that the majority of UK and European businesses are not as confident in launching in the US often due to a lack of financial support. Interestingly, HotelTonight has found Europe an easier market to launch in, due to the heavy regulation and property taxes in the US.

Where are the brightest prospects in the travel space?

A number of the panel were in agreement that Airbnb is currently the most interesting in terms of its product, but also the way in which it has executed on its expansion strategy.

For Greg at onefinestay and Nicolas at BlaBlaCar, the biggest opportunity lies in the airline industry, with companies like EasyJet, where there is a constant need, and a strong demand, for greater levels of efficiency.

Here at Up, we’ve been busy hosting a series of roundtable breakfast events over the last few months for leading digital/online Marketing, Product and Technology Executives, and we’ve been delighted with the results. Lots of lively debate with some very interesting people!!

In June, we hosted Up’s Product Breakfast bringing together Product Management Executives from companies including:

• Basekit, Betfair, Covestor, Flirtomatic, FON, Gekko, Guardian, Hotels.com, Imagini , Lastminute.com, Microsoft, Playfish, Skype, Talk Talk, Vodafone

In July, we hosted Up’s Technology Breakfast bringing together CTOs/VP Engineering Directors from companies including:

• Blue Duck Education, Geo Sweep, Harper Collins, iTrigga, Marks & Spencer, Time Out, Vzaar, Wahanda, Wiggle

In September, we hosted Up’s Marketing Breakfast for leading CMOs and Marketing Directors from companies including:

• Yahoo!, Quiet Riots, Mydeco.com, UKTV, Bet Now/Open Vantage, Betfair, My-Wardrobe, SecretSales.com, EMI, M and M Direct, Lovefilm

For full Event pictures and write-ups, please see:
http://www.theupgroup.co.uk/news_events.html

What is Keynoir? What is innovative about it?

Keynoir is a private members club that treats it members to great discounts on fantastic restaurant, hotel, spa, wellness, and event brands like: Tom Aiken, Hempel Hotel, Austique, Melt Chocolate, Milly Vanilli, Polo in the Park, and Scin Spa.

When did you set up Keynoir & why?

I wanted to get more for my money, and love going to new places.  There was an opportunity to get enough people to buy on the same day and get fantastic discounts on cool places.

You have already received funding from Index Ventures and ProFounders Capital. How did you manage to secure this prior to the launch of the product?

My co-founders and I worked really hard on both the business plan and the market position.  We picked a good sector, and were very focused in our approach.  Having an experienced team also really helpful in giving the investors comfort in investing.

How has the concept been received so far and what are the plans for further development?

The concept has gone through several iterations, another new one will launch next week.  We have some great secret plans, so you will have to watch this space, but the open one is that we are integrating Facebook login, to help you know what your friends are doing and buying.

What will be the secret to the success of a Keynoir model – presumably, it will be the quality of the product/offers you are selling?  If so, is there enough supply in the market?

We think that the secret to the success of Keynoir is to focus on the member.  You can see our member promise on the site, and we really live it. As an example we helped on merchant re-negotiate their shipping costs to ensure that our members go their orders on time.

What are the pros and cons of the current group-buying market?

Well, we see ourselves more in the private members club than the group buying set.  I guess that the cons are that there are huge volumes of people who want to get into the space.  Technically it is simple to put a site up, but practically it is hard to do it well.

US based group-buying model Groupon has received a $135million fourth round of financing. How does this affect Keynoir and what does it tell you about the potential in the European market for this concept?

Keynoir is pitched at the aspirational end of the market, think of us as the Ocado or Wholefoods of the market.  I am happy that Groupon has just purchased myCityDeal, as it is good to have ethical people in the market.

You have run online businesses previously, can you tell us about your background?

My online background started with a company called Firesend, which was an express parcels price comparison.  Unfortunately, we were 6 or 7 years ahead of our time.  I then ran Kelkoo UK until we sold Kelkoo to Yahoo, then took a variety of roles in Yahoo including RVP Yahoo Northern Europe.  Went back to Kelkoo as the CEO to help find it a new home, and became an independent consultant in March 2009.  Finally, been working on Keynoir since early December 2009.

Any advice on how to build a great internet business?

I think the advice must be the same as building a great offline business:  work hard, stay true to your customers, hire the best you can afford, and be honest with everyone.

What are the benefits of a VC-backed start-up?  What are the downsides?

The best thing about VC backed start-ups is that they can give you real advice, having seen many start up situations before, also they can introduce you to many helpful people, and let’s not forget the money

On the cons are that you have to give up some of the control in the business, and have to be willing to listen—both of which seem a low price to pay.