Startup Stories

Growth vs scaling: What’s the difference and why does it matter?

Tell us about yourself

I am Consul Major Grace Tolentino, Chairman and CEO of Boracay Beach Inc. and President of Akamai Holdings Inc. I’m in entrepreneurship, focusing in investments and finance. I’m based in the Philippines but I often travel throughout Asia.

I love building fruitful relationships with investors and clients. I value trust, transparency and consistency when I work with people. I constantly drive for efficiency in my organizations because I’m passionate about progress and results. I have managed to embrace who I am and see my worth. In life, we can impact more lives and make a difference every single day.

I am a Consul General and Chancellor General, United Nation

Intergovernmental Organization, Major and Chief Inspector of UN Police Intergovernmental Organization, Peace Mediator and Chancellor General, International Special Court of Arbitration and Human Rights, Major and Chief Inspector Philippines command, Member, Council of Europe; a Major and Superintendent for Women and Youth Welfare, ASEAN Command, US Federal Police Chaplain International. President, Philippines- India Business Council, Global Chamber of Commerce. Chairman of Finance of Grandeur Message for People Inc., Consultant for Investment and Tourism Royal House of Baloi- Federation of Royal and Noble House Philippines and ASEAN Royal, Senator of World Business Angels Investment Forum, Vice President Economic Relations Management of Apila Ng Bayan Inc. Chairman of Esports and Digital Sports Tourism Commission, Esports World Federation.

Knowing that we are at our best, we get to inspire others to be better everyday.

How many hours a day do you work on average?

I work around 80 hours a week to maintain the business and grow it rapidly.
3. Can you describe/outline your typical day?

I prefer to start my day with coffee, a nutritious meal, and supplements. I start work by responding to emails and messages. This usually takes up my mornings. My lunch is usually light and I take walks to clear my mind and improve my focus. I sometimes take meetings in the morning but usually schedule those in the afternoon.

Before the day ends, I make it a priority to do a daily round up with my team to track progress and updates. Its about making a positive and lasting impact on people’s lives and inspiring them to be best that they can be.

How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?

I’m still single and I come from a close-knit family. I was actually able to get my family involved in what I do early on. In that sense, being an entrepreneur allows me to manage my time and take responsibility.

You are the only one who can use your ability. It is an awesome responsibility. It’s in your hands. Of all the gifts our Creator give us, surely the gift of choosing the way we are is one of the greatest.

What motivates you?

The lifestyle itself is my motivation. I like completing projects that make an impact. I’m passionate about my work, my team, and our partners. I enjoy the fact that I don’t work a 9 to 5. Though I work longer hours, I enjoy the flexibility and the freedom.

Committed people have goals. Any of us have are ordinary days and ordinary work but we have a choice about how we will do that work excellently. Private practice enhances public performance. Be prepared for change. Invest in yourself. Protect your passion points. You can succeed best and quickest if you help others succeed.

How do you generate new ideas?
I take inspiration from everyone I meet. I believe all people can share new ideas with you. I stay open minded when considering options and opportunities.

This mindset has opened many doors that resulted in successful ventures.
Pay attention to the things you can control, which areas you can influence. When you achieve the sense of balance, your platform will become more effective and influential.

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

Be fearless. Nurture your ecosystem to influence your circles of concern. Concentrate on building quality over quantity. Always be prepared. Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEO’s of our own companies.

How did you come up with the name for your company?

I started in the tourism industry, promoting the island of Boracay. The island itself is already known worldwide and I really love the island. Since my professional identity was already associated with it, I decided to incorporate it as my brand for lifestyle and business.

I simply express my passion and share the reasons why you are who you are and what you do, this clearly make a difference.

How did you raise funding for your venture?

We grew overtime with each successful project. We sold products and services to our customers and slowly built up our capital. As we moved to investments and other ventures, capitals rapidly grow continuously. We continuously develop strategies to grow our market share.

Everyone has story to share. Develop a diverse network and build relationships. Actively seek out information. We focused on growth. We cannot become who we are and what we want to be by remaining what we are. We evolve, we innovate and adjust along the way.

How do you build a successful customer base?

We offer a good value proposition. As I mentioned, being open-minded is important and this allows us to cater and serve the needs of a broad range of possible investors and clients.

We put great effort in maintaining relationships and open communication with everyone even if were not actively working on a project. We enjoy the process. We do platform leverage is the development of our skill sets, competencies, ad experiences.

How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?

Anyone who is passionate about a venture or project also gets me excited. As an entrepreneur, I only commit my team once we have done our homework on the project viability and return on investments.

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. The doers are enough and I love every time I see them.

As a serial entrepreneur, how do you see the market is growing in your country?

The Philippine government is promoting a “Build, Build, and Build” program and the country is known as an Asian Rising Tiger economy.

The Filipino workforce is much more resilient than most. Growth never really stopped. We just had setbacks because of the pandemic. Opportunities are up for the taking in real estate, financial services, and information technology. An investor only needs the right idea and the right people to become a strong global player starting from the Philippines.

How do you advertise your product/service?

With the global movement towards virtualization, adjusting our workflow has become more important. We were able to do this because of our team’s versatility. This allows us to not just continue, but to thrive in the changing times. We are now concentrating on virtual platforms to promote our brand. Adaptation of technology plays an important role in innovation.

We also get contacts through introductions. Many of our clients and investors promote our brand because of our good standing. We have built strong relationships with a lot of high quality investors and have a strong portfolio of successful projects and ventures to prove our capacity.

To what do you attribute your success?
Building our reputation and consistency is key. We value strong partnerships and relationships. We also strive for continuous improvement and innovation to stay ahead. It’s not enough to go with trends, but rather create the trends that others follow. Despite the changes, we maintain true to our vision; to be progressive and adapt to new ways of doing business.

Success on our own terms. Fire up your passion, ignite your career and create an interesting life.

What was the reason to start your company?

I simply enjoy what I do. I started the company in order to promote the products and services I learned from resources I gathered over the years.
Becoming a Chairman and CEO meant that I would be able to help even more people as I had a real desire to be better than I was yesterday. I make sure my life is my choice. I work full day and I have a long night and I am ready for more the very next morning. I make sure I craft opportunities in every given situation. This allowed me to develop my goals.

What do you look for in an employee? The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!

I always look for a person who has a combination of competence and character. Since we are on the mindset of growth, it is important that this person can create and grow relationships not just with our team but also with clients. This person should also have the ability to quickly learn and adapt to the changing business environment.

What made you choose your current location?

Home is where the heart is and home is where you are strongest. Starting ventures should always be within your circle of competence and resources.
Our focused is in the Philippines at this time as we are very strong in the region and have global investors attracted to our way of doing business and unique value proposition, we make sure every landed transaction benefit the economy of the country and share our success through our corporate social responsibility around the globe.

What kind of Corporation is your business?

The company, Boracay Beach Inc., is strongly positioned in finance, real estate, finance technology, and investments. Years ago we were into travel and tourism.

The brand evolved, we were able to branch out into business centers, developing properties, and real estate investments. We also invest in other lucrative projects.

Akamai Holdings Inc. is a multinational company that is greatly involved in developing properties and have group combined experience in finance, real estate and PPE.

Do you work locally or internationally?

We have partnerships both domestic and international. We have investment partners and banking partnerships worldwide and our workforce is in Philippines and abroad.

What’s your company’s goals?

We want to be globally recognized as a brand that impacts investments, property developments and financial landscape.

We also want to make sure that our clients and investors are able to achieve their own goals. It’s not just about the company, but about our relationships and partnerships.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?

I make tough decisions and make sure we are in the right path towards long-term success.

I make sure everyone on the team is not just doing their job but also learning and improving. This is all towards the goal of taking care of our clients and partners as we take care of the company.

Does your company help the community where it is located?

We work with local groups and even the government to make sure that our projects and property development is sustainable. We connect international organizations to our projects to showcase the ease of doing business, ease of finance and ease quality of living.

Have you ever turned down a client?

I exhaust all viable options and resources to make arrangements for every potential client that we encounter.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Be true to yourself and play to your strengths. There is no single way to become a success and everyone must find their own path. Learn your own abilities and leverage them.

Chkout this startup Katarina Strandberg founder of The Swedish Villa

Let’s begin with the most common distinction between these two terms. In general, we think of growth in linear terms: a company adds new resources (capital, people, or technology), and its revenue increases as a result.

By contrast, scaling is when revenue increases without a substantial increase in resources. Processes “that scale” are those that can be done end masse without extra effort – if I send an email to 10 people or 1 million, my effort is essentially the same. Which is why enterprises use email marketing so heavily. It scales so effectively. Or for another example – an insurance company that scaled business operations by simply switching to a cloud business phone system.

But this is just the technical distinction between the two words. Let’s look a little closer at what each looks like in practice.

Growing a business
Generally seen as the definition of a successful company, growth refers to increasing revenue as a result of being in business. It can also refer to other aspects of the enterprise that are growing, like its number of employees, the amount of offices and how many clients it serves — these things are almost always linked to growth of revenue.

The biggest problem, however, is that it takes a lot of resources to sustain constant growth.

Take for example an advertising agency that currently has five clients, but which is about to take on five more clients. Increasing the number of companies, it sells to will bring in more money, but chances are it won’t be able to get the work done without hiring more people.

Because of this, financial growth can only be achieved while making larger losses, too.

Companies that offer professional services, like the advertising agency above, will always have to deal with this problem. Taking on more clients leads to hiring more people to support them — while it increases revenue by adding clients, it has to increase costs at the same time.

Scaling a business
Because of the costs associated with growth, modern founders have become obsessed with the idea of scaling.

The key difference with growth is that scale is achieved by increasing revenue without incurring significant costs. While adding customers and revenue exponentially, costs should only increase incrementally, if at all.

A great example of a company that’s successfully figured out how to scale is Google, which in recent years has been adding customers (either paying business clients or ad-supported free users), while being able to keep costs at a minimum. As of 2017 it had seven products with over a billion active users each, while only employing about 88,000 people.

The difference between growth and scaling becomes clearest when a company isn’t a startup anymore, but is not a large corporation yet, either. At this critical stage the business will have to decide between growing at a regular rate or switching over to faster company scaling.

If it wants a shot at making a lasting impact on the industry and perhaps even society as a whole, it has to be done without accumulating a high amount of overhead.

Unfortunately there’s no clear-cut path to successful scaling — if there was, it would be much less impressive to build a million-dollar company. There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however.

Startups vs scaleups
Here we have two more terms that are often confused. You probably already have a firm grasp on what a startup is, but how does that compare with a scaleup?

An entrepreneurial venture that has achieved product-market fit and now faces either the ‘second valley of death’ or exponential growth.”

To put that another way, once a startup has proven that it has a product people want, it’s time to take that product to the masses. This usually requires massive investment in new people, offices in different markets, and lots of advertising in the form of hosting educational webinars, attending tradeshows, prospecting and closing leads, and other tactics.

Which actually sounds sort of counter to our earlier definition of “scaling” – increasing revenue without increasing investment. But if successful, a scaleup will add exponential growth with only linear or marginal investment. Essentially, if they can unlock new markets and reach new audiences, a scaleup will grow faster than previously possible.

Key challenges for scaleups
For the sake of argument, let’s imagine a business moving from startup to scaleup overnight. What was previously a local company with around 50 people in one cosy office is likely now moving international.

If it were simple, every company would do it. So what are the difficulties most scaleups face?

They need investment
This is the most obvious prerequisite: today, most young companies need significant investment (usually from venture capitalists) to scale up. This often comes in the form of series B or C funding.

Earlier funding rounds are used to build a minimum viable product (MVP) and establish market fit, and if they’re able to secure further funding, it’s to expand quickly.

They need scalable processes
Typical scaleups have a product that scales well – it appeals to buyers far greater than the current market served. But, because they’ve moved quickly as a startup, a lot of internal processes aren’t designed to scale.
The most obvious of these are company expense policies. As a small company, you don’t really need an expense policy. If someone needs to travel or buy something, they can sort it out with the founders directly. But once you have multiple offices and handfuls of people traveling at once, this is simply no longer an option.

It’s tempting to believe that diversification will be the catalyst for you to scale. Introduce a new product range or add extra services and this will unlock a flood of new revenue.

But “if a business is growing through an ad hoc series of actions and decisions, those start to fall apart as you grow larger. Small gaps will become chasms. Confusion and inconsistency will become chaos. And if employees are operating from their own playbook, there’s no way to deliver a consistent product or experience.

Achieving scale requires a level of repeatable and predictable systems. Refining and developing these systems is how companies are able to go from thousands of customers to millions.”

In talk with Bojan Bernik

Tell us about yourself

Katarina Strandberg – Swedish Business lawyer in love with investments and building companies. Love people with grit and passion, love to solve problems and team up with great persons for great results. Learning and training are always a core of my every day.

How many hours a day do you work on average?
“Smiles” it depends how you define work, but up to 14 hours

Can you describe/outline your typical day?

Very varied, from standing on stage, writing guest articles and doing workshops to sitting in complete isolation with focus on producing top quality legal documents such as shareholders agreements and finding legal and business solutions.

How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?

It has

i) made me a very happy and inspired mom and its clear that this positive energy that you can really create your own life as impacted my children in a positive way,

ii) it has given me great freedom, even if I work a lot I can most often choose where and when I preform.

What motivates you?

Solutions, building and scaling – seeing positive results – interactions and meeting great people, gaining their respect and confidence and getting to connect people.

How do you generate new ideas?

I train. Thai fighter. It´s 100 % focus mind and body.

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

My greatest fear is to die without enough passion in my life.

How did you come up with the name for your company?

The Swedish Villa.
It was all to the credit of my amazing co-founder Leila Falkenberg. She did it as a reference to the Swedish childrens story about Pippi Longstocking and her creative and inclusive house Villa Villekulla.

How did you raise funding for your venture?

Through outreach and network with business angels, and through presenting us as founders in a very honest, passionate and transparent way.

How do you build a successful customer base?

First and foremost by word of mouth, networks and recommendations, and of course through digital communication about our experts, and showing the results the

Experts produce which has made international brands, big and small, turn to us trusting us to really deliver as a loyal creative partner.

How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?

Showing a great work ethics, doer mentality where you find solutions and act on them directly without “busy-work”.

As a entrepreneur, how do you see the market is growing in your country?

Very-very exciting and positive! Sweden as a great eco-system, great understanding for sustainability and a great stable and safe society why it is good for risk spreading for international investors to look to Sweden and that creates even more synergies.

How do you advertise your product/service?

Nr 1 is organically and transparent through our social media channels. Linkedin and instragam are what we focus on.

To what do you attribute your success?

My and Leilas dedication, hard work and non-stopping respect and admiration for each other as persons and professionals in our different fields. We focus and love competence and doing a great job on each and every project.

What was the reason to start an IT company ? Are you from the same background?

I would say we are a hybrid – IT and personal service in one. And that is one of our Unique Selling Points. We saw a need for that, where we function as digital nomads and can provide the top creative unique services to every corner of the world in a transparent, result oriented and cost efficient way.

What do you look for in an employee? The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!

Hard worker, in love with responsibility and delivering great results – need to like accountability. Action, solution, and positive are features that are a must.

What made you choose your current location?

As digital nomands our key point is that we can sit from anywhere and to the best work ever – so the location should be less relevant for us. We do however love to travel and meet clients and organizations in person when Mr Covid so allows again.

What kind of Corporation is your business?

Service, B2B, within marketing and communication. We take the side of the brand and help them procure the right talent and projects for their specific needs. We are brand advisors and we have put together a unique community of top level creative experts is all areas of marketing and communication so that the client always gets the best without having to hire or pay a non-transparent hug project fee to an advertising agency.

Do you work locally or internationally?

Internationally

What’s your company’s goals?

To peacefully disrupt the marketing industry by making creativity king again. And to show that sustainability and financial results go together.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?

Oh where do I start. First and foremost, to show what we stand for. Secondly to be transparent and show us and what we do. We are part of many international NGO communities and contribute through also our professional experts work communicating for the brands their social responsibilities.

Does your company help the community where it is located?

Yes! We are dedicated to diversity and inclusion.

Have you ever turned down a client?

Yes!

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Be ready for challenges and mentally focus on grit and focus. Hard work pays off. Never feel sorry for yourself always see the possibilities and work for them.

For Industry News chk https://www.entrepreneursface.com/ Resouce section

Interview of Dirk a lifelong entrepreneur and learner

The author of the first Croatian ebook on the topic of sponsored and native articles. It is written in Croatian language and was downloaded by 2.000 marketing professionals.

His main focus is brand development, marketing communications planning, content marketing and digital platforms.

Tell us about yourself

I am Bojan Bernik from Zagreb, Croatia.
I am a serial entrepreneur who enjoys traveling and creating new businesses.
I am a founder and co-founder of 3 companies;
Morgan Grey marketing agency.
Morgan Code software development company
Alter Advoco sales outsource company

How many hours a day do you work on average?
It depends, because during winter when it’s cold and dark I usually work around 10 hours per day and during summer months I work four hours per day and spend most of my time outside.

Can you describe/outline your typical day?
My typical day is composed of a few hours of emails and calls, an hour of meetings, face to face and a few hours of exploring new ideas and creating stuff.

How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
I have been an entrepreneur for the last 13 years, so my family is Accustomed to this way of life.

What motivates you?
I love the freedom that I have as an entrepreneur, and I love to create something from nothing.

How do you generate new ideas?
I read a lot. Whenever I see a problem I see it as a possibility to solve it and create a new business from it.

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
My biggest fear is that’s my company will fail. I think that is the biggest fear of any entrepreneur.

How did you come up with the name for your company?
Since I have a few companies, I can say it’s always a challenge to think of a name. My last company is Alter Advoco, it means a “second phone call”, or a follow up call. Because we do majority of sales over the phone.

How did you raise funding for your venture?
I am funding my businesses by myself, bootstrapping.

How do you build a successful customer base?
If you give people what they want, an experience they will love, then you have them forever as your loyal customers.

How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?
Something that will help millions of people solve a problem and make their life a little bit better.

As a serial entrepreneur, how do you see the market is growing in your country?
In Croatia there are more and more IT companies every day. I would like to focus on the international market because in Croatia there are only 4 million people.

How do you advertise your product/service?
We get the majority of our business through recommendations and Word of mouth. I believe that a marketing agency should only advertise through content marketing, and that is what we are doing.

To what do you attribute your success?
I am a very persistent and stubborn person. If you tell me something is impossible, I will do it.

What was the reason to start an IT company? Are you from the same background?
And since I have a few web portals I know a lot about web and web development. We want to create software that is niche and unique in solving problems and helping people and companies do thing more efficiently.

What do you look for in an employee?

The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!
For me the most important thing for an employee is that he is honest and loyal and that he wants to be here and he finds joy in the work we are doing.

What made you choose your current location?
I love living in Zagreb because it’s a nice small city with only 1 million residents. From here to other major city in Europe is just two hours by plane so it is the best possible location in the world.

Do you work locally or internationally?
I work locally and internationally because Croatia is too small for our big ideas.

What’s your company’s goals?
Our goal is that our clients love to work with us and that our customers whoever they are love our products and services.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
I need to make sure that everyone in the company is happy and that they have everything they need to do their job the best possible way. Also I am responsible for the end products and everything the company is doing.

Does your company help the community where it is located?
We try to do our best to help the community and support charities.

Have you ever turned down a client?
Every other client we turn down because it is not the best fit for us. If I cannot give you the best service either because a you or some other factors, I will not work with you. The honesty and fairness come first.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Don’t try to fix what already works, try to fix stuff that doesn’t. Focus on niche problems, not the obvious ones that everyone is trying to solve. Of course you cannot beat Google. You can try, but the odds are not in your favour.

Startup Interview, drone platform founder Neil J. Lesher

Dirk is a lifelong entrepreneur and learner that has founded multiple companies in various countries and industry verticals with multiple exits. He is strong strategic thinking combined with a never-ending passion for creating something out of nothing. Dirk is an effective communicator and motivator who identifies and leverages assets in teammates to reach organizational goals.

How did the idea for your business come about?
It began with a discussion between some business friends: Emerging tech industries are fast growing and global. To be successful and stay ahead of the competition you need to reach out to new clients, partners and investors FAST.

But visiting live events are very time and money consuming. Especially when those live events are very crowded and your only option to stand out from the competition is to be a sponsor. The idea of Online Matchmaking was born.

What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
I build my 1st company while studying when I was 18 years old. The spirit to create something out of nothing is fascinating. To transform an idea into a concept and then turn it into a successful business is like a drug – especially if you can make some people happy with it.

How did you come up with the name for your company?
We want to create technology which helps to conduct business online. Therefore: BizzTech

How did you raise funding for your venture?
BizzTech is still a bootstrapping startup. But for the next step we need seed capital financing and we are at an early stage with it.

How do you build a successful customer base?
When we launched BizzTech in 2018, we already had one of the largest databases of C-level executives in the gaming industry with 75k contacts. On this basis we started to organize our own online matchmaking events. We expanded the event series to other areas in emerging tech. Participants become members on our matchmaking platform. This means that our customers and BizzTech can set up and build their own business communities themselves.

How do you advertise your business?
Our own event series and the talk show ‘BizzTalk’ are our strongest marketing tools.

How do you advertise your product/service?
Apart from event series and talk shows we built up an audience on LinkedIn with 50k+ contacts.

To what do you attribute your success?
During the last years we saw a change of mindset. The world is becoming much more digital and businesses are searching for opportunities to find the right partners online. The pandemic is just an accelerator of this main stream.

What do you look for in an employee?

The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!

At BizzTech we focus on attitude and believe that skills can be developed.

What made you choose your current location?
To be completely honest, I went to Tenerife 10 years ago to retire on business. The plan didn’t work 🙂

Do you work locally or nationally?
Global

What’s your company’s goals?
BizzTech wants to bring the spirit of Amazon and Uber into the event industry.

What is unique about your business?
BizzTech is a pioneer in organizing online business matchmaking events for professionals in emerging tech. This gives us a head start and we know the future needs of participants, organizers and sponsors.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?

Apart from strategic thinking and make the things happen, I want to be an effective communicator and motivator who identifies and leverages assets in teammates to reach organizational goals.
My competencies: General management, Strategy, Fund raising, Marketing, Strategic Partnerships, Product & Business Development and Building Outstanding Teams.

What made you choose this type of business?
I was tired of traveling to the big international trade fairs to accidentally bump into the right persons. I wanted to find a time and cost-efficient solution.
Does your company help the community where it is located?
As a global operating company we support several international non-profit organizations.

Have you ever turned down a client?
Yes. Especially when I was sure that I cannot help or the business culture of the client didn’t fit.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Be ready to suffer for your vision. Consistency is a key to success.

Interview of Gorana Gligorovic Angebrant cofounder of DivaGo – Serbia

Tell us about yourself

Neil J. Lesher, Founder CEO, LeshTronix Drone Systems.
50 years old
From New York, NY
My professional background is Market Data technology-software Analyst within the Investment Banking sector
I love Family. Family is everything, they are my ultimate fans and motivators
Hate is a deep concept. I loathe procrastination, lack of enthusiasm and any excuses which inhibit idea execution.

How did the idea for your business come about?

I’ve been an electronics enthusiast since childhood and always had a passion for UAV/Drone technology. About 18 months ago, I was with my Father and observed his frustration with not being able to properly handle his iPhone because of advanced Arthritis. This is when the “Da Vinci” lightbulb exploded in my mind and I conceived “PhoneQuad” which is a hovering smartphone case.

What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
I’m a purebred Entrepreneur. The Entrepreneurial spirit and drive that I have is pre-wired into my DNA.

How did you come up with the name for your company?
It’s a play on words, my last name Lesher + Electronics = LeshTronix

How did you raise funding for your venture?
I’m in the process of raising funds now. I’m speaking with various venture capital, providing my pitch deck and having some deeper conversations regarding a myriad of strategies.

How do you build a successful customer base?
I’ve always believed that a product or service should reflect the morals, values and ethics of its creator and founding team. Building a loyal customer base starts with creating a great product, supported by a hyper energetic and enthusiastic group of professionals. Consumer confidence is the initial goal. Once you have that, then you have to maintain and grow it through exceptional service, marketing (customer retention efforts) feedback and always looking towards improvement. For me, I’d rather be on the assembly line than buried in the P&L process. Someone else on the team can own that.

How did you get involved with business?
LeshTronix Drone Systems is my baby, its my 3rd child. I’m the founder and in the process of nurturing it so it properly evolves into a force that positively contributes back to the world. I’m not just developing a product, but a cultural-technological revolution that will change the way society interacts with smart devices.

How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?

Although I’m an inventor at heart, I pride myself of being a skilled salesperson. I know my product, I know the sector I’m selling into, I know I have something of value and quality. If a salesperson can get me excited about things that excite them, then I’ll be willing to put in some due diligence and potentially become a customer. I’m not impulsive, I’m patient.

How do you advertise your business?

I work with a graphic designer and we’ve created some awesome concept videos and pictures which portray PhoneQuad in the real world. It’s important to ethically display your intent without depicting functionality that will never happen. My visualization techniques properly exhibit what we intend to mass manufacture.

How do you advertise your product/service?

Right now, I’m utilizing the power of Social Media. I have an Instagram page, LinkedIn and distribute my website’s URL and concept video in all my communications.

To what do you attribute your success?

Success is not a straight path. Many curves and valleys to watch out for. Even when I reach it, I might not know I’m there.

What do you look for in an employee?

The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!
When I’m hiring people and focused on building the right team, although experience is important, attitude is paramount.

What made you choose your current location?

I’m a native New Yorker and love it here. My family has been in the New York City area since 1901. We love the multicultural atmosphere and appreciate the ability to visit the Beach, the mountains and the city all within an hour.

What kind of Corporation is your business?

LeshTronix is a startup UAV/Done company that designs, develops and sells the Hands-Free PhoneQuad Smartphone platform.

Do you work locally or internationally?
Our team is local to New York. Our relationships and corporate trajectory are international.

What’s your company’s goals?
We are pioneers in the UAV/Drone sector. There are other somewhat competing products, but those are true “Selfie Drones” and specifically target the x-games and outdoors enthusiast demographic.
• PhoneQuad allows the end user to lock their smartphone (Apple or Samsung) inside it.
• You can then power-on and deploy PhoneQuad, which means its in full Hover mode. You can walk away from it and use voice commands via Bluetooth AirPods to control certain aspects of functionality. We are the Anomaly in this sector.

What is unique about your business?
Our goals are to produce best-in-class products and truly change the world in the process. There isn’t a Drone platform in the world that enable hands-free pics, videos and video call functionality using smart devices. Imagine your smartphone following you while you walk and talk. This is just one aspect we’re focused within our multi-generational pipeline of PhoneQuad products.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
I’m a hands-on operations guy. I take hold and take charge when an idea is accepted into the program and put all my efforts to ensure we breathe life into it. If I believe in it… I will make it happen. I’m also directly responsible for all our actions, strategies and who we on-board as new team members.

Does your company help the community where it is located?

One of our short- and long-term goals is community support. We fully intent to be active in all regions where are products are sold and used. As a startup, our resources are limited, but as we grow, our humanitarian and philanthropic strategies will come to life.

Have you ever turned down a client?
We don’t have clients yet, but I’m sure that there will be many scenarios and expectations that we will deal with while we take this path.

What help do you need from our ecosystem?

Economics are always going to play a role in the tech-startup world. Just because someone or some entity offers your company money, doesn’t automatically mean they are the proper partner. Our goal is to find the right strategic partner who can help guide through all the details leading up to and beyond manufacturing and global distribution.

The essence of a true partnership is when 2 or more parties come together and truly take ownership of their strengths. That’s what I need in a dedicated venture partner.

Interview of Mathias Mancha Pwol CEO Fresh From The Farm Agric World Ltd

DivaGo a beautiful fashion brand from Serbia making amazing cloths for women

Tell us about yourself
My name is Gorana. My mother gave me that name after my father. His name is Goran, it was a great love between two of them. Unfortunately, their love ended shortly after my birth.
I was born in Serbia, a country in central-east Europe, I have been living here all my life. People in my country are known as stubborn and defiant, most of our history we spent in war, always fighting for various different reasons. During my lifetime, the country I was born in has changed its name 4 times. I am 46 years old.
How did the idea for your business come about?
All my life I made drawings. I have started when I was just 4 years old, trying to draw the Christmas tree. I was stubborn and I tried more than 200 times in one day before I succeed. When I grow up I graduated from the University of Art, but never had chance to work in my field of education. I found myself in marketing business, working as an Account manager for various global brands.

My friend Vasa Fekete and I were discussing one day about problem that we have with a dress that you wear in one occasion and after that, it loses its charm. We started to think about the idea to design such dress that can change its appearance and could be worn more than once.

What was your key driving force to become an entrepreneur?
I love to be an entrepreneur! I really love it. It gives me an opportunity to overcome my boundaries. Every day you have different struggles, but when you win the fight, you feel stronger. I am a very passionate person and I don’t see myself working for a brand or job I don’t believe in.

How did you come up with the name for your company?
Company name is DivaGo. It means diva in motion – you can feel like diva during your everyday activities. But this name is also consisting of first two letters of our names “Go” stands for Gorana, and „Va” for Vasa.

How did you raise funding for your venture?
My business partner and I have invested our own money, earned from the previous jobs.

How do you build a successful customer base?
Our first client base came from social media only! We were very active in communicating with ladies, not only in our network. We were very supportive for other women entrepreneurs in different area of business so our network became wider.

How did you get involved with fashion business?
As a woman, fashion plays an important part in my life. But I don’t see myself as fashion designer. I believe that there are a lot of educated fashion designers who work their job really great. I could better describe myself as business-oriented person.

How do you advertise your business?
We have two channels for our advertising: first one is based on internet and social media – we use this as a communication tool for different kind of promotions. Second one is corporate marketing – we are active in small business support and women entrepreneurship.

To what do you attribute your success?
Our first collection was produced and ready for sale on the same day when Covid lockdown was pronounced in Serbia. We had to wait for two months before we launched our dresses. After the launch, we had few very bad sales months. Then, suddenly, our videos started to share all over the internet and the sales increased. Our success was probably pushed by the overall Covid situation, and the end of isolation.

For my personal success, I have to thank my Mum who taught me to fight for myself and never to be satisfied with the ordinary.

What do you look for in an employee?

The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!
The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture! Passion is the most important thing! Every member of my team has to be passionate about his job.

What made you choose your current location?
We are stated in Serbia and plan to produce only locally. New business opportunities we offer for our suppliers make them stronger and we are very happy to be involved in their growth.

Do you work locally or internationally?
During the last year of our business we have focused on the local market. We are now working on concurring the other markets. It is not an easy job, but it is a challenge we are looking forward to.

What’s your company’s goals?
Our goal is to encourage and support different approaches in representing self appearance. Every person is unique and, as such, beautiful. Trends change, but what we carry inside us is ours and unrepeatable.

We want to give the women the opportunity to create their own style that is consistent with their inner feeling. We believe outward appearance should not be an obstacle but a source of confidence.

What is unique about your business?
In Serbia, we are the only brand that designs convertible clothes.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
I am focused on new business opportunities, as well as a communication strategy. Those are the most inspiring areas for me. Good thing is that my business partner Vasa and I don’t share the same inspiration source. She likes to work on different positions than me, so we are perfectly compatible.

What made you choose this type of business?

Fashion business gives you the opportunity to be creative and to really enjoy your work. At the same time your creativity can make happy someone else, in our case those are women.

Does your company help the community where it is located?
We share our knowledge with business beginners. We also support women entrepreneurs in many ways.

Have you ever turned down a client?

I would not be honest if I say no! You have to be able to see mistakes as a part of the business. What showed as good practice for us is that, if you admit that you made a mistake, a client sees you as a human being, and more likely he will accept your apology. Of course, the apology is not the only thing we offer. We always show that we care for our ladies, so they become a part of our brand family.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Before you start, research every aspect of your business idea. It will take hours and days, sometimes months. Search the internet, talk to the people, collect information… Once you start with realization, don’t give up when obstacles start to hit you. Believe in your idea and remember the passion you had in the beginning. You will succeed!

Thank you Danijela Golić & Bianca Tudor for the connect.