Happy Sunday!
Welcome back to Founders Feature, a weekly newsletter all about the journeys of young startup founders.
For this week's edition, I interviewed Tim Meyer, Co-founder of Expatrio, a relocation platform for internationals based in Germany.
If you think someone else should read this too, feel free to let them know!
If you're reading this outside your inbox, subscribe to receive future editions directly:
Here’s what Expatrio is all about:
🏠 The Basics
The Problem:
Relocating to Germany is a highly fragmented, bureaucratic, analog, and expensive journey, and the language barrier makes it even more difficult for international students and expats. Germany is really quite German.
A recent survey we conducted confirmed that the two biggest problems in the relocation process are bureaucracy and missing digital services, combined with the language barrier.
The Solution:
Expatrio is an aggregated digital platform for international students and expats relocating to and living in Germany.
The Team:
3 Co-Founders: 3 friends. 3 directors in the company. Now a team of 25 people, with 17 different nationalities (only 4 people from Germany). The team is super motivated because most of us have experienced the struggles we're solving ourselves. 1 founder is focusing on our non-profit organisation: DeGiS, the international student community connecting international students all across Germany.
🚀 The Journey
How did you come up with your startup/solution?
We've all lived abroad, and so we really understand the challenges of relocation and the hassle that this brings. We've also all worked in Berlin with internationals, seeing them struggle with the bureaucracy involved in relocating to Germany. We really saw people struggle with the 'Anmeldung' and the health insurance system. We also know that's it doesn't have to be this way. When I moved to Singapore, I realised how digital and innovative the relocation process is there.
Beyond this, we also all have enthusiasm for innovation and building digital products, especially for digitising things that are still analog but really don't have to be, and have each worked with some Rocket Internet company before. In the end, we saw the opportunity to solve an actual problem, rather than just adding value by means of greater convenience.
Why is this the right time for this problem to be solved?
Many processes in Germany still happen analog and have a strong need to be digitised, from the country registration to university applications. Increasing globalisation and increasing global mobility are really driving the need for this change.
Additionally, and despite all these issues, Germany is on the rise as an international student destination, due to the great reputation of universities (especially technical universities), and no tuition fees. Germany has become the biggest international student destination which is non-English speaking, and the 4th biggest overall.
What is a recent success you are proud of?
We recently specified our company's 'why' (or purpose). It was always there implicitly, but recently we got everyone in the company to contribute to actually formulating it: "By embracing change we apply our experience and innovation to support your next chapter and growth in Germany." This was really a big step for us in setting more structure within the company.
Something we're also quite proud of is that we recently reached over 1000 five-star reviews on Trust Pilot. It's a great validation that what we are doing is really helping people.
And lastly, something we're both grateful for and proud of is surviving 2020 without having to lay off people due to the pandemic. Especially given the sector we operate in, this was a great achievement for us.
What is a recent challenge you have faced?
Aside from Covid, which obviously affected us, one of the challenges we are currently facing is managing the transition from being an early-stage startup trying to get first customers, to a more mature organisation, setting structures, keeping up with transparency, alignment and focus. This is something many early-stage companies struggle with.
Formulating our 'why' was a part of this transition, and we have also started implementing OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) as a goal setting framework in order to create structures to further scale. This is an ongoing process.
What do you wish you knew before you started and is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight?
There are a lot of things that I would have loved to know before starting, but to name one specific thing, I would have liked to know that running a business is not only all about revenue, growth, and customer numbers, and all those business metrics. Building a business is also about leadership, organisational structures, and organisational development. This is something I didn't really learn before, despite having studied Business at university. If I'd known this, I would have focused on people development from the beginning on.
In general, I probably wouldn't do too many things differently though. Your mistakes are always an opportunity to grow and learn. And in my opinion, that learning is even better and more sustainable when taken from making mistakes rather than a textbook.
🧠 The Lessons
What is the best advice you have been given recently?
There are two pieces of advice I've really come to understand better recently.
First, working in business, it is more important to be able to quickly adjust and react to new circumstances and a new environment, so that you can keep innovating, rather than having an MBA on your CV. You'll have more to show for it.
Another thing is that it is normal to have fluctuations in a company, with employees coming and going, since nowadays people aren't staying at a company as long as before. Of course, I would like to work with my colleagues for as long as possible, but we also have to keep in mind that it's normal if someone wants to move on to try something different and keep growing themselves.
What advice would you give to other young founders?
There are a few things that you should always keep in mind.
You should be clear about your personal why, what it is that you stand for and that you want to achieve with your life. Thinking about it, being clear about it, and keeping it in mind, will challenge decisions you might want to make along the way.
Just be kind, say thanks, and stay humble. Don't let whatever success you achieve take that away from you.
Stay curious and open-minded. Just because you've built a successful company, doesn't mean you know everything. Stay open to embracing others' opinions.
Begin with an end in mind. You have to have an end in mind to know where you're actually heading.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned so far?
Everything I've just shared. Especially the first one: Think about and be clear about your personal why, and keep in mind why you are doing things.
Also, I've learned to think more in frameworks than plans. In business school, you learn to write business plans, and planning is good, but personally, I think frameworks give you a greater sense of flexibility that you need moving forward. When you make a plan, you usually don't stick to it anyway.
And lastly, make sure to reserve time for things you enjoy doing, and start doing this as early as possible, no matter how consumed you get with the business you are growing.
✨ The Inspiration
Who inspires you?
I don't really have role models, but different people inspire me on different topics and different levels, but on other levels, I might not actually like them.
I do admire Schumpeter in a way, for his concept of creative destruction. Also, Larry Page and Sergey Brin for everything Product Innovation at Google and Elon Musk for being such a visionary. I also do admire Angela Merkel on certain levels, for her stoic approaches and endurance.
In sports, I admire Sadio Mané who plays Premier League but hasn't forgotten his roots. He is super altruistic and down to earth, taking his wealth and building schools in his home country Senegal.
What book do you think everyone should read?
On leading people: Radical Candor - Kim Scott
On composure, acceptance, and resilience: How to think like a Roman Emperor - Donald Robertson
On setting priorities: To Have or to Be? - Erich Fromm
On taking life a little less serious (in German): Alle sind so ernst geworden - Martin Suter