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19. September 2019, 14:42 :: Accelerator | Community
Autor: Bianca Kuehn
In part two of our Accelerator Series, we want to introduce you to Stefan from Vodo. His photo challenge app aims at bringing joy to parties and events and enables guests to find their very best pictures amongst the multitude of photos that would otherwise be lost in WhatsApp groups or photo libraries.
„Vodo is a Photo Challenge App for guests on parties who can take part in different challenges, may they be creative, romantic or funny, and vote each other. I think the problem is that you have photoboxes and photographers but you don’t have the opportunity to make challenges on the party. We have loads of photos on smartphones and in WhatsApp groups after the event, but often there are so many that the best photos are lost and you’re not getting them. So my app aims at bringing joy with photo challenges and provide the winner with greats memories.“
What is your educational background, did you always see yourself starting your own business?
„I studied Computer Science and have been a part-time freelance developer for 15 years now. In April I decided to leave my team leader position at a Digital Agency and found my startup Vodo.“
What was your inspiration for your startup?
„My inspiration for Vodo were all the WhatsApp groups with way too many photos and I wanted to have just one App to put all the photos in.“
What was the first obstacle you faced and how did you overcome it?
„My first obstacle with Vodo was definitely to define the MVP. You have so many ideas and want to include all of them into the first MVP, so it’s very difficult to decide on the first most important features to go out with and then test them on the market. Only after that, it makes sense to create more features.“
What is the next milestone for your startup?
„The development is ready and I’m proved on Apple’s side, so my next milestone for Vodo is to go out, test it on birthdays, weddings and other parties and get the guest’s feedback. Then I want to make adjustments and get better and better.“
What are some short term and long term goals of yours?
„My short term goal is to have a good final app after the beta test. And the long term goal is to have a bigger team behind Vodo.“
If you would start over again, what would you do differently?
„If I could start again, I would define and prototype the MVP earlier. And I would run it earlier in the market.“
Why did you choose STARTPLATZ Accelerator?
„I chose STARTPLATZ Accelerator because I was looking for a coworking space and incubator where you can meet many people related to the startup scene with whom you can talk about your idea and have discussions. I know now that here is the right place for me.“
What and who has helped you the most outside and inside of STARTPLATZ to getting you on the road?
„The biggest help I got from outside came from friends who gave me ideas as well as critics with whom I had many discussions on parties and other events. Inside STARTPLATZ, I think the most helpful really is the Accelerator Program, where we have workshops, expert sessions, and weekly meetings. In the first phase, we are ten Startups who can discuss our ideas, our successes as well as our failures.“
If you would give another startup a tip, what would it be? Any words of advice?
„If I could give other Startups a tip, I would say: Talk about your idea with other people and discuss it also with critics of your idea to get the most out of it.“