BY GUILLERMO DEL RIVERO
We were honoured to host an unusual guest for whom no objective is too big. He flew two hours to speak to our audience in London.
What is Sygic
“I started programming when I was eight years old, and by thirteen, I decided to destroy Microsoft”. These were the words that Michal Stencl used to start his speech to a packed out room at the most recent fireside chat of Startup Grind London. This time on the 39th floor of the One Square building in Canary Wharf.
The architect of world's best offline navigation app Sygic was encouraging any entrepreneur to not be afraid of their competitors and to set their goals high. Not to be content with mild achievements and always walk that extra mile further was his advice to all of us. But it was not all he had to say.
Start Your Business Right
“You have to start very early after starting your business selling your product to your target consumer, and then steadily incorporating all their requirements and suggestions.” The sooner you get out there and start to promote and sell your product, the better. Don´t wait until you have the perfect product, the perfect office and the perfect business card, It may be too late by then. Go out there and start getting connections and understanding your market.
“Reviews and the interaction with users are very important to us, much more than used to be” - confessed Michal, so remember always to listen to your target and don´t rigidly stick to the original idea. If you have to adjust your product to your customers preferences be flexible, and learn to adapt your business as the market changes.
Another good tip for those looking forward to seeing their projects come to life is to keep an eye on your direct competitors and learn from them. In him own words “From the beginning I was well aware of the weaknesses in other companies’ products, and I tried to adapt Sygic to answer them”. Again, it seems that the flexibility and the capacity to adapt were one of the key points behind his success.
When asked about mistakes in the early years, Michal Stencl recalled “I took what until the moment were excellent product executives and turned them into managers. It simply did not work. It was a tough lesson to learn, because they were friends and close people to me”. So before making any change in your company structure, it may be worth asking yourself: Is this the right person for the job? And what is even more important; Is this job the right place for this person? Talking about staff our host left another priceless tip for those who are immersed in hunting for talent. “You have to pay attention and spend time looking for the right members for your team because, in the end, you are going to work with them and trust them with your project.”
Network Is Important
After the fireside chat there was time to answer question from the audience both in live and using the interactive wall. When it came to interact with the audience, Michal proved again what a great guy he was a interacted with the audience until the end. It was obvious that having the founder of one of the most downloaded apps on market was going to attract lots of app entrepreneurs and for them Michal had a specific advice. “Don´t ever buy reviews on app stores. Google is more than dismissive about it and you can find yourselfes banned. Instead honestly ask users to rate your app. If they like it they will become great ambassadors if you ask them to.”
After the last of the questions a quick networking session started, where we all had the chance to exchange ideas and get to know new and interesting projects. While sharing professional advice with another Social Media enthusiast, the last word Michal had to say still resonates in my head: “I don´t think you need to change the world, it may be better just to understand how it works, and then simply improve it”.