Today’s Monday motivation comes with this Day In The Life Interview to Isabell Häggström, CCO at Amsterdam based startup Venopi!

Venopi offers a useful, intuitive platform that connects locations to potential clients in a hassle-free way. If you are planning to host an event in Amsterdam, you can simply use Venopi‘s website to browse their venues to find a best location for corporate events, private parties, weddings, meetings, workshops and presentations.

1. First can you tell us a bit about your job? What does your company do?


In a nutshell, Venopi is a platform that connects individuals and businesses to venues, be that for team buildings, weddings or pop-ups. We strongly believe in networking and openness, and want to make event planning enjoyable, inspirational and effortless.

Until now, as CCO I have been overseeing and monitoring the development processes, and as we move forward I will be focusing more on our long-term objectives.

2. What brought you to this area?

You know how there are countless sites out there to compare flight tickets, food delivery and lodging? Well, there isn’t really anything like that for location rentals, especially for individuals.

We ourself had problems finding venues to rent, our friends had problems finding venues to rent. We couldn’t find any website that fit our needs, so we decided to take the matter into our own hands and build a solution.

3. What time does your day start, and what does your typical work day schedule look like?

Someday there will be a ‘typical day at Venopi’ but right now – no two days are alike. We all work full time jobs outside of Venopi. Therefore efficient planing is essential for us. We work nights and weekends, secretly wishing for a day to last 48 hours.

4. What kind of projects are you currently working on?

Currently, all our efforts are split into two – releasing new features and generating traffic. Next to that I have been paying more and more attention to UX.

5. What do you consider the greatest achievement in your work to date?

My greatest achievement so far was not made in the tech world but in the dance world. With many years of both studying and competing in different dance styles. A few years back I had the opportunity to dance in a Bollywood movie. I know, it’s not a typical thing to have on your résumé and a bit of an eyebrow raiser. But it was a super fun experience!

6. What is the one app you could not live without?

Trello & Slack – these tools are irreplaceable at Venopi!

7. What’s the best thing about working at your company?

It’s the fact that we genuinely believe in our vision. This gives us the motivation and perseverance that one needs to embark on the start-up journey. We are not afraid to make mistakes and value each others’ opinions.

8. Where is the after work hangout?

To be honest, it’s been more ‘work hard’ than ‘play hard’. But whenever we can, we enjoy a home cooked meal together, and the summer is near, meaning you’ll be able to find us at several music festivals in Amsterdam.

9. Who is your professional role model?

You have to admire Elon Musk for the dedication to his ideas. His achievements are beyond inspirational. Next to that I have great respect for Ben Horowitz’s decision making abilities.

10. What makes Amsterdam a good city for technology and startups?

There are all these great opportunities and business incubators out there, but what really stands out is the incredibly powerful creativity that people are expressing. What makes their ideas so strong is that they believe in making our world better, they practice sustainability and fix problems. You just want to be part of it.

11. Which tech trends are you most excited about?

Right now, whatever is happening in the domain of smart living and IoT is very exciting. I’m curious to see how all these connectivity and sharing ideas will contribute to city development.

12. What are the top 3 qualities you look for in an employee?

It’s important that we share the same vision, be flexible and remain motivated. These qualities give space to creativity but also ensure that you keep revamping your passion for your work over and over again.

13. And finally, what is the one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur starting out?

Stick to your idea, remain focused and gather as much critical feedback as you can.

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You can read more about their journey on https://www.venopi.com/blogs/