Max Glocke is the CEO of the startup PackitUp – a social network for travellers. He’s been part of our Startup Mentors program… twice! And participated in a CONNECT Denmark Springboard which he highly recommends. We’ve asked Max a few questions that you can use as inspiration.
1. What are your goals and mission?
“VISION: Enable every traveller anywhere in the world to find a buddy to travel with to every destination imaginable.
MISSION: Create a network that helps travellers connect with each other and get the absolute most out of their travel experiences.
GOALS: Develop a social network for travellers that is the go-to destination for backpackers and travelers around the world who want to find awesome travel buddies and discover cool trips.“
2. What keeps you motivated to achieve your goals?
“The team around us. We have hired a bunch of awesome interns and every time we achieve even a small thing; we celebrate it. Acknowledging the failures and embracing mistakes is just as much part of our work as patting ourselves on the back. Continuous improvement and feedback is the way we validate and motivate ourselves on this journey.”
3. What is the best startup event/program/accelerator/e.g. you have ever been to and why?
“Venture Cup is definitely at the top of the list because we met a couple of really smart and knowledgeable people who we will continue to work with. Having a network is the most important thing when launching a startup and Venture Cup is a perfect place to source that network from.
Our startup hub at KU South Campus is also an excellent place to work from.
KU South Campus is just an awesome environment to be working at and the people running the hub are extremely helpful and great folks to be around.”
4. What are the best startup advices you have received or given others?
“The best advice I have received so far was to communicate and integrate others into the process. For a long time, we wanted to do everything ourselves but that is just not possible or feasible. Mentors are the one thing, the other is hiring colleagues and asking your network for advice. Another part of this communication is to get help in areas that you are not an expert in. This way you will get out of your comfort zone and work on your weaknesses, which is unbelievable valuable.”
5. What are the best startup movies/books/role models you can recommend to others?
“It doesn’t really help me personally to receive inspiration from movies, I think the best books for my professional life are books that teach you specific skills, not specific jobs and for me a role model is everyone whose character I value and who I respect as a person, regardless of what they do.
If you want to get inspired by movies, I would recommend The Big Short, Margin Call, The Wolf of Wall Street, Scarface and Nightcrawler. But please make sure you are able to identify the right lessons to learn here!
I am no fan of books like The Lean Startup, Zero to One or The 100$ Startup. I would read textbooks on specific subjects and become an expert in the field rather than reading about how you can start becoming an expert in those fields and how others did it. As an example, if I want to know about the financing cycle of startups, I read a finance book, if I want to know more about UX design, I read a UX design textbook.
I will have to think about the role model question a bit, I personally don’t have any from the entrepreneurial environment. “карта рассрочки онлайн заявка
