BuddyBroker in interview: «It is essential to get real and clear feedback»

Flurin, before we talk about BuddyBroker, can you present yourself quickly?
I studied business informatics at HSLU Lucerne. There, I wrote the initial business plan for BuddyBroker as my Bachelor’s thesis. Besides my studies, I also worked as a freelance web designer to help finance my studies.

Present us your company in a few sentences. What problems are you solving?
With our product eqipia we are helping companies fill their vacancies with the help of employee referrals. We are digitalising and automatizing this already existing channel. When a company publishes a job for a „Marketing Manager“, eqipia automatically finds the employees in the company, which are providing a relevant network (i.e. XING) and requests them to recommend the job. Employees are the ones who know the most about the culture and claims of their own employer and are therefore ensuring for qualified applicants. With this, companies can use this potential already in place in-house of their own employee’s networks.

In April 2016, BuddyBroker was acquired by XING. How did this came about?
XING recognized the potential of digital employee referrals already for some time. They are bringing the ideal basis with their social network for our business model. After some first discussions it became  clear that we would work quite well together, and this regarding the product, as well as on a personal level. In the end, it was a good deal for both parties with a high potential of synergies, which will allow us to establish eqipia sustainably in the German speaking regions.

What does this mean for BuddyBroker?
In the next step, our product eqipia will be fully incorporated into the product range of XING. I will lead the related product migration. For me, this will be a well-welcomed and educational challenge.

“It is very hard for sure, when your own business model is questioned out to this extent. However, this has helped us enormously to identify weaknesses and challenges at an early stage.”    

You could gain important experiences at Venture Kick in 2012. How have you been supported?
For me, it was essential from the beginning to get real and clear feedback – that is what the coaches Jordi Montserrat and Beat Schillig know at its best. It is very hard for sure, when your own business model is questioned out to this extent. However, this has helped us enormously to identify weaknesses and challenges at an early stage.

In what points Venture Kick’s power business development workshops (the “kickers camps”) helped you?
Venture Kick helped me in the first phase to define stage goals and to focus on them – actually, those have been the guidelines for the first steps as an entrepreneur.  Many tasks were new to me at this point. The trainings gave me inputs, on how to address them.

You have won the first stage of Venture Kick and therefore received CHF 10‘000. Was this the first prize for you?
Winning the first stage of Venture Kick has been a first confirmation that the business model had been  understood by a critical audience (the Venture Kick jury). For me, it was the first real sense of achievement as an entrepreneur and it has encouraged me to push further with our idea.

In 2015, you toured the US market to meet investors and experts for BuddyBroker. How was this experience there?
The experience with the venture leaders was personally enriching. The constant exchange with the other participants, 19 other Swiss high tech entrepreneurs, has brought up many new ideas for my own business idea. Additionally, the immersion into New York’s startup scene has been very inspiring and refreshing. We could meet investors, look into co-working spaces or the offices of Uber, Foursquare and Artsy.

What are your plans for the future?
Now, all my focus is led on the successful integration of eqipia into XING. Further future plans will be forged later.