–       How and when did you start working on this idea?

We are not the usual entrepreneurs who had an idea and decided to act on it. Instead, we seized the opportunity when it presented itself. The actual founders of Kidiverso.com decided, for personal reasons, to close business by the end of 2013, only a couple of months after launching, and then we saw our chance to step in, buy the company and relaunch it in our own way, in a process that took a few months. Thus, in February 2014, the new Kidiverso.com was born!

–       How does the business work? What is the business model?

Kidiverso.com is an ecommerce site that sells discount coupons for services and products for families and kids from 0 to 16 years old. Thus, we offer our customers quality products and services at discount prices and we act as an online marketing website for our Collaborators, who get their businesses promoted and only pay for real customers who buy and try their products/services.

–       Do you have a specific app for mobile platforms?

We don´t have an app at the moment. Our website has a responsive design and works great with mobile devices. Until the time comes when we can offer a real and distinctive value to our clients with a specific app, we won´t work on it.

–       What kind of investors does the company have?

The foolest of all, the partners!

–       At what stage is the project now?

We recently launched our newly designed website and we can say we are at the product-testing stage. In our case is doubly challenging because not only we need to concentrate our efforts in growing our user base, but we also have to do a tremendous effort in attracting quality Collaborators who offer their services/products through our webpage.

–       What role do the members play in the company?

The two partners are the only full-time “employees” of the company right now, handling the day to day as well as the strategic decisions. We also have hired two freelancers to help us with our commercial and marketing efforts

–       What are you most excited about right now in your project?

In the next few months we will validate our business model and our growth in all key metrics will be key to go look for our first financing round, so this time will be defining for our project, which is very exciting and scaring at the same time!

–       What are the hardest challenges of being an entrepreneur?

It depends a lot on the business itself and the market it is in, the experience and know-how of the partners, the kind of funding you need and you can easily get to start with, your personal situation, etc.

In general, I would say that the hardest challenge is to be able to handle the pressure of earning little or no money while working your ass off for the possibility of a future reward which is, in general, highly uncertain.

But, as I said, it depends a lot on your personal circumstances. If I was a young recent graduate out of IE, I probably wouldn´t care about that.

–       Is there anything you would go back and do differently if you had the chance?

We decided at the very beginning to discard the old website and develop a new, better one. We thought we could do it quite fast and be able to launch in April-May and we ended up launching in October.

Looking back now, we probably wasted precious time and it would have been better to use the old website from the get go while developing the new one at the same time so that we could have validated and improved our business model from the get-go.

–       Since you started, what has had the most impact on your original plan?

The reality check of the market. You may have an idea on paper, with every response to every possible problem or set back, and once you go live the market will pull you back to the ground!

–       What advice would you give to potential entrepreneurs?

Not only you need to have a great product or service, but also people need to perceive it as such. What you might think is no-brainer, many times is not seen as such by the market, which often is stuck in its old ways. So once you decide to pursue your idea, market-test it as soon as possible.