Timpik. Sports App
Like many big businesses, Timpik emerged from a need: the one found by its founder, Camilo Lopez, when for work reasons he had to move to Madrid from Granada and realized that he had no one to play football with. That way he created an app that would serve as a meeting place for all those people willing to play sports, but without partners so that they could join. “I would not say that they are solitary people, but people who for different reasons do not have specific friends to play with,” explains Andres Lozano, CEO of the application.
Rapid expansion
Despite being a hundred percent digital tool, its methods of dissemination are more traditional: word of mouth is what works best. In addition, they contact different clubs to publicize their platform and disseminate it among their partners, thereby increasing the influx of their facilities. Simple systems, which are paying off: at the moment, have already registered about 190,000 people (about 3,500 new every month), with about 18,000 active users and holding an average of 3,000 matches of the paddle and 1,000 football each month. To start this business, $400,000 were needed, mainly from equity and a loan of $150,000 from the Andalusian Agency for Innovation and Development (IDEA). “It is a profitable company,” says Lozano, who acknowledges that annual turnover is around $170,000, with a profitability of 60,000. However, at the moment there are no major strategic changes, as they consider that there is still a little-digitized environment in society, which would stop any new project. “We want to grow little by little and consolidate that profitability,” he concludes.
Gruppit. Leisure club
A growing and the very active segment from a social and cultural point of view. This is how Rafa Serra, CEO, and co-founder of Gruppit, defines the sector of singles to which his platform is directed, in charge of organizing events, excursions, and trips with the aim that his clients know “people of his sociocultural profile with whom to share hobbies And carry out their preferred activities. ” A type of clientele quite volatile, since the personal conditions of each one change a lot over time. Hence, their challenge is “to offer a product that is maintained in time”, since they are not only addressed to singles, but to people who at a certain moment want to perform activities alone, without their partners or friends. Its hubs are located in Madrid and Barcelona, where they have physical offices, but also have a public relations team in other cities, such as Valencia and Milan. In addition, it is a purely digital business, as communications with its users are produced by social networks, web, app and weekly newsletters, and with online marketing campaigns to publicize your AdWords and Facebook services.
Reduced investment
As it was a service business, the investment required to start it was not very high and was borne by the founding partners themselves. After more than 10 years of operation, at present they invoice three million dollar direct and four million indirect ones, reason why, as Serra recognizes, it is a profitable business, that employs 15 people and that already has an expansion project In the medium term, with a view to incorporating the business model in other countries.
And why not. Travel agency
I can do what I really want when traveling and know the destinations that my environment does not want to know or I can even be the person I really am for a week or two a year. ” With that philosophy, Santiago Rey founded Yporquenosolo, an agency that organizes trips around the world in small groups with a single requirement: anyone who wants to register has to do it alone, without friends, family, couple … And is that freedom that It contributes not having a known to the side is for King one of the keys to his business, since “when people travel alone and knows that the rest of the group does it in those same conditions, the environment and the treatment between them is more Open and comfortable “.
Prescribing Customers
In its beginnings, the novelty of the business meant that it appeared in many media, which allowed to make known the company. Now, in addition to the work of dissemination through social networks, word of mouth is their best channel: “Take care of your customers and let them promote your company”, recommends Rey. And even though they have physical agency, between 90% and 95% of their customers hire travel through the Internet.
Although travel agencies tend to disappear, Yporquenosolo takes advantage of being the first company to cover this niche market and in the boom of this way of travel: “This year we expect to bill between 1-1.5 million dollars. Our forecasts, if our politicians allow it and the world becomes a little sane, is to reach a turnover of 2-2.5 million dollars over the next three years, “augurs Rey.
Enotumismo. Wine tourism company
Single people are less reluctant to travel alone, to meet people, to have fun with new friends, “says Enrique Lopez, founder of this agency that brings people together to enjoy wine. “We are clear that we are not a marriage agency; We just want to have fun meeting new people and visiting wineries, “he says. “Enotumismo is different; Is the opportunity to satisfy your curiosity about wine, discovering new areas and wineries, and at the same time expanding your range of friends.
This company came about thanks to the success of another of Lopez ‘s projects, El Cavino, which brings together people who want to make the Camino de Santiago visiting several wineries. With an initial investment of 50,000 dollars, they carried out this initiative in early 2015 and after several trips realized that many people came to these events alone, which gave them the idea of creating a line of business directed exclusively at that Independent public.
Although it is a recent business, it has two tricks in its favor that makes Lopez have a “total confidence” in its product and “expectations of short-term growth quite hopeful”: more and more people are choosing to become independent and not to live with anyone else, without wanting to compromise or who separates; And tourism focused on wine has not stopped growing in recent years, even with the crisis. Two components to which we must add the differentiation of its offer since neither is a travel agency to use nor a social club, so abundant today: “I think we offer a very original service,” Lopez said.
Accommodation for students
Many students come alone, are very young and have difficulty renting, since the conventional lease requires a minimum duration that is usually greater than their study period, “says Angel Cervera, executive director. “In addition, they need to have everything resolved from the first day.” Hence the idea of creating this platform that facilitates this adaptation to students from other regions that travel alone in our country.
Social plumber
In addition, Aluni.net serves as a social channel for these newcomers, as it offers rooms in shared flats with other young people, which favors integration. In this line, the company organizes weekly activities (trips, dinners, parties, excursions) that make it easier for students who have come to the United States alone to meet many other children their age. A business that emerged in 1998 with an initial investment of a family of about 3,000 dollars, which was sufficient, since subsequently, it was enough to reinvest in the company the benefits that were being obtained. So far, business success figures speak for themselves: they have housed about 20,150 students, and in some periods of the year they have to manage 1,500 accommodation at the same time. A consolidated business that has not been altered by the economic crisis, to such an extent that, as Poole admits, it benefited them: “In times of great unemployment, students decide to extend their studies, doing masters, learning languages, etc. And the owners who were in a hurry, decide to rent rooms. “