1. Which world-problem is your startup trying to solve and how did you come up with the idea?

Sharewood is the leading European marketplace for renting outdoor equipment for water sport, winter sport and biking. We aim to connect as many people as possible using passion for sports and travels as a common factor. We believe that the “sharing economy” will improve the economic scenario of the years to come. In particular, we refer not to holding, but rather sharing things, which can exponentially enhance the collection of different experiences. Our idea found its inception during a trip to Portugal, when our CEO Piercarlo Mansueto, with his disappointment, wasn’t able to find a surfboard to rent in Tarifa. In that moment Piercarlo decided to give life to Sharewood, the online place where you can find and rent in advance outdoor equipment all over Europe! The benefits were immediately clear: you can travel lightly, choose the best products among a huge number of items and book in advance your equipment! In a few clicks, you can rent a board or a bike and pick it up in the place where you are planning to have your holiday.

2. Did you find the funding exercise manageable or a nightmare? Tell us when you felt there was a real breakthrough.

Raising funds was tough but it wasn’t the most difficult part. We raised funds first in a round with private investors and then using an equity crowdfunding platform. During that campaign, we broke the Italian record of investors in a single round: more than 179. It was great not only because we raised a good amount of funds but mostly because we got a huge boost in terms of visibility and users. This is the most important lesson we’ve learned: asking for money you get advice, asking for advice you get money twice!

3. With the startup growth, are you noticing a corporate culture evolution? And if yes, what are the tangible signs of it?

I noticed an impressive evolution in our company culture, in particular, we started to separate each department, and assign monthly goals to each person. Moreover, we decided to offer technical courses (marketing ad, code developing, 3d graphics) to our employees so that they could improve their skills and grow with our company. Last but not least, we are planning to organize our team leading week, with the objective to build strong relationships inside the team and increase the self-efficacy of our colleagues.

4. If you could go back a few years, what would you do differently? Do you think that what you would have done differently applies only to your startup, or could be a one-fit-all advice for other digital startups?

I would build our team in a different way. What I want to say is that at the beginning we hadn’t perfectly figured out the key qualities needed to build a solid startup. In particular, we realized that we needed a balanced mix between junior and senior profiles in order to achieve our top goals: complete the project as fast as we could. The “one fits all” advice might be the following: you need someone you trust and who has the same values as you. Choosing a member of your team is like choosing your soul sister.

5. Of all the marketing activities you have done (events, competitions, articles, advertising, crowdfunding, etc), what do you think gave the best return of exposure and why?

I think that each of the activities you’ve mentioned was paramount to build our community, our brand identity and our brand awareness. Every single marketing plan we developed, though In different ways, was crucial to achieve our goals and to better explain our mission to our clients. Here’s the truth: There are TOO many people who think their products will sell without efforts. They think: “if I just create something that’s GREAT, the rest of it will just fit” Wrong. When you’re in business, it’s up to you to persuade people to buy what you’re selling. I’ve learned to not just sell stuff but to let users be part of our story.

6. 50% of all startup do not make it past 5 years and close. 53% aim to sell, ideally to larger corporations. 46% of the founders start a new one, sometimes on the ashes of the previous one. And 16% aim to launch an IPO. If you could fast-forward in the future, what do you think will realistically happen to your company?

We hope and we are quite confident that our company is on the right way to disrupt the European market by building a strong structure and vertically growing in our core business: renting outdoor gears. I cannot read the future, but we aim at reaching a great positioning for Sharewood as a big online player in the travel industry, just like Airbnb or Trivago.

Read the article now “Nature vs. Nurture: Are Startups All the Same?“

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