Hostmaker
When Airbnb launched in 2008, hospitality expert Nakul Sharma saw the potential for the accommodation marketplace to radically disrupt the hotel industry. It has had the same impact sites such as Expedia have had on the industry but gave power to anyone to rent out a room or their place. It made hospitality more democratic.
The hotels Nakul had been working for in 2005 found it hard to pivot to the new online booking systems brought on by Expedia. They were still using fax machines to make bookings instead of the internet and fell by the wayside.
It was this lack of innovation in the hotels and hospitality industry that drove Nakul Sharma to start Hostmaker, an Airbnb property management service in London. “I felt like hotels were going to get caught napping yet again.”
Giving host management services to properties on Airbnb made it possible for anyone with a property to compete with those in the hospitality sector. The success of the platform is down to a couple of factors.
The first obvious factor, is Nakul’s drive and determination to prove value in the sector. To learn all about the Airbnb process, Sharma and his wife listed their family home on the platform. “In a short time, we were outperforming similar properties in terms of earnings and reviews,” he says. “That convinced other property owners that I knew what I was talking about.”
The other key component was the tech behind the platform that has allowed the business to thrive. They built dynamic pricing algorithms, apps and platforms to schedule front-line teams members, and a transparent online dashboard that gives owners real-time updates on their properties and earnings.
Theodo
This brings us to Theodo, the brains behind the tech that drove Hostmaker’s success. They are a software development agency in London who only work with the best of the best. They worked together with Hostmaker to make the dynamic pricing algorithms and all the other backend processes that make Hostmaker tick. Without this partnership, Hostmaker wouldn’t have been able to succeed in the way that they have.
in 2019, they worked with large corporates, SMEs and startups ranging from MADE.com, Admiral, Birdie, Société Générale, and Alfa Systems to name a few. While specialising in working with startups, Theodo are a startup themselves.
They are members of M33, a startup studio that brings together 7 companies, all working to create digital solutions for our clients: Theodo, Theodo UK and Theodo US for web development; BAM for mobile; SICARA for Big Data; SIPIOS for fintech and Padok for DevOps.
The big differentiating factor of Theodo is deployment time. Using an exciting team of the best developers from top universities and the exciting method of working to deadlines called agile development, they can get products deployed in weeks rather than months.
Chargebolt
People in the 21st century feel very unarmed without their phones, they have become part of our daily outfit and routine. Without that and their access to the latest social media posts, many feel almost naked. This is where Chagrgebolt comes in. They operate a network of scan and go power banks which are tactically located across the country, in restaurants, malls and other hot spots.
ChargeBolt was launched by SILCS Solutions to help people across the UK & Ireland to provide an innovative solution for whenever you’re low on battery. The London based organisation was founded by entrepreneurs, Josh Baah and Hann Zhao Liu. They joined together in 2018 to start their second business, both with a background in International Development.
This power bank rental service is an evolution of traditional charge station models. Previously, you would pay to place your phone in a locker with a charging cable and leave it there to charge up. This ‘next generation in phone charging’ services allows you to take the phone and the power bank with you.
This is a seemingly small innovation but will transform the market entirely. With many of us relying on phones to meet our friends and family it will help plans from going awry and allow you to stay in touch more easily. The usage of QR codes, GPS and scanning technology alongside the improving tech behind power banks allows this innovation to work.
