My startup Questcity
Many of my friends knew that I ran a cool traveltech startup called questcity. We had a mobile application that allows you to go through quest routes, as well as a constructor on the site for compiling them and a marketplace for making money on them. We achieved quite shameful income figures in the region of 2,5k per month on the sale of quest tours and expected that this was just the beginning, because there was a plan how to move on. But then we were met by a swift ban of the tourism sector in just a few days, if not hours.
To say that this is a shock to the owner is an understatement. All applications and pre-sales were canceled in a few days and in fact our sales dropped to 0. And we have contracts, salaries, a lot of work done, guide payments and other things that have been put on stream for so long for 2,5 years.
Current state of Traveltech startups
The start-up movement has received a powerful blow in the gut. If many large firms have options to mothball, put everything on pause, then traveltech startups do not have such capacities, just as there is no time to react, since everything is on fire. Many of them will not survive the crisis, even the same Bolt is still considered a startup with a turnover of around 79,68 million euros and this "startup" is feeling bad. Now everyone is discussing his problems, but there are no fewer startups that deserve support.
My situation is also interesting because it is not entirely clear whether we fit the criteria of the Unemployment Insurance Fund to receive subsidies. Its criteria are aimed at medium and larger enterprises. The logic was simple in order to get the most out of hastily made relief measures. But the whole small business has become outsiders, because it is difficult to get under the set criteria and there are discrepancies in their interpretation.
Of course, the entire tourism sector has faced such difficulties. But what was to be done next and what is the fate of questcity?
What happened to questcity?
I made a very difficult decision, but at the same time, it completely freed me from the burden of responsibility. I was trusted by many investors who were also my relatives and friends. I developed the business for 2,5 years and did it with good success, although not with the original plans that were presented earlier. But in this situation, it became clear that that was all and I managed to agree with good partners who took over the business and bought my share of the company. You can read more about this in this article. At the same time, all rights to the original investors are preserved and the life of Questcity can continue in the new light of strong players.
You can also find out what successes we had in the past and read our history of crowdfunding via fundwise.me