1. Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves!
Hi, we’re Cecilia and Dorothea, and we’re the founders of Twostay.
Cecilia: I’m Italian and moved to Germany three years ago after working for various startups in Italy, Spain, London and Brazil. I’ve been interested in remote working and how companies can benefit from it for quite a long time. And that’s because I love being flexible and able to work anywhere and everywhere, to have the opportunity to grow my business with just my laptop in different communities and cities.
Dorothea: I built a company in Chile for three years. And I worked as a startup consultant in Munich for the last five years. I’m passionate about making better use of our cities and the space they have to offer. At the same time, I prefer working hands-on instead of “just” giving advice to other people on their projects. I enjoy exploring customer needs – and I even like cold calling!
We both think that how we work has fundamentally changed. We don’t need offices, a daily commute or ‘9 to 5’ jobs. Instead, our generation needs to discover inspiring venues in the city that we can pick based on our needs.
“An Unbelievable Amount of Potential to Tap Into”
That’s why we founded Twostay. So people can work and hold meetings in hotel lobbies, restaurants, beach bars or art
galleries. This lets locations utilize space that was hardly used otherwise – there’s so much potential to tap into! It doesn’t matter if it’s early in the morning or midnight, in Munich or another city – we’re already active in Berlin, Frankfurt, Ulm, Memmingen and Mallorca. Most places can be used for free and users get a discount off what the place has to offer. If you need an exclusive space, like a conference room, you pay by the hour.
2. But that’s nothing out of the box!
Dorothea: That’s true! People who don’t want to work alone find different solutions to the problem. One person might book a monthly membership at an expensive co-working space, another might go to Starbucks. But Twostay is different! With us, users subscribe for free and then have access to a variety of different places. Our process is as fast as getting a seat in a café, but just more convenient and work-friendly.
3. What are the three main ingredients in your recipe for success?
Cecilia: You can’t bake a cake with three ingredients! But…first: We talk with our users. From the very first day, we’ve conducted interviews. And that’s how we know what our users need. We still pump them for information when we meet them working at one of the places on our platform. So, yes, we are serious about eating our own dog food and work at the spots that Twostay offers. Second: We’re not afraid to ask lots of questions. That’s already helped us a lot. Especially when you understand the hotel and restaurant industry, which really is a world of its own.
Dorothea: Third: We’re an extremely strong team. At the same time, we work flexibly. We plan our next steps together and get them done immediately. We’re in a setting that allows us to work when we’re feeling productive and inspired. But we meet up to celebrate achievements or when times get tough!
First round of funding underway
4. Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: How is business going?
Dorothea: It’s going well! Our platform is a marketplace, which is why our KPIs are based on the number of cities and users. We expanded the former by seven cities in the last two weeks – and have 20 more in the pipeline. On the user side, we’re targeting freelancers, founders and now large corporations as well. We’re in the process of growing our service for teams and B2B customers. We also just recently started our first round of funding. We have exciting times ahead!
Success thanks to the Bavarian dialect
5. What does Munich mean to you?
Cecilia: I don’t think I would have been able to found Twostay in any other city than Munich. I love this city! And the startup network here is so high-tech oriented and just incredibly inspiring!
Dorothea: I grew up in Munich. And although I was away for ten years, I know the city inside and out and know where to look for inspiring spaces. It’s easier starting from your home base. An here’s a fun fact: If you speak the Bavarian dialect, local hotel owners take you right into their hearts.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we be seeing you at an Epic Fail Night soon?
Dorothea: Definitely a unicorn! The working world is undergoing a major disruption and hardly anyone else is more aware of that fact than Twostay. The potential is there to become the biggest provider of workspace in the world without owning one single square foot. That means we have no facility management to take care of. We have the potential and will to scale. We’re in the right place at the right time.
That being said, we go everywhere where our users are. So why not go to an Epic Fail Night? There are so many funny fails that we could talk about. But that doesn’t mean we’d stop. As long as business keeps going, we’ll keep going. And there’s no sign of business stopping.
7. Beer garden or hiking?
Cecilia: Hiking! With an overnight stay in the summit lodge. Free your mind, think big, create new ideas. And then: Hike back down that mountain and execute it all. That’s also how we first met — in the heart of the Bavarian Alps!