Innovative applications spring up daily. In 2015, app developers must combine inspiration, grit and action to produce meaningful products. They must disrupt or die. The Coin Congress team is guided by the same insight. When deciding to shake up the Bitcoin conference experience for all, we had to find equally innovative partners to help our attendees network as best as possible.
So we partnered with MeetMatch, a Belgium-based app for conferences, festivals and networking events. As the Tinder of event networking, the app uses a unique algorithm to deliver meaningful connection suggestions to users based on LinkedIn criteria. The patented formula increases the probability of a meaningful connection from 5% to 35%, improving efficiency by 10 times. All attendees at our event will have MeetMatch for free. We thought the innovative concept was the most awesome detail until we met Geert Van Wonterghem, the founder of MeetMatch.
Geert Van Wonterghem lives in Antwerp, Belgium. With a background in hardware design, software design, sales and human resources, Geert was an innovation manager at Alcatel-Lucent. He was also a professor in Innovation Management at Antwerp Management School. He knows a thing or two, so we sat down to pick Geert’s brain.
So why MeetMatch? What inspired you to launch a startup app instead of molding the minds of Europe’s future entrepreneurs?
Geert: I was an innovation manager myself, at Alcatel-Lucent. It was amazing to meet all those super-intelligent people from Bell Labs. We made the best technology: the laser, mp3, the transistor. But still, the market impact of those inventions was limited.
I thought this was really a sin and started thinking about how to solve this. The crucial part I guessed would be to bring the right team together to come up with a market proposition and start gaining momentum. But how do you bring these people together? That’s when I started building software to do exactly that.
Every new app thinks they’re the best new app. What makes MeetMatch different than any other competitor? What problems are you solving?
Consider how you network. You go to the next event which you think is different. You see the list of attendees and think, “Wow, these people can really boost my network and business”. You fight through your e-mail and another traffic jam to reach the place. You enter the door past the friendly reception. You see many guys in suits. None look familiar. How should I handle this? You have no clue who is who.
Ah, finally, you see your friend from the company you often work with. You saw each other just 3 days ago, but still ask, “how are you”, and continue the conversation. Before you know it, the event is over and you missed all the opportunities. This is outrageous. Problems are often the best inspiration. So, MeetMatch simply solves this: you get a list of the people most interesting for you at the event. You can further control who you would like to meet. And MeetMatch brings you together with them. That’s it.
After scanning through all patents worldwide, we were pleasantly surprised that we have 2 very differentiating features:
- Intelligent business matchmaking: The algorithm looks at all available open data and identifies who is your best match. Also for companies.
- Dynamic matchmaking: At any moment during an event, a number of people are not in a meeting. Our algorithm identifies the best matches among them, so you have no hassle with setting up meetings, searching alternatives in case of no-shows, … All this while you remain in full control.
, so we patented both. These 2 features combined take networking to a whole new level.
Distributed teams are the latest hotness. As teams organize all over the globe, locality is less important. How does your team organize while being distributed?
We often have ad hoc calls. Everybody can contact everybody at any time. We have central to do-lists per topic so everybody is in sync with who is working on what. It’s great, because, even in Belgium, we started to work fully distributed since 1 month, with very good results. It works for us! The main point is communication and organization.
What are your tips for staying focused during startup set backs?
By nature, I’m not someone that is easily disturbed by set backs. I think you have to keep on working on your vision. The rest is noise. Running a startup is tough. Be prepared.
You are a business owner, innovator and family man. How do you balance work/life?
As we work fully distributed, the great thing is that I can work from home. If you’re this passionate, and the goal is such a thrill, you don’t need much else. I can fully live off of this fascinating dream. And I have plenty of friends to have some good times when needed :-)
Why is networking so important in your opinion?
Gone are the days where many business deals are closed “through bribing”. These days, you simply get paid for the value you bring. And working together with the right partners allows you to bring better solutions at a lower cost and with a bigger market reach. So, networking is crucial if you want to survive in the Darwinian startup race.
Start up life is tough and it’s no easier in Europe, which is a regulatory nightmare. It’s no easy task. As a start up founder, what have been your most rewarding and challenging experience?
The best moment was when everything came together for the first time: we set up an event with a big company in Belgium. Many people were really enthusiastic about this new approach to networking. And finally, we connected many people who contacted me afterwards to indicate how valuable those connections were.
The most challenging experience was with all the startup accelerators in Belgium. The problem here in Belgium is that they are not driven by entrepreneurs like in US, but mainly by government bodies. The impact is dramatic.
From one accelerator, we got the feedback that our team is too experienced to join the accelerator. They only want unexperienced teams, so they can still teach them. But meanwhile, we did not get access to the location and the other benefits they provide. Huh? The other key impact is that they are very risk adverse. Let’s face it. Government and disruptive innovation just don’t go together, except for some very big plans like sending a rocket to the moon.
So, the reality is that there is no support for disruptive innovation. If there is “an out-of-the-ordinary” idea, there will always be someone who does not believe in it. Or conflict of interest might come in the way. So, in general, I think Europe is good at spurring incremental innovation, but is putting many hurdles for disruptive innovation. I’m convinced that we have no other choice than to fix this if we want to save the European economy. Discussions are ongoing on this, but it could still take a lot of time.
The good thing: You still have some exceptions. People who go for the next big thing no matter what. And if you can make it with disruptive innovation in Europe, you’ll make it everywhere.
What is your organizational process for being personally productive?
I personally think that agility is the key factor. I maintain 2 processes: one is “real-time”: Triggers that I can process in a limited amount of time, I just do. I strongly believe in short communication cycles to maintain team momentum.
Next to that, I maintain a to do list over several tools. Once I get a task done, I re-evaluate the priority of the remaining tasks and start the next todo. I limit time spent on longer term plans, except for maintaining the vision. That means I can maximally minimize all overhead.
How much do you work? Do you have a “4-hour work week”? We all know that’s possible for startups.
I work roughly 18 hours per day. I sleep about 4 hours at night. The nights are my most productive times. Everything just feels so much more clear if everyone else is sleeping…
Where is MeetMatch in 5 years?
I’m very happy with the excellent basis we have now. We have 2 very differentiating patents in the domain of business matchmaking, which will only grow. People who experienced MeetMatch indicate that this is a whole new experience and we have many ideas to add. So, I think we should not be modest. We aim and are all prepared to become the key matchmaking platform for business in the world.
MeetMatch will be the exclusive networking event app at Coin Congress 2015. They also helped us integrate to accept Bitcoin payments! You can register via MeetMatch!
