In a very populated area of Santiago, Chile but surprisingly surrounded by nature and quiet streets you can find the headquarters of Vendly where it shares space in a co-working space with Ganeselo.com and Quantconnect.com (a very popular trend for startups, not just for saving money, but for the flow of ideas) with two other young companies.
As is typical for young startups people are constantly moving, some were traveling or working from somewhere else. But even with such active schedules we had the chance to talk with Vendly’s Andrés Gottlieb (CTO), Francisco Kemeny (CPO), and Ivonne Robledo, Vendly’s pink loving graphic designer.
Even though the environment of the place is relaxed, with music, joking, lots of fun art on the walls, and ping pong tournaments with staff of other startups, the Vendly team get serious when asked about the company and its future.
In talking about the beginning of Vendly when it was called VendSocial, Francisco and Andres explain that It seemed like a great idea when they first thought about it, because there was nothing like it in the exploding social media and app landscape and therefore no competition, providing a perfect opportunity to start something. Half way into starting the company competitors started to appear validating the concept and making the challenge more interesting, Francisco says: "We are not entering to an established market, but we are all creating a new one along the way".
Francisco, Alan and another partner came up with the idea for the project while working somewhere else. Among gatherings, barbecues, and beers, they kept on developing ideas to present to their bosses where they were working and to anyone else who would think that was a good business idea. Although it started like a QR based project (a big trend of that particular moment) they started stripping down and develop the idea a little bit further. By the time they met Andres, the whole concept finally transformed into a social marketplace and QR was left in the past. So Vendly is actually a pivot from another idea.
Ivonne is the user interface designer and has been working in Vendly for 2 months so far, and claims that she likes it, especially because of the friendly environment. Although she is surrounded just by men, they refer to her as "one of the guys".
When asked about the differences between working for a big company and a startup, they are pretty clear. "You can dedicate yourself to one goal, and not multitasking in ever-changing goals set up by others, here you can really focus in what you want to do" says Francisco. To which Andres complements by saying: "Even though you can achieve some sort of freedom working for a big company, when you are part of a startup you get the feeling that is yours, and that is the most important thing"
They all have bought and sold things on Vendly so far and seem pretty happy about their purchases. Ivonne is expecting a pair of shoes she found on Vendly that should arrive anytime now.
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