I discovered Workinstartups a couple of months ago when I was avidly looking for a platform that holds job descriptions for talented people wanting to work in a young & blooming business: a startup. No, I was not thinking of taking on a new challenge, but I was really interested in finding out if there really is such a helping tool. And just when I thought I had found a new niche, comes Workinstartups. On top of that, when considering that the concept of the platform belongs to Diana, a talented Romanian entrepreneur, I was even more impressed [thank you Vladimir for signalling it out].
WorkInStartups creates the best environment where talented candidates and startups meet. The story began in the summer of 2011 when the team launched their first website. It has been a success ever since as the platform helped many startups find awesome team members.
What is the key to success for Workinstartups? It’s simple, they are passionate about startups and they want to fill-in the gap between them and the jobseekers! And Diana and her team are doing great! 
VC: What is WorkInStartups?
Diana: Work In Startups is a platform that connects rockstar employees with cool startups that are recruiting (mainly in the UK).
VC: How did you come up with the idea of WorkInStartups and what’s the trigger that made it happen?
Diana: The idea came to me after working with many startups in London and noticing that most of them were recruiting. At the same time the media was roaring with articles about the rising unemployment amongst young people and the low number of job opportunities. It struck me that there is a gap between the two worlds; few people know about the job opportunities from the startup scene and they clearly need someone to centralise and showcase them.
I was always passionate about the high level of enthusiasm that a small company trying to disrupt industries has. It’s amazing to see how very creative and enthusiastic people try to move mountains and how they often succeed. My trigger was wanting to help those people and to support their initiatives in a way that we know is vital for their businesses.
VC: You’ve moved to London – how’s life for an entrepreneur there?
Diana: Life here is great. There is a large community of people that are entrepreneurs or aspire to become such. Therefore there is a lot of knowledge sharing and advice giving within the community that helps everyone becoming better. Also, there is a strong support from the UK government. Ever since they have realised that one of the most important measures that will improve the economy will be supporting the creation of new companies they have invested a lot in this. They provide benefits such as massive tax reductions for all the private investors and also tax reduction for startups that are hiring.
VC: Is Romania a mature market for entrepreneurs? What’s missing?
Diana: Well, we have almost all the ingredients for a successful market for entrepreneurs: lots of talented people, great business ideas, possibilities of investment etc. However, I think that we’re lacking some essential aspects:
- help from the government as instead of supporting small businesses they do the opposite by increasing taxes
- a more vivid and better organised startup scene that is not afraid to share the knowledge and ideas, give advice and collaborate
- more experienced business people willing to give free advice and support entrepreneurs
- connections and collaborations with some important European startup scenes
- more informal education like workshops and seminars dedicated to entrepreneurs
- more investors willing to help small companies
VC: What’s your definition for a successful entrepreneur and whom do you admire most? How about an interesting investor – what makes his advice and money appealing?
Diana: A successful entrepreneur is someone that has created profitable businesses that innovate and disrupt industries while bringing positive changes into the world. Elon Musk is an entrepreneur that I very much admire. He has taken massive risks like investing large amounts of his own money, risked his considerable reputation, and built $2 billion businesses that could change the future of humanity forever.
To be an interesting investor means to have a large network that would be relevant for the company. The so-called “smart money” are the ones that include valuable connections that the business could leverage. As per the advice, the investor has not only to be experienced but also to have enough time to spend with the startups. I know investors that are way too busy with their lifestyles and do not spend enough time with the businesses that really need their advice.
VC: Looking back on your experience in starting projects from scratch, what’s the key lesson you’ve learned the hard way?
Diana: Do I have to choose only one? The first that pops into my mind is the fact that everyone should learn the basics about coding. Not having a technical co-founder from the beginning made the business develop very slowly as I was learning to code at the same time as applying the knowledge. It was a challenging time but I’m happy that I’ve found an amazing technical co-founder, Alex Borbely. However, I think that in today’s world everyone should have a bit of knowledge about what technology is and how to understand it.
VC: Would you consider coming to pitch at an event such as Venture Connect? What’s the best experience you look for when presenting your business idea?
Diana: Sure, but maybe next year after launching the project that we’re currently working on.
It’s interesting to hear very straight-forward feedback from experienced investors. It almost never resonates with what you want to hear but since it shakes your almost perfect universe it will make you see things from a different angle.
