eric, francois, topi

ERIC FRANCOIS, TOPI

Q: What meetings industry need does your service fill?
No more missed opportunities – in the context of events (from small gatherings to professional conferences or concerts), of course, but also around global communities. Expanding our networks, discovering and connecting with new people is our mission. The world would be quite different had Steve Jobs not met Steve Wozniak. We work hard to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Q: What are your goals for the end of 2014?
We wanted Topi to be used on all five continents by the end of 2014, but we already achieved that goal by February. Adoption is always on our mind, and we want our 97% rate from Peter Thiel’s Under 20 Summit to become the norm.

Q: What do you see the future use of event applications as being?
More and more often, partners with very cool use-cases are approaching us. “Meeting new people” is a universal need, and Topi is so generic that even we couldn’t predict where it could lead us. So, I anticipate Topi will pop up in some very unexpected places in the next few months.

Q: In your opinion, why is it critical today and for the future to “Think like a start-up”?
It forces us to constantly innovate on the technology side and “match” the creative mentalities of event planners. “Thinking like (in our case, “Being”) a start-up” allows us to move fast and to be responsive to demand. We do more with less… and that is a huge motivation. It also means that we have the direct, 1-on-1 relationships with our customers – there is no better source of feedback.

Q: What mistakes have you made along the way and what would you change if you could go back?
Always listen to your customers. We grew the company rapidly and efficiently, but we could have saved time and stress along the way had we paid closer attention to what our customers wanted. Our vision for Topi hasn’t changed since the start of the company; the execution of the plan has.

Q: What will be your biggest challenges over the next three years?
To continue to grow and diversify our customer base while staying at the forefront of innovation. Scale is often the enemy of innovation and speed of execution. We will prove this concept wrong.

DEFINING MOMENTS:

Craziest destination: Costa Rica
Craziest event: I am sure it is Halloween-related…
Hotel to return to: Hotel Delano, Miami Beach
Best Concert: 1990 Rolling Stones Urban Jungle European tour – Paris
Best Rock band: The list is long…

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SOURCEKONGRES MAGAZINE
A long-time meetings industry addict, Gorazd is the Founder and owner of marketing and event agency Toleranca Marketing. He has many years of experience in planning, preparing and carrying out large international meetings and exhibitions. As the founder of the "Power to the Meetings" methodology, he still firmly believes in the power of live events and human to human communication. He is also the author of numerous articles and editor-in-chief of the meetings industry magazine Kongres Magazine.