Paul Vezelis of Traxlo – creator & opperator of tasku.app.
Tell us about yourself?
I’m the CEO and co-founder of Traxlo. We enable local communities around the grocery stores to earn important extra income by completing specific tasks and make retail operations more sustainable in the process.
What do you think is the single biggest misconception people have when it comes to startups?
I think that a very common misconception both from the public and inside the startup community is that a successful funding round is equal to success.
In reality some million euros does not guaranty a true product market fit, it does not mean that the business is net positive for society and that the founders, if they sell the company at some point will become rich.
A collected funding means that there are people who believe in you and your team to reach some set goals, that’s pretty much all it means at an early stage especially.
If you could go back in time to any moment from your journey, and give yourself one tip, what would it be?
I’d suggest to myself to be quicker on skipping the bad habit of downgrading myself because I’m from a small country and do not have a fancy logo on my resume.
Internet has all the information one might need for the startup journey and in the end truly valuable solutions win customers and provide value to society. Fancy background is not a prerequisite.
What makes you stand out as an entrepreneur?
You should ask our investors or my peers for an objective answer. But from my perspective I live by the notion that failure is not an option.
Endurance is very important and I feel like I can just keep on grinding and outwork the competition by sheer willpower.
What are some of the best working habits you’ve gained over the past couple of years?
I like the concept of “eating the frog”. I believe it helps a lot to manage my days. Also from my former boss I learned and frequently use the idea of “just sit and think”.
When faced by a problem or a complex situation, take some time and think. Actually think, do not just act for the sake of movement, do not be scared of what’s in front.
Evaluate it and find the best suitable course of action. And also napping. If you feel like it, just take the nap mid-day. According to NASA research short naps help with decision making and focus.
Give us a bit of an insight into the influences behind the company?
Outcome-based payments for work done seem to be the most optimal way to motivate people to do their best effort.
They always search for the quickest possible way to achieve the set goal. People can control their leisure and jump from one task to another on their best days.
This helps shift the societal dynamics into overdrive – from a boring same-spot job with little to no opportunity, workers can now explore and earn as much as they need for personal needs and then spend the leftover time savoring life and creating what they truly desire.
The need for such gig work enhanced workforce is especially evident in retail-centric spaces, where demand can skyrocket due to seasonal or unforeseen events, staff absences are commonplace, cause real issues and the rollouts of any changes are extremely dissatisfactory to unmotivated hourly workers.
All of these issues are a piece of cake with the tasku.app taskers.
Where do you see your business in five years?
We will be on track to be available in every bigger city in the EU. Every single mom or a student from a humble, financially struggling background will be able to earn important extra income doing simple, but essential tasks in proximity to her home.
Work on her own terms and be guaranteed to get the cash right away.
What do you think the biggest challenge will be for you in getting there?
If there would be only one challenge it would be too easy. We live and work in current Europe.
We have EU regulations, fragmented market with local languages, local rules, a war in Ukraine and economic uncertainty. We’ll do our best to minimize the potential pitfalls and as failure is not an option, one way or another we’ll get there.
Talk to us about your biggest success story so far?
The first thing which pops to my mind is one of our taskers (gig worker). One guy works on our tasku.app and after he completed his first 100 tasks, as usual we invited him for a cup of coffee in our office and a chat about what we could do to improve the tasku.app.
The guy comes prepared with a list of bugs and features so that in itself is already cool, but what really got to me was the fact that during our 30 minutes meeting he 3 times thanked us that we created the opportunity for him to earn important extra income which he uses to help kickstart his girlfriend’s artist career.
The way he said it and how genuinely grateful he was is one of the biggest rewards and success stories for us. After he left the office he one more time send us a message with a thank you note.
How do clients and customers find you? Are you much of a salesperson for yourself?
To date we spent 0 EUR on marketing. We try to use very locally targeted social media strategies to get in front of gig workers and personally I’m a LinkedIn no-lifer.
What one tip would you give to fellow startup founders?
Startup journey is hard and most of the time it lacks the glamour of how it is portrayed in the media. So find a serious co-founder to share the burden and go for it only if you do not see any other feasible way to be happy in your life.
And finally, what do you hope the future brings both you personally, and your business?
I hope we’ll survive the winter with no nuclear war and our company will be able to grow to make many many more taskers (gig workers) happy about great income opportunities on tasku.app.
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