Interview
ES IN PACE
O of MOVE Guides
“The first thing I did was refine the idea, a one-stop shop for international relocation for individuals and companies. The second thing was putting together the beginnings of a team. I was very lucky to meet Peter Almasi while he was doing his Masters at UCL. He became Lead Developer and we got together and developed the product a year ago. Then we found Steve, who is our COO and joined us in April.
“The third thing I did was fund the business. I started fundraising this year and we closed the round at the beginning of July and this was all still whilst I was doing my MBA, which was a rollercoaster! I was so glad to be able to launch the business, close our funding round and graduate from my MBA programme all within 10 days!”
MOVE Guides was born and the company went from strength to strength. Furthermore, despite initial challenges, Brynne had gathered an impressive group of investors; Sherry Coutu, Dale Murray, Tom Hulme and Sean Park, with the £400,000 angel round led by Kevin Eyres, formed MD of LinkedIn.
“One of my biggest challenges came in raising money for the business. I wasn’t in a position to graduate and spend another year without a serious direction and capital to support that.
“A key lesson I took away from the experience of fundraising is to really believe in your idea and your knowledge of your business. A lot of people tell you a lot of different things when you raise money and it is easy to sway with the wind. But I have found that both as a CEO and team leader others will respect you when you stick to your strategy and vision.”
On 22nd October, MOVE Guides launched their public beta site for moves to London and removals to or from anywhere in the world, with plans to launch in the US and Asia in the next few months. How did Brynne and her team so effortlessly tap into a global market from the get-go?
“We are getting customers from more than 60 countries who want to move to places as far ranging as California, Columbia, Chile and China. I think the key is that our
25 entrepreneurcountry
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