From Syrian Refugee to Successful Co-founder with Tarek Abousamra of Co-Tasker

In this episode I talk to Tarek  Abousamra, an inspiring entrepreneur who journeyed from Syria to Germany. Tarek's story is one of resilience and determination, culminating in the founding of Co-Tasker, a platform that connects people with service providers for various tasks.

Tarek fled Syria due to the war, eventually making a home in Germany. Despite starting from scratch, his entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Co-tasker, a platform designed to make finding help for tasks easy and safe. His story highlights the power of resilience and community support.

Episode Highlights

• 🌍 Resilient Journey: Tarek's path from Syria to Germany, overcoming challenges to start from scratch.
• 🏢 Co-tasker's origin story: The creation of a platform connecting users with service providers for diverse tasks.
• 🤝 Co-Founder Dynamics: The importance of complementary skills and mental support in a business partnership.
• 📈 Funding Strategies: Insights into securing funding and the role of accelerator programs.
• 🗣️ Language and AI: How AI tools have transformed communication across language barriers.

More about Co-Tasker here: http://bit.ly/Co-Tasker_

You can find this episode and all episodes as well as show notes for each at https://thegermanylist.de/the-germany-expat-business-show-podcast/

Starting or running a business in Germany as a foreigner? Already running an online business in Germany as an expat? Wanting to grow your German-based business? Working as a freelancer in Germany? You'll love my guide with over 30 resources for expat business owners in Germany.

Transcript

Eleanor's Introduction

Speaker 1 0:03

Hi , I'm Eleanor Meyerhofer , a native Californian designer and digital strategist . In October of 1999 , a few years after graduating from design school , I flew from San Francisco to Munich with a fistful of Deutschmarks , a dial-up connection and an extremely vague plan . Twenty-plus years later , after a 10-year stint at a global agency agency freelancing and launching two online businesses , I'm still here . Now I'm talking to other expat business owners to share knowledge , stories and inspiration for other non-Germans running businesses in Germany . I am here with Tarek Abu

Tarek's Journey to Germany

Speaker 1 0:44

Samra . I am here with Tarek Abu Samra and I am going to start with the same question I ask everybody , which is can you tell me the two-minute story of how you ended up in Germany ?

Speaker 2 0:55

So hi , thank you for having me . I appreciate the introduction and really glad to be here . So the story of me coming to Germany is a bit different of the typical coming to Germany stories . I came here as a refugee . I had a beautiful life in Syria , so Syria is my hometown . I'm originally from Palestine , born and raised in Syria , and I had a really nice life . I was having good things , I was studying in university life . I was having good things and I was studying in university . Um , unfortunately , suddenly the the war has started in syria and , yeah , suddenly we just found ourselves , uh , having the somehow being forced to leave because of there's nothing to be done at that point . It was dangerous .

Speaker 2 1:42

A lot of things happened back then and we decided to leave and at first I went to multiple countries in order to find where I need to be in life , and first I started with going to Lebanon and then I wanted to finish my university because , unfortunately , I couldn't finish in Syria , so I went to London . I was able to have a visa back in Syria , so I went to London . I was able to have visa back then and I went to London . I studied , finished my university there and then I came back because the situation got a bit better . So the situation improved , it was . We were promised that things gonna get better . I came back there .

Speaker 2 2:21

Unfortunately , after I came back there , it got way worse . The war became even more intense and more dangerous , and so I needed to leave again . I tried to apply for visa again all around the world . I tried the UK again , where I had a visa . Didn't work . Nothing worked , unfortunately . So the only way for me was is to run as a refugee . So I I came to germany literally running trains , buses , cars . I had to leave . I think many of the syrians too , also came this way and yeah , it's another story how I came here , yeah , yeah this is how I came .

Speaker 2 3:01

I arrived here . I I started my life from scratch because I lost everything , everything I had left actually , I actually spent it on the way so I started here from scratch and , yeah , that's how I came to Germany .

Speaker 1 3:18

Well , that is obviously an incredible story . Was this when Merkel said that people from Syria could come here ? Was ?

Speaker 2 3:28

that in 2015 ?

Speaker 1 3:30

When was that or when was this ?

Speaker 2 3:33

2016 . So , unfortunately , when I came , it was still not open the same way it was after . So I had to do a bit more hustle than and others later , because after that they it was . It became it was still always for everyone . It was really hard and you know it's not , it's never an easy way , but they opened some , some ways and some cities and it became a bit easier . But yeah , I was two months before that I came , unfortunately , okay .

Speaker 1 4:07

Yeah , you're right , that's like that is an entire podcast series in itself . But I really want to focus because I mean it's one thing to like come here , like me as an American , and you know I came on a tourist visa and then I fooled around and then I got a job , whatever . It's another thing to like have your whole life like . You know I came on a tourist visa and then I fooled around and then I got a job , whatever . It's another thing to like have your whole life like destroyed , basically , and come with nothing and then start from scratch . So can you tell me and you're a co-founder of a company now so presumably obviously you got settled and everything and what happened , what was the process Like ? If you can tell us a little bit like how you went from that to founding a company ?

Building a Life From Scratch

Speaker 2 4:53

Definitely so . You know , first of all , in the beginning I arrived here I wanted to start my life . I wanted to . It was very important that I have this positive mindset and I have this mindset of I want to live , I want to survive , I want to to also give back . I don't want just to be here , just to . I was kind of forced to leave my home . I didn't want to leave my home . It comes to me I would stay in my home because it's the best thing for me . But as I'm here , I want to take in my mind , I want to take the best out of it . So I want to to do good things and to to give back to the community , also because the community was very welcoming to me .

Speaker 2 5:34

I am very thankful to Germany because Germany welcomed me and gave me shelter and gave me money . It was little money but I was always thankful to it and I had this entrepreneurial mind that I always want to like to start business . I like to do things . I like to do my own thing , but in the beginning I couldn't do it directly because I needed to understand the culture , I needed to understand how things work . I need to learn German , because it's really hard with that and as soon as I started I took the fast smartest decision is to start learning German . I went to a very intense course . I studied until B2 . I was almost reaching C1 , but I stopped there . I directly after a few months , I decided that I want to start my first company . So Kotasker is not my first company .

Speaker 2 6:25

It's my second my brother was here , is here still . We together found a problem in the shipping industry between Middle East and Europe , specifically between Syria and Germany , and we had a way to be able to make it easier , faster and cheaper . And so we started a company and we started from scratch , from nothing . It went very well , it was successful and , honestly , back then I got the idea of Co-Tasker . So I wanted to offer my services as a freelancer , because the money I used to receive it was really little and it was not enough for me to live the life that I want to live , and I went online . I wanted to look for a platform to offer services fast , but everything was very hard . There's unprofessional platforms . I even got scanned in one very I don't know famous platform in Germany because I went to the location and to help someone or something and they stopped answering and I wasted half of my day , unfortunately . And then this is where I got the idea of Code Tasker , that one day I'm going to create a platform to make offering services fast , easy and safe most importantly .

Speaker 2 7:34

But then , as I told you , I started my first company and life went and things grew and I don't know . I'm very positive . I'm very happy , I'm very I'm a survival . I always like just make friends and very social . I built a beautiful life in here and I made a really amazing friends and I called them family and that helped me a lot along the way .

Speaker 2 8:00

And then so reaching cotasca I I was still in my first company and I met someone amazing . Her name is Emilia . She's my co-founder now .

Starting the First Business

Speaker 2 8:10

I met her . She has this entrepreneurial mind . She was working as a CMO in a tech company in Berlin . She's very smart , entrepreneurial mind and I was waiting to meet someone like that to actually because you know , co-founder is so important in starting a business and I was okay , that's the one . I told her about my idea with Code Tasker . Okay , I have this idea and I really want to solve problem from the contractor side of our services .

Speaker 2 8:37

She was like you know what ? I had even bigger problem for me as a client to book services . I needed help with few things around my house and I couldn't find the help because I couldn't speak German . I tried to call companies , the companies . I was unable to explain . I found one company . The appointment was after four weeks and then one company came . They couldn't fix it and they took around 100 euros from me . I got really frustrated . I didn't do my thing at all and you know what I love this . I would love to quit and join you . So she quit her job and we together started Kotasker . Yeah , that was an amazing moment because you know , when you find the right partner , you know that you , you know you made it . Even if you're not going to make this , I know in my mind that maybe , let's say , kotasker never worked , which I always believe is going to work it works . But even if not , I'm going to do something with her again . And yeah , we started Kotasker and that's how it started .

Speaker 1 9:38

So I want to go back a little bit to your first business . So you started that with your brother . I mean , starting a business in Germany is not easy . Did you guys have to learn everything by your and then on top of it , in German ? Did you like start from scratch , or did you have any support , or like , did you have a game behind ? Like what , what ? Did you learn a lot from that experience ?

Speaker 2 10:01

Yeah , yeah . So you know , I studied business administration , I learned German and , in my opinion , starting a company , you have to learn a lot on the way . You cannot say , oh , I learned in school or I read 200 books and I'm going to start a company , now I'm ready . It's never like that . When you start a company , you will learn on the way . You just have to be ready to learn . You have to be flexible , you have to be take it easy on yourself and just keep doing and have like passion and hope . Passion is so important and that's that's the thing . So we learned everything on the way . So we just okay . When I start a company now , what to do ? We make calls , we research online . There was no ai back then , unfortunately . Now it's things way easier . I believe I also had some friends who are germans , so they speak german and they they help us a lot along the way . So I have letter , I call them , sometimes even german people . I give them a letter from the finance or something . They say , oh , I don't understand this , it's like too hard , but yeah , so yeah , we learned everything along the way .

Speaker 2 11:06

It was really hard . It was hard to create a bank account . It was almost it was about not to lose hope , but I was okay . No bank account accepted me in the beginning because of my status . Like , what do I do ? I need a bank account . You cannot do it without . Until my beloved sparkase agreed and honestly , they they do not regret . They made the best decision because I already have multiple companies with them now and I'm one of their great clients . So I think they did the right thing . I love sparkase . I recommend it . If someone in my situation they need to do it . Spark , say , I think , is the only one who approved actually wow and yeah , or like an online thing , but of course you need a local bank and yeah , that's yeah , it was hard , but it's possible , everything possible everything's possible .

Speaker 1 11:57

Yes , tell me like how ai has made it easier than before . I mean oh way , but oh way more .

Speaker 2 12:05

So you know , like before I used , even when I speak really good German , Okay , yeah , I needed to , I need . When I get to get , sometimes you get letters like 20 pages or something , yeah , and you really need to I don't know . Like , even if I understand it , I need to ask someone because what if I miss something really important ? You know what if something could destroy my company if I missed it ? So I used to ask people . Now , chatgpt , I just share the whole document and I get all the answers I want . I'm building , so now it's like building a new company too , not ready to talk about it yet , but I also started to . I needed to submit this finance arm and this Elster thing , which is really hard . Sometimes you need tax advisor to help you . Actually , I was able to do it alone through with Chargivity , also responding to emails , everything . My productivity is way , way higher because of Chargivity and other ai tools . So , yeah , I think it's great .

Speaker 1 13:08

It helps a lot yeah , deep l and all that stuff . I mean I I didn't make it to b2 , but I made it to b1 . But this was like 20 years ago and I work in english all day and I have mixed feelings because I feel like it's made me so lazy , because I just like , let me just run this through here . But it is such a game changer , especially with like language stuff , definitely .

The Birth of Kotasker

Speaker 2 13:34

Also , you know , there is something . Yes , it makes you a bit easier indeed .

Speaker 2 13:39

Sorry , lazier , I would say , but it's still way better , because , also for me , I don't I write , I like to write emails in my way I like to respond in my way , because I have a special way which I think helped me to become where I am now and but just at least checking the grammars and making sure everything looks better . Or sometimes I'm traveling or doing something else and I don't have the brain capacity to actually check my with myself , so ai helps a lot in these situations .

Speaker 1 14:10

Yeah , so , yeah , it's great yeah , my husband is a huge chat gpt guy and sometimes I ask him he's pretty technical and finally he just goes like just ask chat gpt . And I'm doing a workshop at the end of this month like a website in a day workshop in Berlin and I'm going to do it in German . Most of the people like have a make out zone center room but they might not speak English . So I have like this spreadsheet that's a cheat sheet to like go to Squarespace tutorials and I was like , oh man , I really need to change this to English , but I don't want to like copy paste . But I don't want to like copy paste and my husband's like ask ChatGPT .

Speaker 1 14:44

And it gave me the formula and the whole little sheet was like okay , I believe I see the magic now .

Speaker 2 14:50

Definitely 100% . And you know , it's not only that for me , like not only just ask things . When I'm sitting here , like , let's say , when I'm driving , I have the CarPlay connected to Siri and now Siri , this Apple Intelligence , so it's connected to ChargeBT , so while I'm driving I can ask any question I want . You can do a lot now with this Apple Intelligence . Yeah , so it's amazing . Also , anything about life . I ask for it , ask about it through ChargeBT , the voice thing I love it .

Speaker 1 15:22

I'll give you a trick , I'll give you a nice trick also , if you want to write an email that is long or very important to you .

Speaker 2 15:29

On the app of ChargeBT there is a way that you record , record your voice to turn it to text . Text to speech .

Speaker 1 15:36

Yeah .

Speaker 2 15:37

And you can record and say the email it could be a five-minute thing , I don't know and then it will all be put in ChargeBT and then ChargeBT will fix it for you and make a nice email . This is a really good trick , which I recommend .

Speaker 1 15:51

Okay , I'll give it a try . I don't want all my humanity to go away , but for some things it is pretty good .

Speaker 2 16:02

Yeah , look , it won't go away , because you have two ways you can ask ChatGPT to fix it and you can ask ChatGPT to fix it without changing .

Speaker 1 16:10

Yeah .

Speaker 2 16:10

So if you tell ChatGPT fix it without changing , then it will just fix , make it look good and in your way yeah .

Speaker 1 16:17

So that's what I could do . Okay , thanks for boosting my productivity .

Speaker 2 16:23

You're welcome .

Speaker 1 16:24

Okay , so let's talk a little bit about Kotasker . So you want to talk a bit about how exactly the platform works ?

Speaker 2 16:32

Definitely so . Kotasker is a platform where you can find help with anything Really fast , really easy , really safe . Basically , if you need help with something , I I mean our main categories are home improvements , moving house , like person with ban cleaning , home painting , etc . You can just go to the app . What's the task ? Ad takes you less than a minute . Describe what you need .

Speaker 2 16:59

Then , after you post quickly , in less than five minutes you will start getting offers from multiple people , different pricing , and you can then communicate with them so you can check the person that you like their profile , you can check their reviews and you can discuss with them . Hey , I like your profile , let's talk about it . You can discuss , negotiate , plan and then book safely via the app . You book , the person comes to you , they do the job . If you're happy , you can release the money . If not , the money will come back to you . It's like reserved with help for safety for both parties . Yeah , you get everything done fast . So that's Code Tasker . We have tasks . As I told you , our main categories are the home improvements and painting and moving and cleaning , but also we have a lot of other tasks Like , for example , a very interesting task , someone , but also we have a lot of other tasks , like , for example a very interesting task , someone booked someone to stand on the queue for .

Speaker 2 17:48

Berghain on their behalf . Yeah , someone booked someone to kill a spider at home Not kill , I think , remove , we don't like killing and someone they had gum stuck on their hair or something they needed to remove it . There are a lot of , for example , captains for a boat driver , and that's an amazing community . So basically this also separates Kodaska from the competitors , so you cannot find such tasks on other competitors that we have , because the other competitors it's a listing of people , seat price , seat availability you can just come and book . You cannot communicate in restricted categories In Kodaskar . You can find help with anything .

Speaker 1 18:31

Okay .

Speaker 2 18:31

Also the pricing . Our pricing are very competitive so you could find help with , I don't know , let's say , painting . Usually it's like 4,000 euros for the company In Kodaskar you can find it with 1,000 or 800 . So the pricing are really revolutionizing the industry .

Speaker 1 18:51

Okay , so it's great . So , and the business model ? Do you get a transaction fee or is it ? Do you pay ? Do you have to pay to like list your task ? How does it work ?

Speaker 2 19:02

Yeah , transaction fee . So we only take fee in a fair manner . So when task is completed , we take our service fee from the transaction okay commission , basically okay and just create .

Speaker 1 19:17

Did you have to build the platform from scratch , or did it exist and you white labeled ?

Speaker 2 19:38

it no , no , or like a white label you from scratch back end , and I understand all the structure so I could be CTO . But also back then I learned how to prototype in a few months and I prototyped the first version , which is what got us the first pre-seed round of investment . Because of this prototype and that's something I find amazing . I don't know how I had the . I don't know how I did that , like I just thought , okay , I want prototype . I don't . I don't know how I did that . Like I just thought , okay , I want prototype . I don't have the possibility to ask anyone to do it , I'm gonna do it by myself . I went ahead and I learned fast and I did it .

Speaker 1 20:14

So yeah , show , don't tell . Sometimes that's more powerful than explaining an idea when you have them . So let's talk about the funding process a little bit . How did that work ?

Speaker 2 20:27

Funding is very hard , one of the hardest things a founder can do .

Speaker 1 20:34

I hope it's okay that I'm drinking . I'm drinking a Diet .

Speaker 2 20:36

Coke . So , yeah , funding is one of the hardest things a founder can do

Navigating Funding and Accelerators

Speaker 2 20:40

. It's really , really hard , but I think it's very , very important , important . Yet it has to be done in the right way , in the right time , the right moment . If you do it in the wrong moment , it's just a waste of time and energy and could destroy your business . The fundraising so we had multiple successful rounds , I would say , and from very prolific some angel investors we've been through Techstars and Vision Lab , like very prolific .

Speaker 2 21:12

Also , accelerator programs yeah , I think I mean talking about founders and just starting . I highly recommend accelerator programs because it's the right way to go , Because you don't only need help with funding , could get funding , but you could spend it just a few months and you know it's like literally eight months can pass really fast when you are like running the company , you need to do it right and spend it right . So that's why I highly recommend accelerator program . Okay , not just money , okay , but yeah , I mean , if you have specific question about it , I'm happy to talk about it no , I just I don't , but I know people listening probably will so , but that helps .

Speaker 1 21:53

So it was like you got involved in accelerators and when you said it's it's not a good idea to get funded at the wrong moment , do you mean like getting too much money at some point ? Like what do you mean ?

Speaker 2 22:05

by that no , no , I didn't mean get funded . If you get funded anytime , it's great okay I mean don't look , don't try .

Speaker 2 22:12

So fundraising around it's , it's a process itself . It's like um , it's like it's not just simply I'm gonna go , okay , I'm gonna fundraise around tomorrow . It you have to dedicate a specific way . You have to prepare your material . You you have to prepare pitch , deck , data room , kbi , et cetera . You have to prepare financial model . You have to prepare everything . You have to prepare which investors you want to reach out . You have also specific approaches , like a marathon . You have to prepare .

Speaker 2 22:37

Okay , this few months of my life , depending , could be three months , could be up to sometimes eight months . Some companies need one year to fundraise around , but be three months , could be up to sometimes eight months . Some companies need one year to fundraise around , but you have to dedicate this time especially for fundraising . So , for example , the CEO or if someone else in the company is interested , they will literally dedicate all the time to do this and to fundraise . And so if you approach it wrong and you don't have all the materials ready or you have something not 100% ready , you will be ending up wasting six months of your life trying to fundraise and it's not going to work , because fundraising is not that simple , like so many companies .

Speaker 2 23:15

You see in the news that companies oh , we fundraise , there is this company you think , oh , wow , is that easy ? They are fundraising millions . You see one company of thousands that you know what I mean . So it's really hard to fundraise , it's really hard to go . You have it says about the storytelling and how to convince investors , how to approach it right , and that's why in my , I always recommend , if you want to fundraise , really fundraise Understand how it works , read about it , have advice from someone , understand how it's done , fully about it , have advice from someone . Understand how it's done fully . Prepare a list of investors you want to reach out . Always reaching out , also through warm introductions , is way better than just reaching out .

Speaker 2 23:55

You have to prepare everything , all the materials . Also , let's say you found an investor and the investor okay , they want to talk to you . You have another stage where you have due diligence . Due diligence , if the due diligence one thing is wrong or small , you could lose the whole thing . So it's also that's why I meant that you have to be fully ready to do it .

Speaker 1 24:14

Okay , okay , okay , not premature . I want to go back a little bit and talk about your co-founder . What's her name again ?

Speaker 2 24:21

Amelia Bryant .

Speaker 1 24:23

And so how do you split up Like what do you do and what does she do ?

Speaker 2 24:29

So I am the CEO and she's COO , CMO .

Co-Founder Partnership Dynamics

Speaker 1 24:34

Okay .

Speaker 2 24:34

She has two roles . So she's a powerful woman , amazing , very smart , very proud to be her partner . She's basically I am doing I love products . Brought to be her partner , she's basically I am doing I love products . I'm the CEO , so I do the CEO tasks , the admin tasks about the company fundraising she helped me sometimes with the fundraising . I do team leadership , communicating with the team and other tasks for products , mostly in the product . So I work in the product user experience strategy . She does the other side side which is showing the idea to the world , basically .

Speaker 2 25:11

So she's she's leading the marketing . She's leading the design . She's leading she doesn't design but she's , she has like design eyes , so she , she's leading it . She's also operations . So she helped with operating the company , organization planning with team , with the teams , et cetera . So , yeah , that's how we split . So the good thing about , I think , in a successful partnership is that we both have completely different skills that complement each other . The things that she do I don't know how to do and the things that I do she don't know how I do , and that makes it successful relationship okay , yeah , it sounds like I have a the germany list , which is where I moved this podcast into .

Speaker 1 25:55

I decided to get a co-founder . I knew I would have to and it's been so great it's so . It's a lot nicer than doing everything on your own and Definitely and I feel the same way , like we really complement each other .

Speaker 2 26:08

Congrats . I'm happy for you , that's amazing . You know , I'll tell you just one thing really important I realized Having a co-founder is not only about it's 50% , I think is so important about skills and complement each other 50% for mental health , really .

Speaker 1 26:24

Yes , because you need someone to talk to ?

Speaker 2 26:25

Yes , because you need someone to talk to yes , not like therapy , because , honestly , we go through really rough times , it's really hard and you really need someone to talk to , and you need someone also , not anyone to talk to . You need someone who's with you , to understand you , and that's why I think it's great , so I'm happy for you .

Speaker 1 26:49

That's is great , so I'm happy . Yeah , that's 100 , true , yeah , thanks , I'm . I'm happy for me too . Um , okay , I want to talk about language , because I I haven't downloaded the app . I will . Uh , I need some painting in our apartment , um , and I noticed it's in english and german right and I have , like , some self-interested questions around this .

Speaker 1 27:11

Because

Language and App Features

Speaker 1 27:12

, okay , obviously German , we're in Germany , english is a second language for a lot of people here , but we wrestle with this because our product is like we're trying to reach out to Auslanders , expats , immigrants , migrants , whatever however you want to put it , and there's other languages . Yes , like why did you start with English as the second language ?

Speaker 2 27:33

Sure . So our you know , in starting a company okay , as you can imagine always you have to find a small niche and target market to start with , and that's the way to success . This is also another advice . Someone is listening . If you want to start a company , you have to do that , and our niche was the expats , especially english-speaking ones . We had access because we are english-speaking experts . We had access to a big community through our friends , our relationships , our events we go to , and so everything was around us being connected with this type of people . That's how we started . And then we evolved to reach to german , because german , because it's we are in germany , so even we start in english of course we have an aim to , to start to do more languages , so , if possible , all the languages .

Speaker 2 28:30

Just need the right time , the right moment , the right capacity , but yeah well , and that's interesting because what we were talking about with ai .

Speaker 1 28:37

So even if you had , you know , it can be two-way . So maybe you need a painting and I and I'm working with somebody from I don't know serbia who's pretty new and doesn't speak much English or German . They could , I'm assuming we can still communicate just using the app , even if we can't speak the same language .

Speaker 2 29:01

Yeah , so we have a translation feature . So if you post a task in different language of the person language , they can translate to that language of the person language , they can translate to that language . And if you're communicating in chat and they got a message in different language , they have automatically offered them the possibility to translate . This was active for a long time . Just to be clear , it's not active at the moment . It's under maintenance . We might bring it back in a different way because the approach of it was it didn't work how we planned . It helped a lot of people , but we're changing the approach , so it's not . But we had this for a long time and it was really helpful . So people from all works of life in different languages they can find they get translation in their language so it was , yeah , it was great yeah but still now you can communicate with ai .

Speaker 1 29:53

Sorry , yeah , yeah , no , it's okay . It's just one of those things that it just it has been so it has made things , so it's been a game changer , especially around I was just talking to .

Speaker 1 30:04

I was at dinner with some lady friends and one had just gotten back from china and they were talking about how like , oh the vendors , they just talk in this into their thing and they talk , and they like talking about how like , oh the vendors , they just talk in this into their thing and they talk , and they like totally communicate , everything's just like it's just been such a change with communicating in different languages .

Speaker 1 30:22

One question I have and this is like a kind of a administrative question but Germany , like how is everybody like ? Like how is everybody like Einzelunternehmer , like when you get the money , like how you know Germany is so strict with like many jobs and this and that , like how does all that work ? Or do you not have to worry about it ? And that's the person's responsibility ?

Business Model and Customer Growth

Speaker 2 30:47

So then , it has multiple ways . First of all , every contractor who offers services . As per our legal terms and conditions , they are legally obligated to be able to offer services through being a freelancer , through being , I don't know , einstein Entertainment , or they have a company , gamebehard UG , doesn't matter , but it is not our responsibility . So , legally , every person is obligated to to do it themselves . We definitely have legal wise . No one can earn black money , I assume , because of the possibility , because we have something called the tax transparency act , so we have to report every income done on the platform , every year once and and to the government . So , yeah , they are aware of it , of course , everyone is aware of it .

Speaker 2 31:38

So we realized that some people they don't have a company , but they start , they want to earn money and then they find there are many people who actually built a business behind the platform . We're very honored and proud and happy for them . And so they start to okay , I'm going to create a company . I'm going to create , I'm going to become a freelancer , I'm going to become and it's a good thing . In Germany it's like when you're just starting the first year , things are easy , so there is a specific amount that you don't have to pay taxes for .

Speaker 1 32:09

Oh right , flying entrepreneur or whatever , yeah .

Speaker 2 32:12

You could also . I'm not sure actually . Yeah , I shouldn't give advice here because I'm not a tax advisor .

Speaker 1 32:19

This is not tax advice everybody .

Speaker 2 32:21

Yeah , I don't want to be . I like to say something that I'm sure about , otherwise , I just but yeah , that's how it works , yeah , yeah . So every person is responsible . There's something beautiful we do we offer them invoicing . So we offer invoicing to both parties . So even if they're like , let's say , a contractor is not ready to make an invoice , now we anyway create an invoice Clients can use . The invoice can be used for insurance , for everything . So really great invoicing .

Speaker 1 32:53

Okay .

Speaker 2 32:54

A lot of businesses actually use CodeAsker because imagine that you need help , let's say , for your office to have cleaning . Or instead of hiring a cleaning company to pay maybe each clean 200 euros you can pay 60 euros in CodeAsker and you get invoicing from us and you can do it with business expense . So that's why it's so great for companies .

Speaker 1 33:16

Okay , great , and I know Amelia does the marketing , but can you tell us , like , how you built a customer base , audience building , got the word out how long , how long have you guys been around ?

Speaker 2 33:31

Since March 2020 . Okay , so a good long time , Okay so fine , yeah , yeah , it's been a long time .

Speaker 1 33:36

So how did you start in those initial days ?

Speaker 2 33:39

So we started first with focus . So we started only in Berlin . Now we are available nationwide 23 of the key cities around Germany , 23 of the key cities around Germany we started in . So there are many ways to reach customers , but you have to do it right so you don't spend the money for nothing . We started in Berlin and , as I told you , we had our community . So we have a big community and this was our first start . So we started campaigns pre-marketing campaigns , pre-launch campaigns , sorry and we did all the marketing . So through Facebook ads , which is meta ads , now Instagram , et cetera , everything . There was no TikTok back then , I think not .

Speaker 2 34:27

We also something very important when we starting , we ourselves hustled really hard to spread the word out . We went to every meetup , every event . We participated in many events where we go bitch . I bitch so many times now I don't even remember how many times I bitched on stage to spread the word about Kotaska , and that's very important because this helped a lot to spread the word . And Kotaska is a platform that when someone use it once they had a good experience , they would recommend it . Because I'll tell you how it happened Because so many now , when someone need help with something . First thing , they do this human instinct to ask their community friends or oh , I need does need . Does someone know blama ? Someone know an electrician ? This is where it comes here . Okay , I used cotasca and I found someone really good and I had good experience and it's built like that . Yeah , that's how it's built , like it's hard to pinpoint where . But I think the starting is very important . So you have to start doing all the events , all the meet , meetups , everything is really important and yeah , that's it .

Speaker 1 35:36

Okay , that's helpful and offering good sorry .

Speaker 2 35:39

I think it's very important is offering high quality customer support .

Speaker 2 35:43

It's very important especially in a marketplace , because issues will happen everywhere . So when you book someone , go to Asker or find their number on the street , it's the same thing it's like . But if we offer extra safety by verifying the identity of the contractor , background check et cetera all this stuff , still issues can happen , Something could damage happen , et cetera . It's part of the process . What matters is that we interact and help a lot , so we offer really great quality customer support . Hopefully , if you use it , I hope you won't have any issue , but if it happens , our team is there for you really fast .

Speaker 1 36:17

Okay .

Speaker 2 36:17

And that's really helpful a lot in such services industry .

Speaker 1 36:22

Okay , but so after that initial push of marketing then does it kind of like we always have to do some marketing , I assume , but then it just kind of word of mouth and good experience and it kind of grows .

Speaker 2 36:36

I mean . So we have multiple ways or channels people come . There is the organic , of course it's really big , but also we always have campaigns running in multiple places . We have also influencers in multiple locations . Influencer marketing now works very well and also we keep posting on social media etc . All helps , but you have to stay constant . I don't think it's ever like okay , we just stop now .

Speaker 1 37:05

We have to keep going . Yeah , wrapping it up . I will ask what . I ask a lot of people , like any lessons learned that you could share with people , or anything you would do differently , or any advice you would give to other people launching businesses starting a new company very , very important

Final Advice for Entrepreneurs

Speaker 1 37:31

.

Speaker 2 37:31

Make sure that you're passionate about this business , not just look for something to make money , because it can get really hard , get really tiring , and if you're not passionate about it , you will lose hope and you will stop and it will be a fail . If you're not passionate , it will be a fail , but if you're passionate about it , you will stay and you will keep trying until it works . Another thing very important you need to know when to stop . So starting a company is not also it shouldn't take all of your life . You should try something , enter fast , do everything fast and either continue or stop fast . You shouldn't just waste all of your life trying to do something that's maybe working , maybe not , you don't know . You shouldn't just waste all of your life trying to do something that's maybe working , maybe not , you don't know . And last but not least , I think when you start a company and it doesn't work , it's never a fail . It's another step to success .

Speaker 2 38:29

Because , in my opinion , failing or being a failure is when you lose hope and stop trying , and that's what I would say always . Also , seek advice from people , because people know like something that's really like . Just learn from people who have been through it . It's really helpful and , yeah , that's it all the best for anyone starting a business all right , tarek , thanks so much for coming on it .

Speaker 1 38:49

It's been fascinating talking with you .

Speaker 2 38:52

Thank you so much . I really enjoyed the conversation . I really appreciate me being here . Thank you so much . Nice to meet you .

Speaker 1 38:59

You too . Thanks for listening . You can find this and all other Germany Expat Business Show podcasts at thegermanylistde Bye .