July Left, CEO of the startup de collaborative travel Peerade Social and creator of the Facebook app 'Compartir Tren Mesa AVE', tells us about his experience as entrepreneur y mobile app developer.
In this interview, Julio Izquierdo tells us more about his app to share train and about the collaborative economy.
Actualidad eCommerce: How did you come up with the idea of creating the AVE Train Table Share application?
July Left: It arises from the need itself, since when using the AVE every week and looking for the best price, I could not find a solution to my need. I realized that there were no optimal solutions for sharing the AVE table, either because there is no trust in the web, or because it was not well organized on Facebook.
Actualidad eCommerce: How does this tool work?
July Left: There is a Renfe rate that offers discounts of 60% on the base price when buying 4 tickets, called the Mesa Rate. Users have to organize to buy in a group. Our tool facilitates contact with users who have the same need to coordinate the joint purchase of tickets.
Actualidad eCommerce: What difference or additional value does AVE Train Share Table offer compared to other train sharing tools?
July Left: Compared to web tools, 'Share Tren Mesa AVE' offers the guarantee of being able to see the person with whom you are dealing, since the login with Facebook is essential. Likewise the usability and design of the page. And with respect to the group solutions that exist within Facebook, 'Compartir Tren Mesa AVE' better organizes the information of the ads posted by users.
Actualidad eCommerce:What can you tell us about the team at Compartir Tren Mesa AVE?
July Left: We belong to a company called Genexies Mobile SL, which has been in the market for mobile applications and content for 14 years.
Actualidad eCommerce: We tell you something about the financing of the project and how a free tool is financially supported for users in which there are no commissions of any kind
July Left: At the moment it is supported by the contributions of the founding partners.
Actualidad eCommerce: Do you plan to monetize this application in the future? How?
July Left: At the moment it is not defined. It will depend on the final product used by the users, which we are still identifying.
Actualidad eCommerce: The Android app has been a success. When will the iOS app be available?
July Left: In about 2 months, both apps will be available with improved features over the service offered today.
Actualidad eCommerce: Do you have previous experience as an entrepreneur?
July Left: The first one I set up was genexies.com, whose best-known service was Movistar's Yavoy. Then there have been others, but the ones that are active today are compartirtrenmesaave.com and labodaentrelasbodas.com
Actualidad eCommerce: Peerade Social is a collaborative travel startup. Do you have any more ideas in mind?
July Left: We want to work on completing the offer of collaborative trips, but at the moment we are very focused on optimizing the service we offer to train users.
Actualidad eCommerce: What future plans do you have for yourself and for Peerade Social?
July Left: We hope to make it bigger every day and to be able to be a benchmark at the train level as blablacar is at the car level, although we have the territorial limitation and the offer of the same service in other countries.
Actualidad eCommerce: The sharing economy in general and in the travel industry in particular is changing a lot. What is your forecast for the future? Do you think we will find laws to regulate it in the future?
July Left: We think it will continue to grow. On the one hand, those that do not violate them will do so in accordance with current laws and, on the other, they will do so by changing the laws of different countries, those that have no place since it is clear that it is the consumer who demands these services and that the consumption of goods in itself is more efficient.
Actualidad eCommerce: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who want to make their way into the world of application development?
July Left: That they study the market very well, that they validate the idea well before launching it and that, when they have it validated, they start with a minimum viable product from which to start drawing conclusions and adjusting it to the real needs of the users.