“Starting a business is a marathon, not a sprint. Working at a start-up is not like having a normal job, it’s a rollercoaster experience that will challenge you every day and you need to deal with the ups and downs.” – Ana Andres

Founder@ Interview

Interview with Ana Andres

“Starting a business is a marathon, not a sprint. I think if you are starting out, then you need to accept that you are going to make many mistakes and learn lots of things and what separates people is the drive to work hard, and the willingness to learn. Working at a start-up is not like having a normal job, it’s a rollercoaster experience that will challenge you every day and you need to deal with the ups and downs..” – Ana Andres

Today we feature Ana Andres, the founder at TidyChoice. We hear their story in their own words, their successes, their challenges and their insights.

Let’s start by getting to know you. Can you please tell us a little bit about you and what you do?
I grew up in Spain. I am an engineer at heart. As a little girl, I was always curious about how things work and often dismantled my own toys. I also liked building structures with Lego.

After an engineering degree, I obtained a Ph.D. in Telecommunications Engineering. I travelled and worked in France and the US in tech research and product development before moving to London 10 years ago to work in technology consulting. Then, I founded my tech start-up, TidyChoice.

A great introduction and start to this interview. Can you please tell us, how did you start, from what age, and what made you decide to change direction and start?

I started the company because I needed to find a reliable cleaner quickly and could not find one. I decided to leverage my background in technology to create an easy way to find reliable cleaning professionals online. Domestic cleaning is a very fragmented, traditional sector with obsolete practices, so I was excited by the commercial opportunity as well.

Thank you for that insight. So can you tell us…What does your business do and where is your company based?

TidyChoice is an online marketplace for domestic cleaning and housekeeping services in London, Birmingham and Bristol. We launched in London six years ago and have been growing steadily ever since.
One of our key differentiators is that we allow customers to browse, choose and book vetted cleaners directly online in real time. Our technology handles all admin tasks, payments and scheduling so it is a seamless service for users.

What’s the story behind your success? What led to your aha moment? how did you get to where you are now?

I tried hiring cleaners through new online agencies and it was a disaster in terms of reliability, quality of work and user experience. After having difficulties hiring a reliable cleaner, I applied my technical skills to create an innovative solution. Entrepreneurship starts with solving customer problems and meeting their biggest needs.

I teamed up with a business partner who has commercial and financial skills that balance out my technical background. Like me, he has lots of resilience, patience and tenacity which helped get the business launched.

Thank you for sharing that. What’s been your life’s biggest lesson so far?

Last year was a challenging period for us. Our activity levels fell by around 80% following the first lockdown and I also managed to catch covid twice! Cutting staff costs was the most difficult aspect.

We learned the importance of community and communications. We created tools for customers to put booking on hold and make contributions to their housekeepers when they could not work. We found the generosity of customers and sense of community inspiring.

Our most important lesson during the pandemic was communicating clearly and often with customers. We did not always do this well. After the first lockdown, we scrutinized the government guidance carefully and correctly concluded that housekeepers could continue to work. However, our messaging was not good and we received negative feedback from some customers. We had to clarify our message.

Having a good value proposition for both customers and professionals will help your business stand out. However, you will need to spread awareness and make it easy for users to find you. I wish that I had known more about marketing when we launched and had a better marketing plan.

If you were to go back in time, what piece of advice would you give to your younger self?

The advice I would have given my younger self is to take more risks. If you always play it safe you will always stay in your status quo. I have always challenged myself to try new things but not always taken enough risks. If you think that you cannot do it alone, find a partner. It will also make the journey more fun.

There have definitely been times when I have doubted whether I am taking the right path. Having a supportive husband and a business partner is helpful in negotiating the emotional roller-coaster of a start-up.

We’re nearly halfway through our interview so it’s a great time to ask how does your business run. What three tools make your business run better?

Our company runs fully on decentralised cloud tech. We use Stripe to process our payments, Insightly to support our operations and Twilio and Aircall to manage our communications.

Without tech, TidyChoice would not exist. We are able to run our business super efficiently so we can offer services to professionals and customers at very competitive and fair prices.

What do you know now that you wished you had known before?

Having a good value proposition for both customers and professionals will help your business stand out. However, you will need to spread awareness and make it easy for users to find you. I wish that I had known more about marketing when we launched and had a better marketing plan.

What has been your greatest or proudest achievement or moment?

We have hundreds of cleaners earning fair rates and thousands of bookings. We have the highest retention rates in our sector which is the key driver of our success. I am proud that we have so many of our earliest bookings are still running.

What future life goals do you want to achieve and why?

I would like to continue growing personally and professionally. From a business perspective, I would like to look outward to other European cities within the next few years and help more customers find trusted, reliable cleaners.

To finish our inspire questions…”We believe that sharing inspiring words can inspire others.” If there was one positive thing you would say to someone to inspire and empower them what would it be and why?

Starting a business is a marathon, not a sprint. I think if you are starting out, then you need to accept that you are going to make many mistakes and learn lots of things and what separates people is the drive to work hard, and the willingness to learn. Working at a start-up is not like having a normal job, it’s a rollercoaster experience that will challenge you every day and you need to deal with the ups and downs.

“Thank you it has been great learning more about your founder story and TidyChoice”

To learn more about TidyChoice Visit https://www.tidychoice.com

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