At the moment we were arranging the details of this interview, Nikos Drandakis sent me via mail a link that led to a platform through which I could see all the days and times he was available and choose the one that best suited my own schedule, so that the zoom call would be scheduled automatically.
I must admit that in all these years I have never seen anything similar in Greece, let alone for someone to book a meeting with the CEO of a company. Of course, when it comes to the man behind one of the biggest success stories of the Greek innovation ecosystem, that of Taxibeat (now Free Now), this perhaps should not come as such a surprise.
Mr. Drandakis, therefore, recently announced his return to the business world and the platform mentioned above is the Sync, his new startup. Checking users' availability is only one of its features, however, as its main activity is car rentals, with the idea operating like Airbnb, but for vehicles.
What prompted Nikos Drandakis to return to the world of entrepreneurship
Speaking to Euro2day.gr about his return, Mr. Drandakis pointed out that “The main thing was that I wanted to do something new, because I don't like sitting still. I still have many productive years ahead of me. I wanted to make a new effort, but I don't like doing something else. I have been asked to become an investor, to participate in funds, but it is a job that does not suit me. Many people like me, when they sell their company, then turn to the investment side, but that does not express me much. I am a born entrepreneur, so I wanted to do something new”.
“But that is one thing,” notes the well-known Greek entrepreneur. “Then there is the issue of finding the right trigger, the right idea”, he adds.
“I had found an idea earlier which I started. But it had not gone well. I ‘killed’ it relatively quickly because it was not going very well,” Mr. Drandakis said regarding Flyway, the startup he created after the sale of Taxibeat.
“In the end this idea came up, which I like and which suits me as well because it has many similarities with Taxibeat and so I feel greater confidence in moving it forward”, he added.
The problems of the car rental sector
Nikos Drandakis' vision when he founded Taxibeat was to fix the problems of the taxi sector in Greece. Asked whether there are pathologies in the car rental sector, he replied: “We believe that the sector has a pathology that is not only related to Greece but is global.
The pathology lies in the fact that there is a very great need in volume. That is, there is a large number of people who need a car to get around, whether they are tourists or the residents of a city themselves. All this volume of cars is currently bought by rental companies, which renew their fleets regularly.
On the other hand, we have a very large fleet of cars, which sits idle for a long time. This fleet comes either from private individuals or from small rental offices, which however do not have very large disbursements in the market”.
“The benefit in what we do has to do with utilization. That is, making use of something that exists and sits idle, for a need that society has. So one result we will have first of all is that if we manage to transfer a large part of the volume of demand for car rentals to these cars that already exist in the city and sit idle, this means that rental companies will buy fewer cars and thus we will have fewer cars overall in our cities.
This is an indirect result that arises by utilizing part of the fleet. After all, we saw it with Airbnb too. Instead of building new houses for the increased demand, we make use of the existing homes that people have and do not need,” commented the founder of Sync regarding what differentiates the app from traditional car rental offices.
“Our goal is to transfer part of the revenue generated by providing this service from the large multinationals of the sector to thousands of small, local Greek entrepreneurs. Something that brings benefit both to the Greek economy and to the households of these people, provided they have cars they can make available,” Mr. Drandakis said regarding the added value that his new business venture can bring.
The professional opportunities offered by Sync
At the same time, the founder of Sync noted that business benefits can also arise through his new platform, saying that “there are people who would like to create a business of their own but do not have the capital, the knowledge, or the access to the market to do so. In our application, they can do it starting with 1-2 cars they may have.
That is, with a small fleet that is not so difficult for someone to buy, certainly not as difficult as buying a house to put on Airbnb. Little by little these people can start their own business activity, which will function as a professional outlet for them. So, if thousands of people do this, they will essentially take part of the sector's revenues from the large multinationals that dominate today because they have all the means required”.
“So I want to give all these means to thousands of people, whether entrepreneurs or private individuals, so that they can create income for their family and at the same time I believe they will be able to provide a service much better than the multinationals, because we are creating a platform that is truly very technologically advanced and will come to offer a better experience to the renter than what the big companies offer today,” he stressed.
Would Greeks easily give their car?
However, when asked whether the mentality still prevails that Greeks do not easily lend their car, Mr. Drandakis commented that “this is not a Greek phenomenon. Everywhere in the world people are somewhat attached to their car. The same happens with their home.
Nevertheless, putting all people in the same box is wrong. There are people who say ‘no one touches my car or my house,’ but there are also those who, if they use them once or twice a month, have the perception to see them as an asset and not like their wife or husband, whom no one touches”.
“I mainly address these people, who are quite a few. We see it because we have a large supply of cars at the moment,” he underlines and continues: “That is, they see that the car is not an emotional element but an asset in which they have invested. And since they do not utilize it enough, it is much more useful either to sell it or to make use of it during the time it sits idle”.
“When these providers begin to generate an income for themselves, as has happened abroad as well, then the people around them may also begin to change mentality and see the car as an asset that sits idle,” Mr. Drandakis explains.
Another option, according to the founder of Sync, is for them to keep their personal car and invest their personal capital or take a small loan to buy a second car, so that they can rent it out.
“There is a wide range of people and ways of thinking about under what logic they will start a business activity. It is not that everyone wants to give their car or that no one wants to give it. There are scales and then this is reshaped and evolves”, the well-known entrepreneur added.
How the platform works
Regarding how the application works, Mr. Drandakis said that his company is creating a system that it wants to operate autonomously, without requiring human intervention. “That is, someone should be able to upload their car easily, by giving us its basic details and then through the platform see what they can do with this car”, he explained.
According to the founder of Sync, the platform autonomously provides advisory services to providers, based on which they can see what prices to set for their car. Also, they can set the hours and days when their vehicle will be available for delivery.
“There are many options, it is a very easy environment for the average user, so that they can do everything on their own. And in the end have their car ready for rental, without needing to talk to people or sign papers. We have help pages, but in general we are setting up a system so that people can operate on their own without help,” he adds.
At the same time, as Mr. Drandakis mentions, using the platform is equally easy for renters. At the first stage they can search for the area and the days they need a car, while the booking and payment process is digital and fast.
What makes the difference, however, according to him, is the fact that they can pick up their car very quickly, that is, at most within one hour it can be available. Also, they do not need to go to the company's offices to pick up their car, as the company has a large network of people throughout the city.
They can find it at a location very close to them, even at their door. “In our case, you can find the car at the next corner”, Mr. Drandakis says characteristically.
“We give providers the tools to declare in which areas they themselves can deliver the car, that is, bring it to your door,” says the founder of Sync.
Also, renters can take photos of the car and upload them to the platform, so that they have proof of the condition the vehicle was in when they received it.
“It is a very different experience compared to traditional offices, where you have to go yourself to pick up the car,” the well-known entrepreneur emphasizes.
How the new startup was funded
Regarding Sync's funding, Mr. Drandakis says that it is funded for the most part by his own capital, while the investors from his previous company, Flyway, are also with him.
His goal, however, as he says, is that if Greece works well as a pilot over the next one or two years, then to raise a larger investment round in order to be able to expand abroad.
Some possible markets are those of Southern Europe and Latin America, as their social characteristics fit Sync's model. “There are many people who need career opportunities through such schemes,” said the founder of the company.
Goals for the future
Regarding the Greek market, Mr. Drandakis' goal is for the cars on Sync's platform to reach as many as 5,000 by the end of the year. “In general I believe that we can reach a 10% share in the Greek market in the next very few years, that is, at the stage when we will be ready to start the expansion as well”, he says.
As for the platform's broader expansion, according to him, it will be “into new activities around mobility and on the other hand geographically”.
Asked what lesson he has learned from his course so far on the entrepreneurial scene and will take into account on his new “journey” with Sync, Mr. Drandakis answers:
“You need to be as strict as possible about which people you choose to work with. In previous years, during the period when this whole startup ecosystem began to grow, there was a madness where every startup rushed to prove that it was growing and doing well, simply by mentioning the number of employees it was hiring.
In hindsight I think that this could even be considered a recipe for disaster for a company. The main lesson is that at this stage I will be much slower in collaborating with people, even if this results in the company growing more slowly. I believe that a few very strong partners can bring much stronger growth than many mediocre ones.
The most important lesson has to do with how serious you are about investigating and selecting the best talents”.
Finally, regarding whether there will be hires in the immediate future, the founder of Sync states: “I do not have a hiring plan. First of all, hiring plans depend on how much the company is growing. The market ultimately determines how many you want to hire, depending on how much it adopts your product.
In general, however, with the technologies we have now and with the use of Artificial Intelligence, staffing needs are much lower than they were 10 years ago. At the moment I have a team of 8 people. In general I do not make hiring plans except to the extent required by the market”.