{"id":1895,"date":"2020-06-15T10:39:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T09:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/?p=1895"},"modified":"2020-06-15T12:11:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T11:11:01","slug":"team-entrepreneurship-case-study-luke-gandolfi-and-flavr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/team-entrepreneurship-case-study-luke-gandolfi-and-flavr\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Entrepreneurship case study: Luke Gandolfi and FLAVR"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We have spoken to several Team Entrepreneurship students and recent graduates who own start-up businesses about their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. This case study is from Luke Gandolfi, Head of Marketing at FLAVR.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FLAVR<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

FLAVR is a recipe-based, grocery shopping platform, which innovatively combines the benefits of both conventional online supermarket shopping with meal kit companies (for instance, Hello Fresh or Gousto). Thus, providing an efficient, end to end grocery shopping experience where customers benefit from an abundance of choice, flexibility on commitment, the freedom to try new and exciting meals, all while saving you time and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact COVID-19 has had on how I run my business <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Covid-19 has not had a significant impact on the way we run the\nbusiness. For a tech start-up, remote working is familiar. It does not pose\nmany difficulties, especially when compared to the plethora of other challenges\nwe face from the economy as a whole. In any case, the team were predisposed to\nwork in isolation before the presence of Covid-19 (isolation, of course, being\nthe natural habitat for Tech geeks), which allowed for a swift and smooth\ntransition to wholly remote working. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, albeit not strictly regarding the manner in which we run the\ncompany, the most drastic companywide challenge for us came down to team focus;\nand more importantly, where to direct it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have assiduously\nfocused our resources on finding and building solutions that alleviate some of\nthe most frequently experienced issues within our domain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the pandemic has resulted in situations whereby most people\nwant to avoid going to busy supermarkets and waiting in long queues. To address\nthis, we created a concept which we are incredibly proud of \u2013 the \u2018Slot Spotter\u2019<\/a>. The slot spotter allows users to track down online delivery slots\nto place orders online conveniently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another problem which is frequently faced by customers is the annoyance\nwhen products are out of stock. This is compounded when customers are unaware\nbeforehand meaning people have to re-plan their weekly shop or meal plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To address this, we curated product availability-based recipes; recipes\nthat consist only of available products, in real-time, at your chosen store.\nDue to our ability to collect live data on locally available products, we have\nthe means to provide a shopping experience that significantly reduces the\nchances of having to put up with out of stock items!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To assist customers further, we decided to make our services free during\nthis time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I’ve learnt<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The following are a few key learnings that have become apparent to me\nduring this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.    Team alignment has become crucial, even more so\nthan before. In a period when the team cannot meet up face to face and absorb\none another\u2019s energy and excitement the source of motivation must be derived\nelsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.    The benefits of a team routine are not trivial.\nWhen the majority of your time spent is in one area, most likely inside, it is\ninevitable for routine to slip. The transition from mid-week to weekend becomes\nblurred and therefore having a team routine, keeping accountable to one another\nis crucial to maintaining healthy headspace and an attempt at normalcy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.    Another interesting concept I have discovered to\nappreciate more is the importance of body language when communicating\neffectively in face to face situations. The lack of ability to read peoples\nbody language due to reliance on video platforms has become noticeable when\nparticipating in meetings and giving presentations (task\u2019s which primarily rely\non reading the room and adapting to the situation and atmosphere of the people\naround you). Weight has now shifted onto the interpretation of tonality and\nintonations in speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.    It is also interesting how the use of technology\nhas made way for better team democracy. As a start-up company that spans two cities,\nit is often the case that the city with more members becomes the centre of our\necosystem or the \u2018hub\u2019. With the use of technology; being no longer bound by\nany geographical limitations, we have seen an equal split between the two\ncities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How I’m feeling about the future of our business<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Positive, undoubtedly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst this pandemic has caused extensive hardships to families who have\nlost loved ones and to the economy, which may well take years to recover. I do\nbelieve the situation has proved to be a significant test to people\u2019s mindsets,\nand there are definitely positive aspects to come from it. Individuals who have\nand can continue to maintain an optimistic and opportunistic mentality will\nprosper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this moment in time, the government and population are focussed on\nthe considerable changes to the economy, which are unequivocally viewed as\ndisastrous. The detriment to the economy has been noted as much worse than the\nfinancial crisis of 2007\/2008, a period which most people recall as being full of\ndespair and uncertainty and when nothing positive came about as a result. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is not often considered that there is a contrary\nperspective. The crash of 2007\/2008 proceeded into a time that gave birth to\nsome of the most influential and successful companies of this day and age; to\nmention but a handful \u2013 Airbnb, Uber, WhatsApp, Slack, Square and Groupon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunities present themselves, especially in time of crisis. Although\nthese opportunities may be riskier and are often more challenging during a\nperiod of economic downturn and uncertainty, the upside is tenfold. The reality\nis, valuable businesses can succeed and prosper through crises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we ask ourselves fundamentally, what the purpose of business is, I\nwould insist that it is merely finding solutions to problems (as trite as that\nmay be). Therefore, is there ever a more noble time than a crisis to make this\na reality\u2014a time where there are more urgent challenges and demanding problems\nto address. This sense of finding problems to solve is certainly what gets us\nout of bed in the morning; the opportunity to have a more significant impact on\nthe world should we succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visit the website here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have spoken to several Team Entrepreneurship students and recent graduates who own start-up businesses about their experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. This case study is from Luke Gandolfi, Head of Marketing at FLAVR. FLAVR FLAVR is a recipe-based, grocery shopping platform, which innovatively combines the benefits of both conventional online supermarket shopping with meal … Continue reading “Team Entrepreneurship case study: Luke Gandolfi and FLAVR”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,393,4,260,286],"tags":[193],"class_list":["post-1895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bristol-business-school","category-enterprise","category-faculty-of-business-and-law","category-team-entrepreneur","category-uwe-bristol","tag-team-entrepreneurship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1900,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1895\/revisions\/1900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.uwe.ac.uk\/bristol-business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}