It’s time to introduce our best greek co-founders of Weendy, Katerina and Yiannis. Weendy is an app that allows you to find and share the best wind, wave and snow conditions with friends and people nearby with the same interests! Intrigued? Read our (beach fireside) chat with them…
How did you go from being amazing kite surfers to becoming the founders of a silicon valley based and funded startup?
While in Greece, which is an awesome place for watersports (but has a lot of volatile microclimates), we wasted tons of hours driving to the wrong spots, mainly because of failing forecasts. We found that usually a local kiter, lifeguard or even a fisherman could have saved us the trouble by giving us the weather information. However, we couldn’t connect with these people who were witnessing the conditions firsthand. So, weendy was our way of connecting all these guys with the rest of the community in order for everyone to share and get real-time updates.
What is Weendy and what is it for you?
Weendy is Waze for weather – a game changer in the way people learn about current and future weather. It’s totally crowdsourced and our users report current and future conditions in order to let other people with the same interests, know about weather. Actually, we build the first human forecasting map. We created it in order to solve our daily problem, so it’s part of our life, and we are really happy about it.
What makes Weendy special?
Weendy is based on crowdsourcing. People make reports — not machines using math models. Actual kiters like you and me, share the conditions with the rest of the community. Ask yourself: who will you call if you want to know what’s happening at the beach? Essentially, we combine the power of human forecasting and reporting with traditional forecasts so we can provide our community with meaningful weather updates.
What have been the milestone that have brought you where you are now?
Participating in a good accelerator program is something that can boost your startup hundreds of times, as long as you can leverage the network and advise they provide you. This worked great for us and we strongly recommend doing so if you can align with it but also put all your efforts to grow your business during that time and after that! It never stops, and this is something to remember!
Where is Wind blowing for you now and where do you want it to take you?
Actually, Silicon Valley is weendy year round, so we are here to stay 🙂 Here you can find anything you need to run your business : advise, talent and money to grow your business. Soon we will open Weendy in more market verticals and eventually to the broader consumer audience. So stay tuned, A new version is on the way !
Who are the people behind Weendy?
We are two co-founders, me (Katerina) and Yiannis, originally from Greece where the idea was born. But, as Weendy started getting more “Sexy”, we attracted some amazing people that now work for us and we are very proud about it. Evi Tsape is working on the EU community management and operations, Jenna Hannon helps us with user acquisition and community building and Brian Wheeler is our press guru. But, you know, as a startup, everyone wears several “hats” throughout the day !
Do you consider yourself more of a kite surfer or an entrepreneur?
Kite and Entrepreneurship is something that in silicon valley is really hot. Don’t know if you are aware for the MaiTai event? You should. This is an initiative run by one of the most successfull VC’s, Bill Tai, together with Susi Mai, an exceptionally talented athlete and entrepreneur, that brings together investors and entrepreneurs while kiting (see or snow). It’s one of the hottest things in valley right now, and we are still super excited to have participated 🙂 We just came back from Utah MaiTai 2013 one week ago (and Marco, the other kiter of the bunch, was there too!)
Weendy is an example of making your passion or hobby become your job! This is the happiest life you can possibily dream of and the smartest way to have success! Get paid for what you love doing.