Episode 2 of 3 in the mini – series (episode 63 of 14 Minutes of SaaS)
In Luxembourg by now - A multiple prize winning doyenne of Retail leaves her prized fashion store and works in an all conuming hard core retail position for Shell managing 6 petrol stations with accompanying mini-supermarket stores. Then leaves to do a masters in entrepreneurship and tech - and uses that as a springboard to apply her new knowledge and great idea to make the traditional world of hiring much more immediate, more local and much faster for companies and people looking for service and casual positions.
Transcript
Polina Montano
I won Golden retailer - like being the best in the country twice. And after that I decided … ‘okay, what else I can do?’ So while I was still running my petrol station business, I just said well … let's just go and find something about learning about technology, because I was very much in the traditional sector of operations … of retail .. and going back to university was so good for me. It really like made a difference in making the world of technology accessible and exciting … really like opening my eyes on opportunities, on how much technology actually allows you to do nowadays. And already practically instantly I was excited about the possibility. How we can leverage such beautiful technology and innovation to improve the day to day lives of people and businesses maybe in traditional industries. And then the idea actually came along pretty fast.
Stephen Cummins
Welcome to 14 minutes of SaaS, the show where you can listen to the stories and opinions of founders of the world's most remarkable SaaS ScaleUps.
In this, the second part of a 3-part mini-series recorded with Polina Montano in the WebSummit in Lisbom, she tells us how she left a very successful career in traditional retail industries to become an almost overnight success in the tech world.
The first notable one was V&J or the Stefanel boutique in Luxembourg? 1. What brought you to Luxembourg? And 2. What was your interest in Luxemburg? Fashion? ..
Polina Montano
Oh, you make it sound so serious. I mean just for record … Let's just remember I was like 24. I wasn’t thinking so deeply. I went to Luxembourg for the best reason ever … I followed my husband who got relocated, for some work .. because he worked in finance .. and I just followed him to the country. I already knew I wanted to do something for myself.
Franchising structures seemed like a great compromise - you can still get the support of existing brands – the brand also gives you like a few procedures - kind of helps you set the business up - in the same time you experience a great degree of freedom in how exactly you run this location - and fashion obviously – young Russian girl 25 years old. I mean a fashion boutique was like a dream coming through … right? Like all of a sudden you have this beautiful shop – beautiful clothes. I mean what more could you possibly want? But guess what… it didn't last too long?
Small Talk ends
Stephen Cummins
Yeah. It lasted less than four years?
Polina Montano
It lasted about two years - after two years of me running this shop, I got an offer from Shell - you know, the core company for gas stations etc back then - show or revisiting their retail management structures. And they decided to offer franchising as a formula and they decided that it would work very well for the group. And they actually at that moment offered me the opportunity - which once again took me way out of my comfort zone. Like I mentioned me being super happy with my little fashion store - like my little baby. It's like a lifestyle business. Starting all over again. Southern you actually go over the contract or finding a chain of selling points which essentially is much more than just selling gas. It's like having this little 24 hours supermarkets next to it. So it was quite an impressive structure - over more than 50 people staff - six locati...
Episode 2 of 3 in the mini – series (episode 63 of 14 Minutes of SaaS)
In Luxembourg by now - A multiple prize winning doyenne of Retail leaves her prized fashion store and works in an all conuming hard core retail position for Shell managing 6 petrol stations with accompanying mini-supermarket stores. Then leaves to do a masters in entrepreneurship and tech - and uses that as a springboard to apply her new knowledge and great idea to make the traditional world of hiring much more immediate, more local and much faster for companies and people looking for service and casual positions.
Transcript
Polina Montano
I won Golden retailer - like being the best in the country twice. And after that I decided … ‘okay, what else I can do?’ So while I was still running my petrol station business, I just said well … let's just go and find something about learning about technology, because I was very much in the traditional sector of operations … of retail .. and going back to university was so good for me. It really like made a difference in making the world of technology accessible and exciting … really like opening my eyes on opportunities, on how much technology actually allows you to do nowadays. And already practically instantly I was excited about the possibility. How we can leverage such beautiful technology and innovation to improve the day to day lives of people and businesses maybe in traditional industries. And then the idea actually came along pretty fast.
Stephen Cummins
Welcome to 14 minutes of SaaS, the show where you can listen to the stories and opinions of founders of the world's most remarkable SaaS ScaleUps.
In this, the second part of a 3-part mini-series recorded with Polina Montano in the WebSummit in Lisbom, she tells us how she left a very successful career in traditional retail industries to become an almost overnight success in the tech world.
The first notable one was V&J or the Stefanel boutique in Luxembourg? 1. What brought you to Luxembourg? And 2. What was your interest in Luxemburg? Fashion? ..
Polina Montano
Oh, you make it sound so serious. I mean just for record … Let's just remember I was like 24. I wasn’t thinking so deeply. I went to Luxembourg for the best reason ever … I followed my husband who got relocated, for some work .. because he worked in finance .. and I just followed him to the country. I already knew I wanted to do something for myself.
Franchising structures seemed like a great compromise - you can still get the support of existing brands – the brand also gives you like a few procedures - kind of helps you set the business up - in the same time you experience a great degree of freedom in how exactly you run this location - and fashion obviously – young Russian girl 25 years old. I mean a fashion boutique was like a dream coming through … right? Like all of a sudden you have this beautiful shop – beautiful clothes. I mean what more could you possibly want? But guess what… it didn't last too long?
Small Talk ends
Stephen Cummins
Yeah. It lasted less than four years?
Polina Montano
It lasted about two years - after two years of me running this shop, I got an offer from Shell - you know, the core company for gas stations etc back then - show or revisiting their retail management structures. And they decided to offer franchising as a formula and they decided that it would work very well for the group. And they actually at that moment offered me the opportunity - which once again took me way out of my comfort zone. Like I mentioned me being super happy with my little fashion store - like my little baby. It's like a lifestyle business. Starting all over again. Southern you actually go over the contract or finding a chain of selling points whic...