The easy transition to smartworking of Young Platform as a dynamic and technologic startup
At Young, we have been smart-working for a couple of weeks now, as many have, and we want to bring our experience from the perspective of CEO Andrea Ferrero. So we asked him some questions.
I: Hi Andrea, let’s start from a practical point of view: how we made the transition?
Andrea: The main platform we have introduced for smart working is Discord. It’s a program that allows you to create different “rooms” where you can speak as if on a call, so it’s a bit like a real office.
We also decided to organize weekly meetings via Google Meet, where everyone presents a topic they specialized in and that can also be useful to the rest of the team. This period of stall allows us to invest time in personal education with such events, which are also opportunities to bring the team together in one place, even if it is virtual.
I: Young Platform is a startup, is this an advantage or a disadvantage during this period?
Andrea: As a startup, it was quite easy to switch to smart-working, by definition we face daily changes of all kinds and we are always ready to adapt. We were already using many digital tools for work-flow management and communication.
I: In what other aspects did Young Platform have to adapt to face the new conditions?
Andrea: These weeks are a further incentive to reinvent ourselves and to exploit our products and resources in new ways. One example is Step: an app that revolves around people who walk, run, stroll, and that stimulates them to do so as much as possible. In these conditions, our task must no longer be to stimulate people to get out and walk. That’s why we have focused on our other lever, Education.
The Education section of Step actually wants to be an educational portal for cryptocurrencies. A section that will grow more and more, with or without viruses.
I: So what was the solution found for Step?
Andrea: Also to encourage the use of the material we provide, we have introduced the quiz format, rewarding (with YNG) the effort to learn instead of walking.
It is nice, by the way, to see how e-learning is spreading on the internet: famous musicians teaching music for free and all kinds of teachers providing their knowledge and methods. We do the same thing, except that we were already doing it before.
I: How have the relationships between the people around Young Platform changed? Employees, investors and the team itself…
Andrea: As far as the communication with our investors is concerned, this is another element that we have converted to digital. Our work doesn’t stop, which is why correspondence with our stakeholders doesn’t have to stop either.
The first thing we have to pay attention to every day, however, is the team, made up of people who must be protected, who must remain close together despite the fact that the days are no longer the same, despite the fact that the meetings are through everyone’s screens. We are very lucky to be friends and to have known each other for a long time. We don’t feel that gap due to distance, instead, we keep joking and supporting each other. We work in constant communication on Discord. This allows us to recreate the same office atmosphere while maintaining the same productivity and focus.
I: As we’re sure everyone needs them, any positive thoughts on the situation in the industry?
Andrea: As a technology enthusiast and a fervent supporter of digitalisation, for obvious reasons, I am very happy with the digital education that this terrible phenomenon is making practically compulsory. It is certainly a challenge for many, but I am sure we will all benefit in the long run and many will discover new worlds, perhaps even our own world, that of cryptocurrency.
