Dear all,
people often ask me how Myngle started, where I got the idea and what suggestions I have for aspiring entrepreneurs on how to realize their dream.

As this was my first experience as entrepreneur, I am sure that I made a lot of first-time mistakes. But they all have been useful to bring Myngle where it is now. There is no easy road to success, it’s all about a good idea, combined with hard work and perseverance.
It required me to keep believing in it, especially the first months, since there was nothing tangible yet. But what I can assure is that if you make it through the first initial months, you will find more and more believers in your idea.

Getting the idea
I think the best ideas come from real needs, the entrepreneur being the first potential customer. In fact, if the founder is not interested in using its product, why should others be?
So here I was, looking for good ideas to make the step from a successful managerial career to risking it all by starting my own business. The first thing that came into my mind was China; a booming business with so many opportunities. Not very creative, I must admit, as the whole world was and still is looking at China for opportunities.
I started learning Chinese as a first step towards understanding this far away potential.
I tried some CDs, I tried an overly-crowded school, I tried private tuition, but there was always something missing. I was wondering how could it be, that there were thousands of good teachers in China, and yet, I could not learn it in the right way here in Holland?

Eureka moment
When the idea just arrives it always seems logical, almost too logical. You wonder why you have not thought about this before, why everybody else has not thought about this before…
It was obvious: use the power of internet to bring supply located on the other side of the world to here, where the demand is. And as I was working at eBay at that time, I knew enough about the power of internet to immediately recognize the full potential: an eBay for languages!

First steps
I must say that not many people immediately saw the potential, and the general reaction was disbelief. I didn’t really care, I am pretty stubborn and decided that this was going to be my commitment: bring the plan in my head to life, no matter what.
I started talking to people all over the world, went on a holiday to China and met other entrepreneurs. I shared ideas, got some back, also bad ones. The more I was digging into it, the more obvious the potential became.

Finding the first ‘believers’
When I came back from China, I was ready to start. The idea was good, I strongly believed it, but the only thing I could rely on was my business experience, common sense and a lot of imagination. The first issue was to convince other people to believe in the same dream, and willing to take the risk with me. Few people have the courage to jump when it is not much more then an idea, attractive but risky. Some people did come and go, all scared by the size of the project and the high initial uncertainty. In the initial months, my family and especially boyfriend were the only one behind it. I saw it as a mountain far away I had to learn how to climb.
As a BCG (Boston Consulting Group) alumna, I went to a European BCG reunion for ICT experts, looking to find great minds that could challenge my concept. I met Renaud Amiel, a BCG partner, and discussed lengthy with him about my idea. He challenged me in my thinking, but at the same time he reinforced my belief that I was on the right track. Later on, he became one of Myngle’s main investors. 🙂

First partners on board
End 2006 I found the first partner who was willing to help, a few hours per week on the side. Valter, another INSEAD MBA alumnus like me, senior manager and experienced with China, living in Hong Kong, had answered one of my initial surveys and was excited by the idea. And before the change of the year, Valter found someone far away in Brazil: wiz kid Danilo took the dive and joined. Danilo knew incredibly much about education from his experience at Berlitz, but also about technology from his passion over the internet. His double cum laude degree in psychology and sociology made the right ingredient to understand a market that was just developing in a new way.
Over the next months we communicated through Skype, which proved to be quite successful. If it was possible to communicate intercontinental through Skype, then people could also learn languages without being in the same room.

The name & logo
We had a concept, but still no name for it. There were a few options, but nothing concrete. Finding the right name, the logo, the whole concept took time; writing the plan, preparing for fundraising… it all required time, as I wanted to get it right from the start.
The name went through a few trials. Danilo, Valter and me had brainstorm over brainstorm, but couldn’t find what we were looking for, something beyond the obvious ones containing words as languages, tutors, teaching, education. The name had to be special and different, communicating more then just learning. One evening I decided to try another way, looked in the names’ aftermarket, just to find out the first name offered and expiring within 5 minutes was the one I have always been looking for, without knowing it yet: Myngle! Then came the logo and our mascot. How many trials my boyfriend did before finding the right idea! Both had to be simple, yet standing out. The logo signifies a teacher (the Y) with open arms welcoming 2 students (the M). The parrot had to represent the capacity to learn to communicate and speak any language, but had to be very simple.
The personality of Myngle was born!

Quitting my job at eBay
I remember a potential investor telling me, after I presented my plan: “You need to take the plunge. If you do not believe in it enough to risk it all, how can you expect others to believe in it?” He was right, as from that moment, everything started falling in its place and Myngle moved to become reality, very close by. It was time to stop making plan and deliver a real product. April 2007 I quit my job and plunged into my own dream. Quite scary at first considering what you can loose. It’s the dream of what you can win that overcomes that same fear. Growing self confidence really accelerated things, I risked it all, realised it, and became even more focussed.

Building the website
To put the whole story in the right timeline: we were already working for more than one year on the plan by now, but finally we saw it was time to move to the final execution: the website.
I wrote an extensive briefing, not having done it ever before, looked for some freelance tech support with costs in mind, and found an interaction designer in Belgium, a graphical designer in the USA and an offshore programming party in China.
Slowly everything started taking shape. You cannot imagine the excitement of seeing the website coming to life, with a lot of try & error to get it right.

Operating the start-up
A few months later, also Egbert joined as a partner, a former colleague from eBay which I knew well as we have been working together for 2 years while I was his manager at eBay. He knew a lot about internet and communities and had a lot of contacts in Holland, was immediately excited about Myngle as he saw the opportunity through eBay lenses as well. He was the first to be located in the same place, so that we could finally work closely together to set-up next stage of the company, dealing with the daily issues of managing a real business.

More people on board
Shortly after that, the first official employee started: Andres, our CTO and second Dutch in the team, took the place of the freelancers to bring site to launch. Andres shared the same passion as if Myngle was his own; his first contact with Myngle was at our first temporary office, followed by many meetings in cafés as in the good tradition of a start-up with limited financial resources.
In the meanwhile, more passionate Mynglers reached us, all brought to the first contact by a sort of strange coincidence. First Tetyana, another INSEAD alumna from Ukraine who shared the same dream. We met in Paris and the connection was immediate, she had a rare mix of wit and creativity, thinker and do-er. Tetyana worked a few months on the side before officially joining Myngle in February 2008.
Elisa followed end 2007, brought to Myngle by a common friend. She was a real language passionate, mastering already more languages then any of us, extravert as an Italian can be. After a coffee in a bar, I knew she was a real Myngler and had to be with us.

Finally we were a real team of great passionate Mynglers.

Mid December 2007 we launched the beta site.
Early 2008 we got the first round financing, then a real office, the first intern…

The rest you know…

At the end everything went as I had hoped. And more, as I had never imagined that I would also find such warmth and passion in the community. I sometimes receive mails from our users that really touch my heart. Then I know what am I doing it for, what all the long working days, and rollercoaster and pushing the limits are for.

Thank you all for believing in Myngle. This is just the first step, I can assure you.
Many more to come….

Marina

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 11:45 am and is filed under Myngle News. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.