Martin Villig from Taxify will talk about "Challenges when expanding multi-platform Taxify mobile apps to multiple countries". Nowdays many "real life" processes move to mobile apps. Taxify is mobile app allowing easy & fast taxi ordering compared to calling taxi dispatchers. Taxify currently operates in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania and four other countries. What have been the challenges when developing multi-platform mobile apps and same time launching services in multiple countries. Martin Villig is a co-founder of Taxify, leading taxi booking application in Northern-Europe, with over 250`000 users in eight countries. Martin is also helping actively Estonian and Baltic startup community, being co-founder of Estonian Startup Leaders Club and Garage48 Foundation.

1. International expansion with multi-
platform mobile apps
Martin Villig

2. Topics
● Short Bio of Martin
● What is Taxify and what are we building?
● Taxify clients & platforms
● Development process & Releases
● Mobile apps - Clients & Drivers
● Challenges for international growth
● Q & A

3. Martin Villig
● Entrepreneur, 15 years in IT/Startups
● Education: Estonian Business School
● Started 1st Co during university
● Worked at Tallinn Stock Exchange,
Skype, Fortumo, ...
● Co-Founder: SLC, Garage48.org, HUB
● Co-Founder & Expansion Mngr of Taxify
● http://twitter.com/waldec

4. 2-click taxi booking + in-app payments

5. Why Taxify?
● Easy & Fast – closest taxis by price, rating, car
● Taxi arriving – visible on map
● In-app payments – really easy and convenient

6. Marketplace with Drivers & Clients
Offline business

7. Initial product launch was failure
● Funding: Enterprise Estonia vs family (FFF)
● Freelance developer: prototype 3 month
o Used Cordova 2.7, bad product
● Street sales to pessimistic drivers
● Early adopter customers, bugs
● Oliver joined as Developer – Sept ‘13
o New product re-write within 1 month
● Good growth since October ’13, Native Apps
● Today: Node.js, PHP, MySQL, Android/iOS

8. 20x growth during 2014
150 000 Rides/Mo
Cities growing 15% monthly
Leader in Baltics
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland
30+ employees
in 8 countries
Micro round
Funding €1.45M
Rubylight, TMT, adCash, Angels

9. Baltics covered,
expansion in
Europe

10. Our customers
Cloud systems,
connecting
people
Taxi
Users
Taxi Drivers
Taxi company
manager Taxify region
admins
Dispatchers

11. Taxify systems
Android
Client
Android
Driver App
iPhone
Client
iPhone
Driver App
Cloud & backend
systems
Dispatcher
Dashboard
VOIP
integrations
PBX systems
Back-office
systems
Taxi company
Dashboard
Windows
Phone
client
Web app
for clients
Corporate
Dashboard

12. Daily action on real-time maps
● Black/Yellow:
Free Taxi
● White/Yellow:
Client’s location
● Red: Driving to
or/with client
● Purple: Busy Taxi

13. ● Ideas: research, planning & prioritization
● Development: UX, servers + all apps, testing
● Internal Testing: multiple devices, configurations
● External Testing: beta testers, devices, locations
● Publish & Upgrade: gradual rollout, step by step
● Info & PR: user guides, active feedback, PR
Feature Development Process

14. Countries
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Georgia
Finland
...
Testing & Backward Compatibility
Android Client
● Latest
● Latest -1
● Latest -n
● Outdated
iPhone Client
● Latest
● Latest -1
● Latest -n
● Outdated
Server backend
+ databases
WinPhone client
● Latest (Web)
● Outdated
Driver Android
● Latest
● Latest -1
● Latest -n
● Outdated
iPhone Driver
● Latest
● Latest -1
● Latest -n
● Outdated

15. ● UX is #1 priority
● 2 platforms
● Design iterations,
long process before
perfect
● Changing of core
functions (car choice)
● As simple as possible
Client Apps: Android, iOS, Windows, Web

16. Testing multi-platform apps
● Releasing to hundreds of thousands of
live users is risky
● Android vs iOS vs Windows Phone
● Internal Alpha testing, Devices
● Beta testing, Devices & Locations
● Gradual rollout

17. Driver app: used 10h per day
● Daily usage
patterns
● E-mail
● Localization
● Simplicity
● Notifications
● Business
Critial App
● Learning
curve
● Beta drivers

18. Learnings from our Expansion
● Choose markets wisely, wrong market
o Lost investments, opportunity cost and time!
● Local team is key for success
o 4-step hiring process, including practical tasks
● Strong 1st mover advantage
● Product market-fit? Local vs global needs?
● Clear goals & team communication
● Local francises: tricky to get working

19. Thanks! Questions?
● Write martin@taxify.eu
● Follow twitter.com/waldec
● Download @ taxify.lv
● Follow: facebook.com/taxifyapp
● Order taxi: Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania,
Belarus, Georgia and Netherlands ...
● Rate drivers after your ride!