Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do at FreewayCamper? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: Our founding trio consists of Julia Blum (37), Max Wagner (36) and me (35) – we know each other from our business studies at LMU Munich and have been in contact more or less regularly since then.
Before founding FreewayCamper, Julia gained 10 years of experience in e-commerce and product management, including building an online shop for an organic supermarket. Max has spent the past few years working on customer data and customer centricity, helping to establish a consulting firm specializing in this area. Before FreewayCamper, I worked for over 6 years at Flixbus and in the first three years I was responsible for the entire operations department and for the last three years I was responsible for the Eastern European business.
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: During our camping holiday last year, we noticed that the camping market hasn't changed much compared to 10-15 years ago - planning and booking trips on a laptop or smartphone is still barely possible compared to other forms of travel in the camping sector, and this is exactly where we saw the opportunity for our own company.
FreewayCamper takes an integrated approach
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: www.freeway-camper.com pursues an integrated approach – we want to represent the entire camping experience on our platform and make it as easy as possible for customers to find the right solution for their individual needs and book in just a few clicks. Currently, I'm familiar with rather isolated solutions, or many are still scattered across various information sources and often not yet accessible in the digital environment.
Munich Startup: Has there ever been a point where you almost failed?
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: We had finished the website and procured our campers for our first stop in Munich in March, just in time for the Easter season, and had already brought our first team members on board. Then the lockdown came. I calculated the zero-case scenario, and we would have survived the year even with minimal sales – but of course, that wouldn't have been fun.
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, where in five years?
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: For the coming season, we will open new stations and make the first campsites bookable. In 5 years, www.freeway-camper.com To be the leading global platform in the camping sector – that is a clear goal.
“We will build our teams independently of cities and countries”
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: The development of the startup scene in Munich speaks volumes – it's a very attractive location. However, even before the coronavirus pandemic, we were pursuing a location-independent strategy. We will build our teams independently of cities and countries, thus creating a kind of "virtual company." We are therefore not guided by national borders, but rather by where we find the best talent, and will build virtually connected teams on this basis. For example, we already have a strong team in Zagreb.
Munich Startup: Bicycle or e-scooter?
Nikolai Voitiouk-Blum, FreewayCamper: I've been cycling continuously since 2000. I've also installed and tried out some e-scooter apps in a pinch.
