003: 10 Questions To Alex Potor, Cofounder of ExpoTor

Name: Alex Potor

CompanyExpoTor

Role: Co-Founder

Favorite Quote: “Willing to eat the sand when needed to make the play.”

Favorite Book: Venture Deals by Feld & Mendelson

Alex Potor, used to be a teacher in an elementary school after completing an MBA. She is experienced in the gaming, pharmaceutical, chemical, and retail business. She has been working in the expo industry since 2015. Now she is a co-founder of ExpoTor.com, and connecting the expo world. ExpoTor.com is the exposure connector, connecting the expo world and businesses with those who are offering services before, during, and after a trade show.

Here are the 10 questions and her answers:

1. Why did you choose business?

Often, the exhibitors are looking for the best quality at the best price for services provided by companies / freelancers or students working as interpreters, florists, models, designers, bartenders but also PR experts, bloggers, distributors, brand amassadors, sales agents, booth building companies, photographers, etc.. They can post what they need or offer, as well as posting articles about their expo services and own products. We do the work by connecting the supply with the demand and generating them the needed results. For a few years, I had an event agency organizing exhibiting booths at international trade fairs. It means we had German exhibitors in China or Italians in France, Argentinians in the US, etc.. I had to put together the best solution for an all-in package including logistics, printing, catering, PR and often contracted event staffing. I do prefer to keep the supply chain short and work directly with small companies and freelancers but those are not easy to find. Try to find online a German-Chinese interpreter. How long do you need? And the second question is how do you know if their services are qualitative enough? The same issues had the exhibitors or visitors I was talking to. So, I decided to create this open expo platform helping them find each other faster.

2. What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?

I was never sitting around thinking about coming up with a business idea. This platform need came up during I owed an event agency and exhibiting companies, as well as event vendors and freelancers, were struggling to deal with finding new clients – so, we built it to facilitate it this matching.

3. How did you get started in current business/startup?

After a lot of interviews with my clients from my previous business, we got the main features fixed and implemented, and now following with the new ones by end of the year.

4. What do you wish you knew before you started your first business?

I wish I were a developer myself. My advice to any founder out there is, never start a tech company before not knowing the basics yourselves.

5. How do you market your business? How are people aware of your business?

We are attending a lot of trade shows and already have a great network of partners. We are very thankful as without them we could not have been where we are now.

6. What is the strangest marketing experiment you ever did?

We tried some guerrilla marketing with some stickers – it was fun but not enough. Now looking to implement new experiments.

7. Why do your customers select you over your competitors?

They can only use. The features are diverse and they can easily get leads in the expo space.

8. How do you motivate yourself?

This work is my lifestyle – my home are the trade shows. I do not need motivation. As we are not a local business, it is more difficult to me to focus than to motivate myself.

9. What was the best piece of advice you ever got? The worst?

The Best: “Co-found only with the person you trust 100%.”
The Worst: “-“

10. What’s your best team management tips?

Being direct and encouraging the creativity always worked. I provide the basics and let our team flourish by developing a product our members and customers love.

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