I have recently been interviewed with the double objective of finding out about the expansion of Just-Eat into Italy and to pick my brain about the ‘brain-drain’ in my homecountry.

• Potete leggere l’intervista in Italiano qui: LINK TO INTERVIEW IN ITALIAN
• Or you can read it translated by Google in English here: LINK TO GOOGLE TRANSLATED INTERVIEW IN ENGLISH

NB: the google translation really is not 100% accurate!

I was very interested in the angle this interview took and unfortunately we did not have time to explore the subject of the brain-drain in enough depth. Hopefully there will be another opportunity soon!

For the moment I am particularly happy to have a seat on the board of Just-Eat Italy and finally being able to work in Italy after a few years abroad.

PS:Special thanks to Gianluca Torti for the interview!

Welcome to my world! Fortunately all of that changed for me when I started using  TripIt – by far my favourite iPhone application (though the same exists for Android and as a mobile site).

The way it works is very easy – every time you book a flight online you get an email confirmation: just forward that to plans@tripit.com and it will automatically recognize your email address and summarize your travel details for you. It will record everything from the passenger names, flight code, check-in time etc…
You can do exactly the same with hotels or certain trains. Unless you have a specific need to print out the email confirmation – you can just forget about it and bring your mobile device with you…all the information you need will appear in your TripIt profile (or App).

I can’t recommend this application enough – whether the basic version or the Pro version are really useful. If you are a frequent traveller it’ll save you a ton of time!

This really sounds like an advert – however it’s a completely spontaneous recommendation: my colleague showed this to me and I have used it ever since, it’s such a useful app that they deserve the free mention!

With Clickeat.it we now have a great platform to start our Italian operations: Antonino Guarnaccia & Ivan Molella (the founders of Clickeat) have done a fantastic job during the first years of activity educating the Italian market about the online ordering opportunity, building a solid B2C and B2B base that we are now ready to take to the next level.

I am currently a member of the Italian board and I am particularly happy about launching into my homecountry after launching Just-Eat into so many different markets abroad. Southern Europe is ready for this opportunity and at Just-Eat we are very happy to be playing a part – first with our Spanish Launch (late 2010) and now with the Italian launch & Clickeat’s acquisition. On the other hand the Italian food delivery market – together with the already vibrant e-commerce market – has been growing very fast during the last couple of years in Italy. We are excited and expect great results!

Italia – stiamo arrivando!!!

Just-Eat is a very successful concept, it has been around for 11 years, mostly with presence in Denmark. During the last couple of years we have however expanded internationally very fast, going from 3 countries at the beginning of 2009 to the current 11 countries.

One of the most important parts of our company culture is ‘fun’, we work hard but we work with people we like whose company we enjoy. Ultimately we believe that our success is heavily influenced by the good relationships we have created within the company locally as well as internationally. Our functional groups (marketing, operations and sales) always try to stimulate interaction between countries and everyone in the company regularly speaks with colleagues from different geographies. International collaboration makes us very strong and it is always refreshing to meet our colleagues from all around the JE world. That is why every year we all meet to spend a couple of days together and reinforce these relationships. Last year we were approximately 130 people, this year we have more than doubled in size. Have a  look at this picture to see the whole crew!

As Group Operations Director I have personally led the launch of 8 Just-Eat countries so I have had the privilege of meeting a large chunk of Just-Eat’ers around the world but even I was impressed last Saturday when I walked into the huge hall we all met at for lunch and saw how the company had grown…wow, what a fantastic experience being part of this company!

The best part however is not the growth – it is seeing so many people genuinely enjoying each other’s company knowing that on Monday everyone will go back to work with a big smile on their face and completely re-energized, willing to give 150% in typical Just-Eat style. The fact that this company is made by great people who are able to work together so efficiently as well creating such a positive environment is a clear sign of why Just-Eat is a success.

It was really great meeting colleagues from all our countries and I can’t wait for next year’s meeting

The plan for the future is the following:

• This website will most likely get a major upgrade / layout change
• I will turn it into my personal & professional blog
• Music will still be a major part of it although I’ll probably blog more than post my own music
• I will probably talk about business and e-commerce quite a bit which is my main occupation these days!
• Overall it will become much more personal & professional than the current music site.

Now for the big question everyone is asking me! “Are you still making music? DJing?”

Short answer: “Yes, I am”

Long answer: “Things have been going quite slowly on the music side of things during the last year. As you probably know I had to stop producing my radio show and I haven’t released any new tracks in a while. This does not mean I have stopped completely! I still really enjoy producing music and DJing but I simply don’t have as much time anymore”.

Subtraxx used to be a private forum founded by Miika Kuisma for a bunch of international dance music producer. Producers that belonged to Subtraxx used to exchange ideas and feedback on each other’s productions. One day I came up with the idea showcasing the tracks we were producing to an audience. This caught the interest of Digitally Imported radio and the show was born.

Initially thought for airplaying our own tracks I soon opened it up so that other talented producers could submit their own tracks and get them played on the show. This became an immediate hit.

When Miika Kuisma decided to transform Subtraxx into a music label, I changed the format of the show and turned it into what became “freQuencies” – my most famous radio show.