Enterprise Scheduling Solutions: The Ultimate Guide to Streamlining Your Business (and Why Timify is the Calendly for Grown-Ups)

Emanuel Simon, CEO of Timify, discussing enterprise scheduling solutions.

Management Summary:

In today's fast-paced business environment, efficient scheduling is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity. This guide dives into the critical role scheduling solutions play in optimizing operations, enhancing customer experiences, and driving revenue growth. We'll explore how advanced platforms like Timify are transforming how businesses, from startups to large enterprises, manage their most valuable resources: time, personnel, and assets. Discover how to move beyond basic calendar tools and leverage sophisticated scheduling solutions to gain a competitive edge.

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The High Cost of Inefficient Scheduling

Are you tired of double bookings, no-shows, and the endless back-and-forth of coordinating meetings? If so, you're not alone. Many businesses, from German startups to global enterprises, grapple with the inefficiencies of outdated scheduling methods. Inefficient scheduling leads to wasted resources, frustrated customers, and lost revenue.

As Emanuel Simon, CEO of Timify, points out, "Our clients do have scarce resources, whatever that be, rooms, machines, human beings, salespeople, sellers in a department store, whatever the resource of our client is. We make sure and guarantee that these expensive and scarce resources like salespeople are allocated very efficient to the services our client provide and then interact with their customers to make sure that the customers of our client do have a seamless and very straightforward customer journey to increase revenues and make sure that the customer of our client is a happy customer".

What Are Scheduling Solutions?

Scheduling solutions are software tools designed to automate and streamline the process of booking appointments, managing resources, and coordinating events. They range from basic calendar applications to sophisticated enterprise-level platforms.

Key Benefits of Implementing Scheduling Solutions

Reduced Manual Effort: Scheduling solutions eliminate the time-consuming tasks associated with manual scheduling, such as sending emails, making phone calls, and updating calendars.
Minimized Errors: Automation reduces the risk of double bookings, scheduling conflicts, and human error.
Improved Resource Utilization: Efficiently allocate resources like staff, rooms, and equipment to maximize productivity and minimize downtime.
Enhanced Customer Experience: Provide customers with a seamless and convenient way to book appointments, leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
Increased Revenue: By optimizing resource allocation and reducing no-shows, scheduling solutions can contribute to increased sales and profitability.
Data-Driven Insights: Many solutions offer robust reporting and analytics features, providing valuable insights into scheduling patterns, resource utilization, and customer behavior.

Timify: The Calendly for Grown-Ups

While basic scheduling tools like Calendly, Microsoft Bookings, and Google Calendar are suitable for simple one-on-one scheduling, businesses with complex needs require more robust solutions. This is where Timify excels.

As Emanuel Simon explains, "We are the Calendly for grownups, right? If you, if you compare us with our competitors, the big ones, Calendly, Microsoft Bookings, Google Calendar, they're all very good, right? We can do the same, but they're good in one to one relationships. You open your calendar, I book a meeting, I click on the link, boom. ready, right? And Tanlify then basically starts where those solutions end for the sophisticated and complex use case".

What sets Timify apart?

Complex Scheduling: Timify handles scenarios involving multiple locations, numerous resources (staff, rooms, equipment), diverse services, and large customer volumes.
Resource Management: Timify enables businesses to manage and optimize the allocation of various resources, ensuring efficient utilization.
Customization: Timify offers extensive customization options to tailor the scheduling process to specific business needs and workflows.
Automation: Timify automates key scheduling tasks, such as appointment reminders, rescheduling, and confirmations, saving time and reducing no-shows.
Integrations: Timify integrates with other business systems, such as HR tools and CRM software, to streamline workflows and improve data visibility.

How Scheduling Solutions Drive Business Growth

Optimize Resource Allocation: Efficiently allocate staff, equipment, and facilities to maximize productivity and minimize downtime. For example, Timify allows businesses to assign staff based on skills, availability, and location.
Enhance the Customer Journey: Provide customers with a seamless and convenient booking experience, from initial contact to appointment reminders and follow-ups. This can significantly improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Increase Sales and Revenue: By reducing no-shows, optimizing staff schedules, and improving customer satisfaction, scheduling solutions can contribute to increased sales and revenue growth. For instance, Timify's automation features ensure that sales teams are fully utilized and that opportunities are not missed.
Improve Operational Efficiency: Automate administrative tasks, reduce manual errors, and streamline workflows to improve overall operational efficiency. This frees up staff to focus on more strategic and value-added activities.
Gain Data-Driven Insights: Track key metrics, such as booking patterns, resource utilization, and customer behavior, to identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions.

Featured Snippet:

What is Timify's key advantage over basic scheduling tools?

Timify's key advantage lies in its ability to manage complex scheduling scenarios. Unlike basic tools like Calendly or Google Calendar, Timify is designed for businesses with multiple locations, numerous resources (staff, rooms, equipment), diverse services, and high customer volumes. It automates resource allocation, handles intricate scheduling rules, and offers extensive customization.

The Future of Scheduling

The future of scheduling is about more than just booking appointments. It's about creating seamless customer experiences, optimizing resource utilization, and driving business growth through data-driven insights. As technology evolves, scheduling solutions will become even more sophisticated, leveraging AI and machine learning to predict demand, personalize interactions, and automate even more complex workflows.

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What Happens When You STOP Wasting Time and Use Scheduling Solutions? - Timify Interview

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About Emanuel Simon and Timify

Emanuel Simon is the CEO of Timify, a leading provider of enterprise scheduling solutions. With a background in banking and management consulting, Emanuel brings a wealth of experience in optimizing complex systems and driving business growth. He joined Timify to professionalize the company and scale its operations, transforming it into a "Calendly for grownups".

Timify is a powerful scheduling platform designed for businesses with sophisticated scheduling needs. Unlike basic scheduling tools, Timify handles complex scenarios involving multiple locations, numerous resources, diverse services, and large customer volumes. It empowers businesses to optimize resource allocation, enhance the customer journey, and drive revenue growth.

To learn more about Timify and how it can transform your business, visit Timify's Homepage. You can also connect with Emanuel Simon on [LinkedIn].

Conclusion

In today's competitive landscape, efficient scheduling is essential for business success. By implementing advanced scheduling solutions like Timify, businesses can streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive sustainable growth. Whether you're a startup in the DACH region or a global enterprise, investing in the right scheduling technology is an investment in your future.

Automated Transcript

Joe [00:00:05]:

Welcome to startuprad.io. Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German startup scene with news, interviews, and live events.

Emmanuel Simon [00:00:20]:

Hello, and welcome, everyone. This is Joe from startuprate.io, your go to source for all things startups, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Today, we're driving into this game changing startup that's redefining how businesses manages their time, Timify. Join us, which is Emmanuel Simon, to share the story behind the company, its vision for the future, and how it's tackling one of the biggest pain points in schedule and workforce management. So if you're struggled with double bookings, snowshoes, or inefficiencies in managing appointments, This episode is for you. Stay tuned. You won't don't you don't wanna miss a thing. Emmanuel, hello, and welcome.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:01:05]:

Hi, Joe, and thank you for having me.

Emmanuel Simon [00:01:07]:

Totally my pleasure. We may add upfront that we worked in the past together, which is, I do believe something like fifteen years ago.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:01:18]:

Must be that long ago. Yes.

Emmanuel Simon [00:01:21]:

Yes. We are we are really getting old. Welcome to StartUp Radio. Today, we're diving into your world of Timify. And in sixty seconds, can you give us an idea what you did before and how you got involved into Timify?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:01:44]:

Yes. For sure. Basically, I am a banking baby. I grew up my whole business life in banking, in in a management consulting company, working for many banks in the IT environment. And then I joined UniCredit in various managerial roles. I was an assistant to a board member in the corporate and investment banking. And I also run a huge project in UniCredit globally to transform the bank within a €13,000,000,000 capital increase on the cost and the IT side, before I had the pleasure to join join Timeify, in a position where basically Tamify was growing out of the start up into the into the scale up, although I don't like the terminology scale up a lot. For me, Tamify is like a a raw but strong teenage boy, you know, became quite tall in in height, big muscles, but also still a bit foolish and childish.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:02:46]:

And now my goal is to professionalize Tamify to make it profitable, have some very clear organization and also processes not over engineered, not like in a bank. So we have to still be be agile, fast, and speedy, and overall very client driven. That is basically my goal was for the last two and a half years and will be for the next, hopefully, quite some time.

Emmanuel Simon [00:03:12]:

Ah, Timeify. Yeah. That actually makes more sense, for our audience. I would be curious, leave us a comment. What do you think is the biggest problem Timeify is solving?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:03:27]:

There are actually two. Number one, enterprise and corporate companies, they like to hide behind the big castles because they're behind their nice, glass walls of their offices. So the client is sometimes standing in front of that, and we are basically dismantling, disrupting those walls where our clients build, in relation to their customers. That's number one. We connect our clients with their customers. Number two, our clients, do have scarce resources. Whatever that be, rooms, machines, human beings, salespeople, sellers in a department store, whatever the resource of our client is, We make sure and guarantee that these expensive and scarce resources like salespeople are allocated very efficient to the services our client provide and then interact with their customers to make sure that the customers of our client do have a seamless and very straightforward customer journey to increase revenues and make sure that the customer of our client is a happy customer.

Emmanuel Simon [00:04:46]:

You are, as always, a pretty fast guy. You you've always been pretty sporty, and you're way ahead of us here. Let's let's go a little bit back. We we can already tell you're not one of the founders, but you were hired for this position. Can you can you take us back to the moment you said, uh-huh. Let let let's try this company. Let's try it out. Yeah.

Emmanuel Simon [00:05:08]:

I'm a little bit bored of, consulting and banking.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:05:12]:

Yeah. That that was quite interesting, because if you would have asked me like three, four years ago, I would have never skipped my nice, well paid, and very secure job in banking. I had a very interesting environment there, a lot of c level and and senior attention, big figures, big projects. But in the end, I will have the the opportunity to to take over Timeify, and I strongly believe, and I have the the deepest respect for the decision, that especially founders who grew a little baby, their own baby from scratch. One employee, two employees, maybe two, three founders, and you have the couple of first, clients. You have 10, 10 colleagues working with you. But there comes a point where you need some kind of different management style. Right? So people who are able to found a company from scratch might not be the right person and might not have the right skill set to grow a company from 50 up to 200 employees.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:06:24]:

On the other side, I I clearly have to to admit, I would have not been able to found a company like Timeify or any other company that's simply not my home turf. Right? But managing fifty, sixty, 70, 80 people, giving them a clear strategy, supporting this strategy with a clear vision and mission based on a clear foundation in terms of organization, company organization, supported once again by a healthy amount of processes, still keeping flexibility, taking also sometimes hard decisions, Right? That's what you also have to do. It's not always sunshine every day. That is a bit more my my sweet spot. Right? And if if you look back, at most likely many founders, Sometimes, you know, you you you cannot play business as you want to because you need a favor left, a favor right. You're happy for the first client. You give to this client maybe more than you wanted to to provide in terms of services or support. And then how how do you how do you get back from this very personal interaction and lift and come to the next professional level, which is simply a more professionalized, setup? The the downside is you might lose a bit of your, you know, your your spirit.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:07:52]:

Yes. That that's right. But it's sometimes simply simply required. As I said, scale up is is a, I I think, not a a right term, but if you look at at companies like Timeify after a couple years, like a a teenage, boy, I mean, there's a lot of potential. Right? There's a lot of power. There's a lot of, energy, but it has to be centralized and streamlined. And that is, as I said, pretty much my sweet spot. And, so far, it's running, I would say good.

Emmanuel Simon [00:08:32]:

People can already tell you that.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:08:36]:

I am.

Emmanuel Simon [00:08:37]:

Yes. There is a difference in skill set from founding a company to leading a growing company. And I actually realized some of the entrepreneurs, they just stagnate, but the company stagnates together with them. They stay on a certain level, maybe 50 employees, and then it it doesn't grow anymore.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:08:56]:

There is a reason. Right? If you look at big corporates and big enterprise companies, why managers move from different departments, different teams, different managerial roles every three to, I would say, six years. Right? There is simply a reason. It it does make sense. If you work for a long time with the same people in the same environment, some you know, you don't see new opportunities, you see old issues. Right? So sometimes you you just need a fresh pair of eyes, a fresh mindset. It doesn't mean that you're doing a bad job, not at all. But if if you sometimes have a new input, a little job rotation, it helps.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:09:44]:

Right? It simply helps to to increase understanding for the other side. If I change job completely in a big enterprise company from department a to department b, I, you know, I take my knowledge with me and then I can try to to connect and bring people together and and increase understanding for for both sides. It's like with with traveling and understanding different cultures. That's that's same, model in in a big enterprise. And that's also for for small companies. You simply have to see is the leadership that was able to to start a company, also able to run a company that is growing in whatever size. I have to clearly admit I have the the deepest, really, respect of funding a company. I tell you honestly, I would be, I think, even too scared and I would not be in a position to do that.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:10:52]:

But then taking over from from a certain point in terms of development and also growth is is pretty much, my sweet spot, and that's where I can really see with a corporate or enterprise know how and experience, you can create big value add to smaller companies. Is that always the case? No. I'm pretty sure that there are many founders who can who can go all the way and who are also, developing in that way, but not all. And and, hence, then then realizing that that it is it might be time for a change also is, is something that that, I I have to admire and I clearly have to to, express my respect. Mhmm.

Emmanuel Simon [00:11:41]:

Yes. I see. So you're in favor of moving, moving management roles every few years. So I'll avoid asking you what are you planning to do in five years.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:11:54]:

Honestly, I do not know. Hopefully, hopefully, Timeify is growing very well. But five years, I don't know.

Emmanuel Simon [00:12:02]:

What was the major challenge you faced when you joined Tamify in your early days as CEO?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:12:10]:

Well, number one, as I said, is really professionalizing the the whole structure, making sure everybody knows his, her role and position, how to interact. That that is number one. Number two, I joined Timeify at an, I would say, economically changing time. Right? In the last, I would say, ten, twelve years, the macroeconomic environment was in favor of, startups. I think with this zero interest policy in the last couple years, growth at all cost was simply the mantra of the market. You had to show growth. Was growth profitable was not the important question. Right? When I joined Tamify, the, the macroeconomic situation was different.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:13:02]:

Basically, interest rates rose. Money was worth something again. So I clearly had the task to make Tamify profitable. We had to grow, but we also had to look at cost. Right? There are two sides of a balance sheet. One is top line, but there's also a bottom line. And in between, you somehow have have to manage your cost and make sure that your your margin is somewhere there. So this was the the second big challenge, making clear that we have to become profitable, which you can influence by top line growth, number one, but also becoming more efficient.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:13:48]:

Right? If you produce new features, but, for example, your hosting costs are outrageous and never, never will be covered by the license fees you you, earn from your clients, well, you have to rethink the whole thing, I would say. Right? In the in the past, the the feature was everything. Make it fancy, make it shiny, as long as it's it's there. I I think we are now with with money worth, again, something we're in a different world where you have to become profitable. You have to show margin. You have to show a solid growth that that didn't change. But, I think the the the focus became a bit or moved a bit away from growth to the overall picture of a balance sheet. Mhmm.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:14:39]:

Mhmm.

Emmanuel Simon [00:14:42]:

Going a little bit into the industry and market landscape,

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:14:48]:

like to play a

Emmanuel Simon [00:14:48]:

little what if game. If Temify becomes a household household name, what industry shift made that possible?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:14:58]:

Well, number one, Corona was a big boost for us. I have to admit there was the lockdown and you were able to only open your stores with click and collect. That was quite convenient. We onboarded thousands of stores over the weekend, so that was a big booster for us. Overall, also, I see that economic issues on the in the German and core European industry are pushing our business in terms of making sure that the very cost sensitive resources like salesperson, like people who work in a department store, have to be they they have to to to keep busy. Right? I mean, if if you work in banking, you're obliged to have roughly four to five sales meetings per day. If you only have four versus five and do that every day, at the end of the week, you have 20% less revenues. Your boss will knock on your door saying, hey hey, Joe.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:16:14]:

What's going on? Why why did your revenues drop? Right? So we we are ensuring that there isn't very efficient allocation of these salespeople, for example, in a bank with with the customers of a bank that as soon as somebody is canceling a meeting, there are another meetings coming in or there's somebody actively contacted who has a meeting in two weeks' time. Hey, we got a slot early upfront. You want to take the opportunity and we fill up, the the calendar. At the same time, we we use extremely the manual effort, which is a stupid effort of aligning meetings. Right? Just, if if it's a one on one relationship, you, me, we we agree on a meeting, that's easy. Right? But just assume there are four or five participants and you're coordinating that, that's crazy. Right? And we send out a booking link and you book it. That's fair.

Emmanuel Simon [00:17:07]:

It really depends how much you are, you know each other, what time zones you are in. Before I used, such a solution, I was actually mailing back and forth five to 10 times, just simple emails on availability, and that's where I cut all of that. Exactly. We people already notice you're a little bit bigger scheduling solutions than other they are familiar with. What do people get wrong about scheduling solutions, and what are you doing differently here than many of your competitors?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:17:43]:

Yeah. Well, then let me let me start with our competitors. So Timeify is very clear. We are the Calendly for grown ups. Right? If you if you compare us with our competitors, the big ones, Calendly, Microsoft Bookings, Google Calendar, they're all very good. Right? We can do the same, but they're good in one to one relationships. You open your calendar, I book a meeting, I click on the link, boom, ready. Right? And Timeify then basically starts where those solutions end for the sophisticated and complex use case.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:18:22]:

Or let me describe it in mathematical terms, where n stands for a placeholder of a big figure, and we solve the equation n times four, n multiplied by n multiplied by n multiplied by n. First n is our clients to have many locations, stores, departments, sales, hubs, whatever it is. Right? Number two, our clients do have many, many resources. As I said, can be a salesperson, a room, a laptop, a machine, a chair, a table. What do I know?

Emmanuel Simon [00:18:57]:

Can can it also be a technician you can send somewhere?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:19:00]:

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Software, for example. Right? A software version, can be can be a resource. Then, basically, you can make those resources smart. Right? You can give them tags and attributes, e. G.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:19:14]:

If you work in banking and you need a special certification, to sell mortgage loans, maybe you need one certification mortgage loans up to 1,000,000 and another certification 1,000,000 and upwards. Right? Or you need another certification to sell, stock options and derivatives. Right? So we connect the resources with their skill set. In any combination, we can combine the resources. We say, well, for this meeting, we need resource A because he has this skill set and resource B for that skill set, or you choose out of a pool of resources, colleagues who have the same skill set. That's the second end. The third end is the services. You can then connect any kind of service you want to provide with those different resources on any date or place you want.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:20:07]:

You can say in the morning, our sales guy is only available in that combination with that skill set in location a and in the afternoon only in location b. You see if n becomes a big figure, it's quite complex equation we solve and the fourth n is hopefully huge amount of customers our clients do have and then they're basically going through a very seamless journey and hopefully in the end, sign a contract, cut a deal, pay a product, buy a product, whatever it is, right, our our our clients offer to their customers. So in a in a nutshell, basically excuse me? No. In a nutshell, if you look at Microsoft, allow me the expression, Microsoft Google is pretty much the entry drug into scheduling. Once you're not happy anymore with Microsoft scheduling facilities, which is free of charge as soon as you have a Microsoft license, which is quite quite expensive, basically companies come to us because you don't write Microsoft an email saying, hey, I have this edge case here. Can you help me out, please? You do with us. We support. We have a very clear philosophy of supporting and listening to our clients, which we do, and we don't we don't, onboard them and leave them alone.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:21:30]:

We're we're there for our clients actually.

Emmanuel Simon [00:21:33]:

Mhmm. When you painted that that mental picture, what I had in mind is that you can manage, a big organization in terms of sales, in terms of customer support, in terms of technical support, across different time zones.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:21:53]:

Exactly. Time zone is, totally included. That's not a topic we have to deal with. Also, like holidays or national holidays, sick days, a very nice feature we we just released if you have, if you have a sales team of five people. Right? Sales team, they have certain skills. They have they have meeting slots, etcetera, BP. Then, with the connection to the HR tool from our client, the set one ZayedSky calls in sick. Right? Which usually means someone has to call the customers, cancel five appointments, reschedule for the next week, whatever it is.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:22:33]:

Right? With our system, the system checks, oh, the customer needed service a. We have maybe other four resources who can provide the service and this And there's one resource free at exactly that time slot and is automatically rescheduling the meeting to avoid that the client is maybe entering a meeting without having somebody covering from the from the client side, or the meeting has to be postponed. So we make sure that the the calendars is filled up properly and our sales colleagues are kept busy and then also creating a positive impact, on the on the revenue creation of our client.

Emmanuel Simon [00:23:15]:

Mhmm. So, before I get to to the next question that I had while you were talking, I'd I was wondering, can you get KPIs, for example, for marketing? How many requests are coming in and how close you are to capacity in terms of your sales for marketing? Do more of this, do more of that?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:23:43]:

Yeah. You have you have a huge statistic, area, where you can see how many bookings, which day, which time actually the bookings have been scheduled. So you can if you see all all your bookings have been scheduled, I don't know, let's let's assume, in the evening between seven and 11PM for the next day. Okay? Then, you can you can say, well, I I want to increase, my my my paid advertisement on Google because, an an hour before that. So you start at six where people start looking for that kind of service, that kind of slot, increase increase your capacity on on Via exactly on that time slot, and then make sure your advertisement is placed right time, right slot.

Emmanuel Simon [00:24:29]:

So, were you talking I also had another question. In how many languages is your solution available?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:24:36]:

I well, you you have to be to to differentiate from customer point of view. So the booker who's booking a meeting, pretty much unlimited. Our system where the our client, the end user is using, I think we currently have, you know, you got me. It's almost 20 languages.

Emmanuel Simon [00:24:55]:

Almost 20 languages. Because I had a conversation with one of my consultant clients, like, last night, and, actually, I was forced to explain how many upcoming holidays we do have and, when they are. Just looking here at my calendar, for example, that the Friday before Easter and the Monday after Easter is a public holiday, that we do have two Thursdays coming up that are public holidays in multiple states of Germany, that we do have with Monday and so on and so forth. So there's a lot you need to explain. Do you also have a solution for that for international clients?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:25:34]:

That that is that is the core of Tamifa. You don't have to worry about that. All international holidays are covered. So for example, if, if you're sending out I don't know. If if you're trying to coordinate a meeting on Friday before Easter, it's simply impossible because it's automatically blocked, Unless you unblock it manually if you want to work on Easter Friday.

Emmanuel Simon [00:25:58]:

Depends, under your relationship with their family. Right?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:26:02]:

Exactly. Exactly.

Emmanuel Simon [00:26:04]:

Beyond features, what kind of experience do you want users to have when interacting with Tamify? First, like, your customers and the customers of your customers, which is, the thing your customers are actually buying it for. Okay. And now diagram this sentence in your head.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:26:22]:

Well, with with our clients, I want them to realize how powerful Timeify is and how extremely deep are the, the, possibilities of customization. Right? It really reduces the manual effort coordinating meetings for our clients. On the customer side, which we also call the booker who's booking a meeting, We can we can customize also this journey. Basically, we do have many clients who use us in their HR department. Alrighty? If if you, for example, look at hiring processes, I mean, everybody who applied for a job in the last couple years knows maybe the first interview is easy. Right? But you have to coordinate the meeting. The second interview, maybe you need a team head and an HR guy, and then you're playing with meetings. You get an email, three slots.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:27:22]:

You say, yes. I want the first slot. Then you get a reply. Ah, sorry. Now the first slot slot is not available anymore. Now we have three different slots. Pick one, and then it goes back and forth, and you have email ping. Terrible.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:27:34]:

Right? Or how cool would that be if you apply for a job? You simply click on the booking link. You have the meeting scheduled with the two people or three people you need. After that, the HR guy says, hey. That was a good interview. We continue. Automatically, our system sends out another email saying, hey. Congratulations. You made the next step.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:27:56]:

Now you interview with the big boss, another HR guy and team colleague, whatever. Again, click here, and, couple hours or days or an hour before the meeting, you also get a, reminder SMS to make sure that you you do not miss, your meeting. So in that perspective, if I look at the HR case from the applicant point of view, our clients, have two scenarios. Right? If you look for a DevOps developer who is highly skilled, basically, companies are happy if those people simply apply. Right? So they need name, email address, maybe phone number. That's simply applied. Right? There are other jobs where you say, well, I I wanna, you know, make make it a bit more tricky to receive applications. So I want to have an upload of your CV.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:28:48]:

I need a, I don't know, your driving license uploaded, some comments, a free field where you enter some text about you, and I need your residence, etcetera, PPE so that you avoid that everybody is is applying for the job and you have a precise some kind of criteria as why people why people apply. Right? So in that perspective from the booker side, I always want to make it very easy to book an appointment. What I wanna say is that there are also situations where you can make it a bit more complicated so people do not book appointments. Right? Nevertheless, from a customer or booker point of view, it simply has to be be seamless and and very clear. Right? You need couple of clicks and then you enter into your appointment. And, of course, we don't have to talk about reminders, and synchronization to your preferred email and and Outlook, mailbox and calendar system.

Emmanuel Simon [00:29:51]:

I was wondering when you talked about this, scheduling with three people from HR. If somebody from the HR people calls and seek that day, basically, your tool can reassign if there's a, acceptable substitute. You can replace this person in the interview, and you don't have to reschedule with a client with a, potential employee. Right?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:30:13]:

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I was

Emmanuel Simon [00:30:16]:

wondering how are you leveraging AI and automation in all of that?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:30:22]:

Yeah. So we do have, we released just recently our Tamify assistant, which is an additional feature from Tamify, we can produce and very fast, create skills for our client. As I said, this rescheduling assistant or early slot wait list or, the next skill set will be will be a birthday or event promotion that you automatically remind people and send maybe voucher codes or or gift cards or, hey. Hey, Joe. Happy birthday. We haven't heard for a long time. Why don't you want to book a meeting with whatever your your counterpart at your your trusted, bank you're working with or something like that? These are skill sets, AI supported where we basically with intention to reduce once again the manual effort regarding scheduling and support our clients in in optimizing their interaction with their with their customers. Our goal is basically quite easy.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:31:28]:

This whole back and forth email scheduling should be optimized. Right? That's that's very easy. You should not worry about, goddamn it. I have to coordinate meetings for groups, for single bookings, for multiple bookings, for recurring bookings. You should not. You should press some buttons, best case in in our Timeify environment, and then everything runs automatically.

Emmanuel Simon [00:31:53]:

Plus an automated, or partially automated allocation of resources. Vividly remember how difficult it was back in the days to book a meeting room for any given meeting.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:32:07]:

That's that is true. They should simply not be part of our daily business day.

Emmanuel Simon [00:32:13]:

We'll be back after short ad break where we talk about business model and growth strategy. Hey, guys. Welcome back to our interview with Emmanuel Simon, CEO of Tamify next generation scheduling and, I would say, resource allocation tool. We are talking about your business more like growth strategy here. What's the revenue engine of Tamify? Can you break it down simply?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:32:46]:

Well, in terms of verticals, we are widely spread. We do have benchmark clients in the banking environment, insurance, optician segment. Also hearing aid is becoming more and more, actually recently bike industry, electric bike industry becomes, bigger bigger, for us. So, overall, one could say that wherever there is more demand on scheduling than an easy one to one relationship, that's where the sweet spot of Tamify is, and that's where our growth perspective, and and opportunities jump in. We're not, specialized on on any vertical. That's the beauty of Tamify. If you tomorrow, say instead of, selling cars or ebikes, I wanna sell red gummy bears. You sell red gummy bears.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:33:45]:

We don't stop you to do so, and tomorrow, you offer services selling red gummy bears. You can do it actually in in milliseconds. Right? So we don't stop our clients to grow. Actually, we want to partner up with them. We wanna be we want to support them to grow. If you want to open a new store tomorrow, well, don't worry about scheduling and making it it possible. We are there. In terms of product development, next to our Camify assistant, we just released, queuing will, become our next big thing because queuing and scheduling is related.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:34:23]:

And, my key colleagues are working heavily on an extremely outstanding queuing solution that has been fully integrated into your scheduling where you can prioritize, you can define VIP clients, you can maybe prioritize even people who I don't know. If if a mother with two kids and pregnant is coming in, boom, you prioritize her and she gets the next, free slot, for the services you offer or whatever you whatever you fancy, including a a hardware support. We don't do that by ourself, but we have a partner who's providing a hardware support in terms of, tablets, and screens, etcetera, for your point of sales.

Emmanuel Simon [00:35:08]:

Mhmm. I'm wondering, queuing queuing in terms of, just simply email, booking links in terms of phone or, even with chatbot on the website.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:35:21]:

Yep. That's basically everything. So just assume, you have scheduling already, and, let's assume to to our recent industry that it grows a lot, to the bike shop, bike store industry. Right? So you schedule a meeting online, for buying a new bike. Basically, with our tool, you can also increase the amount of meetings for high margin services you offer. If you say, well, selling a bike brings more cash to my company than, having a service for a bike or just, you know, adjusting adjusting, the wheel of the bike, it's just, you know, €2, but selling a bike brings you €10,000. You prioritize and you offer more meetings to sell bikes. But then a day before, the day comes, you say, well, if I don't have enough meetings for selling bikes, I open the calendar for, those service meetings to make sure that my people are still busy.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:36:27]:

And then basically, you have people who don't book a meeting, but they they come in in in your store and say, hey, I want to buy a bike. Right? So either way, you have a big screen in your entrance and they type in their credentials and you have, someone in their store checking who it is or you have somebody with a tablet in your hand typing in the credentials and this client says, oh, I want to buy a bike. You prioritize him, and the next available slot, boom, he gets. Waiting time, two minutes. Or he says, well, here's my old bike. Please, can you check if my wheel and my brakes are properly working? They say, well, that's like a a €10 job. This guy has to wait an hour maybe because prioritized is the meeting to sell a bike, which is from a margin point of view much more attractive than simply checking the brakes of a bike. Right? I hope this this example was was understandable somehow.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:37:22]:

And you you can do that in every in every industry. If you look at the high end retail industry, we're based in Munich. If you go here, Downtown Munich, there are sometimes queues in front of the of the high end, companies, the the big brands. So how cool would it be, if one of your p VIP clients is checking in and just realize, oh, this guy just checked in, so I prioritize him. Although there's a big queue outside, this guy shows up and you sent him a a QR code. The guy at the door is scanning it, and you prioritized him. And this guy is is surpassing, the queue. And just imagine what what reaction that is.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:38:08]:

Everybody in the queue says, what the hell? Who is that? How how can I become as important as this guy? How much do I have to buy to to to skip the queue, right, to skip the line? So these are the funny things you can you can do with queuing in connection with, scheduling. And then whether it be for bikes or or big big fashion brands or for government if you go to one of our, or or, the

Emmanuel Simon [00:38:39]:

Which is the county administration offices. Yes.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:38:43]:

Thank you. Like that, it doesn't matter. We we don't care what the service is or what the place you can you can basically treat that all pretty much the same. Right?

Emmanuel Simon [00:38:52]:

Mhmm. To our audience, I was wondering how do you guys think Tamify can expand its reach? Emmanuel, another question, because we now realize you have small SMEs and really big enterprise customers. How do you approach them differently? What's your different go to market strategy there?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:39:13]:

Well, the the SMB clients, we highly appreciate them. But, basically, they register via our home page, and, basically, that's a self registration process. Corporate enterprise company, we have active outreach. We spend really human resources on talking to them, interacting with them, having meetings, providing them proper onboarding. Sometimes, you know, and I totally understand that, companies don't even want Tamify to appear, so they protect us via our very well defined and structured API, and we are a white label solution totally embedded into the IT architecture landscape of our client. So you don't even realize that you book a meeting, except you leave you read the, the, the data privacy policy. That's where we mentioned. But, operationally, you don't realize that it's time to find.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:40:11]:

We do not have an ego saying, well, but we need our logo on your landing page. As long as it it works for you, I am I am a happy service provider. Right? In the enterprise segment, I clearly have to say, the the coverage of clients is important. Right? It is very, very important. I think not being for ages now part of the SaaS industry, I think many companies underestimated the effort and the requirements needed to keep clients to to basically not only sign a client, but also keep clients as happy clients for quite a long term. Because you need to interact, you have to schedule, your fixes weekly, monthly, bi yearly, whatever it is. Right? But you need you need a counterpart. You need somebody you can play with on the other side in a big corporation.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:41:13]:

Those people change. They move on to new jobs, etcetera, RVP. So you need a good coverage not only before you sign a contract, but also after you sign a contract. And then, it always sounds easy to to connect and implement new new IT, But in the end, it's that is many, many times the people business to make sure that everything runs smoothly and your software is properly used on the on the client side.

Emmanuel Simon [00:41:42]:

I was thinking about a question. I should write that down and pay not so much attention to what you're saying because I completely forgot. Let us go a little bit into, the finances just a tiny bit. Last time you raised according to Crunchbase Funding was in 2020, and so far you've raised according to them €11,500,000. I I was wondering, how do you balance rapid growth with financial sustainability given the current environment of higher interest rate plus just recently much more insecure world with the Trump tariff introduction here, which may or may not wreak havoc on the global economy? Well,

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:42:37]:

I think I have a big advantage coming out of the banking industry being a bit more old school. I learned the hard way that you can you should earn first money before you spend it. Right? So that's pretty much my my own personal DNA, first earning the money and then defining, how to spend it. Nevertheless, growth, it's it's still a growth game. Right? So you have to to to always be on the edge. So cash on the bank account is nice, for all CEOs to let you sleep well, but it's unproductive, liquidity. Right? So you have to invest it in terms of more sales, more product, whatever whatever you currently need. So I honestly, I can't give you an an all answering and and all solving answer.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:43:36]:

It's simply a trade off. Right? Sometimes you have to be a bit more on the risky side. Sometimes you have to be a bit more on the safe side. Nevertheless, as we touched it before, profitability is key these days, and at the same time, you have to grow. So you have to find a proper balance, that I think depends on your on your shareholder structure. Are they willing to to provide more cash? Maybe you can get more aggressive. Are they not? Then you should be more restrictive. So there is no right or wrong.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:44:07]:

I think every company has to to find its own way based on the very clear requirements, become profitable, become self sustaining, but you also have to grow. And in somewhere in between there, you have to find your own way.

Emmanuel Simon [00:44:23]:

That's right. And I remember where I was where I was wanting to ask you before that question, because, the simple Pareto principle, 8020, I've realized a lot of companies, make 80% of the revenue and they're for profit with 20% of the clients that goes into what you've been telling about keeping your most important clients happy.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:44:46]:

Yeah. True. But at the same time, it's easier to say than than really to do. You should not, be dependent on a couple of big clients. Right? That's even from investor point of view, they don't like to see the bulk risk in in your top line.

Emmanuel Simon [00:45:05]:

Mhmm. Going a little bit into team and leadership values, what are the core values that define the Tamify culture or Tamify culture? Sorry.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:45:15]:

Well, I I do have a big history in sports. Beside working and playing and spending time with my family, I'm totally into sports. I played semi professional baseball in Germany, which is not common at all, but it was fun back in the days. So I do know what teamwork is all about. Right? So the core principles basically for me is number one, speak up culture. I need people independent from their role and responsibility to speak up. I need to know what's good, what's bad, what they like, what they don't like. In the end, we find agreement, we find a compromise, and then I don't care what happened before or who was on the other side of the discussion.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:46:04]:

After we be after we exchanged all critical points, after everybody raised, his position and and clearly showed speak up culture, we go in the same direction. That's number one. Number two is clearly teamwork. And the funny thing is people always ask me, what do you understand by teamwork? And the reality is on a daily basis, it's different. On a daily basis, you work at different teams, different groups, different colleagues, so you position your role and what is required to make this team a well performing team is different. Right? So just ask yourself, what can I do to make this project, this sprint, this team, a good one? If if it means that nobody's taking notes and I, as the CEO, should do that, well, hell, I do. If it helps, I do no matter what. Right? I can ask somebody or I make sure that somebody's taking notes just as a stupid example, but every team has to to make sure that it's, professional, it's working, and to simply, enter into different roles.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:47:09]:

So teamwork for me is super important. I I don't like finger pointing culture. I hate that. And number three is clearly ownership and responsibility. I worked long enough in big corporates, and I'm always exploding if I hear the sentence, somebody should do something. Well, I worked in companies with over hundred thousand employees, and I never had a colleague who's name was somebody, and I never saw the somebody doing something. Right? So take ownership and responsibility. If you want something to be done, ask this person, ask this team very clearly.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:47:52]:

And if you realize a spot, I could hire a hundred more people in time if I write. But currently, that's not that's not the time to do so. So I have more jobs to allocate than people I can I can ask for? Right? And that means just take ownership and responsibility. Do things. I'd rather have people do thousand things and do hundred errors rather than doing 10 things and one error. Right? I don't care about errors. Do errors. If you do things, even if it's in relation to clients, we we we can talk about that.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:48:26]:

But not doing things, not answering to clients, not picking up a ball, not picking up a loose end, sometimes we simply have to accept, okay, after we talked about it, nobody's taking care. Let's leave it there till we hire somebody who's who is taking care. But at least we should you should we should tackle that topic. We should pick it up. We should not be afraid of picking up things we might not be an expert. That that happens, then we we look at it. We we push it as far as we can. If we make an error, we learn, but we get up the next day.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:48:59]:

So take ownership and responsibility is the third. Speak up culture, teamwork, ownership, and responsibility. That that are my three core values. Mhmm.

Emmanuel Simon [00:49:10]:

Lessons for future entrepreneurs, maybe even actionable. What's the one piece of advice you wish you had received before starting at Tamify?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:49:23]:

There's one thing I underestimated, I have to admit, that although we are progressing on a daily base and our development is really going upwards, I underestimated that it's going upwards but in high waves. Right? It's going up and down. The trend is is going in the right direction, but I underestimated that it's really going in waves. One week, you have you overachieve all your goals, everything runs smooth, and you're you're super happy. And the next week, everything turns around, totally the opposite. Right? So, honestly, I underestimated how how wavy, the the journey is to to grow. It's not it's not, you know, every day a little step. It's sometimes a big step forward and then also a big step in the negative way.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:50:21]:

And I think as long as the trend is in the right direction and this wave is going upwards, you're on a good track. But simply accept that there are also times and challenges that that hit you hard. Right?

Emmanuel Simon [00:50:36]:

You're totally right. I would like to go a little bit as as, with last few questions looking ahead for Timeify. Two questions are now coming out. Typical standards, and I assume you you have to say twice yes. Are you open to talk to new investors?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:50:55]:

Always.

Emmanuel Simon [00:50:57]:

Are you looking for talented people to join your team?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:51:00]:

As well.

Emmanuel Simon [00:51:01]:

See? What's your long term vision for Timeify, and what's next?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:51:09]:

Well, basically, our strategy is to really become the global leader in sophisticated enterprise scheduling solutions. We reached EBITDA breakeven last year, November, December. It's a little more to be cash flow positive. And then, basically, I want to grow, grow, grow. Product wise, I already said, next to new skills in our AI based, Tamify assistant, Queuing or line management, becomes our next topic we wanna deploy this year. Many clients from us already ask. It creates a lot of traffic intention and basically having a great and powerful scheduling tool. It's just I don't know.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:52:03]:

We don't start from scratch for queuing. It's just a little add on. We produce. And honestly, I want to see many happy clients using Tamify and people using online appointments. That that would be my dream.

Emmanuel Simon [00:52:21]:

That is pretty great. Emmanuel, it was such a pleasure talking to you. Thank you very much. Only, one question left. Where can people connect to you and learn about Tamify? We'll, as always, link down your LinkedIn profile here. I assume everybody who's interested in investing in the company can they can reach out straight there. And there would be an HR link for Tamify, where people can apply?

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:52:51]:

So people can directly plan on a home page. You can directly, reach me over LinkedIn, and I send you a booking link, of course, so you can directly book your your slot, with me in my calendar.

Emmanuel Simon [00:53:04]:

Via Timeify. Timeify.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:53:06]:

Yeah. Timeify. Of course.

Emmanuel Simon [00:53:08]:

Yes. To our audience, the closing question. What's the one question you would ask, Emanuel? Drop it in the comments below. Emanuel, thank you very much.

Emanuel Simon | CEO Timify [00:53:17]:

Thank you very much for having me. Have a great day.

Emmanuel Simon [00:53:20]:

You too. Bye bye.

Joe [00:53:26]:

That's all, folks. Find more news, streams, events, and interviews at www.startuprad.io. Remember, sharing is caring.

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