Feeling frustrated about the way work impacts people’s lives and well-being, Sascha Reuter was on a mission to redefine how teams and individuals accomplish all they need to do, regardless of their line of work.
According to Sascha, whether you’re a manager who needs a job completed, or you’re the actual individual on the task, or simply a customer, there are several roadblocks that make for a less than perfect experience when it comes to flow. The solution he’s created is called Questmate.
“No matter if they work at a local bakery or yoga studio in Bali, a co-working space in Sydney or a factory in Freemont, California, Questmate allows users to pick or create a so-called Quest. This can include everything from a simple checklist and guidance, to fully functional interfaces that allow users to interact with other software or even smart devices,” Sascha says.
“These Quests can then be assigned and re-used whenever needed, either automatically or manually.”
Sascha believes the main problem is that current ways and tools don’t properly connect the main aspects of getting things done in an efficient way, for everyone involved.
“My frustration with workflow really grew over time. Just how painful, inconsistent and inefficient it is to get anything done today. On the other side, I also dislike inconsistent experiences as a customer, especially if it feels so unnecessary,” Sascha says.
“We allow users to connect an amazing, frictionless experience, with proper guidance and structure, as well as actual rewards like team points, an access code or gift cards and cash payouts,” Sascha says.
“Questmate allows to simply create high-quality experiences and results when it comes to getting anything done, for everyone involved.”
Questmate can be used for almost anything you need to achieve in a consistent, timely, high-quality manner.
“It’s applicable for everything from managing daily routines at co-working spaces or restaurants, to due diligence processes at VC funds, Airbnb changeovers, quality assurance at factories, team check-ins/standups, gathering feedback, meeting preparations, operational checklists, employee/customer/member onboarding, to all kind of different jobs out in the field,” Sascha says.
“You can even use it for raising your next investment round, as we did, or your personal/family routines or gratitude journal… I even track my workouts with it.”
“It can be used internally with your team, but also with customers, vendors, and community members. You can either use it on its own or have Quests kicked off from any other application and have submissions flow right back into them via Zapier automations. We also offer customers a helping hand setting it all up, from simple-use cases to more complex integrations.”
Sascha before Questmate
Prior to working on Questmate, Sascha was part of the team at Atlassian, who acquired his previous startup in 2014. It was this work that brought him from Germany to Australia.
“At Atlassian I worked in many different roles from leading up initiatives and teams to being hands down on the ground coding. It’s been a wild ride, and seeing Atlassian grow from a thousand people to 6000 people post-IPO in just a few years has been a rewarding but also mind-boggling experience,” Sascha says.
“Making the decision to leave my previous job at Atlassian has been one of the toughest parts for many different reasons. After making the decision though, setting up and starting my own venture again has actually been super straight forward. Especially if you compare the whole incorporation process to what happens in Germany.”
“Our biggest success so far has been building the initial product and landing our first customers. Also leveraging the product ourselves for the daily work on it, as well as things like raising our first investment round and gathering customer feedback.”
Sascha has big plans for Questmate: “We’ll continue to work towards our ambitious goal of becoming the number one way for getting things done, by putting people and experiences first. Getting there will involve many smaller and bigger challenges still ahead of us, and it is still early days.”
Sascha, who credits much of his success as being a part of the Fishburners startup community, has some great advice for other startups:
1. Learn from others while still doing things your own way.
2. Don’t stop, ever! Doing a startup is hard and an emotional roller coaster all the way, with many ups and downs along your way. Focus on the long-term impact you want to make; you’ll get there eventually!
3. Teams are important, but so are individuals.
4. There is much more VC money than investment opportunities out there in the startup world. And I think not enough startups have fully realised this yet, or use this to their advantage, especially in Australia.
All individuals and businesses (small or large) need to start working on their carbon footprint! There are great services to help you do this today, like our-trace.com. (Disclaimer; I’m not only a happy customer but also an investor myself in that one ;))
And, if you can afford it, get an electric car today!
If you enjoyed this article, read more from our write LJ Charleston.