Hello and welcome to this series of interviews with Mexican professionals in Germany.
Today we have Weston Hankins with us.
Weston is Co-Founder of WunderAgent.com
and former CTO of CouchSurfing,
a site that many of us already well know.
He is a Systems Engineer,
originally from Guadalajara,
and has 6 years in Germany.
Weston, welcome.
Many thanks.
Weston, please tell us about your experience before arriving to Germany.
I was raised in Guadalajara,
I studied as electronics technician,
and then entered the ITESO.
At the ITESO I studied Systems Engineering
and they gave me the opportunity to study one year abroad in Germany
in a very small town.
Germans always ask me: Why did you come to Ulm?
But for me it was about Germany, no matter where.
I arrived to Ulm and that changed my life
And why was your stay at Ulm so meaningful?
I consider there were many things:
live on my own,
that is already meaningful on its own,
learn a different language and culture,
make new friends in a completely different place.
For someone who studies something technical, Germany is a great country.
The labs are very well equipped.
We had all kinds of robots.
I had the chance to work with a robot that Bosch gave to the university.
And the university found two Mexicans to fix it.
Then me and a colleague from the ITESO worked in this robot worth half a million Euros
which had like this table and was standing on a rail
and had a giant arm like the size of a person
and the whole thing moved from one side to the other.
We had the chance to fix it.
They had lost the software which controlled it
and we needed to make it ourselves.
It was a special moment in my life due to all the things that came together,
but also because I had the chance to play like Doctor Frankenstein
with this machine which did not work
and do something for it to come back to life.
The moment it went back to life, the arm started spinning
and went up and broke part of the roof.
They almost took the robot away from us,
but we were able to convince the university to leave it with some locks and lasers.
If the robot went out of the lasers, the power would be turned off.
So this experience, especially now that I remember it, was unique
and my life changed completely.
And this experience with flying robots, how did it translate into Weston establishing in Germany?
I had an opportunity to make an internship at Daimler
since my university Professor liked the work that I did
and here people is very grateful and very likeable in general.
Therefore, he connected me with his friends at Daimler
and I had the opportunity to work at its research center in Ulm
in virtual and augmented reality.
And from there, leveraging all that experience
I started to apply to different companies of my interest.
For example, what is the most interesting thing in the world?
Microsoft.
Who makes a technical product which impacts most people?
Windows, I thought.
Back then, Microsoft was still popular.
Then I went to work to the USA in Redmond at Microsoft.
Then I came back to work in technical things in Pfaffenhofen
with contacts from the university.
My life went through many changes
and I decided to go to India to be an English teacher in the morning
and help to build roofs in the afternoon.
That was my plan.
The plan was to drive with a motorcycle all through Europe, arrive to India, and live two years there.
On my way I met Casey, the founder of CouchSurfing, in the Netherlands
and we started talking about a project that could change the world,
intercultural understanding.
I was between yes and no
and I ended up joining as technical lead, third member of the team.
Then it was 5 years of my life traveling through the world
creating CouchSurfing.
So you never completed your trip to India?
No. I still have not arrived to India.
I have traveled to more than 50 countries and have lived in 9 of them, but haven't made it to India yet.
And this experience with CouchSurfing, how did it bring you to Germany?
Was it one of your motivations to come here?
Well, I admit it. I finally came to Germany due to a girl.
To Berlin.
A girl from Switzerland with who I was together for some time
but she later went back to Switzerland and I stayed in Berlin.
Berlin is a bit like Germany
but, at the same time, it is not like Germany.
It is a very cosmopolitan city with people from all over the world
and I loved it.
I started working at company here called 9flats,
which is like Airbnb but in Europe,
and opportunities in entrepreneurship started opening here for me with the people I was meeting.
I ended up starting a company
and now I'm well established here.
And tell us about these projects you have done here in Berlin.
I understand that you are now starting WunderAgent.
Could you please tell us a bit more about this project you are developing?
Yes. WunderAgent is my third company in Berlin.
I have two German partners,
which I think is very important when you are in the local market.
What we are doing is a real estate agent business.
They have recently changed the law.
In January (2015) the German parliament approved a law called "Bestellerprinzip"
which means that from June 1st (2015) the commission for houses in rent
will not be paid by the tenant but by the owner of the house
or by the real estate agency managing the house.
This turns the real estate market upside down
since the owners need to start considering:
how much does it really cost me?
On average it is 2,300 euros to rent a house.
And who am I going to pay it to?
The real estate agent system has not changed during the last 40 years.
It is managed in the exact same way
and myself as a technical person
together with my team who has a lot of experience in real estate agencies
we are automating all that can be automated.
A big part of the business requires people.
It requires a personal contact.
Therefore, we partnered with approximately 800 people across the country
in order to provide that part
and the rest we are automating with computers.
Therefore, we can offer the same service for 30%, 35% of the cost.
Are you visualizing this as a project that will grow not only in Germany
but also can expand globally?
Or are you considering it as a solution for the local market?
The real estate market is always very local.
Our vision is in the next 2 years to be across Europe
but one local market at a time
since they are very different.
The personal relationships are very strong and have been there for many years
which makes it very difficult to arrive with a website and change it.
In addition, we need to have people onsite in each place.
So we started with Germany.
We started to program in December (2014), January this year (2015)
and now we have 13 people in the team.
We plan to double it in the next 6 months.
It is going well, very well.
A lot of work. They keep me working Saturday and Sunday. There is a lot to do.
How does all this startup experience you have gathered
has allowed you to contribute and to connect with Mexico?
I spend all years 2 months in Mexico,
I promised it to my mother,
and I take advantage to escape from the winter here.
That is something very important for me.
I also participate in different accelerators and incubators in Berlin
and in the Red Global MX
to meet other people who shares common interests with me.
First, because I learn a lot from them and I like that part
and second because I can help them with questions
and connect them with other people looking for people like them.
This has allowed me to have conversations
where I can share my experience.
My first company here did not work.
We had 680,000 euros from different German investment funds.
We were well backed, but it did not work and we had to close.
I have many stories to share.
I can share the successes and failures openly
to allow them to learn from things that happened to me
before they happen to them.
Therefore, I would like to think that I can inspire people to think it is possible,
since it is an example that it is possible,
and help them to make it possible.
Weston, many thanks once again for joining us
and thanks to all of you who are watching us
and following us in this series of interviews.
We invite you to see other videos which are part of this series
and we primarily invite you to share these videos with other Mexicans
who can get inspired and who can help us to strengthen this relationship between Mexico and Germany.
Many thanks.
For more infomation >> Cómo superar el odio a los lunes - Duration: 3:00. 
For more infomation >> ¿Disec Rok o Disec Kripton? ¿Qué escudo de seguridad elegir? - Duration: 3:07. 
For more infomation >> El Rey noquea a Colau e independentistas en su discurso más firme tras el 1-O - Duration: 4:16. 
For more infomation >> Wyoming "hace caja" con el enfado del vecino que denunció al Reyes Puigdemont - Duration: 3:27. 
For more infomation >> Cómo alimentarse durante el embarazo - Duration: 7:07. 
For more infomation >> Las redes sociales se ceban con el tono chulesco de Marhuenda en La Sexta Noche - Duration: 3:00. 
For more infomation >> Pingyao Ancient City · Ciudad Antigua - Ciudad Eterna · China - Duration: 5:27. 
For more infomation >> Big Gummy Vs. Lil Gummy
For more infomation >> Entertainment News 247 - ポグバ、監督との確執でマンU退団加速…代理人はすでに交渉中か - Duration: 2:21. 
For more infomation >> Opel Corsa 1.2 16V 5D '111'Edition - AIRCO - LM VELGEN - Duration: 0:54. 
For more infomation >> Předpověď na 24h - 26. 2. 2018 - Duration: 1:29. 
For more infomation >> Opel Corsa 1.4 16V 3D Edition - Duration: 0:54. 
For more infomation >> 口座の開設が早いおすすめ国内取引所3選！販売所取引所完備 手数料も安いキャンペーン実施中 3社比較も!日本語で安心説明 - Duration: 3:36. 
For more infomation >> Audi A4 Allroad 3.0 TDI 245pk quattro Pro Line Interieurvoorv| Panodak - Duration: 1:03. 
For more infomation >> Opsamling af LSE Beveridge 2.0 i London med Mads Roke Clausen - Duration: 6:50. 
For more infomation >> Rozenek ledwo wróciła z Tajlandii i znów wylatuje. Internauci mają z niej niezły ubaw - Duration: 2:31. 
For more infomation >> Toyota Aygo 1.0 VVT-i x-clusiv 5drs - Duration: 0:59. 
For more infomation >> Toyota Avensis Touring Sports 1.8 VVT-I Bussines Pro | Toyota Safety Sense | Panoramadak | Navigatie - Duration: 1:00. 
For more infomation >> Toyota Avensis Touring Sports 1.8 VVT-I Business Pro | Navigatie | panoramadak | Lederen bekleding | - Duration: 1:01. 
For more infomation >> Japan Vlog #3 北海道吃吃吃＋滑雪！|| Hokkaido Soup Curry! Snowboarding! - Duration: 6:35. 
For more infomation >> Kingdoms Of Arda Soundtrack Developer Blog 3 Part 1 - Insights - Duration: 14:10. 
For more infomation >> Como Tornar-se PODEROSO no Mundo em que Vivemos | Ivan Maia - Duration: 6:37. 
For more infomation >> BHV MARAIS - Duration: 1:01. 
For more infomation >> Alvorada com Omar Nascimento - 26/02/2018 - TEORIA E PRÁTICA - Duration: 2:09. 
No comments:
Post a Comment