Alumna, Alessia Cacaveri, started her business days after graduating from the University.
Date: 1 June 2017
Hi, my name is Alessia Cacaveri and I’m a London Met Creative Writing graduate. I’d like to tell you about how I went from a BA degree in Creative Writing to founding a travel tech start-up and preparing to disrupt the travel industry.
I graduated in 2015 after three intense years of, well, making up stories and writing them down. I’ve enjoyed every single word of them and when the time to find a real job knocked on the door, I wished it involved some kind of writing. Of course, I considered to write a novel and add writer to my LinkedIn profile, but I soon decided to put that thought on hold for my rent’s sake. One month after graduation, I landed a job as copywriter for a small creative agency.
My role mainly required content creation for social media and regular blogging but due to the small size of the agency I was involved with a variety of projects, dealing with different tasks. The agency worked with small and medium businesses and after a couple of months of training, I was given a portfolio of clients of my own. That, I suppose, is the real perk of working within such a small environment: you get to learn so much, so quickly. My experience here has been extremely beneficial because it taught me how to rely on myself and on limited resources while always getting the job done well. This is definitely something you don’t experience in big organizations and it became extremely useful when, six months ago, one of the most exciting adventures of my life began: founding Grumgo, a travel tech start-up.
I’m not a technical person at all and if you mentioned Python, AI or VR (tech jargon for things too complicated to get for non-techies) less than a year ago I would have nodded nonchalantly. Nevertheless travel has always been a big part of my life and on the way back from a short trip to Stockholm I saw the chance to turn this passion into a job…and I discovered the world of technology.
Today, I’m the CEO and co-founder along three partners (two of whom are a lot more technical then me) of Grumgo, a travel app designed for the modern traveller looking for a smart and time efficient way to plan activities during a short trip and who want a bespoke experience.
The Grumgo mobile app makes it possible for users to experience a truly unique and personalised trip, in just few taps, thanks to the innovative application of travel psychology and our algorithm powered by artificial intelligence.
Becoming your own boss and attempting to start a business is an amazing adventure and a priceless and never-ending learning process. It’s not easy, it requires a lot of hard work but it’s worth it. Because, just like with writing stories, you know you are making up something that was born out of an idea. And if you get lucky, this something may work as well!
I have yet to see if we are lucky, but the end of August, two years from my graduation at the Barbican Centre, will mark the first big achievement for us, the official launch of Grumgo.
