New years resolution inspirations: 4 tech entrepreneurs reveal their goals for 2021

UK Tech News interviewed 4 entrepreneurs including our CEO, Faisal Galaria, about their News Year’s resolutions.

2020 has finally come to an end, and 2021 has just begun. The start of a new calendar year is a perfect time to sit down, reflect, and prepare a list of changes you want to make in your life. 

Making New Year’s resolutions is popular but how many people follow and accomplish them is rather grim. According to the study, only 8% achieve their resolution, remaining who set New Year resolutions fail although they were confident at the beginning. 

Regardless of whether achieved or not, most of us move forward and make a new resolutions, hoping for the best. To get you inspired, we have shared some of the tech entrepreneurs’ most significant resolutions. Read the article to find out!

#1 New year 2021 resolution: Teach instead of preach! 

The CEO of Wonderflow Riccardo Osti says he is all set to do less and teach more this 2021. He also wants to cut down on “control everything” stuff and enable others to do their job better. 

He says, “As a founder, you tend to control everything and don’t dedicate enough time to enable others to do their jobs better. So this year, I want to let it go and help others do things the way I would.” 

Based out of Amsterdam, Wonderflow, the European big data company helps companies by implementing their AI technology to analyse consumer feedback in electronics, HR, financial services and more. They recently also closed a £1.8 million investment. 

 #2 Embrace the chaos and move forward 

2020 was unbelievably stressful for everyone in one or other way. Keeping the optimism alive, Danielle Lawrence, co-founder & CEO, Freyda is taking forward all the lessons she learned from 2020 into 2021. 

She points out, “2020 showed us that so much in our personal and professional lives is beyond our control. Nonetheless, I think we can learn to react with speed, strength, and grace. I’m also learning to be more protective of my time this year, it’s ok not to take that fifth zoom call of the day if it doesn’t serve your goals for your business.” 

Based in London, Freyda is a cloud-based software that helps financial institutions process, interpret, and analyse data from documents. The startup recently raised a pre-seed round of £625,000. With the investment, Freyda’s mission is to help users free their data and time so that they can focus on high-value, high-impact work.

Lawrence holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Bristol and started her career in asset management at Goldman Sachs’ Alternative Investments and Manager Selection Group covering over £29 billion of private equity commitments. 

#3 Move quicker and be more decisive

Faisal Galaria, the CEO of Blippar is all set to focus relentlessly on developing “BlippBuilder,” an AR content creation platform, and leveraging the platform to build award-winning AR experiences for our clients. 

“My resolution for Blippar in 2021 is for us to move even quicker and more decisively than we did in 2020. We’ve been waiting patiently for signs of the inflection point for augmented reality (AR) and related technologies, to finally break out from B2B use cases and “geekdom” into the mainstream for nearly a decade and then COVID-19 changed everything.”

Galaria continues, “To move fast, it is important to simplify and last year we focused on developing our AR capability. As the AR market grows rapidly with new and arguably big players coming into the market, I’m reminded of a saying from Niklas Zenstromm who I worked within the early days of Skype; “it’s not the big that beats the small, it’s the fast that beats the slow.” 

He believes moving quickly will require to flex the startup memory muscles and adapt to changes with conviction. “We’ve made several choices already including doubling down on AR and we’re lucky to have a team of world-class technologists, innovators, and experts in AR.”

Blippar is a technology company specialising in augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and computer vision. The London-based company has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible in AR and has helped thousands of brands, retailers, and agencies use AR /AI across the consumer journey to deepen customer engagement, drive footfall, and increase sales. 

#4 Rediscovering your fundamentals

At the same time, Stefan Boronea, co-founder & CTO, Proportunity emphasised that COVID-19 pandemic has made us all realise how fragile our lives are and how thin the layer of security in our society. This year he is all set to focus on all the key aspects of life.

He notes, “2020 was the year we all peaked behind the thin layer of security our society is built on, only to realise it was thinner than we thought. It was however, also a year when we rediscovered the fundamentals that make us human. Family, friends, good health, and a home to call your own were now more important than ever. Focusing on all these key aspects of life is tough as an entrepreneur, but I’ll make at least part of that my resolution for 2021. I’m looking forward to buying a home (with Proportunity, obviously), and helping some more folks around the UK regain a bit of security and control with our help. Fingers crossed for that end of 2021 housewarming party after the vaccine is rolled out!” 

UK’s tech-enabled mortgage lender, Proportunity helps home buyers own a home they love. The company uses machine learning to accurately forecast house prices and up-and-coming areas, providing loans to buyers looking to purchase homes in forecasted high-growing areas. Recently, they also raised £7.5 million to manage record demand following Britain’s post-lockdown housing boom.

Published in UK Tech News.