Global startups like JOINB2B pick Hungary as their country of origin – Interview

Today many entrepreneurs choose Hungary as the country of their dream startups. We ask one of them, Galib Mammadov from Azerbaijan about what he thinks about Hungary and what his thoughts about business atmosphere of Hungary are.  

DailyNewsHungary: How you learnt about Hungary?

Galib: I have learnt about Hungary back in the day when I was in high school. I know it has a great history and a rich culture. Its capital city Budapest is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Thus, it is a nice place to be.  

DailyNewsHungary: How business atmosphere in Hungary attracted you?

Galib: Actually one of our co-founders lives and works in Budapest. He convinced me to conduct a research about Hungary and told me that it is a great place for startups.

I figured out that Budapest is an entrepreneurial hub of Central and East Europe.

I was quite impressed with the fact that Forbes named Budapest as one of five entrepreneurial hubs in Europe.  We decided that we want to be at the center of events and always be in touch with other startups, investors, accelerators etc… Budapest gives us great chances to reach such goals.

DailyNewsHungary: If we are not mistaken, you are a co-founder of a startup www.joinb2b.com. Where did the idea come from?

Galib: That is true; we founded a startup called JoinB2B. The idea came up like two years ago when my co-worker Chingiz Mehbaliyev disclosed his idea about starting a global B2B matchmaker.  At that time, it was just a raw idea and he needed a good team to make this happen. To be honest I trusted Chingiz and was aware of his entrepreneurial skills so, I did not challenge the idea that much. I believe in people more than I believe in ideas. In a process of project execution, I got in love with the idea.  

DailyNewsHungary: What is the mission statement of JOINB2B? Could you tell us about it, please?

Galib: The mission of JoinB2B is to match companies to each other depending on their target country/city, business purpose and products/tenders. JoinB2B is only for commercial companies, thus physical persons are not allowed to create their profiles at this network. Our website helps companies to find their local and international business partners as well as contact them directly. An advanced search system of JoinB2B helps users to find not just companies, also needed products (services) and tenders. It helps business owners to keep their partners and competitors in their horizon of view as well as get connected with new ones any time. I have to mention that all features of JoinB2B are free at the moment.

DailyNewsHungary: Is it a social network for companies? Why business owners shall pick JoinB2B over other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn?

Galib: It is actually a very good question.

JoinB2B is a business network for companies. We do not define it as social network, thus we think social network is not a right definition for that.

Many would agree that LinkedIn is the most effective B2B tool we have today. LinkedIn with its business orientation is still a social networking service provider, but not a purely business networking services provider. When you, as a business owner enter your LinkedIn account, you enter to the platform with all kinds of professionals, job seekers, interns, students etc. In addition, you face email soliciting filling your mailbox with emails from job seekers; you see posts that not related to the business. Long story short, you face a lot of distraction before you get chance to meet your B2B needs, which is discouraging. Your business platform should be like your conference room where you want to meet only your potential partners. You would not want to see HR assistants, desperate job seekers, and curious interns in your conference room in order to achieve your B2B goals. Companies deserve to have their own platform (purely businesslike) where they are in contact only with companies. Unlike other social networks, JoinB2B connects only businesses and no B2H, H2H or B2C interactions happen in that platform which makes it purely B2B network.

DailyNewsHungary: Do you already have registered users? Do any Hungarian companies use JoinB2B?

Galib: Within a year of operation and without any significant marketing costs, we were able to attract hundreds of registered companies from more than 53 countries and 100 cities all over the world. Yes, we have dozens of registered companies from Hungary.

Thus, global startup ecosystem www.startupblink.com rated www.joinb2b.com #35 startup within 131 best startups in Budapest.

DailyNewsHungary: Why do you think companies should search their business partners on Joinb2b?

Galib: We truly think finding your desired partner company is much easier on Joinb2b than on Google. Imagine you type “car producing company in Berlin targeting Hungarian market for the purpose of opening its branch” on Google. I do not think Google will understand exactly what you want directly without any waste of time. But on JoinB2B you can easily find the exact companies you want just by selecting your country, city, company size, industry, b2b purpose, target country and target city. JoinB2B is more effective than Google when it comes to finding your business partner.

DailyNewsHungary: We know that future is unpredictable, but what are your plans?

Galib: Our plans are to get our voice heard as much as possible and to serve as much companies as we can. We plan to get our first seed investment which will help us to grow even faster.

DailyNewsHungary: Which fact you know about Hungary impresses you them most?

Galib: Hungary was home to John Von Neumann who was great mathematician that created first concept of digital computer. In addition,

Budapest, Hungary aspires to be the European capital of startups by 2020.

I also know that it has the lowest corporate tax in EU which encourages us to set up our business in this country. Such facts are source of inspiration for our team and me.

DailyNewsHungary: Thanks for an interesting interview.

Galib: Thanks for your questions and your invitation for this interview. We appreciate your hard work in raising awareness about Hungary-based startups.

Source: Daily News Hungary