A project in the making

THIS PROJECT IS ABOUT HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR COMPANY’S “SILOS” AND TRANSFORM THEM IN A VALUABLE ASSETSocial capital refers to the connections between individuals that can be economically valuable. Social networks that include people who trust and assist each other can be a powerful asset. These relationships between individuals and companies can lead to a state in which each will think of the other when something needs to be done. Along with economic capital, social capital is a valuable mechanism for growth. Close the gap between your human resources and your social capital!

10 points1. Mission2. Problem3. Solution4. Market Size5. Business Model

6. Proprietary Tech7. Competitors8. Marketing Plan9. Team10. Financing

HR strategy: help employees share their homes with colleagues from other cities/ countries!

ODYSSEY will be an internal hospitality exchange platform for companies willing to support low cost travellingfor their employees.Access on the platform is a BENEFIT offered by the employer. The employees’ enrollment is voluntarily.Odyssey will be “The new HR fashion”.The mission:◦ help companies with inter/national presence create a great work place benefit - by offering the Odyssey program for employees, and strengthen their brand as a valuable employer

Odyssey promise• Odyssey delivers the SAFEST and MOST ENGAGING customized hospitality exchange platform for the employees to pursue sharing their own resources, developing and learning through travelling (in their free time). • It makes learning through travelling accessible and a great experience!

Problem: increasing percent of employee disengagement at workplace.“Employee engagement, like culture, has become a CEO-level issue. Companies now compete to win “BEST PLACE TO WORK” surveys and monitor social media carefully. There is an escalating war to design great workspaces, provide flexible benefits, and create great corporate cultures in an effort to drive higher engagement.” Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016CompanyHow much did I spend on developing my employees? What can I do more to inspire my employees and help them stay more with the company? What can I do more to increase their engagement and productivity? Is remote/ flexible working an issue in my company?

EmployeeI would like more flexibility. I wonder ifI could start working remote, for some days/month…“Quit and travel” is not for me but I would really like to travel more, to meet new people and see new places.

Maintaining/building new healthy habits for your employees – this is also development! Spark their interest in learning NEW LANGUAGES.Help them try being GREAT HOSTS/ VISITORS; improve their sensitiveness and knowledge about other cultures. Create the context in which they exercise tolerance, understanding, collaboration and expect SOCIAL SKILLS improvement.Help them TOUCH THEIR DREAMS of travelling the world.… through Odyssey!

Inside hospitality exchange - the Couchsurfing.com example

Inside hospitality exchange - the Airbnb.com example

Inside hospitality exchange - the Airbnb.com example

Is traveling a real need?

A list of the 100 most searchedfor non-branded keywords on Google,

in the United States, as of 25 Oct. 2015

Size of MarketTop Down“HR technology landscape is now more than a $15 billion market” Forbes.com

Bottom up:1.2 billion people traveled outside their countries' borders for at least one night in 2015 (increasing, says UNWTO)A lot of people actively search for ways to increase the amount of travel and decrease the amount of costs – explaining the rise of Couchsurfing.com and AirBnB.com “76 percent of global travelers say PRICE is an important decision making factor when choosing an accommodation.” TripAdvisor (reaching 350 million unique monthly visitors in 2015), the world's largest travel site. Available Total Market Size: Today, some 50,000 multinational enterprises and their 450,000 affiliates employ over 200 million people throughout the world. (International Labor Organization) Let alone some governments which are very large employers (for. ex. National Health Service in UK employs 1.7 mil.)

Odyssey Business ModelTransactional: ◦ Initial charge for tailoring of the service for every client◦ Monthly charge for maintenance of the platform and animating the network – based on an internal marketing & communication plan agreed with the customer◦ Free basic hospitality exchange service for employees

Advertising:◦ charge employees a small fee for additional services offered within the platform (for example holiday house swaps for longer periods or exchanging holidays for their children)◦ charge other companies for sponsored listings (air tickets, travel shops etc.)

UniqunessINCREASED SAFETY - EMPLOYERS hold DATA/records of their EMPLOYEES and thus Odyssey as an internal, closed, network will have a perceived increased safety in comparison with any other open network (note that all other existing online hospitality exchange networks have some issues regarding safety) CUSTOMIZED INTERNAL MARKETING & COMMUNICATION PLAN (upon agreement) to stimulate exchanges within the Odyssey network: EPIC and AWESOME content pouring in from users| Build a thriving community around the idea of hospitality exchange| Prizes for sharing the experience, writing contests | Establishing groups/forums on passions etc. Odyssey must develop a proprietary matching algorithm for guests & hosts with the aim of helping users to choose the best match between the exchange requests from other users. Spin off services: 1 - assisting the client company with implementing research aiming at understanding how employees develop/ consolidate their skills through this new type of experience 2 - assisting with the implementation of (long/ short term) personal rotation or remote working projects – if the case … For example employees could swap homes and work from another country for a number of days agreed with the employer (and depending on the merits of the employee). Would that be motivating? No, it would not…

It would just be

Competitors:Online possible competitionNone! Airbnb.com, Couchsurfing.com and other hospitality exchange network are not on the B2B market.

OfflineInternational Association of Policemen and some banking organizations – they have a limited hotel infrastructure build for their users.

MENSA, Jehovah Witnesses, SERVAS and some other organizationswith inter/national presence have hospitality exchange services onlyfor their members – it is a very small niche but it is worth notingthat people come together based on interests and passions.

Financing“HR technology landscape, which is now more than a $15 billion market in software, is exploding with growth and innovation. Fueled by this new cycle of innovation, private equity and venture capital firms are investing heavily in the space. The top 50 HR technology investment deals this year were over $560 million and the top 50 learning and educational tech deals were over $800 million” Forbes.com

OOPS!This is not a new idea. Hospitality exchange is around for decades.

But it is an idea whose value is increasing on the market and it suits the emerging complexity of the still unfolding sharing economy.

Love it? Improve it!Mail to: loredana.niculae@gmail.com