Today's guest, Eliane Lugassy is the Founder and CEO of French-based business Witco, an all-in-one app for more serviced and collaborative spaces such as offices, co-working, co-living, residences and student housing to improve communication, community and provide a one-stop shop for all of a building’s services and amenities. 

In this episode, Eliane talks through her decision to leap into entrepreneurship and has a very honest conversation about the challenges that she has faced as an entrepreneur, particularly as female, and how she has overcome them. We also dive into what Witco is and how the pandemic and hybrid working transformed their offering, as well as her experience launching in multiple countries at one time including the UK, Spain and Germany and the challenges that come with hiring internationally.

Questions covered: 

1. Tell us a bit about yourself and the story behind Witco 
2. What made you make the decision to leap into entrepreneurship? 
3. With your product being about being in the office how did the normalisation of hybrid working change it?
4. You’ve launched your product in multiple other countries, including the UK, France, Spain and Germany. How did you approach international launch? What were the key learning points from launching in multiple countries? 
5. Have you faced any challenges when it comes to hiring internationally?
6. What challenges have you faced as an entrepreneur and how have you overcome them?
7. Do you think being a female entrepreneur has its own challenges? 
8. And finally, what one piece of advice would you give to someone looking to start their own business? 

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