Our latest Startup for 10 is Bristol-based Yuup. The business was founded last year, just as local businesses truly needed all the help and support they could get, to showcase the range of unique experiences to discover in the region. The team of 4 have built out the online resources with the help of supporters, partners and experience hosts.
Here to answer our 10 questions is CEO and founder Dominic Mills:
1 – In your own words – what do you do?
We help people find and book local experiences to do with their friends and family.
We help local, passionate people turn their skill into an experience they can make money from.
2 – What’s the most exciting thing about what you’re doing?
The incredible range and diversity of experience hosts and therefore experiences people can enjoy in Bristol. We always hoped when we started Yuup, that we would uncover a huge range of things to do, but with over 250 experiences on or in the pipeline the reality is even more exciting than we hoped.
In just 20 weeks we have been joined by, actors, animators, archers, artists, axe throwers, beekeepers, bouncers, chefs, comedians, cyclists, doodlers, farmers, foragers, hypnotherapists, jewellers, pilots, potters, story-tellers, up-cyclers and weavers.
3 – What are you most proud of so far?
Yuup creates revenue for local people and businesses. This is why we exist.
4 – What have you found most difficult about being a startup?
Beyond launching a business that involves physical experiences in a Global Pandemic?
Seriously, the hardest thing is prioritising. There are so many ways we can enhance the offer to hosts, so many incredible people we would love to hire, or places we can spend our marketing budget.
5 – What would you do differently if you started now?
It’s still early days, and we are learning and evolving a lot, but everything we have done has proved helpful.
6 – Where do you think you’ll be in 12 months?
Think or hope? We hope everyone is Bristol will know there is an easy way to find and book local experiences.
7 – What tools/people/services/organisations from the cluster have helped you most?
We partnered with Bristol-based CookiesHQ to build our platform and have found them to be the perfect agency partner for an ambitious start-up. Pragmatic and results-focused, highly collaborative yet not afraid to challenge their clients, super creative and technically excellent and most important lovely people.
8 – What’s the best thing about the Bristol & Bath tech cluster?
The energy and drive to do great things – there are so many fantastic community driven initiatives that truly represent and champion the diversity of our great region.
9 – Who will you be nominating for a SPARKie next year?
That’s a tough question – there are so many strong contenders, but I would have to say Neighbourly for helping businesses make a positive impact in their communities.
10 – Where can we find out more about you?
If you want to find out more about us, buy an experience or become an experience host just go to yuup.co. Keep up to date by signing up for our email or following us on Instagram @say.yuup or LinkedIn.
