Wise Words with Carina Schichl and Tanja Sieder

Carina and Tanja are co-founders of Nectar & Pulse, a personalized travel guide creation service already harboring plans to encompass an additional 9 cities.

Carina and Tanja are co-founders of Nectar & Pulse, a personalised travel guide creation service. The pair, who have lived in Salzburg, Vienna, Hamburg, London, New York, Stockholm and Munich together, met while studying design and product management in Salzburg, before founding Nectar & Pulse in 2010.

Nectar & Pulse enables users to browse through a list of locals from the destination they wish to travel to. They can read about what these locals enjoy doing in order to determine whether they would be interested in hearing their local tips. If they are, they can click to add that person to their “shopping basket”. Once they have finished adding locals to their basket, Nectar & Pulse will print and deliver a customized travel guide to the user, complete with all the tips and hot-spots recommended by those in their shopping basket. Currently Stockholm, Vienna and London are supported, with plans to expand to Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Munich, Salzburg, Amsterdam, New York, Tel Aviv and Hamburg.

1. Where did the idea for Nectar & Pulse come from?

We have travelled around the world but never found a guide which really satisfied our needs – so we decided to create our own.

2. Your approach is very curated; do you think you will be able to achieve the scale to take this concept truly global?

Definitely! Around the world there are enough urban nomads who are looking for a different, design-oriented guide, based on the insider tips of selected locals. More and more people want individualized, personal and authentic products.

3. Can you describe a typical working day?

We never have a “typical” day. Each one looks different. We love this adventurous and diverse lifestyle of having our own business. All in all, we write and answer a lot of emails, make phone calls to clients or business partners, drink a lot of coffee, discuss future plans, count numbers, edit our guides, laugh a lot, blog, twitter, facebook, manage our orders, write bills, take pictures and document our journey, pitch to sales partners, book flights, cook, exchange our experiences with our best friends, travel, read a lot about new spots which opened or research for new potential local soulmates. Meet people and test various spots. We never go to bed before midnight.

4. How do you unwind or relax when you’re not working on Nectar & Pulse?

Cinema and concerts. Sauna and Yoga. Running and skinny dipping. Skiing and dancing. Painting and baking. Reading and observing. Indulging and Loving. And of course: travelling

5. What’s the secret ingredient to success as an entrepreneur?

Passion. Persistence. Power.

6. What drove you crazy when building your business?

That everything took longer than expected. We are both quite impatient so that drove us crazy sometimes. 

7. What motivates you to keep going?

Our big vision to create an international different lifestyle brand. Each other. Our soulmates.

8. If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

Nothing, since all mistakes were good experiences and made NECTAR & PULSE and us into the business and people we are today.

9. Where do you see your business in five years, and how will you get there?

NECTAR & PULSE will be an international lifestyle brand. We will have offices in Munich, Stockholm, Berlin and New York. We produce city guides for 50 different cities and additional products inspired by travelling. We will have an inspiring design studio combined with a little café, gallery and NECTAR & PULSE flagship store. How we will get there? Continue, persist and work hard.

10. If you weren’t working on Nectar & Pulse, what would you be doing?

We would probably be dead. There is no alternative for us.

11. Tell Springwise a secret…

Well, maybe not a secret any longer but we both tattooed one part of the company name on our wrists. Carina is Pulse. Tanja is Nectar.

12. Any final words for aspiring entrepreneurs?

1. Believe in yourself, your skills and your idea. 2. Find a great business partner you trust. It’s easier if you are two. 3. If you feel dejected – CONTINUE! 4. Focus on one idea and execute this one idea well. 5. Take risks! You have nothing to lose. 6. Surround yourself with people who see the potential in you and your idea, who are there when you fail and when you celebrate your successes. 7. Get it out there. 8. Take care of your customers and fans and… 9. Listen to them! 10. Don’t forget that it’s a game. You can’t win or lose it, you can only play it. Have fun!

You can read more about Nectar & Pulse in our article here, or visit the Nectar & Pulse website here.