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My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything - Business (2) - Nairaland

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My Startup Journey / Problem With My Startup / Nigeria’s Hotels.ng Grabs $1.2M To Expand Listings Across Africa (2) (3) (4)

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Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Edwardhead(m): 10:03am On May 28, 2015
I will share my testimony one day

11 Likes 2 Shares

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by anonimi: 10:03am On May 28, 2015
Great news, OP.

I am really happy and hope you will promote LOCAL tourism in Nigeria.

More vaseline to your elbows and more $$$$$$ and plus N=N=N=N= to your bank accounts as well grin grin

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by mauriemaxwell: 10:03am On May 28, 2015
will comment later.. I dey come
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by thefakestan: 10:03am On May 28, 2015
What's more can I say


Well done



ThefakeStan

1 Like

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by bigheart2013(m): 10:04am On May 28, 2015
Sir, how does someone with $1.2mil have time for Nairaland? I really envy you. I wish I could have such a biz where you make such a money and still have this type of time.

4 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by braine(m): 10:04am On May 28, 2015
cool
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by anonimi: 10:05am On May 28, 2015
bigheart2013:
Sir, how does someone with $1.2mil have time time for Nairaland? I really envy you.

Did you check his profile

He has time to SHARE and encourage mentally LAZY youths to get up, do something and create VALUE aka greater systems/processes EFFICIENCY that others will be happy to pay for.
See

15 Likes 2 Shares

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Nobody: 10:06am On May 28, 2015
May God continue to crown ur hussle with resounding success.

3 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by kevoh(m): 10:12am On May 28, 2015
Nice one Mr.Essien, Now I know I'm also on the right part. This is a great source of motivation. smiley

2 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by bukkytroni: 10:13am On May 28, 2015
Honestly at MarkEssien, thank you for your contribution to the entrepreneurial space. Your story is a huge breath of fresh air.
As regards funding, would like to know what more rounds of fund raising you are looking to and what your projections are. I have a few foreign tech PEs who will be interested in brilliant opportunities like yours and may want to consider co-investing.
You could PM me for further discussions.

Congrats for what you are doing and the landmark feat.

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by smsdigito: 10:13am On May 28, 2015
Nice one !
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by oladimejiX: 10:13am On May 28, 2015
its true that when you code yourself you take away a lot of start up cost and its great to know you are a coder.
what platform is the site developed on? and how long did it take you to complete a working version? i.e hotels.ng ver1.0

2 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by adamskutty(m): 10:14am On May 28, 2015
Abeg make i do follow the guy sharp! Sharp! , i have lots of things to learn from him. grin

2 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by ketekete: 10:15am On May 28, 2015
This shows you guys that everything takes time, and its never too late to start something. It took Mark 3 or less years to build a business that has attracted more than $1.8m.

Hard Work Pays..
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by dljbd1(m): 10:15am On May 28, 2015
Happy Birthday Initialize cool

cc: Stancity cheesy

2 Likes 1 Share

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Zeezy99: 10:18am On May 28, 2015
How do you make ur money? Do the hotels pay you commission for each customer booked?

3 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Chukwutobi: 10:18am On May 28, 2015
bigheart2013:
Sir, how does someone with $1.2mil have time for Nairaland? I really envy you. I wish I could have such a biz where you make such a money and still have this type of time.

It is a means to getting more traffic.

9 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by FBS: 10:19am On May 28, 2015
Nice site...kudos.



7004 hotels? How accurate is this?

Plus, honestly, how do you compete with jovago?

2 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Nobody: 10:19am On May 28, 2015
anonimi:
Great news, OP.

I am really happy and hope you will promote LOCAL tourism in Nigeria.

More vaseline to your elbows and more $$$$$$ and plus N=N=N=N= to your bank accounts as well grin grin

So you can make a normal comment like this? I'll give u one like 4 a change.
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Heromaniaa: 10:19am On May 28, 2015
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Nobody: 10:20am On May 28, 2015
Hello Mr Essien?

1. Do you plan to get listed as a public company soon?
2. Can you give us an insight into how much time and financial instruments you expended during the research and development phase?
3. I have used booking.com in the past and one of the features I enjoyed was the no deposit and cancellable, refundable booking feature. How much of this kind of flexibility should we expect from hotels.ng?
4. How much of the volatile North East areas did you include in your clientele data base and what challenges with regards to this did you encounter? In general, what "Nigerian factors" did you wish you could have easily avoided?

Thank you.

4 Likes 1 Share

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by nairaman66(m): 10:21am On May 28, 2015
What are you long term goals in Nigeria and Africa at large?

I could liken your success to that of jobber man, do you see any similarities?

Are you venturing into the hotel business or just want to remain significant in the booking line?

Thanks a million!!

1 Like 1 Share

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by 4stylz: 10:24am On May 28, 2015
Seun:
Yes, it's Mark Essien.

Great Job seun; You are really good at what you are doing; not Dele momudu who turned his oviation into a political forum; not good for the business

5 Likes 1 Share

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by gmart(m): 10:25am On May 28, 2015
This is very unusual and I want to commend Mark Essen for availing us the opportunity to learn from his experience.

I have a few questions to ask as I'm currently working on a young startup that was launched this January:

What works as regards marketing and publicity? We have invested quite a lot on social media marketing but it seems it is not as effective as we had anticipated. Do you prefer adwords to facebook ads?

How long did it take you to reach your first 20,000 monthly unique visitors after launch?

Did you experience declining traffic at any point or was the growth always progressive? If you did, what measures did you take to remedy it?

When was the 'Ah ha' moment for you? That point you realised this has definitely got to be big now.

N.B: I have included the URL of the startup, not for publicity but just so you can better understand what we are doing and be able to advise more appropriately. ( http://www.unisells.com )

Anticipating your response.

Thanks.

2 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Setaje(f): 10:27am On May 28, 2015
Hello Mark. I have done an interview with you before. In your office around alagomeji if am not mistaken. It was one of my worst interviews ever. I was nervous for reasons best known to me. That was early last year. Heard about the interview from a friend who was working at iroko tv. I didn't even no the post I was applying for but I just sent in my application. I new I won't be called back. I would like to have another chance to prove myself haven gotten a bit of experience.


I hope you post vacancies here on nairaland. Thankyou.

9 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by debbydee(f): 10:28am On May 28, 2015
Good day Mr. Essien

i am inspired by your story. its encouraging and i believe other entrepreneurs like me have learnt one thing from you.

Thanks for taking time out to visit NL.

God bless.

Cheers.

6 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by kayfeez(m): 10:29am On May 28, 2015
I CUT HEAD FOR YOU!
What a genius you are, u got me inspired.... how can I start working with you?
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by tellwisdom: 10:30am On May 28, 2015
bigheart2013:
Sir, how does someone with $1.2mil have time for Nairaland? I really envy you. I wish I could have such a biz where you make such a money and still have this type of time.

Are you poor??...1.2 million is nothing compared to the amount few men are making yearly.

6 Likes

Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by MaziOmenuko: 10:32am On May 28, 2015
How do I invest in your business? Is there opportunities for someone (like me) to partner with your dream?
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by Howmon: 10:32am On May 28, 2015
So excited today than any other day. God bless you Essien. Back to the matter!!! I tried checking ur site from BlackBerry Q10 kindly help fix this popup make I "gboriwole"
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by anonimi: 10:32am On May 28, 2015
django1:
So you can make a normal comment like this? I'll give u one like 4 a change.

Na why you dey pretend like sey you nor sabi me before before for this NL? grin grin

Ija lode ti orin d'owe - na fight reach wey song turn to proverb.

Nor be so
Re: My Startup Hotels.ng Just Raised $1.2m. Ask Me Anything by olatricia(m): 10:33am On May 28, 2015
Like seriously!!!! Wat kind of dps are those?
Setaje:
Hello Mark. I have done an interview with you before. In your office around alagomeji if am not mistaken. It was one of my worst interviews ever. I was nervous for reasons best known to me. That was early last year. Heard about the interview from a friend who was working at iroko tv. I didn't even no the post I was applying for but I just sent in my application. I new I won't be called back. I would like to have another chance to prove myself haven gotten a bit of experience.


I hope you post vacancies here on nairaland. Thankyou.

1 Like

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