Sergio Caballero, computer engineer and senior specialist at the UPF Computing Service; Pablo López-Aguilar, engineer in Telecommunications at UPF, and Giovanni Giusti, who is about to read his doctoral thesis within the PhD in Economics, Finance and Management at UPF are the creators of RespondOn, the project that was a Runner-up in the 7 ^th Edition of the UPFEmprèn Award for Business Achievement and Capacity, created by the Board of Trustees of UPF and the Banco Sabadell Foundation, to encourage entrepreneurial spirit among young university students and strengthen ties between university innovation and the social and productive fabric.

It was awarded on 7 November at a ceremony held in the Mercè Rodoreda auditorium on the Ciutadella campus, presided by Jaume Casals UPF Rector.

RespondOn is a system that allows companies to establish direct and permanent dialogue with their customers, while allowing their customers to communicate with all their favourite companies through a single mobile application. The companies have access to a single command panel from which they can send out questionnaires, analyse the results, receive messages and award prizes redeemable directly from the customers' mobile phone. The customers of the companies can add all the companies they wish, answer their questions in a few seconds, getting prizes for doing so, and send messages when they want to voice their opinion.

- How did the idea of ​​starting a business come up?

The idea came from everyday situations we, the partners, experience in our day to day. Companies are constantly bombarding us with a multitude of surveys to try to obtain information from their customers. The problem is that we, the customers, rarely feel motivated to provide the information the companies need.

"RespondOn provides the company with the information it needs from its customers and at the same time encourages its customers to provide this information."

- Tell us one of the strengths of your idea.

There is a clear demand by companies that want to get information from their customers, but there are several inefficiencies in the systems that facilitate the collection of this information. Many systems are long-winded and boring, they don't "reward" their customers or they impose the time and place at which the customer must provide such information. RespondOn is a system that connects companies with their customers. It provides the company with the information it needs from its customers and at the same time encourages customers to provide this information.

- Which doors does winning the UPFEmprèn award open to you?

Recognition by UPFEmprèn 2014 as a runner-up this year is certainly clear evidence that we are on the right track. This motivates us to work even more eagerly to achieve our goals.

It has also meant for RespondOn a unique opportunity to publicize the project, build trust and credibility, as well as a portfolio of contacts linked to the "business world" which will surely bring something very positive in the near future.

"The project must be carried out by people who believe in their potential, who are motivated and excited and who complement each other"

- What challenges have you achieved and which ones you have set in the medium term?

Given the limited resources with which we started, the main challenge we have overcome right from the start of the project was to get all the necessary personal profiles for it to be feasible and functional. It is essential for the project to be carried out by people who believe in their potential, who are motivated and excited and who complement each other.

At the moment, several quite prestigious companies are already using our system. This allows us to build trust, enhance brand reputation and constantly improve our system based on the feedback they provide.

Our medium-term goal is to get funding. However, beforehand it is essential to start invoicing to demonstrate that RespondOn is a feasible system with enormous potential.

- What advice would you give to young would-be entrepreneurs?

As is well known, a startup doesn't work in the same way as a conventional company. There are no standardized departments or specific, routine tasks to perform each day. It is rather a process that requires great capacity by the entrepreneur to learn things that are quite different from each other. The entrepreneur must be versatile and have knowledge (or a willingness to acquire it) of many issues, not just something concrete.

Moreover, it is very important that the team of developers should put on the record the conditions of involvement in the project to which they commit themselves before starting to work. This will prevent many future problems.

Creating a startup can often be tedious and generate times of great stress. However, the personal satisfaction generated by the small milestones reached in the short term more than offsets anything that could be negative.