Under Armour

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Mette is a multi-millionaire was, when she was 33

The BBC, the weekly-in-chief-series-profiles of various executives from all over The World . This Week we talk with Mette Lykke, co-founder of the Fitness trackers Endomondo and chief executive of food-waste-app-To Good.

For many people leave the stability of a well-paid job in a start-up could be scary, to appear. For the Danish entrepreneurs Mette Lykke, it's a leap that you did, not only once, but twice.

then, in 2007, she worked for the McKinsey consulting firm, but decided it was Time . "I missed The Feeling of a real effect," she says.

In a fortunate turn of events, she was in New York when A Stranger came over and gave her card a post. It read: "what is our Wildest Dreams , the scratching only on The Surface , it is possible. "

"It was just a beautiful character," recalls the 38-year-old. "You gave it to me as I waited at a Red Light , and you just walked Away . "

Mette decided to go for it, and a partnership with other Danish and McKinsey colleagues, Christian Birk, and Jakob Jonck, start The Personal training app Endomondo.

"I would have done it anyway," she says. "But it definitely doesn't feel like a coincidence that Time . "

Fitness app Endomondo was sold to Under Armour for $85

Mette a competition-capable horse-rider, and for the three-Sport enthusiasts, start an app, the "make Fitness fun" was a logical fit. The success of the Copenhagen idea no walk in The Park , though.

at the Time - 13 years ago - Most of the phones that lacked GPS. In The First months of Endomondo, it was, if No One be signed. "I say uphill to really feel a little bit," she said.

Mette says that the bones work their training helped her to prepare. She grew up with her family in Ringkobing, a Small Town in Jutland and on the Danish West coast. "I grew to see that it says UPS and downs," she said.

"work hard, Most days only, [but] if I knew then, that I would not reconsider see the salary for the next two years, I would have," she laughs. "You don't know it yet. "

As an entrepreneur, "you are definitely an optimist," she explains. "We always thought, next month will be different. "

The game-changer came in an increase in the number, such as The Apple App Store opened in 2008 and Smartphone sales. But it still took Endomondo Six Years , its first Profit .

Well, he says now, More Than 18 million users

by the year 2015, the app had 20 million users and attracted the attention of the American sportswear giant, Under Armour .

"they were particularly interested in the increase of brand awareness in Europe," says Mette. "We could help, with the vast majority of [our] users, the resident Here . "

The U.S. company Endomondo for $85 (£65m) bought. Mette was only 33 at the Time , and you and your two co-founders were suddenly multi-millionaires.

"It is for sale to do a strange thing, the companies they create, says a part of," she said. "While the offer was a great success, from a business perspective, and I was happy with the decision, it was still leaving hard-to, My Baby is on a personal level. "

After the sale to continue to work for Endomondo, and his new parents, managing teams both in Copenhagen, where she was, and also in Texas.

It was a chance meeting in a bus ride outside of Copenhagen, in August 2016, is that the Danes on their next Mission - the fight against food waste. They started chatting with another passenger who showed her an app with the name Also.

"I was not aware of how big is the Problem In Society is the waste of food is really is," recalls Mette. After doing More research, she was shocked to learn about his impact on the climate. "It was overwhelming for me. "

Mette has today 450 employees are Good To Go

Five young Danish entrepreneur who was been browsing on-line marketplace introduced several months earlier. Restaurants and shops, a post office, what leftover food you have available, together with a Time -slot for the collection.

members of The Public can then buy discounted meals or food through the app. The excess food is stored, discarded - the company makes money through the sale of a portion of the meals.

"The fact that we can help to solve such a massive Problem And Then let all the winners in The Process , I thought that was really strong," says Mette.

she found the start-up "so exciting" that you invested. A few months later, she left Under armor and seemed To Go Well, as the chief executive. "I wouldn't have jumped, if I think that I could help," she says.

According to the UN food and agriculture organization of the United Nations, a third of food is wasted. When ranked alongside countries, food waste is The World 's third-largest producer of carbon dioxide, after the USA and China.

In recent years, dozens of companies, dealing with this, including similar platforms, such as oil -, food -, cloud -, and Karma. Alan Hayes, from food and grocery research group IGD, says that these apps have "contributed to the awareness of the food waste in businesses and in schools", as well as the strengthening of the consumer. to change

When It Comes to the behavior, about the waste of food, Trish Caddy, a fellow analyst at market research firm Mintel, the consumer respond better to rewards. "The" Too-Good-to-Go app is particularly good for the normalization of the residues of food through the promotion of end-of-day-meal with a discount," she said.

More Than 30,000 food enterprises are logged in

Mette, supervised a rapid expansion. The company now employs 450 staff, operates in 13 European countries and is due to the roll-out in Sweden.

"Endomondo took three years to get to The First million users, and Go with Well, it has been 15 months," she says. "It's just a completely different Time . . the technology is ready. "

Mette says, in Europe, it is one of the fastest growing apps, with 18 million users and is gaining an additional 45,000 daily. The clients range from bargain-hunting, students, eco-conscious, young families, while women are over 50 another great market. It also has a partnership with More Than 30,000 food-provider, from Yo Sushi to Accor Hotels.

Additional features:

Mette describes it as a "social impact" companies. "Every Time we have a turnover of GBP, because we have something good. "

It is not to make a Profit , even if Mette says that The Timeline for delivery is not yet clear. "At the moment, all the revenue we make goes back into The Business . Only he and the enlargement grows and More and More countries. This is our focus. "

To Go So far to a Good team, think you have helped save More Than 25 million meals.

"I feel like this is just the beginning," says Mette. "It feels like we are somewhere in the vicinity of The Goal line at all. Within the next five years we want to have saved a billion meals. "

denmark, entrepreneurship, food waste, female entrepreneurs, fitness trackers, fitness, wearable technology

Source of news: bbc.com