Hospitable

On this episode of Hospitable, a large contingent of the Omniboost team takes on New York City!

While working with a partner down at One World Trade Center, the Omniboost team snuck away to the CitizenM Bowery Rooftop where we take you behind the scenes of Omniboost and introduce you to the faces and people behind the company. We also discuss our excitement for the future, including automation, customer experience, and visiting new customers. 

Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review!

Timestamps:

[00:02:26] Visiting One World Trade Center.
[00:03:53] Innovation and using new technologies.
[00:08:02] Fun projects and client solutions.
[00:11:52] New York City experience.
[00:17:02] Korean barbecue experience.
[00:22:21] Oyster farming and expertise.
[00:26:30] Finding work at OmniBoost.
[00:29:15] New York City experience.
[00:33:35] Moving to New York City.
[00:35:13] Choosing Omniboost and excitement.

Shownotes:

00:04:24 Innovation and collaboration drive growth.
00:09:35 New York City - exciting and different.
00:10:52 Excitement for data science projects.
00:14:56 Embrace innovation and new experiences.
00:20:21 Travelling for work is inspiring.
00:27:30 Excitement in growth and travel.
00:33:10 Excited to join Omniboost team.

Connect:


Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com


Filmed at the CitizenM Bowery Hotel in New York City: www.citizenm.com

Creators & Guests

Host
Rob Napoli
Rob is the Global Head of Brand at Omniboost and US Commercial Lead. He is passionate about sports, travel, and where to find the best whiskey bar in Manhattan.

What is Hospitable?

Hospitable is a podcast that discusses how to make hospitality MORE human through technology.

Hospitable focuses on discussing the leading challenges facing the hospitality industry and to explore the latest trends, technologies, and best practices that are shaping the industry. Each episode features interviews with hoteliers, restaurateurs, chefs, industry analysts, and other experts who share their insights and experiences on topics such as customer experience, sustainability, innovation, staffing, and more.

Hosted by Rob Napoli

00:00:00:09 - 00:00:23:23
Rob Napoli
Wanna shoot this episode and give you a little bit more behind the scenes in the faces and the people of OmniBoost and who we are, what we're doing as we got to have, big portions of the team in New York City for a whole week. A lot of fun. Thank you to our friends at Citizen M for this beautiful location in their Bowery location, letting us come in early.

00:00:24:05 - 00:00:51:06
Rob Napoli
Record a bit of this content, do some podcasts here. Looking forward to more experiences like this and the views are spectacular. So I think our partners as citizen M as we head into 2024 with Hospitable, we're excited about some of the guests that we have coming on. We've got some great guys, some architects and designers, other big hotel brands coming in and really excited to continue to look at how we make technology more human.

00:00:51:08 - 00:01:14:00
Rob Napoli
Or how do you make hospitality more human through technology? It's going to be a lot of fun. A lot of great guests. We're actually going to be getting more people from OmniBoost involved, bigger discussion side of things. So if you got ideas, topics, people that you think should be on this pod, please let us know. Become a tier one subscriber subscribe rate.

00:01:14:03 - 00:01:42:17
Rob Napoli
Like, review. All those things helps us grow. It helps make this podcast get into more listeners and really do some really cool things. So we'll be out and about next year. On locations around the world shooting, content recording. We're looking forward to it. So once again, thank you for listening. Make sure you hit that subscribe button. We'll see you soon.

00:01:42:19 - 00:02:17:00
Rob Napoli
Hey, all How we doing? We're back for another episode of Hospitable. We are actually in the Citizen M Bowery on the rooftop here on a beautiful winter morning in December. And we're just finishing up a week of intense meetings, things of that nature. We had a bunch of the guys in. I'm currently sitting with Daniel Costa one of our leads on our data warehouse team, and throughout this episode will be reading some other OmniBoost team is we had a whole crew come into New York City this week doing partner projects and conversations and onsite meetings.

00:02:17:01 - 00:02:25:15
Rob Napoli
So, Daniel, why don't you tell people where did we get to have meetings at this week? What was the cool location we were onsite at?

00:02:25:17 - 00:02:35:03
Daniel Costa
Yeah, well, we had the chance to go to world trade center, which is pretty cool, and visit some. Studied over there declined. Yeah. Kicking in the product, really kicking in.

00:02:35:05 - 00:02:48:21
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I mean 86 floor The view. What was it like when you got up and you walked on the because there at One World Trade Center you have to take two elevators to get up high. So the first you go up to 64 where they have a sky lobby and you walk out, they have all those windows.

00:02:48:21 - 00:02:50:10
Rob Napoli
What was that experience like for you?

00:02:50:12 - 00:02:58:17
Daniel Costa
Yeah, it was incredible. I've never been so high like in the building especially. So it's a different feeling, an even look real sometime, so. Yeah. Great view. Yeah.

00:02:58:19 - 00:03:13:06
Rob Napoli
Awesome. So Daniel bleeding part of the data warehouse team you talk about quickly like what do you do at OmniBoost because you know, sometimes maybe not everyone knows what data warehouse team means of a data tech team means.

00:03:13:08 - 00:03:39:12
Daniel Costa
Yes. So, I mean, the data engineer. So today, together with Quentin and also Paul, we are conducting the and creating the data warehouse solutions and data lakes on data houses. And also we are moving towards analytics as well. But our main products that we're holding. So we build details and databases and for analytics purposes mainly and for different kinds of clients as well.

00:03:39:12 - 00:03:45:09
Daniel Costa
So more enterprise deals like the one they were dealing here, but even other smaller clients as well.

00:03:45:11 - 00:03:53:02
Rob Napoli
I love that. And so how did you get into it and why is the work at OmniBoost was specifically exciting for you?

00:03:53:02 - 00:04:23:15
Daniel Costa
Yeah, what I really like at OmniBoost is the innovation part. So being a startup and having now these big lines also is really good that you can use all the new types of technologies, all the state of art technologies and solutions. So you're not stuck to a legacy system or something. So I think OmniBoost we have a lot of space to actually use these new technologies and apply them pretty much like to us and using the best we can in terms of tools for data in general, not only data engineering.

00:04:23:17 - 00:04:45:20
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I think that's one thing that I love these OmniBoost innovation, like we're always testing out. Like we never usually say no to something. We say, Well, let's figure it out. And it's kind of like, figure it out. It's fun to get your hands dirty and get testing in there. You know, obviously being Brazilian, how did you end up in Tunusian?

00:04:45:21 - 00:05:01:14
Daniel Costa
Yeah, I actually moved to the Tunusian because my wife was transferred there. So she works for a big American chemical company. And yeah, it was okay we accept that was also lucky to find OmniBoost over then as well as a smaller city, so

00:05:01:14 - 00:05:21:23
Rob Napoli
I mean, we're definitely lucky to have you on the team. And I always love, you know, growing up in a small town. I grew up in the city, but we farm in the small town. It's always funny to see how people kind of end up there when you're not from there. Yes, Your story from Brazil over to ending up in a small town in the south of the Netherlands is always kind of fun.

00:05:21:23 - 00:05:22:12
Rob Napoli
So, yeah.

00:05:22:17 - 00:05:26:20
Daniel Costa
Usually they go to Amsterdam rather than right. Yeah, most people.

00:05:26:22 - 00:05:46:12
Rob Napoli
So yeah, I mean, Tunusia I think if you ask most Dutch people they might not even know where that is. But if you say Zealand in the south, they usually know the region. And then like there's, there's actually a village called Tunusian right. Yes. What was this experience in New York like for you getting to be here for this energy meet with clients?

00:05:46:12 - 00:05:56:01
Rob Napoli
What, that change your perspective at all. How do you feel about the last week? Like well, talk to me through what this experience been like for you personally.

00:05:56:03 - 00:06:13:13
Daniel Costa
Yes, for me, I must say, it's a bit challenging in the beginning because I'm not that guy. So, yeah, commercial and talking a little bit is not so much our deal, but I must say was quite productive. So since it also our client he has a technical team like the fabric and all and I think was really productive.

00:06:13:16 - 00:06:23:21
Daniel Costa
So it's different when you meet the person your live they're discussing altogether or food today. So yeah and then was quite good.

00:06:23:23 - 00:06:29:14
Rob Napoli
I'm glad you enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. I think the city is intense but it's also fun.

00:06:29:14 - 00:06:32:15
Daniel Costa
So yes, but I like it here. I come from a big city as well.

00:06:32:15 - 00:06:39:18
Rob Napoli
So as I say, it seems like it seemed like you fit in, a new experience for you. Korean barbecue. What do you think of it?

00:06:39:20 - 00:06:47:13
Daniel Costa
That was great. Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I love Asian food in general, but I never tried Korean food before, and it was quite surprise. I have to take it wifey as well.

00:06:47:14 - 00:07:04:13
Rob Napoli
Yeah. Now, now is a mess well Daniel, appreciate you. It's been a lot of fun having you in New York City and the energy and looking forward to you know future, other opportunities to go innovate with our clients and have some fun and maybe travel a bit more?

00:07:04:15 - 00:07:06:13
Daniel Costa
Yes, a little bit more.

00:07:06:14 - 00:07:07:14
Rob Napoli
Awesome. Appreciate you my brother.

00:07:07:19 - 00:07:08:21
Daniel Costa
Thankyou Rob.

00:07:08:23 - 00:07:15:13
Rob Napoli
All right. So next up, I'm sitting here with the other half of our data tech team.

00:07:15:15 - 00:07:16:15
Quinten De Putter
Data team Insight, team.

00:07:16:15 - 00:07:26:22
Rob Napoli
Insight, team. I say data warehouse. I use multiple different terms when I talk about you Quinten de Putter. Quin how did you find your way to OmniBoost?

00:07:27:00 - 00:07:43:01
Quinten De Putter
I knew Romano from high school and like we were doing that in Tilburg and, yeah, we train sometimes together and he started sharing about OmniBoost. What do you, this and what are the companies doing? And that's basically how the conversation started. He introduced me to guys and so we took off

00:07:43:02 - 00:07:45:19
Rob Napoli
So you're from Zeeland originally, are they? So an area.

00:07:45:21 - 00:07:49:06
Quinten De Putter
I'm from Tunusian, homegrown.

00:07:49:07 - 00:08:02:01
Rob Napoli
Homegrown kid. And so you've been in OmniBoost for a little while now. What is that experience been like? And what is really kind of excited are you about the day to day or, you know, the week by week that you get to work on?

00:08:02:03 - 00:08:15:10
Quinten De Putter
It's different for a variety of the job. I would say, different clients, different project, different needs, different perspectives and how we can figure out, a good solution.

00:08:15:12 - 00:08:31:14
Rob Napoli
Yeah. When you think about how the insights team and the stuff that you're working on, there's a lot of cool things that I think you're kind of playing around with what are some of the fun things that you get to work on? Like obviously not going to technical deep. What are some of the kind of fun projects that are on your plate

00:08:31:16 - 00:08:44:14
Quinten De Putter
What's good is, for some clients we have to do the like they do have no clue about to BI environments and how they can fix it and then being able to like give them a proper solution and give them an environment they can use, that's cool.

00:08:44:16 - 00:08:55:16
Rob Napoli
That's kind of funny when you get to like actually solve a problem that you don't, you know, they don't know what they're looking for. You kind of know what they're looking for. You have a plan, an idea, and getting to build it and see. See what happens.

00:08:55:17 - 00:09:02:21
Quinten De Putter
Yeah. You can work together with the client like they have a general idea where they want to move to, but, like, not filled in completely. That's. Yeah, I like that.

00:09:03:01 - 00:09:06:12
Rob Napoli
Awesome. And first time in New York City.

00:09:06:14 - 00:09:07:13
Quinten De Putter
First time in New York City.

00:09:07:13 - 00:09:08:13
Rob Napoli
What did you think?

00:09:08:15 - 00:09:14:02
Quinten De Putter
It's amazing. It's good, been to Vegas as well. Las Vegas compared to New York New York is way better.

00:09:14:04 - 00:09:20:06
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I forgot. You've actually been in the States now for two straight weeks. Yes. I'm sure you're probably looking to get home and sleep in your own bed.

00:09:20:08 - 00:09:21:19
Quinten De Putter
Yes. Am. I'm really tired.

00:09:21:19 - 00:09:34:13
Rob Napoli
Yeah. Being in a AWS reinvent in Vegas, coming over to New York, have some intense client meetings, but I'm glad you enjoy the city. What was your best experience? The city was the thing that you enjoyed most while you're here?

00:09:34:15 - 00:09:48:05
Quinten De Putter
To be honest, just the view and the size of the city like this, it's so different than what we have in the Netherlands. It's unbelievable. Like all the city, the sky creative as well. We went to the World Trade Center. One was yeah, it's amazing. Yeah.

00:09:48:08 - 00:09:56:03
Rob Napoli
Yeah. I mean, the opportunity to work out of that building and, and the 86 floor and the views that you get to have are pretty spectacular.

00:09:56:08 - 00:09:57:21
Quinten De Putter
Yes.

00:09:57:23 - 00:10:01:14
Rob Napoli
I sometimes wonder what it'd be like to, to do that every day.

00:10:01:16 - 00:10:08:16
Quinten De Putter
I'm quite jealous on that like on a view would say like compared to HQ, we have some catching up to do.

00:10:08:18 - 00:10:26:13
Rob Napoli
Absolutely. We have some catching up to do. Well, I always say that this city, one of the things that's magical about it is does it matter how tired you are? It feeds you energy, right? It gets everyone here is moving and grooving. And I think after coming off a long week at AWS being able to be in the city and move and groove has been pretty awesome to watch your work.

00:10:26:13 - 00:10:48:10
Rob Napoli
And I'm glad that this year first time in New York City, you had a lot of fun. Yes, I feel like so much more of you have to come back and explore and see. But the last question for you is, as we think about 2024 OmniBoost and some of the projects that you have potentially coming down, what excites you most about next year?

00:10:48:10 - 00:10:51:23
Rob Napoli
Like what? What is the thing that's like I can't wait for.

00:10:52:01 - 00:11:10:03
Quinten De Putter
Hopefully we can really put the work into the data science like really get it down that's some prediction modeling going on so that our clients can use like they know how many guests are going, how many going to cancel. I give real proper insights to something not only reporting with the data but also provide more information with the data.

00:11:10:05 - 00:11:11:12
Quinten De Putter
That's something that excites me.

00:11:11:17 - 00:11:29:01
Rob Napoli
That's awesome. I'm excited too, because I think so. The project fair we have next year, some of the tools and tech we get to play around with, we'll definitely come up with some really cool solutions. So I'm excited for you in 2024. I looking forward to having you back probably in this city sooner than you expect and have a little bit more fun and also put in some hard work.

00:11:29:01 - 00:11:29:13
Rob Napoli
So I appreciate.

00:11:29:13 - 00:11:30:15
Quinten De Putter
You. Sound good

00:11:30:19 - 00:11:32:18
Rob Napoli
Thanks, Quinten Thank you.

00:11:32:20 - 00:11:51:15
Rob Napoli
Next up, we have Michel Meeuwse. Michel first time in New York City. I know when he joined OmniBoost one of the things that you really wanted to do was come visit New York and Kees was like, I'll get you there. He finally got you here. What was the experience like for you?

00:11:51:17 - 00:12:16:01
Michel Meeuswe
Like I said, my dream was to work more international and not only in the Netherlands and Kees said New York is for you. I will take you there. And he promised. He delivered what he promised. And the city is amazing. Fast pacing but friendly people. That's like a surprise for me. Everybody was really helpful.

00:12:16:02 - 00:12:19:11
Michel Meeuswe
but yeah, you have to find your way. But there's a lot of things to see and do.

00:12:19:13 - 00:12:33:09
Rob Napoli
Yeah, that is funny that there's a stigma that New Yorkers are rude. It's not really that New Yorkers are rude. It's more that they're just getting from one place to another but they're super helpful all the time. So it's always fun when you get to come and experience that

00:12:33:14 - 00:12:42:12
Michel Meeuswe
Ask for directions, whatever, like this morning I got on the wrong platform. Yeah. And they said, you have to walk around and then get that one.

00:12:42:14 - 00:13:06:22
Rob Napoli
So that happens. If you don't miss a train once or twice, you don't have the real experience. And I mean there's been times, eight years and then I forget where I'm going and grab the wrong train and like, it happens more often than you would like. But it's an experience you know, being in New York City for the week, we did a lot of cool things.

00:13:06:22 - 00:13:15:05
Rob Napoli
What was the you had a you had a checklist of things you wanted to accomplish. What was your favorite thing that was on your checklist?

00:13:15:07 - 00:13:39:01
Michel Meeuswe
Like for professional, getting to know how things run here, how people interact with each other, how, how's the atmosphere at the office? It can be different than in Europe. like I said, we all can be very directly the Dutch, but that's not a problem here. I think the people appreciate that. So that's one thing that I learned.

00:13:39:01 - 00:13:59:15
Michel Meeuswe
And for the other things I saw all the, like the major interest, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge we went, Times Square this morning I went out to, to see the charging bull I was like its a must have. So for, I think for downtown we got a lot of things covered, but there's still a lot to see.

00:13:59:15 - 00:14:04:08
Michel Meeuswe
Yeah absolutely. And I know that you had a nice run up the High Line. Yes, That's.

00:14:04:09 - 00:14:17:06
Michel Meeuswe
Also like, like bucket list. I set out to go to Central Park. Yeah, but that's too far. You're a running outfit, But from the hotel down, the Hudson river, And the Highline Park. It was really cool.

00:14:17:06 - 00:14:39:08
Rob Napoli
That's amazing. Yeah, I think, you know, when you see New York in the morning versus New York during the day versus New York at night, the city just transforms. That'll be super cool and super nice. when it comes to, you know, OmniBoost. Your life before you had your own company and sketch that out and then you kind of joined us, you know, what was the deciding factor?

00:14:39:08 - 00:14:54:21
Rob Napoli
Why did you want to come to a company like OmniBoost? Yeah, I mean, get involved on that, you know, tech security data side doing kind of a little bit of everything where with special projects and large partnerships. So what you know, what kind of drew you to this opportunity in OmniBoost?

00:14:54:23 - 00:15:24:03
Michel Meeuswe
Like you said, I have my own company with some other guys and we were pure in accounting and, we had a cool product and it was really taking off. But the whole accounting, profession as a whole is very, not innovative. So it's and that's the opposite of OmniBoost you can try things and all the customers we are, we have, they want to try new things because they have new applications.

00:15:24:08 - 00:15:43:08
Michel Meeuswe
So for me, like you said, working internationally and working with young people, that's also one thing. Young people who don't have like a history that doesn't work. Why should we do that now? They just go and try and fail and do it again. And at my age, like we talked before that, that's really cool to see and to be part of.

00:15:43:10 - 00:16:01:06
Rob Napoli
I love that and I think it's super awesome that they get to see that energy and that vibe and feel that out and you know, when you look at next year, they looking at 2024 and future growth, what are some things you're most excited for and what you get to do every day?

00:16:01:08 - 00:16:19:15
Michel Meeuswe
Like we said, we have a big client in the Nordics. They are in the second year and then we'll go for completion. And there's still a lot of things to do, but that's cool and some new projects here, so maturing that our services on the data platform, that would be my goals for 2024.

00:16:19:17 - 00:16:42:08
Rob Napoli
That's awesome. I think that is we have a lot of really cool things happening next year, a lot of cool new opportunities to travel and visit some really cool places with our clients and being hospitable, being on site makes a big difference. I think you kind of see that here this week. So looking forward to 2024, looking forward to seeing what we get to do and I'm excited for next year and I'm excited that we get to have those experiences and hopefully they.

00:16:42:13 - 00:16:43:10
Michel Meeuswe
Really take off.

00:16:43:13 - 00:16:50:08
Rob Napoli
Yeah, hopefully be back in New York City soon too, so you can come and hit the rest of your checklist off

00:16:50:08 - 00:16:52:03
Michel Meeuswe
Okay. Thank you. Will do that.

00:16:52:05 - 00:17:01:12
Rob Napoli
Awesome Michel last thing, right? what you think about Korean barbecue experience we had?

00:17:01:14 - 00:17:18:12
Michel Meeuswe
First experience, a lifetime experience, not life changing, but really cool to see and to do like you saw. I don't have a handle of spicy food very well. So that was a challenge, but it was overall a very good and nice experience because. Yeah, the whole setting.

00:17:18:12 - 00:17:30:23
Rob Napoli
Yeah for those who don't know that for a lot of the guys that had never done the Korean barbecue experience here in New York City, in K-Town, where you go and they cook all the meat at the table, it's such a fun experience with the.

00:17:30:23 - 00:17:32:02
Michel Meeuswe
With the scissors.

00:17:32:02 - 00:17:45:14
Rob Napoli
With the scissors cut of the meat. It's a fun experience. It's high fives. And so it's a lot of fun when y'all come to get to take you to those kind of cool things that you don't get to do every day. I don't get to them every day either. I use this as an excuse to go do cool stuff.

00:17:45:14 - 00:17:50:00
Rob Napoli
So glad you had fun and looking forward to it and looking forward to a fun 2024.

00:17:50:04 - 00:17:52:16
Michel Meeuswe
Yes. Thanks for your time, Rob.

00:17:52:18 - 00:17:54:02
Rob Napoli
Rowin how are you doing, my friend?

00:17:54:04 - 00:17:55:05
Rowin De Ridder
Doing great.

00:17:55:07 - 00:18:04:21
Rob Napoli
So New York City and you’re a world traveler, you've been around. how is this trip stack up?

00:18:04:23 - 00:18:28:15
Rowin De Ridder
Well, to be honest, Rob, it was amazing. I really enjoyed the city. I, enjoyed working closely together with my, coworkers in the different, environments. At the Belgium office and, the dinner with, MCR. It was also very fun.

00:18:28:17 - 00:18:48:17
Rob Napoli
Yeah, it's a great experience. It's a lot of fun. Things got to happen, you know, getting to work at OmniBoost. So Rowin De Ridder, who is one of our support leads for OmniBoost. What is that experience like for you and what do you enjoy most about working on OmniBoost?

00:18:48:18 - 00:19:30:15
Rowin De Ridder
So what I like the most about the work is that it's, yeah, different every day a lot of variety in the tasks that you have to do, the people that you connect and speak with, over there, you can talk maybe through sometimes over, 10 to 20 customers and, with all the different stories that the customers have, the problems that they are facing and the complexity and the challenge, that's what I like, yeah, the most, about this work.

00:19:30:16 - 00:19:51:17
Rob Napoli
Yeah, definitely. You know, we're in the hospitable hospitality space, right? So being hospitable and, you know, working with clients, it's, a dance of, you know, being there and support and helping solve problems about new ideas, etc.. And so it's always ever changing. So you got to be on the ebb and flow, which I think is something you thrive off of.

00:19:51:19 - 00:20:10:18
Rob Napoli
You know, when you think about your experience here, what does it mean to you to be able to, you know, get on a plane and travel for work? And, you know, we got to go to Oslo together now in New York City, together. What's it was that mean to you to be able to travel on behalf of of the company, of the brand?

00:20:10:20 - 00:20:20:01
Rob Napoli
And how do you look at those experiences? How do you make the most of those experiences when you're there for work, but also, you know, trying to get in a little sightseeing?

00:20:20:03 - 00:20:45:13
Rowin De Ridder
So first of all, to travel, it's amazing, to travel for the company. It's even more amazing because, what I like about traveling with OmniBoost is that, when you travel, you will meet new people, you will meet the clients that you are working with yeah, behind the scenes for a couple of months sometimes.

00:20:45:15 - 00:21:22:10
Rowin De Ridder
And then you meet them in person. besides, like, the work related things, you can connect with them also, on, yeah, other things, are not work related. And that's also, they are very inspiring to me to meet like people from other countries, with different mindsets and a different culture. and yeah, I like to learn from other people how they experience and to see things.

00:21:22:12 - 00:21:41:20
Rowin De Ridder
So I can, yeah, I get my lessons from that, you know, get like a broader, vision that I, currently have. So I'm continuously working, and myself to, keep up and, be the best person that I can be.

00:21:41:20 - 00:22:03:12
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I love that. You know, it's, funny, one of the most memorable experiences is when we were in Oslo earlier in the year and we're having dinner with one of our partners in the Nordics and everyone's having conversations. There's probably ten of us at the table, and they bring out oysters and you just start educating of an oyster.

00:22:03:12 - 00:22:19:19
Rob Napoli
And within 30 seconds the whole table went silent. And even I'm pretty sure people from other tables were listening on how to properly eat oyster, how to look at oysters. And I was like, Who is this kid and how the heck does he know all this about oysters So, well, how do you know which oysters? Why do you know so much about oysters?

00:22:19:21 - 00:22:51:01
Rowin De Ridder
So, for the from the village that I come from, yeah, we're like, locally in the seafood, business. I was working at the, seafood factory, at a younger age. And after that, started working for a oyster hatchery and, you know, oyster farmer in the Netherlands. yeah, that's how I know a lot about oysters. I like them.

00:22:51:03 - 00:23:08:04
Rob Napoli
I love it, too. And it's just so fun to always hear people's upbringing and such a random thing, but, you know, very local to the village you grew up in. And it's just, it's super cool. And when you can kind of pull that out, it's a nice party trick or a conversation topic. It's really pull out and it's such a fun thing just to hear you go off about oysters.

00:23:08:04 - 00:23:18:03
Rob Napoli
And I just remember that so vividly. And everyone just like, Wow, who is this kid? I love it. What are you excited for most about 2024?

00:23:18:05 - 00:23:57:05
Rowin De Ridder
To be honest with you, the most, thing that I'm excited about is, like, we do a lot of automation already, but, I'm excited to automate more things, not only in our external processes but also in our internal processes. yeah, to make the, your customer and customer experience and customer onboarding in general, more, user friendly but also more smoother than it already is now.

00:23:57:07 - 00:24:24:03
Rowin De Ridder
so that's what I'm the most excited for. Yeah. another thing that I can think of is, going to places again, visiting new customers. Yeah, getting them on board. just thrive in my role as, being a member of the support team at OmniBoost.

00:24:24:08 - 00:24:43:10
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I love it. I think it's gonna to be a lot of fun In 2024, we got some really cool things happening, and it's so much fun to be able to solve problems and work with automation and data and tech and all the different things. So I'm excited for that. As well and definitely excited to, you know, get out on the road again next year.

00:24:43:12 - 00:25:03:10
Rob Napoli
I think one of the things that we've noticed is going to certain key events and having different team members go and be there, it makes a big difference. Like you saw this week, being on site, being here, getting to meet with our customers, partners. you know, just the networking side of things makes a big difference. I'm excited for that.

00:25:03:10 - 00:25:25:02
Rob Napoli
I'm excited for you to continue to grow as well and looking forward to our, you know, what's in store next year. You know, there is a specific action that's Rowin that you're known for when things get going and Kees always talks about it. And so I think you need to give a demonstration of the Rowin effect.

00:25:25:04 - 00:25:57:11
Rowin De Ridder
Okay. so I explain it in short, when, shit hits the fan, I have like, a certain expression. I don't know why I did it, but, when I did it, it, got picked up by, yeah, the, CEO of the company. it goes like this.

00:25:57:13 - 00:26:18:03
Rob Napoli
I love it. I appreciate you for doing that. I know that. You know, I don't know how it got started. It's funny, that Kees took it on and he loves it and looking forward to next year. I appreciate you for bringing the energy in New York City this week and hope that you thoroughly enjoyed your time and made the most of it And I'm sure we'll have you back soon.

00:26:18:05 - 00:26:20:16
Rowin De Ridder
Thank you for having me. Rob, of course.

00:26:20:19 - 00:26:28:12
Rob Napoli
I appreciate you, Aron another one member of our support team. And how long have you been OmniBoost?

00:26:28:14 - 00:26:38:13
Aron Wattel
Actually, from the beginning on. So I did an internship back in 2018, so, yeah, and now two years, like, full time.

00:26:38:13 - 00:26:51:14
Rob Napoli
So. Yeah. So yeah, you've been a part of it from the start. What, how did you find OmniBoost and why did you choose OmniBoost as an opportunity to, do an internship. And what kept you do want to go full time.

00:26:51:16 - 00:27:11:23
Aron Wattel
Yeah. I was introduced by it's, via friends, actually. I was a bit into the data then, for school, and then he told me about a company because, yeah, he knew it from, from like, the, yeah, his network. And then I was like, okay, maybe I can apply in a, for an internship.

00:27:12:05 - 00:27:16:06
Aron Wattel
And then, yeah, I never left. So he never left? Yeah.

00:27:16:08 - 00:27:28:22
Rob Napoli
What, what excites you about the job? I mean, because, like obviously, like data, which we work a lot of data as a data tech platform. Yeah. What excites you about your job every day?

00:27:29:00 - 00:28:04:17
Aron Wattel
I think, it's very exciting to work with all kinds of different companies, all kind of different, cases like the. Yeah, it's really, fast. and the topics are broad so it's really exciting to be also part of a young team, and yeah, experiencing the growth of it. so yeah, back in the days we were like three or four and now, yeah, I see all kind of people around me and yeah, also friends and family are in now, so that's also special.

00:28:04:19 - 00:28:35:05
Rob Napoli
Yeah. It, crazy to see how, be a part of a company's growth. Like, I obviously came in this year so seeing it from outside but I've known Kees since 2020 and just seeing the growth from 2020 to 2023. Yeah. That alone you coming in in 2018 and seeing it all the way through, you know, it's interesting to see how those things ebb and change and being a part of that, creating the culture, creating the baseline ecosystem and, doing the cool things that you get to do.

00:28:35:07 - 00:28:46:09
Rob Napoli
What is it like or what does it mean to you to be able to travel for work and come to New York City as part of the team and getting to be here? What does that mean to you and how does it make you feel and how is your experience in New York?

00:28:46:11 - 00:29:09:20
Aron Wattel
Yeah, it means a lot. I mean, yeah, going to these places, is basically insane for me. I never went to America before, the Vegas trip last year, and now this year I have to, I, yeah, I'm able to experience this trip to, to New York City. and sometimes I really need to realize it, before.

00:29:09:22 - 00:29:14:05
Aron Wattel
And yeah, and not just living in the moment because it's special.

00:29:14:07 - 00:29:19:03
Rob Napoli
And how has New York City been for you, and what is your favorite thing you've done in New York City?

00:29:19:05 - 00:29:35:23
Aron Wattel
Yeah, it was really exciting. Really yeah, a cool city. I think the nicest thing was, the meeting in the, one World Trade Center. Like, yeah, the biggest tower of the city, I think. yeah, the highest. Yeah, I think so.

00:29:35:23 - 00:29:36:10
Rob Napoli
Yeah.

00:29:36:12 - 00:29:48:12
Aron Wattel
Yeah. I already said to the guys. yeah, The moment you step out of the elevator and see the, the skyline, and then you're like, Okay, yeah, I made it through all the way through here.

00:29:48:14 - 00:30:07:01
Rob Napoli
It's kind of like a movie, right? Like, you know, it's funny because you watch TV shows, you watch movies, you see New York City, you know, maybe you have one vision of what New York City is like. Is that the same as it is feeling? Is being here feel very different than any TV show movie watched about in New York.

00:30:07:01 - 00:30:23:22
Aron Wattel
Well, TVs are yeah. Also TV series or movies are also. Yeah, kind of fake. So and now you're in here and then you realize that it's yeah the real world so I think I like the the real world scenario.

00:30:24:00 - 00:30:41:13
Rob Napoli
Yeah it's a lot of fun, you get to do some cool things from one world trade to we had Korean barbecue we went out and checked out Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn and doing some really cool stuff and try to have good foods, good experiences. I know, share with you a couple of places to watch my music.

00:30:41:19 - 00:30:59:23
Rob Napoli
Yes. So I'm glad that you got to make the most of it. What is you know, when you look at 2024, you know, you've been with the company since 2018. We're now heading into 2024. We're doing some amazing things. You got a chance to come to America last year for Vegas and this year in New York. What are you looking forward to next year?

00:30:59:23 - 00:31:04:22
Rob Napoli
What's the thing that you're just like, I can't wait for?

00:31:05:00 - 00:31:24:06
Aron Wattel
Yeah, I can't wait for, yeah. The bigger projects that are coming in, especially with our, Data Insights team, really looking forward to, yeah, to move on with those projects and deliver yeah, really nice, insights products and yeah, new developments with, with the guys.

00:31:24:08 - 00:31:29:13
Rob Napoli
So getting to know it out on the data basically and build cool shit it is what's exciting next year. Exactly.

00:31:29:16 - 00:31:30:11
Aron Wattel
Yes.

00:31:30:13 - 00:31:41:08
Rob Napoli
I love it. last thoughts about New York City. What, how does the city make you feel? And are you going to come back?

00:31:41:10 - 00:32:06:11
Aron Wattel
That's a good question. but yeah, it, make me feel little. But at the same time, it's, yeah, the vibe is really nice. so I will definitely come back and, yeah, See, what's more, because I didn't visit any, not all places I wanted to go to. So, that's also part of, a lot of fun times here.

00:32:06:13 - 00:32:27:16
Rob Napoli
Yeah, I know. It's tough when you're in for a workshop like this, like trying to balance work with a little bit of, you know, leisure time so you don't get to do everything. But what I think is also cool is coming here and actually working here, you get a bit more of the understanding of like the work side of things versus like the tourist New York, right?

00:32:27:17 - 00:32:42:01
Rob Napoli
Like being in going to the city, taking the subway. We're at meetings here. We're at meetings there, we're at Belsham we're down here, at citizen m. So being able to, you know, do other things, an experience for this location is really kind of a lot of fun.

00:32:42:02 - 00:32:43:19
Aron Wattel
The balance is great. Yeah.

00:32:43:21 - 00:32:59:16
Rob Napoli
I love it. Well, Aron I'm excited for 2024 and looking forward to seeing you continue to grow an impact there. The support and the data team. I know you're kind of playing in both spaces. Yeah, I'm glad they finally got you to New York. I told you when I met you. We'll get you out here. So got you out here.

00:32:59:16 - 00:33:06:03
Rob Napoli
Had a lot of fun. Thank you for bringing the energy, the vibes, and, yeah, we look forward to 2024 for some big project men.

00:33:06:08 - 00:33:08:00
Aron Wattel
Definitely. Thank you for your hospitality.

00:33:08:02 - 00:33:15:04
Rob Napoli
Of course, Brother cheers. All right newest OmniBoost team member, Vincent How are you doing?

00:33:15:06 - 00:33:16:09
Vincent Gitsels
Good, good. How are you?

00:33:16:10 - 00:33:32:20
Rob Napoli
I'm doing very well. Excited to. I was a bit of a process getting you getting started. It was, but that's how it goes. You just moved to New York City not too long ago. What's the experience been like with moving to New York on boarding? How's that been for you?

00:33:33:02 - 00:33:47:21
Vincent Gitsels
Actually, quite amazing. Yeah, it's first of all, New York was for me the first time and I think the city is yeah, it's a big city, but also very nice to live in. The only thing is everything is quite expensive, but I think it's normal.

00:33:47:22 - 00:33:49:11
Rob Napoli
Welcome to New York.

00:33:49:13 - 00:34:03:22
Vincent Gitsels
It's so and onboarding like the first week now with the team and with the guys, I think it's very nice and they do a very good job to on board me and I was quite very happy that I already did one integration life. I hope it life.

00:34:03:22 - 00:34:06:03
Rob Napoli
So that's a good first. It's a good first week.

00:34:06:03 - 00:34:07:11
Vincent Gitsels
Yeah, a good first week

00:34:07:13 - 00:34:21:01
Rob Napoli
Yeah. You know, when you think back about it, you know, when you're looking at opportunities came to New York. Why, OmniBoost. What was it about company that end up making that decision for you to join our team.

00:34:21:06 - 00:34:44:13
Vincent Gitsels
Yeah so first of all I yeah met OmniBoost through Belgium. that's why I saw like the thing that, the job application. And for me it's totally different. hospitality industry is something new for me, but I think it's very interesting and definitely the automatization of it, I think in the future will be a big thing to do.

00:34:44:15 - 00:35:09:01
Vincent Gitsels
And that's why I was, quite interesting in it. and also the relationship with the clients, especially later on, I would love to do more like the sales stuff and that's how I think it was a good match. And we also in the beginning we talked about like a lot of things. So and I immediately I had good feeling and also the two days and the Tunusia was nice and a lot of nice colleagues.

00:35:09:01 - 00:35:19:04
Rob Napoli
So yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I know. It's exciting. It's always interesting to see, you know, when you make the decision to work somewhere, it's not easy, right?

00:35:19:06 - 00:35:20:05
Vincent Gitsels
No.

00:35:20:07 - 00:35:29:23
Rob Napoli
Moving to a new country, new city. All those things cause it’s a big decision. And, you know, we're excited that you chose OmniBoost. And it's always interesting to ask people why.

00:35:30:01 - 00:35:30:22
Vincent Gitsels
Yeah.

00:35:31:00 - 00:35:50:16
Rob Napoli
You know, for me, it is clear. I love the vision. Kees vision and energy. Yeah. You know, it's what's sold that for me I honestly hospitality's cool And, you know, my wife's in it, which your girl is also in the hospitality space. So it's really cool to kind of see the world from you see that space from different place.

00:35:50:22 - 00:36:09:13
Rob Napoli
Yeah. You know I think energy and really just seeing what can happen in this space is going to be super cool I'm excited to have you join and also being here in New York no longer solo. So we actually have, you know, somebody for me, it's I love getting to be in the city. I love getting to be around the energy.

00:36:09:13 - 00:36:24:16
Rob Napoli
So excited to have you, you know, in New York. We got some a lot of work to do. Yeah, a lot of fun. What do you most excited for as we head into next year? Getting onboarded, you know, what are you looking forward to? What do you excited about?

00:36:24:18 - 00:36:49:16
Vincent Gitsels
First of all, I really want to learn the material so OmniBoost and also the onboarding everything. I'm used to it and I'm going to use to and after that, I'm just looking forward to like start like having my own clients or building my own relationships at it for the whole team. and that's something I'm more in the sales, perspective.

00:36:49:18 - 00:37:08:12
Vincent Gitsels
I think more my style or yeah, something like that. so that's, I'm really looking forward to it, to like on board, like own clients and also to go to the clients and themselves, maybe to the traveling around to America would be nice. So yeah, there's a thing, we're looking forward to it.

00:37:08:12 - 00:37:26:07
Rob Napoli
So yeah, no, that's really exciting. And yeah, any I think that 2024 we've got a lot of cool things happening, so be interesting to see. I'm sure will be. You know, we're big on going to events and doing certain things. I'm sure there'll be opportunities for that and, you know, looking forward to continue to grow. The New York office.

00:37:26:08 - 00:37:38:14
Rob Napoli
Got some cool things with that. Hoping to find out soon. Yeah. You know we love our partners at Belgium and working out there, but I think we're to grow and make some moves. So I'm really excited to see what 2024.

00:37:38:16 - 00:37:39:12
Vincent Gitsels
Yeah

00:37:39:14 - 00:37:55:15
Rob Napoli
Looks like and getting you fully onboarded from a support perspective and eventually getting you into, you know, a little bit more that passion and sales. I mean, I think this is a great city to learn and be and so you being here for the next year, you know my advice to you is make the most of this opportunity.

00:37:55:15 - 00:38:13:13
Rob Napoli
You never know how long it's gonna last. You know, I got to lived two years in Italy and it was, you know I say it was two years of borrowed time because it was one of those things that I may never have gotten the opportunity to do again. And we'll see, but I'll make sure you make the most of we're excited to have you here.

00:38:13:13 - 00:38:14:04
Vincent Gitsels
Yeah. Thank you.

00:38:14:04 - 00:38:21:09
Rob Napoli
And congrats on your first week. Yeah. Getting things rolling and then looking forward to some much more out of you had in OmniBoost

00:38:21:11 - 00:38:22:15
Vincent Gitsels
Me as well. Thank you.

00:38:22:16 - 00:38:24:11
Rob Napoli
You bet, my guy. Thank you so much.

00:38:24:13 - 00:38:24:18
Vincent Gitsels
Thank you.