Welcome to our spotlight series. This week we feature John Nuutinen (CEO), Sandra Witzel (CMO), and Hosmath Saizonou (Account Manager) of SkedGo. The global mobility-as-a-service provider has bases in Germany, the UK, and Australia.
John Nuutinen, Sandra Witzel, & Hosmath Saizono
SkedGo
Hi John! What does SkedGo do?
John Nuutinen: SkedGo is a tech company that helps governments, transit agencies, start-ups, and corporations worldwide develop their own sustainable, active, and accessible mobility solutions in the form of apps and website journey planners.
Why is it going to change the world?
Sandra Witzel: Net-zero is the biggest challenge of our lifetime. With SkedGo’s Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) algorithms and technology, we build tailored tools so our partners can encourage users to step away from their private cars and use sustainable forms of transport.
As a campaigner for accessibility in transport, I’m also passionate about how tech can improve life for disabled passengers and those with diverse mobility needs. Our technology includes wheelchair routing, personalization to set your walking speed when planning your journey, and occupancy data that can be useful for neurodiverse individuals who may want to travel at quieter times. We’ve also worked hard to improve our screen reader capabilities and make our interfaces easier to read.
What led you to start the company?
John Nuutinen: In 2009, I was playing football with Claus von Hessberg, and we were trying to solve the logistical problem of getting 36 players to the right place at the right time without using 36 separate cars. We realized that simple trip planners were incapable of achieving what we wanted, so together with Dr. Tim Cooper, and later Adrian Schoenig, we set out to solve the problem.
Since then, we’ve integrated our technology with more than 3,500 transport providers and have a talented team based in Germany, Australia, the UK, Vietnam, and Argentina. Our solutions enable organizations to rapidly create their own multi/mixed modal MaaS offering, including parking, book and pay features, events, and itineraries, as well as complete corporate mobility solutions.
Where do you go when you need advice?
Hosmath Saizonou: Our technical team members, most of whom have been with SkedGo for more than ten years, have amassed a wealth of knowledge. When I need advice, I go to this team. Regardless of the subject, they are always a step ahead.
What do you wish you could tell yourself at the beginning of the journey?
John Nuutinen: We’ve learned many things and gained a lot of experience on this journey. It’s easy to retrospectively think of better ways to do things, but ultimately success comes through hard work, motivation, and resilience. I think that our core values of inclusiveness, sustainability, maintaining a community consciousness, and delighting our clients have held us in good stead, as they have meant that we have always done the right thing (ethically and financially). So, in summary, work out what your organizational core values are, and these will guide your behaviors and purpose in MaaS.
What keeps you going through tough times?
Sandra Witzel: Our team and our purpose. SkedGo has a unique work culture that is built on trust and results. We all pull our weight in the day-to-day, and our sense of purpose binds us together, even though we are spread across the globe.
How has the pandemic impacted your business?
Sandra Witzel: There’s no doubt that public transport was heavily impacted by COVID-19, with a significant early decline in passenger numbers. But what we’ve seen since then is a reversal of the temporary return to the private car. As human beings, we have a fundamental desire to connect with others, and this has driven significant increases in new forms of transport such as car sharing and micro-mobility. Across Europe, governments and transport authorities are seeing the benefits of promoting active travel to reach their sustainability targets and reduce city congestion. We’re excited to be part of this movement.
What’s the most exciting thing you’re working on right now?
Hosmath Saizonou: In the last three months, we’ve announced two partnerships to build integrated journey planners for local transport authorities in the UK – Leicester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). Users can see the CO2 output for each trip they plan and prioritize journeys based on low carbon emissions, time taken, convenience, and cost. We believe our technology encourages the use of public transport and can increase cycling and walking, to ensure that cities become healthier, greener, and more productive.
We’re also working with Feonix Mobility Rising in the United States to reduce mobility insecurity. More than 15 million Americans lack access to adequate transportation, meaning that they face barriers to employment, healthcare, education, and food shopping, restricting their economic freedom, medical choice, and life expectancy. These joint MaaS projects across Nevada, Michigan, and Minnesota aim to show how technology can improve quality of life.
What’s been your most memorable moment since founding the company?
John Nuutinen: Marking our tenth anniversary in 2019 and SkedGo’s transition from start-up to scale-up was a proud milestone for our team. Today, we’re in a vibrant market that is growing fast, with real opportunity ahead of us to change the way that the world moves. I’m very proud of our team and the way that we have grown stronger in the face of adversity. The pandemic marked a low point for many businesses in MaaS, but I can honestly say that we are better for the experience, and I am delighted that the team is still together.
What do your wins mean to you?
Sandra Witzel: Every win means that we are improving how communities travel - more sustainably and in a more accessible manner. For example, when we partnered with not-for-profit Feonix - Mobility Rising in the US, it was clear from the start that these projects would support underserved and disadvantaged communities. To be able to make transport more affordable, accessible, and available to people is extremely rewarding.
How can readers support you on your journey?
Hosmath Saizonou: Our consumer-facing TripGo app is a great showcase of what SkedGo can do. Each user feedback, observation, or suggestion helps us to improve our solution and strengthen our products.
A great way to support us is for daily transport users with different daily needs from different regions to download our app and report from their own experiences any limitations they may encounter.
Anything else you want to tell us?
John Nuutinen: As I said earlier, Mobility-as-a-Service is changing the way the world moves. At SkedGo, we sincerely believe that we are changing communities for the better by providing them with informed travel choices, based on their core values or specific requirements. We are active advocates for accessibility and disadvantaged communities; we do this by enabling access to the freedom of travel and transport, regardless of their social-economic status or physical restrictions. We want everyone to benefit from this social revolution in transportation!
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