Founder Spotlight Ep3: Starting a Video First Hospitality Discovery Platform During the Pandemic with Atmosfy Founder Michael Ebel

Michael Ebel is the founder and CEO of Atmosfy, a video first discovery platform across dining, night life, hotels and experiences. He tells his story of launching Atmosfy during the pandemic when no one was going to restaurants and provides some tips to founders who are just starting their journey.

Mark Linao: “Why build a company right now when no one was going to restaurants?”

Michael Ebel: “It's like totally sort of counterintuitive to build this video first product during the hospitality apocalypse right? But what we saw was that there was actually an unmet need that was happening because video is this really really powerful medium that's so rich compared to text and photos to be able to capture what it what it feels like to be there. And feel being that optimal word for Millennials and Gen Z who care so much about experiences…”

Mark Linao: “Do you have any last parting tips for founders right now who are just starting out in this environment?”

Michael Ebel: “I think being very disciplined about how you think about your mental health is probably the number one skill set that I think you know probably attributes more than anything the success or failure. As a Founder it can feel like you're just staring down the barrel of a fire hose of information of needs and wants and there's so much to do and thinking about how you approach the day and setting yourself up for success… Not necessarily checking your phone first thing in the morning and giving yourself some time to get set for the day. For some people that looks like meditating for me it does but it looks like a lot of different things for a lot of people but I think you need to be very diligent about how you're thinking about prioritizing your time…”