Interview with Alexandru Predescu – CEO, Leplace World App [2023]

When I first discussed the idea of an urban exploration game with two of my colleagues from university, I was inspired by the potential of mobile technologies to transform the way we interact with the real world. Since I was a kid, I was fascinated by games and wondered how they could be experienced in real-life.

So, while working on our first prototype for LEPLACE, there was one moment when we realized we’re actually making a game, a real-life exploration game that brings interactive stories in the real world.

We never settled on building just another mobile app, and after years of intensive development, Leplace World was released worldwide for early access. A couple of months later, we were selected to participate in the HyperAccelerator from Singapore, as the only startup in the world with the potential to really transform the tourism industry with mobile games.

The 100-day accelerator program was a revolutionary experience that allowed us to have a deeper understanding of our purpose in this global journey with LEPLACE.

Have you ever wondered how mobile games can help local tourism to become interactive in the digital world? Leplace connects people and places with the most interactive urban exploration game on your mobile phone.

Leplace World is the mobile app that transforms the city into a real-life interactive experience, with dynamic stories powered by Geo-AR and World Map mechanics. And we thought there is no better way of starting a revolution in local tourism than by allowing creative organizations around the world to have their own content and ideas in the game, while we take their urban exploration games to the next level.

So, if you think Leplace can replace the outdated technologies, pen, and paper and printed maps, that people are still using to organize dynamic exploration games, you are right! Our platform is ready for any creator and event organizer to design amazing experiences with just a few clicks and lots of creativity.

Instead of wasting money for developing their own mobile apps that don’t work, with Leplace, our customers can make money by having people play their games, in exchange for a sales commission and monthly subscription plan.

With Leplace, the revolution in local tourism is just around the corner, and we just need to scale it up to a global market by building new connections and working with partners that can help us in this journey.

I think the most important thing is to make your own work-life balance around the things that truly inspire you to move forward. You may think that these are three distinct careers, but it was just a matter of having them aligned in a smart way. Having three different perspectives actually allows you to keep pushing the limits in some directions while taking a break in others, and always moving forward.

Research, for example, gives you a chance to really think about new ideas, development is about having control over the product to align with your ideas, and with an entrepreneurial mindset, you can build a business around it.

And if I were to pick one daily habit that helps productivity along the way, taking notes would be at the top of the list. Always writing down ideas the moment you get them, and never letting them pile up along with other tasks. That will give you control over multitasking, allowing new ideas to flow.

Now, we are just the two co-founders and team of advisors, so things went quite smoothly during these difficult times. There were a few quarrels during the early days, but the one thing that really kept us going over the years was having a clear purpose, focusing on building a great product.

So, I think one reason why employees are quitting in large numbers would be that there is too much “shallow work” in the corporate culture and people can easily forget about the meaningful parts of their jobs. Combine this with the increasing trend of mobility that could hardly be satisfied during the pandemic, and people are naturally getting bored of the same routine every day.

Now, as an entrepreneur, you are on the other side of the curtain, you need to build a routine that will keep you going and provide stability in times of uncertainty if you want your startup to be successful.

Perhaps the biggest challenge anyone would have while developing a real-life exploration game is the technical complexity and real-world testing. There is just no way it can work in the real world without some serious testing and extreme attention to detail every time you add a new feature.

I remember during the first year of building the product, I used to go out at least once a day to test the app and every time came back with a list of bugs and improvements. Geo-AR and World Map mechanics rely heavily on internal sensors, so you need to have a deep understanding of the hardware limitations to achieve a smooth game experience.

Even after you manage to have the app working, getting it approved on the store is a whole different game, as you have to overcome a series of limitations and regulations. So, I think this is why, even today, there are very few similar apps available on the market.

During the first year of developing the product, we experimented with everything the mobile phone had to offer. AR was definitely on the list from day one, but we didn’t start from that. We felt that there was only so much you can do with an app primarily built around AR.

Back then, AR was still experimental, and frameworks were expensive, but we were inspired by the idea of implementing Geo-AR into our app. We wanted to provide unlimited AR experiences anywhere in the world. So, we hacked our way using an experimental framework and never settled until we had it working.

There is indeed an entry barrier that we are trying to overcome, getting AR to work on iOS, so we might have to switch to a premium framework at some point.

When I started on this project, I didn’t have experience in marketing, sales, or building a company. What helped me instead was having a product vision, mostly because my journey up to that point had trained me for it, always coming up with new ideas and turning them into prototypes that I was passionate about.

So, my advice for fellow developers is to create something that is meaningful to you, not just writing code for a living, or helping others to implement their ideas. You are product people, so let the product define your entrepreneurial journey!

I think everything comes into place as you advance in your entrepreneurial journey. When I think about it, more business experience would have been useful if the product was focused on solving a specific problem.

In our case, it started with a game, and only after the game was almost complete, we found the actual problem that we could solve with our product, and it became just a matter of selling the solution to the right customers.

So, after participating in startup events and accelerators, I can say that product development is still the hardest part of our business, but we’re already far ahead with this one.

Leplace in five years’ time has the potential to become the world-class platform for urban exploration, connecting people and places with urban exploration projects around the world. Having a solid business plan that we’re developing over a series of workshops and an outstanding product, to begin with, it’s only a matter of connecting with creative organizations and potential partners, to scale up the urban experience.

Starting a revolution in local tourism is also on the horizon, as working with the tourism industry can transform cities into lively environments, and this is what Leplace is all about.