Parent-teacher consultation days at school – parents can tell you a thing or two about it! You just want to go to the teacher and discuss the last assignment your child messed up. What you haven’t thought of is that ten other mothers or fathers want to do the same. So nothing happens quickly here. so you stand in the queue, annyoed, knowing that you won’t manage to do the groceries afterwards.

It doesn’t have to be like this! Teachers and university professors can easily coordinate their office hours with MeetFox. The scheduling software allows users to make their appointments online and make video calls directly with MeetFox. Who is this suitable for? For everyone who has a lot of appointments: Coaches, therapists, company sales staff, lawyers, teachers, university professors – you name it.

Pandemic increases acceptance of online meetings in education

In the education sector, MeetFox’s scheduling solution was not widely adopted until recently. The pandemic has changed that. “With Corona, the acceptance of online meetings increased,” says Susanne Klepsch, founder of MeetFox. Music teachers met with students online, parent-teacher conferences took place remotely and language courses were held virtually. “The inhibition threshold to meet online has fallen. It is quite normal to meet via video call and many people can’t imagine it any other way,” says Susanne. In addition to the schools, many universities also use MeetFox for the consultation days of the professors and the career centres for students.

Assign appointments…

Assign, hold and invoice appointments

How exactly does MeetFox work? Students or clients can, for example, book a free appointment on a website or via e-mail. If necessary, MeetFox also handles the payment for the music or therapy session. A video link is created with each appointment booking. With this link, you can easily join the video call on the selected date. Of course, users can also book face-to-face appointments – such as parent-teacher meetings at school. Waiting in line is still a thing of the past.

MeetFox saves time and money. No more annoying appointment coordination by e-mail or telephone. Full control over the appointment calendar. The author of this blog article was able to see for herself that this is very practical. MeetFox was of course used in the conversation with Susanne Klepsch. Even a spontaneous change of appointment went off without a hitch. Conclusion: Thumbs up for automated appointment booking!

From Vienna to New York

MeetFox is a start-up from Vienna, but at home all over the world. The team works completely remotely (even before Corona!), the Vienna office will soon be closed due to orphanhood. Susanne lives in New York most of the time, as the American market is the biggest for MeetFox. They also landed one of the coveted spots at a Techstar Accelerator programme in New York in 2020. However, the market situation is now changing. The European market, including the Austrian market, is catching up in the pandemic.

We asked Susanne Klepsch

You work completely remotely. Is that the future of working?

I don’t think it’s suitable for every company. It depends a lot on the intrinsic motivation of the team. We have some digital nomads in our team who love working remotely. And we also only attract people like that. We still have an office in Vienna, but we will give it up. Our team loves the flexibility. The switch to remote work was also easy for us because we have always had many digital processes. To keep the team spirit high, we do a lot of virtual standups and games. And of course it’s also important to see each other from time to time.

You participated in a Techstars Accelerator programme in New York. What was that like?

It’s a very valuable programme. We applied several times for American accelerator programmes, and in New York it finally worked out. They only take 1 percent of applicants, so we were really lucky.

The programme ran for three months. It was a very intensive time. We had contacts with hundreds of investors and mentors and numerous workshops. From one day to the next, we had access to a huge network. And all this in addition to our daily start-up routine. We put a lot of work and sleepless nights into it. But it has paid off. We received valuable feedback, developed further and reinvented ourselves again and again. An investment was the icing on the cake.

What are your plans for the future?

We want to grow even more, for example in the European market. USA and DACH are our core markets so far. We also always have an eye on the Asian market. That is also the reason why we are participating in the Austria-Hong Kong EdTech Exchange on 30 August. We want to increase our user numbers there as well, but first we have to adapt to the languages. This has been delayed by the pandemic. Since teachers also network with their students, an English version is not enough. The hurdle of holding meetings with MeetFox would be too great. In any case, we would like to support as many people as possible in making appointments – that is the goal.