Swipii was one of the companies which took part in the App City event held at Strathclyde on November 17. Those who didn't attend might still be familiar with Swipii and its little octopus logo which is popping up in more and more places, both in and around campus – and further afield as of next year.
Swipii is a venture thought up by two graduates from Strathclyde Business School’s MSc in International Marketing, Louis Schena and Chitresh Sharma. They initially started working on the business while they were both still at Strathclyde Business School, back in 2012. After finishing university, they moved into an incubator and worked on developing and progressing their concepts, with the product and service actually launched into the market in May 2014.
Louis explained how the idea progressed: "We were both international students at Strathclyde, from France and India, and so had no idea of where was good to go on a night out. We developed an idea for a night club platform which would make recommendations to you based on your tastes and budget. This developed into a nightclub loyalty platform, as many nightclubs spend thousands of pounds each week on flyering and have very poor retention rates. We then realised that if it could work for nightclubs then it could work for any small business, which is what it became today."
Louis acknowledged there had been many changes along the way for the product. "You can spend a lot of time perfecting your product but you will get places faster if you go with the flow. Just get a functioning product out and deal with making it pretty later. Our product has gone though many iterations both before and after launch; you will always find new improvements to be made to it, especially once it is in the hands of the users and you start to get feedback on how people are actually working and using your product.
"We went through dozens of ideas, sketches, designs and models. We almost launched with a different name and logo but overnight we changed both the logo and name! We started with no office space and working in cafes to working in free incubators and finally our own office. There's a lot of help available in Glasgow and everyone with their own business idea should use it - we did, and still do!"
Both Louis and Chitresh believe business plans are 'over-rated' saying, "If you really want to start a business just get out there and do it. Business plans are formalities and are really more for your investors, for getting loans or entering business competitions. However, a short, concise business plan can help you visualise your vision and revenue model if you're not sure what you want to do."
Not even one year into the business proper, Louis and Chitresh are in the short-term busy tackling day to day demand and any issues that crop up, and getting out there and selling their product but they are ambitious with the longer view in mind. "In the long term we are looking to cover the UK with Swipii and go international – and this is actually happening in February with Denmark!
"The feedback from business has been fantastic. For the first time, businesses have data in their hands to help their business understand their customers and engage with them better. The end-users also love it because it is convenient and easy to use; it offers fun and different rewards from most loyalty programmes - and they love our wee octopus mascot!"
The team were invited along to App City by Dominic Chalmers, lecturer with the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, and they were keen to go along and share their story with other entrepreneurs. "We're always keen to help other entrepreneurs and share the highs and lows of what we've experienced along the way so that they know what they're getting themselves into! We also want to meet great people as a company is only as good as the people in it and we're always on the lookout for great talent."
The App City event also featured Connect IN, www.mylupo.com; Cojengo Ltd; Bizvento; Lifeline Applications; Pick Protection; and Roger Dubar of the award-winning Glasgow-based Zapcoder (http://zapcoder.com) delivered the keynote presentation, sharing his experiences of being a digital entrepreneur in Scotland.
You can find out more about Swipii on their website.
The Scottish Institute for Enterprise recently interviewed Swipii founders, Louis and Chitresh, and there is a case study and video available on their website.