Michael Perry from Gving.com shares his startup hustle as he brings mobile commerce to colleges
Today we get to interview Michael Perry, a non-technical founder of Gving, who shares with us how hard it can be to earn street cred in silicon valley.
Being a technical recruiter gave Michael a network to reach out and find a developer. He also decided that having the team together was more efficient than finding virtual workers overseas.
Gving has been making money since last year, and has a runway through the summer. Their approach has been to move quickly and iterate ideas.
Michael is passionate about the small business space and noticed the huge need for rewards programs. He's noticed that being able to move quickly is critical to proving out ideas fast. Now he's looking at the bigger problems facing the small businesses rather than just providing them a vitamin.
Instead of a "pivot", Michael has refocused Gving on the merchants, small cafes and eateries, like those found in university campuses. Their latest product is evolving to a CRM for these small businesses to manage and messages their customers.
Focusing all the energy on rewards consumer app and building traction was depleting their bootstrapped runway, so Micheal is actively looking for a fit in the small business technology ecosystem as opposed to competing head to head with bigger competitors like square.
Building the merchant customer base is hard. Michael and his partner tried cold calling businesses, but found that it wasn't as effective as focusing and extending their existing network. Building partners in the local markets the merchants already exist offers more than just growth advantages.
Michael was working out of his home until Duncan the founder of RocketSpace brought him into their startup ecosystem. Being around similar mindsets and a healthy competitive atmosphere has helped.
Now Gving is focused on the university campuses where adoption is more natural with most students having a smart phone already. They're continuing to spread across campuses around the west coast. An advantage in gaining students as customers who will graduate and become small business owners and Gving customers themselves.
We look at the landscape of competitors and other merchant solutions, and how they can all fit together. It's still early days and uncertain, but with an API in the works, these services should all work at the benefit of the merchant.
Unfortunately retail is still a smaller market than the cafe and food establishments where the frequency of use is significantly higher.
We wonder where this might be headed and the power of mobile and gamification features. Above all the user experience needs to come first, and not detract the user from engagement.
We're looking forward to catching up with Michael as they continue to release great products down the road!
https://gving.com
Being a technical recruiter gave Michael a network to reach out and find a developer. He also decided that having the team together was more efficient than finding virtual workers overseas.
Gving has been making money since last year, and has a runway through the summer. Their approach has been to move quickly and iterate ideas.
Michael is passionate about the small business space and noticed the huge need for rewards programs. He's noticed that being able to move quickly is critical to proving out ideas fast. Now he's looking at the bigger problems facing the small businesses rather than just providing them a vitamin.
Instead of a "pivot", Michael has refocused Gving on the merchants, small cafes and eateries, like those found in university campuses. Their latest product is evolving to a CRM for these small businesses to manage and messages their customers.
Focusing all the energy on rewards consumer app and building traction was depleting their bootstrapped runway, so Micheal is actively looking for a fit in the small business technology ecosystem as opposed to competing head to head with bigger competitors like square.
Building the merchant customer base is hard. Michael and his partner tried cold calling businesses, but found that it wasn't as effective as focusing and extending their existing network. Building partners in the local markets the merchants already exist offers more than just growth advantages.
Michael was working out of his home until Duncan the founder of RocketSpace brought him into their startup ecosystem. Being around similar mindsets and a healthy competitive atmosphere has helped.
Now Gving is focused on the university campuses where adoption is more natural with most students having a smart phone already. They're continuing to spread across campuses around the west coast. An advantage in gaining students as customers who will graduate and become small business owners and Gving customers themselves.
We look at the landscape of competitors and other merchant solutions, and how they can all fit together. It's still early days and uncertain, but with an API in the works, these services should all work at the benefit of the merchant.
Unfortunately retail is still a smaller market than the cafe and food establishments where the frequency of use is significantly higher.
We wonder where this might be headed and the power of mobile and gamification features. Above all the user experience needs to come first, and not detract the user from engagement.
We're looking forward to catching up with Michael as they continue to release great products down the road!
https://gving.com