If you plan to simplify the startups typology to the maximum, you’d get two types of directions: the ones that focus on building new products and the ones that build a product that already exists in some form, but in a much better, more usable and effective version.
This next startup we’re presenting is doing exactly that. There are quite a lot of applications targeting the niche they’re after, but their recipe for success has its unique proposition. Wallet Buzz was one of the 32 finalists in the Startup Spotlight competition last year and since then they’ve worked quite a bit on their product.
The team is planning for ambitious objectives and we’re quite interested to find out what their strategy is, because creating and launching an app is only the first stage in a very complicated process leading towards having a successful business model.
1. What is your startup’s product all about and what is the higher goal you’re trying to tackle?
Wallet Buzz is a free app, connecting retailers to smartphone users. We’re aiming to be the biggest shopping & lifestyle mobile app in Romania, with offers from almost every retailer around you. We use geo-location, push messages, uniquely and unlimited free generated vouchers in order to deliver content and exclusive offers straight to your smartphone.
We are trying to close the gap between retailers and their clients, providing a complete mobile marketing solution that helps the first increase their shopping area and deliver location relevant offers and the latter to be surrounded by options and save money while shopping.
2. Tell us your startup’s story in a few highlights.
We got the idea when we visited London during the Olympics Games of 2012 and saw a similar app there. It helped a lot when searching for venues nearby, but it lacked the idea of impulse shopping.
It took approx. 3 month of 24/7 hard work to get from idea to launching. We were born on October 15th, launching the first mobile marketing platform in Romania that used geo-location, both on iOS and Android. And we managed to create some BUZZ ever since, quickly attracting the attention of people in this industry:
• GOLD PRIZE – Best Use of Mobile Advertising, Ziarul Financiar & Mobilio 2013 conference, Bucharest
• Nominee for Best Mobile Application – Webstock 2013 – Evensys & Vodafone – Bucharest
• App of the day by Ziarul Financiar
• 16.000 active users by the end of 2013 and almost 60 big retailers.
• Top 10 Android Romanian Apps – Adevarul.ro
• Among the 32 Finalists of Startup Spotlight Competition – Howtoweb Conference 2013 – Bucharest
3. Who is your team and why are you the best match to work on this product?
We are 3 founders that have known each other for more than 10 years, great friends, even if we are very different from one another. I think this is a huge advantage and a great combination: a mix of sales experience, technical IT background, project management, social media, fast analytical thinking, results orientated, and early technology adopters. Add that to the fun we have while building things together and you will get a three way perspective that makes us complete each other in taking decisions and taking Wallet Buzz to meet its goals.
4. What startups in/originating from the CEE do you look up to and which regional specialists would you like to have as mentors?
We’re always checking out Voucher cloud, as it’s the biggest success story in our activity field. There are a few successful stories here in Romania too, startups founded by people with great vision that found the right path to implement their ideas.
Strictly speaking from the Wallet Buzz point of view and profile, as we were the first to do this on the Romanian market, I would say that we could be mentors for others. And seeing people come and ask us how we managed to deal with common problems is a great incentive.
5. What are your favorite learning resources dedicated to startups?
There are some great resources out there like Techcrunch.com, Tech.eu, Mashable.com and f6s.com. As we love creativity and we are linked to the advertising industry, we also keep a close eye on every mobile campaign originating from big agencies (Graffiti BBDO, McCann).
6. How has participating in Startup Spotlight impacted your startup’s trajectory?
Well, we got to do this interview 
. Just kidding.
It was great for us to be nominated as one of the 32 finalists. Besides the media coverage, we got the chance to present Wallet Buzz to important people from the CEE. We can also say that we found interesting facts about the market and our business during the one to one sessions from the last day.
We’ve met and networked with a lot of interesting people. We’re still in close relationship with some of them and developed plans/partnerships together, some of which you will find out very soon.
7. What is the trend for location based marketing? Is the local market showing signs for growth? Is this info correlated in any way with the small adoption rate of Foursquare?
We’re still in the point where we are educating smartphone users to use their devices to the fullest, and get the best out of them. We have a great smartphone penetration rate and some interesting figures regarding app downloads and use. Retailers understood this trend and are all, steadily, moving their classic advertising campaigns towards mobile.
The idea is different from Foursquare when going through the details. From our studies, Romanian smartphone users are keen to use local developed apps for their everyday habits (going out, ordering a cab, listening to music, searching for a venue) as they believe the content is closer checked out before being delivered to them. And they are absolutely right.
A great help and a big impact is given by telecom operators which started investing in local developers, in apps and are now expanding their B2B services. Being backed by a big telecom operator is something that every app wants, and Wallet Buzz will follow this trend soon.
If you’re interested in discovering more startups from the CEE, we’ve dedicated an entire section to them.