Startup Advise Wallet: a wallet of successful recommendations
For 5 months in the Happy Farm business incubator, the startup Advie Wallet moved from offline to online, expanded the number of its users, attracted partners in Silicon Valley and raised the company's value to $ 2.5 million
Stas Matvienko , a student at the Institute of International Relations of the Kiev Taras Shevchenko National University, founder and CEO of the startup Advice Wallet, came up with his project in preparation for the network marketing seminar. He was visited by the idea of creating a service that would allow a person recommending a particular product, service or institution to receive certain bonuses. “After all, it’s so obvious: online business retailers recommend buying their company's products to neighbors, acquaintances, and friends. It would be great not to sell, but to recommend and receive a reward for a successful recommendation, - concluded Stas. “Advice is the best advertisement, because customers trust the advice of their friends, and companies, in turn, reduce the costs of promoting their goods and services.”
Service began its work in 2012. Users registered on the site, entered a phone number and began to recommend interesting places or services to their friends and acquaintances. Those who, taking advantage of the recommendations, came to participating institutions, called the number of the referee and received a discount. The adviser, in turn, received a reward - 10% of the order. The money came to the phone bill or bank card immediately after purchasing the service. Advice Wallet consistently receives 5% of each transaction. The average advice on the site costs about 300 hryvnia, the maximum fixed amount - 15000 UAH.
A few months after launch, the service had more than 250 customers in various cities of Ukraine, among which the main part were restaurants, nightclubs, cafes and garages, as well as various courses, trainings, schools and kindergartens. Already at this stage, with the help of the Advice Wallet service, goods and services worth more than $ 100,000 were sold. The company's turnover reached UAH 80,000, and the earnings of recommenders amounted to UAH 56,000. The founder, Stas Matvienko, earned more than $ 5000.
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The global reload of the project and its entry into a new level began in the Happy Farm business incubator. At the crucial moment, before the presentation of the project before the international Board of the incubator, Stas Matvienko enlisted the support of his fellow student Anna Polishchuk , who later became the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the project. This is how the initial Advice Wallet team was formed. Having passed the competitive selection and hitting the Happy Farm acceleration program, the project was assigned to the chairman of the International Bord Happy Farm Igor Scheufot .
After a week of being in the incubator, after several skype consultations with mentors, the Advice Wallet project completed its first pivot — the transition of the service from offline to online. This brought an expansion of the client and partner base. Also, already at the initial stage, thanks to the Happy Farm business incubator, the startup found the missing member for the team - STO Andrey Havrychenko . Also, as part of the acceleration program, the very idea of the project was improved - recommendations began to be implemented through social networks and QR codes, which can be scanned with a mobile phone for checkin in establishments.
At the moment, Stas Matvienko and the team are actively engaged in attracting new customers and partners. Service Advice Wallet has released an application for iOS, a version for Android is under development. The company has another mentor - a member of the Board Happy Farm Paul Asoyan of Google. Active work is underway to translate the service into other languages, and a project in Europe is expected soon. During the internship in the United States, organized by the business incubator Happy Farm, the company attracted many American partners, among which students of Berkeley University are particularly active in promoting the product. At the same time, the project aroused interest among international investors.
Recently, Advice Wallet entered the list of the best start-ups in Europe and was invited to participate in the LOGIN.LT 2013 conference, which took place from April 18 to 19, 2013 in Vilnius (Lithuania). In addition, in April of this year, the project entered the top 10 student startups according to Forbes Ukraine.
Future plans for the Advice Wallet team are to conquer the CIS market, launch service in the USA and introduce innovative technologies into the product.
Stas Matvienko , a student at the Institute of International Relations of the Kiev Taras Shevchenko National University, founder and CEO of the startup Advice Wallet, came up with his project in preparation for the network marketing seminar. He was visited by the idea of creating a service that would allow a person recommending a particular product, service or institution to receive certain bonuses. “After all, it’s so obvious: online business retailers recommend buying their company's products to neighbors, acquaintances, and friends. It would be great not to sell, but to recommend and receive a reward for a successful recommendation, - concluded Stas. “Advice is the best advertisement, because customers trust the advice of their friends, and companies, in turn, reduce the costs of promoting their goods and services.”
Service began its work in 2012. Users registered on the site, entered a phone number and began to recommend interesting places or services to their friends and acquaintances. Those who, taking advantage of the recommendations, came to participating institutions, called the number of the referee and received a discount. The adviser, in turn, received a reward - 10% of the order. The money came to the phone bill or bank card immediately after purchasing the service. Advice Wallet consistently receives 5% of each transaction. The average advice on the site costs about 300 hryvnia, the maximum fixed amount - 15000 UAH.
A few months after launch, the service had more than 250 customers in various cities of Ukraine, among which the main part were restaurants, nightclubs, cafes and garages, as well as various courses, trainings, schools and kindergartens. Already at this stage, with the help of the Advice Wallet service, goods and services worth more than $ 100,000 were sold. The company's turnover reached UAH 80,000, and the earnings of recommenders amounted to UAH 56,000. The founder, Stas Matvienko, earned more than $ 5000.
')
The global reload of the project and its entry into a new level began in the Happy Farm business incubator. At the crucial moment, before the presentation of the project before the international Board of the incubator, Stas Matvienko enlisted the support of his fellow student Anna Polishchuk , who later became the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of the project. This is how the initial Advice Wallet team was formed. Having passed the competitive selection and hitting the Happy Farm acceleration program, the project was assigned to the chairman of the International Bord Happy Farm Igor Scheufot .
After a week of being in the incubator, after several skype consultations with mentors, the Advice Wallet project completed its first pivot — the transition of the service from offline to online. This brought an expansion of the client and partner base. Also, already at the initial stage, thanks to the Happy Farm business incubator, the startup found the missing member for the team - STO Andrey Havrychenko . Also, as part of the acceleration program, the very idea of the project was improved - recommendations began to be implemented through social networks and QR codes, which can be scanned with a mobile phone for checkin in establishments.
At the moment, Stas Matvienko and the team are actively engaged in attracting new customers and partners. Service Advice Wallet has released an application for iOS, a version for Android is under development. The company has another mentor - a member of the Board Happy Farm Paul Asoyan of Google. Active work is underway to translate the service into other languages, and a project in Europe is expected soon. During the internship in the United States, organized by the business incubator Happy Farm, the company attracted many American partners, among which students of Berkeley University are particularly active in promoting the product. At the same time, the project aroused interest among international investors.
Recently, Advice Wallet entered the list of the best start-ups in Europe and was invited to participate in the LOGIN.LT 2013 conference, which took place from April 18 to 19, 2013 in Vilnius (Lithuania). In addition, in April of this year, the project entered the top 10 student startups according to Forbes Ukraine.
Future plans for the Advice Wallet team are to conquer the CIS market, launch service in the USA and introduce innovative technologies into the product.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/177955/
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