{"id":39629,"date":"2023-10-20T15:03:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/why-this-startup-founder-bought-a-camper-van-and-travelled-around-the-country-to-build-an-app-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:03:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:03:31","slug":"why-this-startup-founder-bought-a-camper-van-and-travelled-around-the-country-to-build-an-app-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/why-this-startup-founder-bought-a-camper-van-and-travelled-around-the-country-to-build-an-app-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Why this startup founder bought a camper van and travelled around the country to build an app – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Buddy<\/div>\n

After running a restaurant in Noosa for five years, 28-year-old Danny Simmonds bought himself a camper van and set off on a travel adventure.<\/p>\n

But this was no ordinary holiday.<\/p>\n

Simmonds would spend four months visiting major cities from Port Douglas to Melbourne conducting market research for his startup Buddy Australia\u2014a digital marketplace connecting hospitality businesses with customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a TripAdvisor mixed up with a Groupon,\u201d Simmonds tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the Buddy Australia app hits the market, customers will be able to find exclusive deals for local cafes, restaurants and takeaway shops, book a table, and pay for meals inside its app.<\/p>\n

Businesses will also be able to showcase what they’re like inside through 360-degree videos, virtual tours and photos, in addition to menu and price lists, digital coupons and social media links.<\/p>\n

With $320,000 in early stage funding collected from family and friends, Simmonds\u2019 restaurant Global Bar Caf\u00e9 and the remortgaging his home, the entrepreneur has employed a small team and office space, set up a new website and commenced app development.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a modern solution to the \u201cmedieval\u201d marketing options available to the hospitality sector today, says Simmonds, who met with over 300 businesses on his market research trip.<\/p>\n

From expensive magazine ads where you can\u2019t track the return to basic storefront signs, Simmonds says small players in the hospitality sector who don\u2019t get thousands of people walking by everyday really struggle to get seen.<\/p>\n

He experienced this first hand with his own restaurant, where posting deals on social media sites like Facebook offering free wine with meals failed to bring a single customer through the door.<\/p>\n

\u201c[A recent] post had over 1000 likes and 67 shares,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut every single customer that came in through my door didn\u2019t even know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testing the problem<\/h3>\n

Before leaping in to build a solution, Simmonds ventured into the market to test its appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy experience of learning is you have to see it to believe it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make sure I was going to put the amount of money I was into [Buddy Australia], I wanted to guarantee this is going to happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go out there and learn how people are responding to my pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trip left Simmonds with a \u201cbook the size of a bible\u201d filled with comments, feedback and ideas but most importantly, evidence the problem exists\u00a0and that his solution has demand.<\/p>\n

Around 89% of businesses he visited were keen to sign up to the app, he says.<\/p>\n

Launching a tech startup without knowing how to code<\/h3>\n

With no experience in coding or software development, Simmonds sought help from Sunshine Coast\u2019s innovation centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have got no tech background whatsoever,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met with mentors for expert advice and [they] introduced me to programmers, which is where I found my team and started putting the company together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team will launch the app after 1000 businesses list on Buddy Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim by 2020 is to have over 1 million listings across Australia, New Zealand and the UK,” he says.<\/p>\n

So the adventure\u2019s only beginning for Simmonds.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Building a startup] is like Melbourne weather, it\u2019s all four seasons in one day,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get your bad days with no positive feedback, you go to meetings [and] get no news, no interest, then the next day you get people wanting to throw $200,000 at you.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, it has been very rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After running a restaurant in Noosa for five years, 28-year-old Danny Simmonds bought himself a camper van and set off<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61347,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}