31
d'Agost
de
2016
Act.
31
d'Agost
de
2016
Whenever they wanted to go out for the night, they could never find information about the nightlife going on around them. If it was a Thursday, for example, they did not know which discos were open that day, or how much it cost, or what type of party was going on that night. To solve the problem, four young entrepreneurs in Sabadell and surroundings, Àlex Purull, Xavi Ribas, Gabriel Santana and Arnau Navarro, last year set up Grou App.After 10,000 downloads and a number of acknowledgements, they now have their own office on carrer del Sol, in the centre of Sabadell.
Grow. This is the word the name of the app was taken from. According to Navarro, one its creators: "We wanted to make a new word. As entrepreneurs we like creating a lot, but especially growing. Growing as people, in knowledge, experience, horizons... and growing a community. So, the word grow led to the name Grou," he says.
For the moment, they cover Barcelona and its Metropolitan area, Girona and the Costa Brava -a potential market of a million people- although they also want to grow as far as Madrid, to do pilot tests in other medium-sized and large cities and, finally, to become the best nightlife app in the world.
Behind it, students of business
They too have grown. Four of them began the adventure and there are now eight of them, including the IT team, and they are looking for a Head of Marketing to complete the group. Moreover, this academic year they will have places so that university students from all over Europe can get work experience. "We are a young team, and most of us are studying, but we have specialised in the tasks and departments we manage. Our priority is Grou, and we do not work for any other company," says Navarro. "With the new office," he adds, "we can all come together in a single place and so we have perfect communication."
After the experience of this project, they are much clearer about what the word entrepreneur means. "A good entrepreneur has to know where he or she wants to go. After that, no one can stop them. You have to be determined, positive, disciplined, without being afraid to take risks or make mistakes and, above all, you have to be empathetic, both with your clients as with your team. An entrepreneur only triumphs if he or she has a good team," says Navarro.
Finding the party for you
Grou is an app that puts users looking to go out in contact with nightlife venues. The users can find the night out that most suits their profile, buy entrance tickets, order drinks and VIP bottles with discounts or without extra charges, and join waiting lists to get into the venue for free and without having to queue. For their part, the venue owners can more efficiently manage their businesses with the app, reducing their publicity and marketing costs, given that the app brings their target public to them.
The app notifies users about parties of all types, although it focuses mostly on the most commercial leisure options, which is what people want most, both natives and foreign tourists visiting Catalonia. "Our intention is to offer all the parties available that are on that day in your city, and for Grou, according to your preferences, to recommends to you the night out where it knows you will have the best time," says Navarro.
Beginnings and evolution
The creators wanted an app that would be available for both Apple and Android. "We knew we had to come out on both platforms, because if we didn't we would miss out on half of our target," says Navarro. On the other hand, one of the obstacles they came across when creating it was finding a technical team qualified enough to make it. "We went to a foreign company. It is a good option if you want a secure and professional app, but it is expensive, and taking the product abroad can lead to mistaken interpretations and less flexibility when it comes to updating and improving it," says the Sabadell cofounder.
The team is currently working on improving the app after listening to criticisms of the users. "We have gone with the policy of implementing what the client would like to see in Grou. We take a lot of care over the details, and we are making very significant changes," he says. Grou's creators have devoted half of their private funding to the product and the other half to marketing, especially in acquiring and keeping users. It is currently free for discos and music festivals to appear on Grou, as it is for users to download the app. The creators of Grou earn a small commission for each sale, which they get from the organiser of the event and never the partygoer. "We are now working on new revenue models to monetise the app and make it profitable. There are also venues that get in contact with us wanting to be on the app," he says.
In the next 12 to 18 months, they estimate that they will begin to generate profits. At the moment they are focused on creating a large community of users through social networks. On Instagram alone they have 11.5k followers. "Social networks are where we get the most users from, but we also get them from events we do in universities, from other startups, hotels and, above all, word of mouth. A lot of people know us because a friend has recommended us," says Navarro.
The social networks they use most are Facebook and Instagram, where they invest most money. "We deal with each of them differently, as people on each act differently. Instagram works well for getting the app known, through influencers and competitions," he says.
Widespread recognition
While it is a new app, Grou App has already received a number of acknowledgements. This year, the team were finalists at the Appcircus Barcelona. "It was a good experience, as we were finalists for the best app in Barcelona from among more than 80 candidates; an extra motivation for the whole team and to continue doing good work," says Navarro. At the EO GSEA they were recognised as the best startup created by university students. Meanwhile, Banc Sabadell awarded them a coworking space. They were also finalists in the 4YFN and winners in Booster-E / Red Emprendia.
Given their success, the team is thinking about creating another app or starting a new project, although much later in the future. "We love starting businesses and creating, but now is not the moment to think about that. All of our efforts have to go into turning Grou into the best nightlife app in the world," he concludes.
Grow. This is the word the name of the app was taken from. According to Navarro, one its creators: "We wanted to make a new word. As entrepreneurs we like creating a lot, but especially growing. Growing as people, in knowledge, experience, horizons... and growing a community. So, the word grow led to the name Grou," he says.
For the moment, they cover Barcelona and its Metropolitan area, Girona and the Costa Brava -a potential market of a million people- although they also want to grow as far as Madrid, to do pilot tests in other medium-sized and large cities and, finally, to become the best nightlife app in the world.
Behind it, students of business
They too have grown. Four of them began the adventure and there are now eight of them, including the IT team, and they are looking for a Head of Marketing to complete the group. Moreover, this academic year they will have places so that university students from all over Europe can get work experience. "We are a young team, and most of us are studying, but we have specialised in the tasks and departments we manage. Our priority is Grou, and we do not work for any other company," says Navarro. "With the new office," he adds, "we can all come together in a single place and so we have perfect communication."
After the experience of this project, they are much clearer about what the word entrepreneur means. "A good entrepreneur has to know where he or she wants to go. After that, no one can stop them. You have to be determined, positive, disciplined, without being afraid to take risks or make mistakes and, above all, you have to be empathetic, both with your clients as with your team. An entrepreneur only triumphs if he or she has a good team," says Navarro.
Finding the party for you
Grou is an app that puts users looking to go out in contact with nightlife venues. The users can find the night out that most suits their profile, buy entrance tickets, order drinks and VIP bottles with discounts or without extra charges, and join waiting lists to get into the venue for free and without having to queue. For their part, the venue owners can more efficiently manage their businesses with the app, reducing their publicity and marketing costs, given that the app brings their target public to them.
The app notifies users about parties of all types, although it focuses mostly on the most commercial leisure options, which is what people want most, both natives and foreign tourists visiting Catalonia. "Our intention is to offer all the parties available that are on that day in your city, and for Grou, according to your preferences, to recommends to you the night out where it knows you will have the best time," says Navarro.
Beginnings and evolution
The creators wanted an app that would be available for both Apple and Android. "We knew we had to come out on both platforms, because if we didn't we would miss out on half of our target," says Navarro. On the other hand, one of the obstacles they came across when creating it was finding a technical team qualified enough to make it. "We went to a foreign company. It is a good option if you want a secure and professional app, but it is expensive, and taking the product abroad can lead to mistaken interpretations and less flexibility when it comes to updating and improving it," says the Sabadell cofounder.
The team is currently working on improving the app after listening to criticisms of the users. "We have gone with the policy of implementing what the client would like to see in Grou. We take a lot of care over the details, and we are making very significant changes," he says. Grou's creators have devoted half of their private funding to the product and the other half to marketing, especially in acquiring and keeping users. It is currently free for discos and music festivals to appear on Grou, as it is for users to download the app. The creators of Grou earn a small commission for each sale, which they get from the organiser of the event and never the partygoer. "We are now working on new revenue models to monetise the app and make it profitable. There are also venues that get in contact with us wanting to be on the app," he says.
In the next 12 to 18 months, they estimate that they will begin to generate profits. At the moment they are focused on creating a large community of users through social networks. On Instagram alone they have 11.5k followers. "Social networks are where we get the most users from, but we also get them from events we do in universities, from other startups, hotels and, above all, word of mouth. A lot of people know us because a friend has recommended us," says Navarro.
The social networks they use most are Facebook and Instagram, where they invest most money. "We deal with each of them differently, as people on each act differently. Instagram works well for getting the app known, through influencers and competitions," he says.
Widespread recognition
While it is a new app, Grou App has already received a number of acknowledgements. This year, the team were finalists at the Appcircus Barcelona. "It was a good experience, as we were finalists for the best app in Barcelona from among more than 80 candidates; an extra motivation for the whole team and to continue doing good work," says Navarro. At the EO GSEA they were recognised as the best startup created by university students. Meanwhile, Banc Sabadell awarded them a coworking space. They were also finalists in the 4YFN and winners in Booster-E / Red Emprendia.
Given their success, the team is thinking about creating another app or starting a new project, although much later in the future. "We love starting businesses and creating, but now is not the moment to think about that. All of our efforts have to go into turning Grou into the best nightlife app in the world," he concludes.