Focus on failure: Loseitback.com
Loseitback.com was an idea I had around 7 years ago. Working as a 20 year old telecommunications engineer for Vodafone I was always dreaming up ideas for the next big thing within mobile communication. With a friend we had a side business called Evolve Creations that started out when we were 16 respectively and started doing local web design.
As we grew older and as web design got boring and competitive we moved into niche areas of the web. When the trials of WAP technology were being done in Japan (i-mode and other technologies) we decided this was the way forward, the future and almost overnight re-branded our web-design business as a WAP specialist. While my techie partner got up to speed with WAP technologies and coding, I got out on the road and began to drum up business from the corporates such as Cadbury, Rover and BT all fairly local to where we were based.
Although new technology, we managed to generate some revenue from this venture but it failed due to the poor WAP service on mobiles. We then licked our wounds and went back to web design but this time in shopping carts. While working full-time, running a small time web design house we also started work on my next vision which was ‘traffic updates’ on your mobile at that time wasn’t available. Through contacts at Vodafone we were given a few meetings to pitch our idea but we didn’t have the expertise to even write the code!
I then started working with a company that actually offered mobile phone services, so anything from accessories to insurance. This is where I got to see the amount of mobile phones that get lost each year in the UK and the cost to insurance companies. This idea sat in my head until one day I designed a small tag, almost like a strap that most people have on their digital cameras that they put their wrist through.
I then developed a basic numbering system and phone number that people would call if their mobile was found. I then wrote to a number of local insurance companies that I knew did mobile phone insurance and pretended I was a student doing some research for a project and was able to get some great facts and statistics. From this, I could clearly see how much I could save their company in payment claims by reducing the risk of loss with my labels.
I attended two meetings with two medium sized insurance companies and they really liked the idea but didn’t like the fact the finder had to call a number. After further meetings, discussions broke down to a point where I couldn’t get any further with these companies. Things got busier at work and with the web design business and this project sat in my drawer for about 18 months.
I was then on holiday in the east when I began to think about this venture again after we had just won a contract to produce an online asset register for a company. So I thought I would take my venture online so people can either call or report a found item through the website. So I then got my friend to commission me a template site and within a week I was running tests by losing various items around Birmingham. After further research of things getting lost such as keys, wallets, laptops and iPods I designed a multi-function label that could be applied to almost anything personal, valuable and small.
I then got a large run of labels printed to cut costs and then ran out of cash! I was then cut out of my web-design business because I wasn’t focusing anytime on it and again the project stalled. I attempted to get finance for the site but got nowhere, this was the times before Angels Den etc.
So in the end, nearly broke I had to cut my losses and sell the entire project. I lacked marketing experience and basic financing experience. I also think now upon reflection that it wouldn’t have been a big attraction for an investor as it can be reproduced so easily. Now there are a number of ventures out there that cater for this very niche.
I then read a very interesting article in The Independant(UK) last year about an Irish startup called YouGetItBack.com
They seem to have had better luck as the article points out:
‘After trying to fund the business themselves, Hannigan and his co-founders Paul Prendergast and William Fitzgerald (now marketing director and operations director respectively) sought funding from a business expansion programme and were invited to pitch at the Investment Club Network in January 2006. This resulted in Yougetitback.com receiving £510,000 – twice the amount they asked for on Dragon’s Den.
“These were financial directors of multi-nationals right through to farmers who heard our story and, unlike the Dragons, thought our business idea made tonnes of sense and were prepared to put a few bob behind us,” says Hannigan, who reports that the company still has 39 separate investors.
“At that time, the company was valued at £4m and it’s now worth £6.8m, so they are very happy,” he says. “The forecast is even more optimistic, with the company estimated to grow in value 20 times by 2012.”
I think now though, that this sector needs to move on and get a bit more innovative. It should look at ways you can utilise the software on the phone so missing/lost phones can be remotely disabled etc. I actually wrote to Frank Hannigan with my thoughts and ideas on this.
I thought that his stickers with a cute little doggy on were not attractive or suitable for men, or businessmen! I wouldn’t have this on my mobile. So maybe a number of different designs as well as ‘white label’ labels, so say a huge corporate can apply their logo to it like and asset tag.
I then went ahead with another idea such as LostNokia.com where Franks company could apply their existing infrastructure to a certain brand. LostNokia.com would obviously be for the Nokia brand and you could partner up with Nokia to offer these labels say in every box of the phone. I think its a move in the right direction …. what do you think?