Let’s meet startup, Drops:
Website: https://drops.la
In a few sentences, tell us what your start-up is all about!
Drops lets you roundup credit and debit card purchases and donate the spare change to the charity of your choice. 100% of the donation goes to charity and all contributions are tax deductible.
If you don’t feel like donating today, that’s no problem. You always have the option to keep your change.
When was your startup founded? And what stage is your startup currently at?
Founded July 5, 2015. Currently in public Beta.
Who are your competitors? And what is your start-up’s competitive advantage over them?
Bstow, MyChange, ChangUr, MyRoundup, Altruist.
Our advantages: 100% of the donation goes to charity, we work directly with the charities we feature, we’re a charity ourselves, and our app looks prettier Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
How does the product and/or service differ from your main competitors?
We do not take anything from donations and we ensure that once you make a donation, the charity will respond to your contribution with a thank you and description of your impact.
We want to connect our users with the causes they help support–not just their wallet.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Let us know a bit about your team, who are the key team members and what is their role?
Shea Rouda. Founder // CEO. Hustler, business guy, beach lover, student at USC.
Nithin Reddy. Founder // CTO. Hacker, genius programmer, developed 126 apps, Discovery Channel enthusiast.
Henrik Abonyi. Lead Designer. Hasher, creative mastermind, skateboard lover, food fanatic.
If applicable, what is your growth like? And what milestones has your startup achieved so far?
Average 1,000 website hits a week, waitlist over 200, currently have 30 Beta testers with 7 charities partnered. By the end of March, we hope to be over 500 users with 15 charities.
What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?
Finding a way around Apple bylaw 21.2 with creative brainstorming and workflows. Bootstrapping a FinTech startup is extremely challenging, so finding the right team who believe in this idea more than they believed in payment was huge.
What is it about you, your team and your company that means you are going to succeed?
We’re a perfectly diversified team with business, development, and design experience. We work directly with charities and truly want to connect our users to the causes they support.
What are some key things you’ve leared so far in your startup journey that other Entrepreneurs could benefit from?
It’s going to take hardwork and you’ll always find competitors along the way. But if you work from the heart, you’ll stay headstrong in building an excellent product.
How do customers / users find out about you (what are some key marketing/acquisition tactics that are working well)?
We’ve used a waitlist to encourage referrals, but I believe our social media outreach on Twitter has been the most effective means of spreading our idea–plus reaching out to awesome startup websites like NewStartups!
Do you have any customer feedback on your product and/or service that you could share?
Happy to connect you guys with some of our Beta testers!
How big do you think you can get? Why? And how you are planning to achieve your goals?
I think we can get into the hands of over 1M users. We believe this because the concept of giving is universal–everyone wants to give–we simply hope to make this desire easier to achieve.
We will achieve our goals by continuing to build a superior product with a dedicated team and creative marketing tactics.
What’s your biggest barrier to scaling your business right now and how do you plan to overcome that?
Establishing credibility with charities so they feel inclined to join. To overcome this, we’ll partner with smaller charities first, and then expand to larger organizations once our reputation is proven trustworthy and credible.
Are you looking for funding or are you open to partnership opportunities, and if so, what’s the best way for people to get in contact with you?
We’re looking for angel investors and a partnership with transaction processing companies, Acorns, and charities. Please contact us at shea@drops.la
What is the best piece of advice you’ve received from a mentor?
People don’t care about donating, they care about helping.
Finally, do you have any other comments or information about your product that you would like to add?
We’re currently only on iOS and in the US!
Social Media Profiles
The post Drops: Roundup Spare Change For Charity appeared first on New Startups.