Messaging App PinU: Creates Shared Experiences

Describe PinU in 50 words or less.

PinU is a messaging app that helps you message your friends when they’re nearby, so that you never miss out again.

Why did you decide to pursue your own dreams rather than someone else’s?

Perhaps it’s because I have a problem with authority? However the reason I decided to work on my own idea was because I experienced the monotony of an office job during university and I knew I was far too creative to be bound by bureaucracy and paper work. I knew I wanted to work on a startup but I didn’t have a real problem to solve until I thought of PinU.

Describe your typical working day from coming to the office to leaving it.

To be honest, there isn’t a typical day and that’s the beauty of what we do. It could involve anything from contacting users, contacting press, designing and working on a new prototype, talking at an event, etc. I usually reach the office between 8-9am and work 7 days a week, when I come into the office I look at my to-do list I prepared from the day before and then ensure that I work my way through them. I then check my email incase there is anything that urgently needs a response and then I continue work. I leave the office between 8.30 and 9pm, watch a TV show and get back to finishing up anything that needs doing before the next day.

7 years from now: How did your startup change the world?

Our mission is to create shared experiences all over the world. Thus we aim to be active in every country on the planet as well as facilitating experiences both online and in person between two or more people, then we would definitely be on the right track. The lasting effect of PinU quite simply would be enabling people to meet up when they previously would not have been able to.

In what ways do you measure your success and how do you make sure you don’t lose track?

Success for us quite simply creating a product that people love. Thus the easiest way to quantify and measure that is by looking at monthly active users (people who use the app ay least once a month). The best way for use to ensure that we stay on track is by making sure that we grow by a certain percentage each month.

Already pivoted? Did customers use the messaging app like you imagined it in the beginning?

We haven’t strayed far from our original hypothesis but there are always use cases that you did not envision people doing with your app in the first instance. Due to the fact that you are so immersed in what you are building everyday, when you watch a user sign up and use your app it is great to get that feedback first hand as there are many things that you assume are obvious which are not to the everyday user.

Bootstrapped or financed: What fuels your startup now and what will in the future?

We are currently bootstrapped and we used our own savings to release our iOS app as well as a lot of sleepless nights and coding. We are currently looking to raise our seed round to grow the team and attract more engineering talent to help fuel the growth of the product.

What were the biggest challenges you faced building your startup?

I’ll probably split this answer in two:

Firstly from a technical standpoint my co-founder was not familiar with the programming language Swift when we were building the app, thus he had to learn a lot whilst trying to build at the same time which was challenging as it took him about a month to get really familiar with the language.

Secondly getting users at the early stage is hard, after all of your extended network have signed up and are using the app getting users beyond that is challenging especially with not press whilst bootstrapping. So we’ve had to go directly to our users and engage with them to make sure we can give the best experience possible whilst getting them to talk about it to their friends.

With ferocious competition and a booming trend to build new companies: How do you make sure you don’t get lost in the shuffle?

There are thousands of new apps being launched every week and our category is one that is especially saturated. However we are solving a real problem that the majority of people have experienced and can identify with, so as long as we continue to solve the problem as best we can people will continue to join and use our platform.

What do you look for in team members?

We have a very clear and simple framework for potential team members. We first find out whether a potential candidate is a good cultural fit for our startup and matches our values and believes in our mission. We have a saying internally “we want missionaries not mercenaries” and those are the type of people that are going to work hard and late if necessary and are working because they want to be there not because of the financial reward.

The second is aptitude – we want to work with the most talented people in the world and that is not something we can compromise on. Smart people attract smart people so for us every hire has to be better than the last, which is a difficult thing to accomplish.

Thirdly we want people who are passionate about what we have built and the problem we are solving. This obviously starts with the person being a user of the app and extends to them recalling times when they also felt the problem in the past. Overall we look for well-balanced candidates with these qualities (we are hiring by the way).

Why would a talent join your team?

People would want to join PinU because they share and believe in our mission first and foremost. They would also love to work in an environment where you are challenged everyday and encouraged to try things even if they fail.

Talent would recognize that although we work very hard we also know how to relax and enjoy downtime during the day whether that’s through table tennis or socializing after work. We are a small team that strives for a team that is diverse in background but aligned in company culture.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

We have had a lot of memorable moments both good and bad, but the one that sticks out to me most was around the launch day. Prior to launch we had a few technical problems that left us with a couple of days before the app had to be on the app store as we had publicized it. Apple generally take up to 5 working days before they review an app so we were a bit anxious as we could not afford to miss launch day, so we submitted the app via an expedited review and thankfully the app was approved within the following 24 hours.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

The best advice I can give to fellow founders is to simply go out there and do it because no one is going to help you. Starting a startup is hard and will probably take up the majority of your time so make sure the problem you’re solving is worth solving (by finding out if people love it) and by working with co-founders you trust and are as committed as you.

How can people find PinU?

PinU is available for iOS on the UK app store and currently only available to people in London but we will be expanding in the near future to other cities. You can also find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (@pinuapp) to be the first to find out about future updates.

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