StartUs Presents: BuyAndHelp

Describe Buyandhelp in 50 words or less.

BuyAndHelp is a web platform that uses affiliate marketing to raise money for NGOs and social causes.

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

I have always been working on personal projects so it was not hard to start BuyAndHelp. The best part of working on your own project or startup is that it will be exactly as you want. My passion about fundraising and helping disadvantaged people was also a strong reason to pursue my dreams and start BuyAndHelp. I am continuing the work I started 7 years ago, raising money from friends and colleagues, but in a digital environment and targeting more people.

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

BuyAndHelp is all about changing the world or at least Romania! It changes the way people shop and donate in the digital world. I started this project based on my charity experience. I saw that there are a lot of people or causes that need to be financed. NGOs in Romania don’t search for funds in the online area and I thought I can change this. Helping NGOs raise money for ill people, dogs and free tuition for children will make a positive change in the community I live in and in all of Romania.

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

We have a lot of reports and statistics around the platform. We track everything from visitors, hourly and daily donations to conversion rate for each category and online shop. I think this is a key aspect. You need to gather as much data as you can about your project because it will help you optimize costs, income and observe things you never thought about (like the fact that people buy most car insurances on Wednesdays).

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

Besides BuyAndHelp I also have a full time job at a software company. Usually I get up early and work for my startup for about one hour, then after I get home in the evening I continue my work. I don’t have a fixed schedule or deadlines. My work is very flexible and I love this. Some days I meet with potential partners, like NGOs that want to be a part of our platform as beneficiaries. Other days I visit our marketing materials provider to make sure we have promotional cups, stickers, etc.

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

The project is bootstrapped and I think it will remain like this in the future. It’s a social startup so it won’t generate a great income for me or for possible investors, and that is OK. My co-founder and I can handle 100% of the work around the platform and the costs are small and started to be covered by the transactions we make each day.

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

BuyAndHelp is the only platform of its kind in Romania. Our plans are to invest more in marketing and increase the number of website visitors and conversions. We will accomplish this with increased PR efforts, plug-ins to facilitate online shopping and collaborating with local events to promote our project. It is true that the startup scene is becoming more and more crowded, but there are very few social businesses. In Cluj-Napoca, entrepreneurs are mostly attracted to building IT startups because the environment is favorable.

What do you look for in team members?

A team member should come with complementary skills to what I do. A startup requires technical, business development, marketing and accounting knowledge at minimum. It’s really hard for a person to be good in all these areas so a 3-4 people team would be ideal for a startup. Besides that, the confidence you have in your skills is also important. A technical founder for example should always find solutions to create, improve and maintain the application and should not be discouraged by any tech issues.

Why would a talent join your team?

Currently we are not searching for new team members. The two-member team we have now handles the operations and growth strategy just fine. We might consider getting new team members in 6 months if the growth path continues like this. It’s very important for a future team member to understand that we run a social startup so the benefits he will get are not comparable to other companies or startups. The majority of our income goes back into ads, technical services and operations costs.

What was your most memorable moment so far?

There were many memorable moments. When we hit our first 100 transactions or when we hit 1000 lei in donations it was awesome. These two moments confirmed to us that BuyAndHelp is a useful project. Sometimes we also get e-mails or messages from people that we helped or people that contributed with donations. That just gives us a fulfilling sensation that you did something good and created a small dent in those people’s universe. I think that all these moments gave us the power and energy to continue when we encounter difficulties.

What advice would you give fellow founders for their startup?

The most important thing a founder can do is not to give up. You should never give up your idea, dream or project. First you need to work towards it for 6 months to 1 year and do all you can to make it happen. I am 100% sure that after 6 months of doing everything you can you will succeed. One more thing: always have a backup. While working at BuyAndHelp I always tried to find 2-3 initial partners or online shops to collaborate with, contacted multiple newspapers to write about my project and I put the basis of my platform on 2 affiliate networks. If something isn’t working out for you, a backup is already prepared.

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