My Startup: Padoq, Manchester

Why did you start Padoq? 

The idea came about after moving back home and noticing my Dad on these ‘ancient’ online forums talking about Kawasaki motorcycles. I was confused why he didn’t use Facebook or WhatsApp for communication and was told this was primarily due to concerns around privacy and the ability to ‘be himself’. 

This lead to me speaking with a number of organisers of lots of things, to find that they all suffered from the same issues around money collection and the use of multiple platforms to organise, so I set about designing a solution.

Tell us more about the platform?

Padoq is a platform designed for organisers – You create Padoqs (which can be public or secret) and after inviting, your members can do a number of useful things within them. This includes more organised discussions, voting and collecting information, event planning and collecting payments. We also give control of the data in the group to the organiser, giving us a GDPR compliant position on privacy in today’s social-driven world.

Where’s the business at right now? 

We took a slight pivot at the start of the year and began to build out the B2B side of the business, where we can give organisations their own branded app with all the functionality of Padoq at a fraction of the cost of building their own app. We felt this allowed us to create revenue whilst we continue to evolve our B2C platform Padoq, which has the long-term big ticket potential. We have an amazing pipeline of companies that we are talking to in this space and look forward to helping many more companies mobilise their community through having a ‘Powered by Padoq’ app.

What are your aims for the next year? 

In the next year, we are aiming to sell more white-label branded versions of Padoq, with a particular focus on property, media, and logistics/organisational focused companies. We feel we have all the functionality they require available (and we’ll continue to develop more), as well as a pricing model that provides a low barrier to entry for many companies looking to have an ‘app’.

As well as this, we will continue to evolve the core Padoq platform and acquire new users!

What’s been the hardest thing about getting Padoq off the ground?

Turning an idea into reality takes time and in the startup world, that often isn’t possible without significant time and financial commitments from founders, advisors, employees and investors – this can mean a lot of late nights, stressful situations and difficult conversations. But getting the dynamics right in the stakeholder pool is imperative to a company’s success, and one we have spent a long time evolving. We’ve also managed to raise £1m in external investment – which was a tough process itself!

Why should more people be using or investing in Padoq?

If you relate to the issue of being in multiple WhatsApp groups for a variety of organisational focused situations, then I suggest you try out Padoq. It reduces the noise, allows you to make quick decisions in an organised way and even allows you to quickly sort out payments within your group.

How much will it cost customers? and why is it worth it? 

Padoq is free to download and should help significantly reduce stress, daily interruptions and anxiety around organising your groups and communities  – You can download it on iOS and Android.

If you or someone you know has founded a startup, we want to hear your story. Contact Josh on josh@prolificnorth.co.uk