November 13th, 2024, posted in for_founders
by Adelina
“Start-up Starts” is a mini-interview series with some of the awesome start-ups we`ve worked with throughout the years and their inception. The first few months can make or break a project, so we wanted to dive deeper into these crucial moments for any start-up. We asked everyone the same three questions and … the rest is history. Literally.
We live in a world where enormous quantities of food are thrown away every day. Just Now was born out of the desire to stop food waste and to help out both the environment and the community. The app helps consumers find good food that would otherwise get thrown away. And the price is extremely low, with discounts up to 50%.
Just Now consists of three interconnected systems. The first one is a web app, through which the supermarkets can add and manage their products and offers. Then there is the merchandiser’s app, which checks if the products are part of an offer. And, finally, the mobile app used by the consumer, available on both iOS and Android.
With the help of the app, the clients can navigate through the existing offers which are displayed as pins on a map. After finding an interesting offer, the client can claim the offer through the app and then go to the shop`s location to benefit from it.
Just Now was built on top of the Laravel framework, while the frontend uses HTML5, CSS3, jQuery and Bootstrap. Here, at UPDIVISION, we were responsible for the entire journey, from product discovery to actual development and MVP launch.
One of the best ways to change things is to find a need and provide a solution for it. Brad Constantinescu, Just Now`s CTO, talks about how they turned a stringent problem into an amazing opportunity. The ultimate dream? A world in which food is eaten right up to the last bite.
1. What sparked the idea for Just Now?
Brad: My partner Alex first identified the problem in South Africa. A lot of fresh food was being thrown away in a country with lots of economic challenges. Our soon to be first client confirmed the problem and then we started looking around for a model that could solve his problem.
2. Which were the first three steps you took to get things rolling?
Brad: Researched the business problem and opportunity. Signed an agreement with the first client. Discussed with the POS service provider and documented the technical solution.
3. Describe the biggest hurdle you had to overcome in the first 3 months.
Brad: Finding a solution to make the system as easy to integrate as possible was a challenge. We had to work with the POS service provider to find a solution that would be free of cost for them, and get all the needed approvals for the integration.
If you`re a start-up looking for a technical partner to be there for the ride, look no further. UPDIVISION specializes in helping start-ups validate, launch and refine their MVP, while staying true to their vision. In Eric Ries words, MVP is a process, not a product, and so is finding the right software development team.
