Innovator of the Week
Ashu Rana
Founder of Spurry
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company.
Imagine if you could get a newspaper ad in front of people’s eyes every week. Imagine if you knew, without a doubt, how many people looked at the ad. How much do you think you can grow your business? I want to help local businesses grow, because I believe they are the lifeblood of a local economy.
For this, I created Spurry, which uses mobile apps to provide consumer-facing businesses a way to engage customers using push notifications and helps consumers see what offers and events are taking place locally with Spurry partners. Like Uber, Spurry has a partner app for businesses (Spurry Biz) designed for ease of use and demonstrable ROI, and a consumer app (Spurry) that is designed to help users find local offers/events/sales. The apps are extremely easy to use and the entire business is being designed to allow for scaling without human intervention.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
NH has provided entrepreneurs with all the resources required to start a business – try the SBDC and REDC. Hollis McGuire has been extremely helpful in reviewing my business and providing feedback and advice. Chris Duffy was helpful too. After that, in my opinion, the best resource is personal drive – keeping yourself motivated and moving forward no matter what the obstacles. You must have a greater goal in mind that trumps any hardship. Talking to as many people and getting their feedback, incorporating it into your product and never taking anything personally. Most people actually want to help. Be fearless – what’s the worst that can happen?
What was the biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
Time is the biggest obstacle. I still have my full time job and a new family. Personal situations keep coming up. Fact – your customers (and potential customers) don’t care. You are having a tough time – deal with it; because your competitor may be having the best day of her life. You must keep the business moving forward. Apart from obvious time management, I set small goals for every day – be it to send out emails or make sales calls. Along with that, I try to complete at least one major task per week.
What’s the best advice you have received?
This is a tough question, as I have received a LOT of very good advice. Additionally, YouTube has some great entrepreneurial talks and classes. At this point in time, with the phase of the business, sales and traction are key. So, the best advice I have received regarding sales is this: Show Up, Follow Up, and Close (Stelli Efty of Close.io). Following up is key. And silence from the other end is not rejection. It merely means that the other party is busy.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
New Hampshire is a great place to live and work. The access afforded by the state to resources are great. Where else can you meet leaders and senators and talk about your interests? The small town feel is a tremendous asset to my business, as I know a lot of business owners personally. The geography of NH is great too: ocean, lakes, mountains.
What does the future look like for your company?
I need to keep growing my business, which is difficult on my own. I am looking to get a few salespeople immediately. They will be instrumental in growing the business. For this reason, I have created a very generous commission structure. I am not sure what direction the customers will take the business, but I am very excited to see constant growth, with an established revenue stream.
I invite you to download the apps (Spurry Biz and Spurry) and try them out. Please email me with any feedback or questions ([email protected]).
Connect with Spurry on LinkedIn , Twitter, and Facebook. You can also connect with Ashu on Twitter.