It is a story that is all to familiar with most startups, but I can honestly say I am happy to a character in this one. For the past 6 months, on nights, weekends, holidays (see my recent tweets) and every other spare moment that I have had, has gone into help co-found a company: Stiqrd
"stiQRd is a mobile platform that helps you increase customer loyalty as you reward your most faithful fans. Tailored to your business needs, it's easy to use and secure. Our free mobile app stores authenticated check-ins to protect you from fraud and tracks demographics."
Though my primary roles are the development/architecture of the mobile platform and implementation of the iOS app I have had the pleasure of working with my other co-founders in truly building a business platform that is unique and gives consumers a product and service that will simplify their lives. It is truly "Apple-esque": elegant and simple to use.
I have a tremendous respect for all my fellow startup brethren who have endured the hardships of "startup life" and still overcame those obstacles. Tight deadlines, constant pitch practicing, pivoting your business models when need be, traveling, coding and coding and coding….and coding!
We have been in the final crunch for the past month in preparation for Investor Day with the SeedHatchery program we are in and during that time, I have changed day jobs, moved across the state, had to pack and prep for the move within 5 days, 2 of which I didn't have power because of the horrible storms that ransacked the Mid-South.
With that being said Stiqr is days away from submitting the first version of our app to the AppStore. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a nervous wreck. There are a lot of technical and UI/UX features that I wanted to put in for v1 that didn't make it in, but isn't that always the case?! I have dozens of drawings, Evernotes and prototypes for these upcoming features. We are releasing the app early, but updating it often.
Through all the peaks and valleys of this journey I couldn't have been happier with the experience of working with the top-notch individuals who have put their heart and soul in this venture.
Stiq with us…the best is yet to come.