Winner of the April MVP Demo Day, StreetScout is a web and iOS app which aims to streamline the experience for consumers visiting shops and restaurants on-the-go.
StreetScout removes the need to visit multiple websites in combination to find services or shops on your way home from work or any other travel route.
Launched on the App Store on Friday 5th April, a day before MVP Demo Day, StreetScout already has hundreds of users spread across the UK, U.S., Australia and many other countries.
Having built up the courage to successfully take on his first pitch of StreetScout at April’s MVP Demo Day, Daniel Hough, founder of StreetScout, took home plenty of positive feedback, useful development suggestions and contacts to help take the app to the next stage.
Addition to the mobile toolkit
Daniel explains why StreetScout is a necessary addition to the mobile toolkit.
‘I used to live in South London, and I had a long commute to work. Often I found that I wanted to buy certain things on my way home, meaning that I would end up going out of my way to find places meeting my needs, and I’d end up getting home later than I would have liked.’
‘I thought – there’s got to be a way I can make my life easier.’
Taking on the first pitch
Daniel Hough, founder of StreetScout
Taking on the very first pitch of your product is always a daunting task. Daniel explains how he approached it.
‘The organisers were really great in helping me, by sending through some information about how to shape a pitch and areas I might want to focus on. This really helped, and I more or less stuck to the pitch template they provided.’
‘I felt that the pitch went better than I could have hoped, even if I did go off topic once or twice due to nerves. But I think this is natural. Especially when it’s the first time you’re publicly exposing something you’ve been working on for some time which you’re passionate about. “Here’s what I’ve spent a year of my life working on – judge me!”‘
‘I had no preconceptions about the event. All I knew was that I would get to pitch my product to a crowd of other entrepreneurs.’
‘There were lots of people who approached me afterwards offering advice on what steps I should take next, and offering personal contact details if I wanted to get in touch with them for help developing it.’
‘I didn’t expect any of that, so it was really heart-warming. The community atmosphere was really nice.’
Quality feedback
Although Daniel hugely impressed us with his pitch and product, it seems that Daniel was also impressed with the quality of feedback he received.
‘I received some really valuable advice regarding features which I will now look to develop. Someone spoke to me about how difficult it can be to find a coffee shop which isn’t part of a big, international chain.’
‘The idea is that if StreetScout had filters to remove results of these places appearing, it would allow people to find the small, independently owned places which are often a lot more difficult to find.’
‘I wouldn’t have thought about excluding results – only on including more. But this comment totally makes sense and could really enhance the app and so hopefully more people will download and regularly use it.’
Looking ahead
Daniel has big plans for StreetScout, including plenty of development during the course of the next year. He hopes to attend more events such as MVP Demo Day to gather further feedback and streamline the app.
‘We will look to monetize the app in a variety of ways during the course of the coming year, including offering advertising to businesses, as well as selling the API to allow other companies to use StreetScout’s technology in all sorts of ways.’
Daniel has some advice for all entrepreneurs looking to attend an event such as MVP Demo Day.
‘Make sure you ask lots of questions of the other entrepreneurs, because you will likely find that you will be able to help each other out in ways you hadn’t thought of before. It’s a great opportunity to get into the startup network.’
‘Even if you don’t have a fully formed product ready to pitch – go to the event with your idea and talk with everyone.’
Try out StreetScout app for iPhone, and check out our events page to sign-up for next month’s MVP Demo Day.
