The March Month End (no basketball)

As the month of March come to a close this blog is an obligatory social media presence push with a google product for seo purposes. It also has the fun twist of letting you several thousand people know hat would up on my phone camera over the last few weeks. Download •gbot• and share with friends and you'll have a special place in my heart. 

A truism that •gbot• will always support. 

Sale have been going well--above forecasts by 9%. 

This is our graphic artist, Lily White. 

Do you delegate shopping at home? Really? 

Yes. Yea it is Easter. Look closely and you'll find a •gbot• logo. 

This is how lunch went at a •gbot• board meeting...

This was the first ever magazine cover for Vogue. Reminds us that things change and we should accept that. 

Download the MADD •gbot• app and save a life. Maybe yours. 

Easter is a good time to talk about eggs. Super smart, right? 

Grapefruit a is great for you. Spend less on grapefruit by marking it a fav in you •gbot• app. 

Not sure if the Milk is still good? Well, you're welcome. 

If you're not 'Chewbacca with a surf board cool' just remember there are alternatives. You're lack of faith is disturbing... 

Lily and I with chef Claidio, Marida and the Chef Cartel gang on date night. It's possible that Mike Moll was also there. 

This debate has personally cost me over 90 minutes of my life. Are you an 'Inny' or an 'outy'? 

Did you know that •gbot• loves Rabba-- where else can you go 24/7 for anything you need??? 

Thanks for reading/watching this blog, everyone. You're sharing has helped a ton and I'm proud to say we have reached over a 1000 savvy shoppers because of you. Cheers to 10,000! 

S 

Dragons Den Next Gen & •gbot•

So for those of you who haven't seen it, myself and Mike Moll appeared on DDNG on behalf of the greatest flyer app ever made, the •gbot•. Here is the link to the segment as well as the post publication interview. 

http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/m/blog/gbot-on-next-gen-den

For our loyal •gbot• enthusiasts I have copy/pasted the raw email Q&A from the cbc producers. (They were awesome to work with and I look forward to doing it again) 

Raw Text: 

Mike forwarded you email so I wanted to send you some answers. We had a great time on the Den and I'm very happy to send along this email. We would love to try for the traditional Den tv show so if you can offer any assistance that would be great :)

• What is your elevator pitch for gbot (describe your business in two tweets or less)?

  
  

  The •gbot• app is a grocery list app that actually saves you money on your groceries! Make a list (or ten) and the •gbot• will compare store prices to get you the best savings. No clipping or hassles, just shop easy & save money. 

  
  

• What is the main reason a consumer would be interested in gbot (why would they need/want it)?

  
  

  The people who download •gbot• know that groceries are expensive and want to save money but don't have the time and energy to sift through dozens of paper flyers or clip coupons. They use the •gbot• to do all of the work of finding great savings everyday. If you're a flyer person, the •gbot• will change your life :) 

  
  

• What was it like entering the Den and facing the Dragons?

  
  

  It was a great experience for us. The Dragons we're very open minded and gave great advice, even in that short amount of time. We've since been going through a diligence process with two of them and •gbot• has greatly benefited from their expertise. 

  
  

• What positive feedback did you receive from the Dragons?

  
  

  The initial feedback came from Michelle when she said 'there is no doubt that •gbot• is a better app than the other competing flyers apps.' That validation really lit a fire under us to keep pushing. Since, Paul and Michael have been very good at offering insights that, being a young company,  really accelerated our learning curve in this ever-changing space. 

  
  

• What constructive criticism did you receive from the Dragons?

  
  

  Michael and Michelle have been largely focused on how to run an established business: what's the revenue, how many users etc. Paul takes a more philosophic approach looks for the concept as a success first. The main critique from M & M was that we don't have enough revenue or users but that's to be expected in the first few weeks. Our revenue and user base has been growing more and more every day. 

  
  

• What do you think you could have done differently in your approach?

  
  

  The last thing we said during the pitch was 'We are yes,' and I wish we had been more articulate in our acceptance of their offer lol. 

  
  

• Where are you now with your business?

  
  

  Now we are partnering with different grocery stores and organizations to grow the user base and help make •gbot• a brand name her in Canada.  Since the Next Gen Den we have tripled our user base and revenues and 2015 has been a very accomplished year so far. 

  
  

• What did you learn from the Dragons and being on Next Gen Den?

  
  

  We learned that every investor has a different idea of what makes a good business. It's hard to please everyone, so it's best to follow your own advice. If advice doesn't sound good to you or your partners you should analyze it more and not just assume your investor knows the right move to make. Nobody knows your business better than you, not even a Dragon. 

  
  

• Based on your experience, what advice would you give other business wanting to make a pitch on Next Gen Den?

  
  

  My advice to other people coming on the Den is be confident. The Dragons smell weakness. My advice to business's appearing on the Den is to be a business-- know your numbers, know your plan, know your history and know your options. Great people can be on the Den with bad business. Being on the Den is a once (or sometimes twice) in a lifetime opportunity so do yourself a favour and be prepared. Don't blow it. 

It may not be typical but it's what we do

Ever since my first job (that wasn't am allowance based chore from a family member) I have been told that there is a 'way' to do whatever job it was. From bus boy to waiter, to sales guys, to consultant, to Mnager to director and the dozen or so stops in between. 

There is a 'way' to run a company and a 'way' to launch a web service and so on. Now, I completely believe that there are dos and donts out there and good practices and such but I don't think that there is just one 'way' to do anything. Never have. 

That preamble was nessaccary because I've put a lot of thought into the marketing resources we have available for EQI and •gbot•. There is little argument that FB and Twitter and being social in general (Pinterest, blogs, reddit, this one, that one, the next one, the one I don't even know and the rest) are very essential peices to the marketing puzzle. But what is the 'way' to use them? 

Well, I know what other companies are doing-- buy this, value prop that, did you know this, it's a day of some kind, look what I ate, etc. As it turns out, that really isn't our voice as individuals and therefore doesn't really work as the voice of •gbot•. 

Our posts and ads at •gbot• may not be the 'way' that everyone else is doing it but we are finding our Way everyday just a little bit more. I had an acquaintance i bumped into recently say to me 'oh, you do those tweets for •gbot•? Yeah, I cam see that. They are ridiculous,' and I was very flatter/insulted by that. I was insulted because I'm not sure being labelled 'ridiculous' is good (it's definitely not a skill on my LinkedIn profile) and I was flattered because he remembered the tweets. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: don't be afraid to be different and try something new. Worst case scenario, you'll be remembered. 

Now go and download •gbot• for free, communication over! 

@GBOTCANADA: Meanwhile, in Toronto Canada, high grocery prices menace the city... But wait, here come the free •gbot• app to save the day! #savethepig 

Saturday night ends the •gbot• week

So it's Saturday night and the •gbot• week is over (it's starts again tomorrow, Sunday, Morning). These are the pics that ended up on my camera role in the last 6 days and accurately summarize those entrepreneurial 144 hours (out of 10,000).

Nowhere to go but up. 

•gbot• team in BC. 

Because bacon. 

Yes, this was a real thing. 

Is a quorum of •gbot• execs. 

Believe in yourself. 

Because Nutella. 

Filed by coffee. 

The •gbot• support team 2/4. 

Saved $$$ with •gbot• and the bill was the same as my birthday!!!

Communication, over! 

 

Some pics from my Sunday camera roll

These are some of the pics that I find on my camera roll on Sunday evening before the week starts again and more random pics wind up on my phone. A glimpse into my 24/7. Enjoy. 

Just wanted to share these. Enjoy! 

New technology

Over the years I've had a chance to work for some very large companies. I've had a chance to work for the 800 pound gorillas and I've also the chance to work for the small little creatures that run through the jungle: What you (the 'royal' you) give up in job security, a steady paycheck and a lack of responsibility knowing that there's always a manager director ahead of you to take the blame if you or your team don't do well you definitely gain and excitement and adventure working for the little guys.

So it was only a matter of time before I realized that I can di this for myself. So after a bit of brainstorming and a bit of observation, myself and a few friends decided to come up with a project called •gbot•. 

The •gbot• app, just like the other projects that are in the funnel at the EQI, was something that really should have been invented by somebody else bye now.

Our mission statement at EQI has been to identify user behavior and fill the void in a marketplace when a product should already exist to accommodate that behavior.  The •gbot• app definitely fulfills a need for shoppers who shop all the time at grocery stores, to be able to go out and save money on their groceries. A lot of other new exciting projects are in the works and coming along shortly. It's up to us, the users, the inventors, the salesman and everyone else to do their part and make sure that these great new products get made. 

If you have an idea you have a vision or you have a great concept that should see the light of day, you should definitely pursue it and do your best to make sure it comes to fruition. Support local ideas, support local entrepreneurs, support yourself. Join up now-- sign up for free on gbot.ca and be one of the beta testers to help usher in this great new technology. Let us know what you think, let us know what your ideas are.

And speaking of great new ideas and even great innovations on old ideas it should be known that I'm actually dictating this entire blog on Dragon dictation. Just another great technology that I'm finally getting the hang of and starting to use on a regular basis. So is •gbot• going to be the next Dragon dictation or the next Groupon? Well we'll just have to wait and see. I look forward to reading your feedback and so does the rest of the •gbot•

team. With your help and support during this beta phase who knows maybe we will have come up with the next big thing.