Virgin StartUp of the week: Phil Hunter of Ordo
Some of the businesses create solutions to everyday problems. Phil Hunter is the founder of Ordo, an electronic point of sale system that goes above and beyond your average till. He talks to us about starting up, and what his product does!
We choose one Virgin StartUp company to be featured on Virginstartup.org each week. We ask our startups of the week to deliver the ultimate elevator pitch. What would they say if they had one minute in a lift with Sir Richard Branson? Please answer the questions below, keeping each answer to five sentences max.
Ground to floor 1 – Explain what your business does
Ordo is a Tablet EPOS (electronic point of sale) system that has an integrated app that allows customers to search for places, browse menus, order and pay from their phones. The system is cloud-based and allows retailers to better understand their business and also their consumers by using the data available, taking transactions a step further and making them more efficient. There are also inbuilt loyalty and social integrations to help the retailers spread their brand.
Floor 1 to 2 - Where are you based?
London
Floor 2 to 3 – What’s the business model?
Currently we have a traditional model of selling the EPOS, but we are also looking at some alternative methods of monetising the offering with a view to the product effectively being a freemium model.
Floor 3 to 4 – Who are your competitors?
Ordo has competitors in the EPOS space including Revel systems, shopwave and other more traditional point-of-sale manufacturers. We also have competitors in the mobile ordering space, including Bar Pass, Orderella and Qapp.
With the advent of Apple pay it's helping to spread awareness about people paying on their phone so this is great, even though Apple pay doesn’t ultimately solve the queueing problem.
Floor 4 to 5 – What’s your USP?
Ordo integrates the app with the EPOS system - we believe we are the only UK based company doing this. The ability to understand your consumer with your stock and inventory requirements while helping to engage consumers new and old add real value to small companies that usually don’t have the resource to uncover it.
Floor 5 to 6 – Where did the idea come from?
I was standing at a bar in a busy pub having some after work drinks, getting overlooked, and wishing I was standing in the sun with my coworkers talking. The need is a fairly easy one to explain, as we have all been there…
Floor 6 to 7 – How much funding did you receive from Virgin StartUp?
£20,000
Floor 7 to 8 – How are you going to use it to grow your business?
The startup loan is being used in part for app development, and also some marketing pushes to help spread the word. A small chunk is also being used for personal expenses, as without personal survival it is hard to implement growth!
Floor 8 to 9 – What’s your workspace like?
I’m still to make the move to an office, so mostly working from home. But in this line of work there is a lot of time spent in coffee shops too (or Coffices, as I like to think of them), which is helpful - an office for an hour or two at the price of a coffee is great for making your startup loan go further.
Floor 9 to 10 – where will your business be in 12 month’s time?
We are looking at adding some real value to independent coffee shops and to their patrons, in and around London currently, but in 12 months we have plans to be national.
The initial focus is coffee shops but we have already had interest from other fast food outlets and bars, as well as a cinema!
To find out more about Ordo check out their website, or connect on Facebook and Twitter.