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How can we serve you?

proxyThis past week marked an important step in the start-up processes here at Pass the Plate. What is that you may ask?  Validation.

Let me explain…

When we started Pass the Plate, we made several hypotheses:

First, we believed that there would be a slow adoption rate of our new technology directly from non-profits. Second, we believed that people who attend church have donating or tithing on their minds on a weekly basis and thus make up the ideal target market. Third, we believed that cash donations place several limiting factors on both donors and the non-profit.

So what has happened this past week?

The 1st hypothesis, while still having plenty of time to prove itself correct, may in fact be wrong!  This is very good for Pass the Plate.

This is what we have found…Cb_tBwxWAAA5QQD

Large established non-profit organizations are entrenched in “the old ways of doing things,” however they are starting to realize that they must keep up with the times to stay relevant and attract new donors who will eventually carry the financial burden of financing the non-profit. They are starting to experiment with different ways of equipping their donors. This fact is demonstrated  by the increased adoption rate of services like text to give among larger established non-profits.

While in concept “text to give” is a great service, it is still inefficient and cumbersome for several reasons to the donor and to the organization. Furthermore, because this industry is still in its infancy in terms of technology, there is little competition and any large providers would have to pivot their business model to compete with Pass the Plate.

We believe it is a matter of time before larger non-profits begin to utilize the technology behind Pass the Plate – our solution is easier.

Smaller non-profits and new non-profits are willing to try new things. For these organizations, their adoption cycle into using new technology seems to be shorter.   Many smaller organizations have explored options like PayPal because of their low or no monthly service fees, but are unhappy with parts of their service. Others are not happy with the monthly fees, some as high as $70 per month with only $100-$200 in online donations.

Because of these findings, we now believe that the business to business strategy is a relevant part of our go to market strategy as there seems to be much less resistance than anticipated.

While building Pass the Plate we focused on the donor, each decision that we made was donor driven, what we have found is that we have addressed many of the consumer needs as well.

This leads us to the second hypothesis.

Since we launched “Open Beta” early January 2016, we have taken on several customers and have formed relationships with organizations that will use the Pass the Plate application regularly, it will be interesting to see the penetration levels and use when promoted locally. Will users be encouraged to make monthly donations or will it be on a weekly basis? We made Pass the Plate so simple to use that it could be used as the offering plate was passed.

Quick, we need a data scientist!

The third hypothesis has been validated. Multiple conversations with strangers from across the country who are in the business of collecting donations agree. Cash does not have a name, address, email address, and therefore a method to follow up or track. By encouraging Pass the Plate over cash or check, non-profits can have access to valuable information that other payment forms do not provide.

In conclusion, our goal to make giving easy is paramount in everything that we do. This is the reason for the title of this article “How may we serve you?”

Pass the Plate wants to eliminate as many boundaries to giving as possible.

This past week at the NRB convention, we received confirmation that our mission is needed by both non-profits and donors. The feedback that we received from donors and non-profit organizations was positive across the board. We were even interviewed for a radio segment by Called2Action.

People want a solution that makes giving easier, a solution that makes record keeping easier, and a solution that increases efficiency. Pass the Plate is this solution. Pass the Plate is #GivingMadeEasy.

As a start-up we have found it valuable to request feedback from users and potential business partners. This started with TechBreakfast in several locations and then to IdeaTap and IdeaSlam. Each time we have tried to learn more. As such, if you read this article and have questions, please post them. We would love to hear from you.

This is what we need you to do.

1.  Download the Pass the Plate app

2. Donate to your favorite non-profit

3. Give us feedback (actually wait for us to contact you… we will)

 

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Start-up: The Journey

Moving into a co-working space was one of the best things we could have done for the Pass the Plate business. In Winston Salem there are a few options, and we choose to work out of Flywheel. There are several reasons why.

  1. Energy – Being around other start-up companies and other entrepreneurs makes for a good environment. Throw in a few people that work for larger companies but do so remotely, and what you have is a stew of interesting people with many different skills and backgrounds.
  2. Mentors – It is good to be abound people that have been around the block, we can use their experience to help solve a few of our problems.

    Flywheel Coffee bar with community wall in the background

    Flywheel Coffee bar with community wall in the background

  3. Coffee – In my office that means Krankies Coffee fresh brewed… all day…
  4. Community – There are more than 30 different companies that work out of my location. A few of them are larger and have 4-8 employees, some are start ups, others include several attorneys and an accountant or two, a few web developers… you get the picture.
  5. Conference Rooms – While some businesses do not require meetings, others do.  Just having the access to conference rooms that are equipped with white boards, projectors or screens etc. is a nice thing.

In the next post, we will talk about the many different ways that Pass the Plate has become more involved in the community.  If you are reading this and you are a start up, then it may give you a few ideas of how you can become involved in your local start up community. If you are reading this and are not a start up, and are just wanting to learn more about the folks over at Pass the Plate, then great!  These posts will hopefully let you know that we are people too. We are just a group of guys who decided to together to try to make the world a better place one donation at a time. This is our story.

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The Christmas Season with Pass the Plate

MVP product is almost here! Keep up the improvements!

MVP product is almost here! Keep up the improvements!

I must admit, traveling with Pass the Plate has been very interesting. First and foremost, I have had the opportunity to learn and hear from other tech entrepreneurs on the East Coast through the TechBreakfast forum’s.

Over the Christmas holiday was no different with the exception that I was able to take my family with me on this trip. As many of you are aware, school is out around the Christmas holiday, and my wife Julie took a week off of work so that we could travel. So off we went to the Maryland TechBreakfast.  Our first stop was in Charlottesville, Virginia to visit with family and have dinner. Then off to Maryland on a late night excursion to a wonderful hotel. The Christmas decorations were fantastic and the staff welcomed us with warm cookies when we checked in for the night.

It was nice to see where Dr. Ben Carson practiced medicine, as well as to see the wonderful architecture of the area. The TechBreakfast presentation itself marked a milestone for Pass the Plate. This was the first presentation/demo where we were able to go through the entire donation process without a hitch. Yes… this means it works!

From a founding team standpoint, this is a pretty large milestone. Why might you ask?  Well for starters, we thought that we were going to have a completely functional application delivered to us at the end of October. Then after several iterations of search enhancements, several “found” features that were in the original build but somehow disappeared when the MVP was released etc. we are now here…except a little button that has already been developed and is scheduled in the next release of Pass the Plate on December 29, 2015. Of course iOS will then take roughly 9 days to approve the new release…

Ok, so back to the tech breakfast presentation. With the presentation being a success, we were approached by several attendees with feedback and potential contacts in the non-profit space.

As normal practice, we exchanged business cards and spoke for a few minutes. Now, the next part is very important for anyone that is in business. What I then do with the Pass the Plate contacts that I make is to put them into a CRM system so that I can follow up with them at a later time and make the connection more meaningful.

There are two main reasons why getting feedback and referrals from early adopters is very important to the overall growth strategy of Pass the Plate.

First, we want to address concerns and the needs of our customer/end users. Our goal is that all solutions that we put forth in the Pass the Plate application will make the giving experience easier for the user. Our guiding principle is #GivingMadeEasy

Second is that we believe that through emersion in the tech community we can help to build a buzz around the Pass the Plate product. Again, this fits with the goal/theme of Pass the Plate – to make giving easy.

Here are two examples of what I just mentioned.

While in Washington DC, a customer mentioned that they were not able to find a particular non-profit using the search function.  This lead us to uncover that the add a non profit function had been somehow omitted from the last iteration.

This has been corrected and will be included in build 3.0.

While presenting at the Austin Forum, in December of 2015, we were approached by local influencers in the nonprofit community.   This spurred two follow-up conversations.

Austin Texas

Austin Texas

The first with a community organizer that will help Pass the Plate get in touch with several non-profits that would be willing to partner with Pass the Plate at the next SXSW event. The idea is that Pass the Plate would partner with 5 different non profits at the SXSW event and then help them raise money for their cause.

The second was with a gentleman who runs a company that helps cities connect with its residence in the digital world. In other words, you live in say my home town of Winston Salem North Carolina, and then Winston Salem would partner with this gentleman’s company to provide a web portal into the different services offered in and around Winston Salem.

So now, it is a few days prior to the New Year, and Pass the Plate is positioning itself to make giving easy and to work with wonderful strategic partners in 2016.

As a side note, yet NOT a note of insignificance. We at Pass the Plate are deeply touched by tragic events that happen on a regular basis. Most recently tornados touched down and left much devastation in their wake. We reach out to those effected in prayer and hope to in the near future be able to use our application to help fund worthy efforts to help restore the families and communities that have lost so much. Stay tuned in to see how the Pass the Plate Foundation can help your community.

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Startup Weekend – Winston-Salem, NC

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My Startup Weekend began with a trip to Washington DC. The day before I had driven to Washington DC to meet with the  programming team at OmniTi.

We needed to re-evaluate our scope and focus on the next release of the Pass The Plate. With the “Launch itus” issues experienced with the first release, it was important that we have a clean transition into the second build-out.

Friday morning, I had a meeting in Washington DC called Ask a VC DC.  This was an event where there were several venture capital groups. The idea was that startups could ask them questions in an open round table format. When the event ended at noon, I drove back to Winston Salem.

Oh yea… when I drive, I listen to Audible (books on tape) this trip the selection was ScalingUp by Verne Harnish. This is a book written for the Gazelle training group and part of which included the Rockefeller Habits.

This background is to help frame my mindset as I was entering into the Startup Weekend. I had spent the past 2 days in intensive meetings relating to all things Pass The Plate and was looking forward to 54 hours of insanity. -lol

To cut to the chase, first things first… Startup Weekend is a great experience for anyone that wants to learn more about the Startup process.  Even if you are a seasoned entrepreneur, this experience is worth the time and effort. I recommend everyone to go through a Startup Weekend as a participant. Chances are you will come back, either to participate again, or to coach.

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I took away several items from Startup Weekend. First and foremost, I learned how to compact a learning curve from hypothesis, to test, to results to MVP. This will be very important as Pass The Plate goes through future iterations. Second, I learned that there is lots of talent in my own backyard.

It was a pleasure to see two North Carolina A&T students banging out their project. They outworked everyone else and stayed the night Saturday working on their project. It was exciting to see a Wake Forest grad student propose an idea that he had been brainstorming – he got teamed up with an experienced bio medical professional to put a project in motion that could speed up drug trials using computer science.

To make things even better, a member of my own team was a IT recruiter, and one of the coaches that worked with our group ran a local design and marketing firm.

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At the time of this writing, Pass The Plate has contacted the two seniors from NC A&T and has an interview with them next week for them to work on a small project as in interview. We look forward to hiring a few talented individuals, and the Startup Weekend provided great contacts in that area.

– Graham Treakle

 

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TechBreakfast – Philadelphia, PA

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Heading off to the Philadelphia TechBreakfast, I was a little apprehensive. Pass the Plate has just released its first version into “Open Beta” and we were working out the kinks.

TechBreakfast is a show and tell, not a pitch, thus not having a product that worked caused concern. My fears were put to rest immediately when I arrived early to the presentation to speak to Rob from TechBreakfast.

“Oh you have ‘launch itus’. You know, it happens whenever you launch.  Everything works just fine on the test platform and then when you press the go button… things happen.”

Ahhh…

Flashback…The flight from Greensboro, North Carolina had been uneventful, and I used Uber for the first time flawlessly.

My driver Cal gave me a good tour of the city as we drove to the hotel which was near Drexel University and walking distance to several great restaurants. I was able to track down a good Phily Steak & Cheese from the Varsity. The sandwich was good but the fries were too greasy to eat.  Overall a good experience.

In the morning of the Pass the Plate presentation at TechBreakfast, I was able to walk to the location at the Drexel University Paul Peck Alumni Center. We were in a historic building with amazing architecture.

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The presentation went well to the 40 or so people in attendance. One person asked how we were going to work with foundations, and another asked about our go-to market strategy. Overall the feedback was positive and understanding of the issues we were having with our open beta version of the Pass the Plate application.

After the breakfast, I was able to meet with several people who offered valuable feedback. Since that time, I have appointments to follow up with two people from the breakfast.

For my trip home, I elected to take the train to the airport. I am not a big city person and do not get to ride a train often. I am fortunate to have visited this wonderful city several times and my stay in Philadelphia once again was a great experience.

– Graham Treakle

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