We speak to the founder of Frugl, a new London-based App that is dedicated to free and cheap events happening around London. This app is great for Londoners on a budget that still want to have fun and explore London events in all their glory, without a heavy price to pay. I am definitely going to ‘Fruglit’ next time I’m looking for something to do in our glorious capital.
Tell us about your business. What is your role in it?
Frugl is a new events discovery app helping Londoners on a budget find affordable things to do. I’m the founder (as they like to call us in Silicon Roundabout!) and CEO.
Tell us more about Frugl. How does it work?
The app works by pulling in information from various data sources such as Facebook and other places and then filters them by date and price. Our explore feature allows users to find events nearest to them or in the city’s most popular ‘going out’ areas. Users can share the events with their friends using all the most popular social sharing platforms and get directions to the venue using Google Maps, Apple Maps and CityMapper. A shortlist button allows users to drop the events onto their phone’s calendar. We’ve added a fun function called FruglIt. Users shake their phone to reveal a random event of the day. Keep shaking to reveal more events.
Why is Shoreditch so relevant to your business?
Wow, for so many reasons. The most obvious is that there’s so many great free and cheap events happening every day in and around Shoreditch so it’s a rich source of content. Plus our developers Inktrap are based in Shoreditch so we’ve spent quite a bit of time over the past few months working with them there. And, although it’s not exactly in Shoreditch but in neighbouring Smithfields, my CTO and I spend every Monday and Wednesday working out of Innovation Warehouse where we are enrolled on their Accelerator Academy programme.
What has been the most memorable or challenging part about running your business?
Getting everything we want in the first app working with a limited budget. That and holding me back from trying to do everything all at once. I always want to run before I can walk. It has taken over a year to really nail down the proposition and core functionality. Even then it took meeting Inktrap and hearing their suggestions to make it all come together.
Where do you like to hang out in Shoreditch?
As a long term Soho House member, I’m lucky in having access to Shoreditch House. Their roof in the summertime can’t be beat. Allpress Expresso does the best coffee and I like Beauty Mart in Boxpark for their great selection of beauty products. On the weekend, I enjoy checking out the sample sales in the Old Truman Brewery. There’s usually at least one going on there and, you won’t be surprised to learn, I’m a sucker for a bargain!
What does the future hold?
The next six months is all about making sure Frugl is the best it can be, both for people using it and event holders who want to list their own events. I envisage lots of late nights pouring over the listings, looking at the analytics and shaping the product into the most usable listings interface available. The Accelerator Academy finishes early April with a pitch to 120 investors so we’ll be working hard at our investment pitch too. Until then there’s homework every week, something I haven’t had to do for a very long time…
Anything else?
Only that frugl is available free to download for iPhones from the App Store and event holders can submit their events to Frugl on our website, frugl.com
