yboo

Aug 15, 2019

Yboo founder’s plan to capitalise on ‘million quid’ Dragons’ Den opportunity Kane Fulton , August 15, 2019 ⏱ 4 min read Yboo cofounder and CEO Martyn Gould saw a golden opportunity when approached by the BBC to appear on Dragons’ Den. “According to the big advertising firms, it’s basically a million quid’s worth of advertising,” he says. “We’ve pumped most of our money into developing yboo as the best ‘growth hack’ is to have a great product, and as such our marketing budget is tiny. “With that in mind, our absolute number one priority was for our product to look good on the show. And it did.” Yboo (an acronym for ‘You’re Better Off On’) is a platform that helps consumers switch to a more suitable mobile deal based on price and signal strength where you work, live and hang out. Gould, who pitched for £250k in exchange for a 2.5% stake in the business, is contractually forbidden from revealing the outcome of Sunday’s episode – the first in a new series. However, he reveals that before going into the den he and his cofounder Paul Doyle (who did not pitch) were open to working with any of the famous investors. “We thought it would be great to work with Peter Jones based on his previous expertise through owning Data Select , which distribute mobile phone sims and accessories,” Gould says. “The reality is that having any of the dragons would be beneficial as it expands your market presence.” “Entrepreneurs are the new video stars – people want to be entertained and LinkedIn is TV for business.” Numbers game Whatever the outcome, the appearance could do wonders for yboo’s top line. The company generates revenue in two ways; the first is when users switch to another mobile tariff using the app, which runs in the background and measures call, text, signal strength and other data points in order to match them to an appropriately priced call plan. The second is through yboo’s B2B SaaS platform called Insights , which grants mobile operators access to anonymised data generated by yboo’s user base. Operators can filter and message potential customers who would benefit from their offerings – from general plans to niche ones by MVNOs (mobile virtual network operators). With a touted combined 10 million-plus viewership (comprising live viewers and iPlayer streams), Dragons’ Den could help yboo generate revenue equivalent to one year of its burn rate, according to its founder. “We know from every 100 downloads how many people will click through and buy a product,” Gould says. “While we don’t know how many downloads we’ll get on the wave of hype after Sunday, a million would be massive for us – though it’s unlikely.” Yboo has put a plan in place to further capitalise. It involves cutting up its appearance on the show and distributing the videos online in a bid to drive downloads as part of a campaign set to stretch through to Black Friday in October. Additionally, the company aims to generate noise around Insights on LinkedIn to attract the attention of mobile operators. Advice for founders Gould, a voracious self-promoter on social media and particularly LinkedIn, intends to complement that marketing activity by continuing to frequently post video updates online, something that he encourages other entrepreneurs to try. “Entrepreneurs are the new video stars – people want to be entertained and LinkedIn is TV for business,” he says. “It’s the future of building your customer base, being real, getting engagement, followers, product reviews and raising money.” Gould has a track record of making successful pitches having successfully pitched for funding from Angelfish and Manchester’s Business Growth Fund in recent years. Goulding waits to pitch in the den’s green room He says that posting unscripted video to LinkedIn is the first step that any entrepreneur considering entering the den – or pitching in general – should take in order to feel more comfortable in the public eye. “When you walk into the den, not only does your pitch have to be great, but you have to educate the dragons on your product as they will never have come across it before,” he says. “You need to remember your numbers, key dates, strategic intention and also how to phrase things and overcome objections. You may have to deal with three of them speaking at once, which is difficult for any entrepreneur.” Gould also stresses the importance of linking up, interviewing and pitching in front of a previous contestant who appeared on the show. “You need to be coached by somebody who has gone through the process as you have no idea what’s coming up, and that could really blindside you and make you not come across in the best light in the den,” he says. “I disregarded my own advice and did not do that as I wanted to keep it secret as we were raising other money concerned with international expansion at the time.” Northern pride This weekend Gould will follow in the footsteps of founders from other North of England-based digital tech companies to enter the den, including Newcastle-based Proxismart , which landed £80k from YourCash founder and dragon Jenny Campbell back in February. KwizzBit and M14 Industries , from Leeds and Manchester respectively, have also appeared on the show. Gould, who was born in Cheshire but has lived in Yorkshire for 12 years, was determined to make his adopted county proud. Yboo recently moved its HQ from Holmfirth to Huddersfield to improve its working environment for employees, increase office security and better serve its Insights customers. “The taylor who I paid to make the jacket’s material that I wore on the show was from Huddersfield, as was the firm that measured it up,” he says. “I wanted to make sure it was visible we were putting Yorkshire on the map when competing with other tech companies there, which were mostly London-based. “It’s fantastic to be able to represent the region and give an account of ourselves that’s not in written media – on the TV there’s no secrets!” Dragons’ Den airs on BBC2 on Sunday at 8pm What should we improve? (optional)