Spotlight Series: BOWIMI
Legacy Club goes under the hood of some early stage entrepreneurs, to see what makes them and their businesses tick!
This week, we interrogated Co-Founder of Bowimi, Dom Bowcock
Please tell us a little bit about you the person (not you the business owner): I'm big into sports and travelling (although that now seems like a thing of the past...). I'd like to think I'm a pretty easy guy to get on with and l love to meet new people and grow my network. Love pointless facts and general knowledge - occasionally useful in a pub quiz team...
Describe your business in less than 30 words: Product sampling made digital, engaging and efficient. A platform using existing tech in new innovative ways to get FMCG products into the hands of target consumers.
What industry or sector does your business fall in to?: Tech/Marketing tech/FMCG/Hospitality
What did you do before you started your business?: I was working for a friend's start-up, called Candy Mechanics, that used robotics to personalise chocolate. Whilst fundraising for that them I met my co-founder, Dan Ghadimi, who was fundraising for his previous business and we agreed to join forces and create Bowimi. Prior to that I have worked in market research, amongst other things, and studied my undergraduate at Newcastle University.
What have been the biggest struggles that you have encountered, and what did you do to overcome them?: In a sector like hospitality, which has traditionally lagged behind other sectors in the uptake of new tech, there's a lot of trust barriers which you have to break down. After we'd built our prototype, the trials and testing of the product were crucial to understanding what users and venues actually wanted from the product. Whilst it doesn't sound like the worst job in the world, we spent a lot of time in the initial period sprinting around North London collating pub-goers opinions, keeping the bars happy whilst having to put out fires if there were problems with the prototype. Each trial we made sure to document what went right and wrong and learn from what we had seen - it might seem simple but it's easy not to take a step back and analyse what's actually going on in the madness of trying to launch a new product.
Have you had any external investment to date?: Yes, and we are currently midway through our seed round - always keen to talk to any interested investors.
What has been the impact of COVID-19 on your business and did you make any changes, or pivots?: Being in the hospitality industry it's undoubtedly hard, with both brands and venues going through an immensely tough time. We're lucky that we had been planning an R&D phase over the last few months and we raised some investment at the start of lockdown that can see us through this tricky period. We have also looked at different ways to repurpose our tech with a couple of new products - both so far have attracted significant interest but, unfortunately, I can't give away too much more at this point.
We also have to be cautious of knee-jerk reactions in a time like this. Whilst there is a lot of press around companies drastically changing their business proposition, you always need to make sure that a pivot does make viable, commercial sense and it's not going to be an expensive distraction from your core business.
Do you struggle with, or have you found any of the following barriers to your business growth?: Access to finance/funding, Access to markets
Do you have any business hero's, if so, who are they?: Off the top of my head that's hard but I've always liked Joe Gebbia's story of the founding of Airbnb and I'm sure there's going to be plenty more to the story out the other side of the pandemic.
Financial Rewards or Business Awards?: Financial Rewards
What was the last book you read?: Prisoners of Geography
Tell us something totally unique about your business: We are using technologies we already know and use in ways that are completely new to our sector. We are genuinely changing the way brands will drive trial and awareness of their products.
Finally, please tell us what we can look forward to with your business as we head in to 2021: A vaccine; No more restrictions on the hospitality industry.; An explosion of pent up demand; All coinciding with the launch of our brand new platform 2.0 which will form a completely unique relationship between brands, venues and end consumers.
