The Product: Vision and Value Proposition
ReadyApp is a Blockchain-based platform for short-term employments of any type. With its concept, ReadyApp contributes to the changing requirements of our times, which are characterized by a distinctive need for flexibility and an increasing demand for short-term support arising from demographic change.
What makes ReadyApp outstand from existing competitors and concepts in this business field is its unique realization of unlimited flexibility and variety as well as its one-of-a-kind provision of security and cost-efficiency. Intending to bring together the local workforce in the most secure and flexible way possible, ReadyApp offers value to two essential customer groups. On the one side, the short-term employees who profit from a flexible and fast way of earning money. On the other side, the short-term employers who either can be private persons (C2C) or a business (B2C). They strongly benefit from using ReadyApp by obtaining a reliable and qualified person to help them out in situations of need. The Blockchain behind ReadyApp enables app users to sign a working contract directly without any intermediate. The wage transaction is automatically proceeded with the help of smart contracts. The other party rates any completed job as well as the involved persons. Those ratings are securely saved within the Blockchain and ensure high-quality profiles in favor of peer-to-peer transactions.
Market Potential and Attractiveness
The gastronomy industry in Germany currently employs approximately 1.270.000 employees, with 740.000 subjects to social insurance contributions and 530.000 on a mini-job basis. The total volume of salaries being paid accounts for 25 bn € per year.
As an entry market for our app, we chose Munich. Not only is it a modern city open to modern technologies but also has one of the highest number of restaurant, beer gardens and bars per capita in Germany. By simply focusing on offering flexible and short-term replacement of sick employees, we will be able to generate revenues of 200.000 € in the first year and 600.000 € in the second year with a total market potential of 13.500.000 € per year, only in Munich. In the online world, we could identify only one strong competitor (www.gastro-neben.de) who is currently in a very early development stage. The offered centralized platform differs strongly from our more efficient business model with low transaction costs through decentralization.
The second industry we want to include in our initial approach are private household services, in particular cleaning. In this market there are currently 330.000 people employed in Germany, with 50.000 subjects to social insurance contributions and 280.000 on a mini-job basis. The whole demand for cleaning in private households accounts for 1.100.000 employees with a total volume on salaries of 13 bn € per year. However, the competition in this market niche is much stronger than in the gastronomy industry with strong offline service providers and online startups gaining more market shares. Currently only 4% of all cleaning employments are booked on online platforms. Nevertheless, since the market is large and the demand is far from satisfied, we see good chances to position ourselves as an online provider of these services.
Go-To-Market Strategy
The outstanding technology behind ReadyApp lays the foundation for a strong market presence. The advertising is targeted to technophile customers with a strong demand for flexibility. Therefore, it is primarily focused on Social Media platforms using, for example, Google Universal App Campaigns or Facebook App Install Ads and influencers with the target demographic who endorse the app. As the market is currently lacking potential short-term employees with the right qualifications, advertising will be specific to the employee side.
Based on intensive market research, the company plans to make 55.000 transactions in the first year, 165.000 transactions in the second year and 350.000 transactions in the third year of business with up to 16.200 users.
Business Model and Partnerships
Our business model is to bring together the local workforce and demand. For every job, a smart contract is created which takes care of the automatic payment process upon confirmation of both parties. We withhold a transaction fee of currently 10%. As soon as cryptocurrencies are established and no additional partners for the payment process are required, we will be able to lower the transaction fee significantly. This well be another huge advantage in comparison to the other platforms. On top of the transactional revenue stream, we will generate revenue through a premium model for business employers, for example, restaurant owners. By paying a monthly fee, they will get additional visibility, which leads to more reach for their offer and better support by our team.
On the road to success, three strong partners support us. The first partner is Stripe, an online platform for payment processing, which allows for the acceptance of different types of payment, for example, credit cards or SEPA credit transfer. The second partner is the Ethereum network, which offers a possibility to deploy the app and create smart contracts for the payment process. Because of the consensus mechanisms of Ethereum, it is not possible for smart contracts to access data from outside of the blockchain network. For our business model, it is necessary to be able to link the smart contracts to payments in fiat currencies. This process is enabled through our third partner, Chainlink. Their service enables smart contracts to connect to any API and send payments everywhere by offering a reliable decentralized oracle network.
Financing
In the first year, the app needs to be developed as well as the backend needs to be set up. App development costs are targeted at 65.000 €. While rolling out the app, a lot of advertising and marketing is needed which will amount to 84.000 €. Including other fixed costs (employees, server, and utilities) and variable costs (app hosting, payment-provider), we will spend around 519.000 € in the first year. With a planned revenue of 425.000 €, we plan to make a loss of (94.000) €. Already in the second year, we plan to reach a profit of 486.000 €. For funding, we are planning to raise venture capital of 500.000 € to 1.000.000 € for the first years.
Management: The Founding Team
ReadyApp was founded by a team of four members combining the core competencies and expertise to successfully lead the company. The founding members launched their business idea while studying Management & Technology at TU Munich where they also acquired profound technical knowledge. Borislav Mladjov, acting as Head of Finance, successfully founded CMYK Pen before ReadyApp and took care of fund management at Immo-fund. Noah Rieple, being a tech enthusiast, is responsible for Technology at ReadyApp. Alexandra Glombik, leading Marketing, was previously at ProSieben responsible for acquisitions. Tanja Kersten, Head of Product, has several years of experience working in StartUps as product owner. Product development and IT responsibilities are delegated to a Blockchain expert.