From Digital Media Student to Business Owner: Haydn Comley's actually software Journey

Briefly describe your business.

We create various interactive experiences, apps and websites for a variety of niches.

What inspired you to start your business, and what problem does it solve?

I met my co-founder at university and we found we had very complimentary skills. Myself being focused on the front end - so the design, user experience, visuals and how you interact with products; and the other being focused on the back end with optimisations, speed and security. We find areas in friends, family members and our own lives where we can make things that offer real value, that will actually help them, bring joy or give convenience.

We've built multiple projects together in verity of sectors from gaming, heavy machinery sales, travel and more. Our current focus is a new application called TakeBackTo. This app allows people to save their purchases from in-store and online, you can either upload photos, or more interestingly use a custom email we provide you that blocks marketing emails and automatically pulls details from the receipts. They can then easily find receipts, tracking codes and other information needed to take items back to the shop. Our killer feature is the ability to schedule remote returns. Think JustEast but instead we collect items you want to return directly from your doorstep.

High street retailers and small businesses cannot offer this as it doesn't work for their scale - we however are able to batch these together offering a service that is both less expensive and more convenient for a business. It also acts as a great value prop for their consumers. Further benefits also include it being better for the environment as well as empowering small businesses who wouldn't be able to provide such a function of their business.

Tell us about your journey so far, we would love to hear of any key successes or challenges you have overcome.

Since leaving University we've had lots of success making applications and experiences for other clients, this includes making learning resources for racing teams teaching children in STEM, online gaming platforms for a US based community, an ecommerce site for a heavy machinery salesman, travel applications and more. While this has been financially good for the business, we crave launching our own applications more. This is why more recently we've pivoted into making more bespoke project that tackle our problems.

For our new application we've undergone a lot of initial testing, getting the app out to friends and family to start using and finding holes in. We've patched these along the way and it works really well as storage for receipts gained online and in person. This led us to our new feature which allows for item pickup. This is a lot more involved and requires logistics as well also facilitating money movement for refunds and gift cards.

This is currently in development but has led to lots of fun moments like us having to go out for days of shopping, to then return the items we've purchased to see how stores operate. We are also now reaching out and partnering with local brands and small businesses to provide this service free of charge while we iron out the bugs. This includes some fashion brands created by former UoP students as well!

How has the Student StartUp team/University supported you?

The initial funding years ago helped kick start our business. It would be good to reach out and see where more I can utilise their network to get in front of other business leaders and funding opportunities to accelerate our business.

What's next for your business?

We're going all out for TakeBackTo. We're scaling more now and getting involved with other businesses like we haven't before. We really want to get this out there and prove to ourselves we can make an impact, provide value and operate on a bigger scale.

What's your top tip for other student entrepreneurs?

Hone your craft, keep on the grind and don't be scared to pivot.

What skills have you developed through running the business?

Practically everything you can think. The main skills I've personally improved upon would be public speaking, time management and managing expectations. One other skill would also be gauging the worth of my time and expertise - its hard to get that right when starting out but comes with time.