First of all, I apologize for using the forum for this purpose, but as I’m new here I didn’t know if there is a more appropriate section to place this post!
I’m currently looking to find people who would like to get involved in the development of new POS Software, which can make a big difference for once and allow everyone to benefit from it.
I do understand that is a lot of work and a huge cost in development, and that is exactly why I’m looking for investors!
I have spent 2 years in putting together this project, along with market research, restaurateurs suggestions, discussions, required & desired functionalities, operations & integrations, and I figured to post my question here as there is no better crowd to preview & judge or offer opinions, other than the people that the software is intended for.
Here is a preview of what the software will look like:
Please contact me if interested for more information, or feel free to just post your opinion, thoughts or anything you like to say!
Thanks for stopping by
“Get Involved” = Invest Money, Be a part of a team of investors, or be a board member on a new company.
Just to be clear here… I’m not looking for any individuals to start just giving money away…
What I’m hoping to achieve here is to gather the right people, people that are interested in investing money to the project and form the company.
This is an investment opportunity for a startup.
I do have all the information needed to do a presentation for those who are interested.
Hope this helps
I am going to be brutally honest here. Please don’t take this as a judgement of your project but the opinion and observation of someone who has been associated with this industry for nearly 30 years.
Most of the people on this forum are either heavily invested in their current POS system or have most of their finances and time tied up in their day-to-day operation. For the most part the time and money available for such involvement will likely be very scarce.
The Think Tank has seen a number of people come here looking to develop a “better mousetrap” and fade away into the sunset. What do you have that makes your project stand out from the rest?
I really appreciate your comment and I do know that chances to find people to finance such expensive project here are slim to none! But it doesn’t hurt to try.
For sure I don’t mind judgement at all. It’s actually judgments that gave me the incentive and got me to this point. Designing a new, different solution
I’m a POS re-seller currently, and worked with few POS Companies over the years. From what I have seen, the way all restaurateurs are being treated by the EVERY POS Company is unacceptable. Poor support from many, additional fees on everything you can imagine, and to cut this short, all restaurateurs end up paying a hefty fee just to be some POS Company’s Guinea pig!
There are over 160 Industry Specific POS Systems for restaurants, Pizza shops and bars, which if I could combine all of them into one, it wouldn’t make the one I have put together at the same price range and capabilities. Of course you can say to me that everyone says the same thing
But what I have is not another POS solution but rather the solution to the multiple POS issues.
This project was designed after putting a lot of attention to detail of the problems customers face daily, and I’ve dedicated my time to find the best solutions possible.
What I see when I look at many of the POS out there, 10, 15 or even 20 year old systems they look like old cars that had a fresh coat of paint when their issue is the engine!!!
The “mousetrap” as you mentioned, is unfortunately a necessity for everyone today. Since we cannot do without it, the least we can do is improve it as much as possible. And that is my goal!
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Thank you for your comment!
No, unfortunately I’m not a developer. I wish I was though
Development hasn’t started yet. I need investors for that. Just finished reviewing the project with the development company a couple of weeks ago.
Now it’s ready for development as soon as investors come along. If any!
I couldn’t agree more with you that POS is very tough market.
100% uptime there is no one that can guarantee you that and if anyone does, then its simply lies imo. Especially if you’re dealing with other factors that have nothing to with the POS Software or the equipment. Operating System crashes for example or random restarts from updates on your rush hours, that is not something that has anything to do with any POS Software! But I agree that you need a warranty that your system will not go down easy, and if that happens at some point you’ll be up and running ASAP. That said, how long to fix a major bug cannot be predicted, especially if it involves other factors like 3rd party integrations. But again, best effort for immediate resolution is a must.
Have you read any of the information provided above regarding the scope of the project? It states that support will be available at 24/7/365. It also lists a lot of our features, and software upgrades are included! Did you find any missing features that you would like to point out?
Best regards
P.S I highly respect the POS System you’re using as it is one of the best (if not the best) for pizza operations I’ve seen out there! Hands down, It outperforms many competitors in its area!
If you are going to build a POS I super strongly recommend you get an developer as a partner/co founder, especially if this is your first software project, to ensure that the code your development team writes is of acceptable quality. Software testing & quality assurance is also extremely important. The development company you hire, looks at you like a sales and revenue generating opportunity. You need someone who will ensure the quality of their work and be able to communicate your requirements and vision to them. Else you may find yourself half way through your budget and crappy buggy code which cannot sell, or even worse would need to scrap it all together.
I also recommend you read a few books on product development.
I think your current approach of building a product that has all the possible features one can imagine by raising 1 million dollars, even though you havent raised even 100k in your life, or written a line of code, or built any other product before, may be considered naive.
Generally people take an agile approach to development these days, and build minimum viable product, take it to their users, or try to sell that, take some money and spend that on building newer features and gradually building out the app.
If you are serious about this project, I think you need to do the following ASAP
[LIST=1]
[]Get a developer preferably experienced or learn programming yourself, build few projects for 6 months and may be even POS without the bells and whistles.
[]In mean time read books on product development
[/LIST]
Please take this as constructive criticism. Just wanted to give my observation.
I really appreciate your comment It is very on point!
I actually have a group of people surrounding me & the project (3 Developers [Java, php, C#], 1 Food Distributor [he was involved in the beginning of another big POS company many years ago], 1 lawyer, few POS Re-sellers, and over 50 pizza shop owners). All of them pitched in, everyone in their own way, even the development company put a lot of hours in this project without asking for anything [development company is working with us since march 2016 and helped us a lot to put things in order], but regardless of the people surrounding me the cost of it is too high and our knowledge and coding skills required for such project, simply it’s not there!
This project when I first started designing it and putting it together piece by piece, when we first contacted the development company (we found them after having contacted 3-4 companies), gave us a quote for $250,000 - $300,000!!! Imagine how early that was… Since then the quote kept going up until we reached the $2 million mark! And that $2 million do not include the project’s design, infrastructure & scope (functionality, operations, etc.) of them putting it together since it’s already done by us! We might lack the coding skills but between some of us the architecture is there! That said, the project only need around $1 million to be functional 75-80%. And that is the 1st phase we need to complete. The rest, has to do with lower importance level of 3rd party integrations, and any other additional features that are not necessary for day to day operations and can be completed at a later stage.
Anyways, that was just background information… Bottom-line is that I totally agree with everything you said, and trust me, we plan on doing just that!
If we ever get to that point of course
Here is the very first live demo of the application!
A short demo to show the actual workflow of the program and give you a better idea of how it will operate.
First, you really need to update that website if you want anyone with any kind of development background to take you seriously. It’s horrible. I’m sorry if it’s new, and you paid for it, but man, you’re over here trying to sell me on the miracle of flying cars when you just pulled up on a bicycle… It’s like you just handed me a business card with perforated edges. I mean, you have a donate button on there for god sakes.
Second, if you are going to ask people for money, you’re going to have to come with way - WAY - more than three screenshots and some prototype videos…
Third, the “10 reasons why” video really rubs me the wrong way. It starts with something like, “practically magic” and then goes on listing 10 questionable claims. Highest return on investment? Says who? You can’t just make that up and put it in a marketing video…
Fourth, unless I missed something, you don’t have a product, you have an idea.
Fifth, you’re trying to get $1,000,000.00 to only be 70% complete on “Stage 1”… Where in gods name did you get such an absurd number? From the hat in the logo? What are you expecting you’re going to need to get to the final stage? 5 mil?
Last, you mention designing a new, different solution but i see nothing new or different at all?
Look, I’m not saying these things to upset anyone. I know you’ve worked hard on this. I felt the need to voice my opinion because a) you essentially asked me for money publicly, so I responded publicly, and b) I am an active software developer.
Trust me, I agree on the need for something special in the POS market and I clicked this link because of that, but if you want my money you’re going to have to knock my socks off with something so unreal that I open my wallet. Something truly innovative. Something far beyond what is out there. What you’ve shown me here actually kind of offended me. Random promises on a product that is just theory, untrue claims on my ROI (unless your product is free) and questionable business models like free software upgrades, add-ons and service. How do you expect to keep this product in active development without actually taking in any money? Unless this is open source software, you’re going to have to pay these developers. You can’t just keep getting on random forums asking for money every time you need it. Eventually you’re going to need a business model that generates revenue other than the initial purchase of the software. Without that, good luck paying the dev and sales teams let alone the support staff that can handle 365/24/7 and we haven’t even gotten into things like rent and utilities of the facility they would be working in.
I think you have a dream, which is a start. Most people don’t have any dreams, and if they do, they lack the nuts to follow them. So I salute you on that. But at this stage in your project you’ve shown me nothing that tells me you deserve my money.
Wow! Now that’s a comment! A bit harsh but well written and probably one of the most impressive and useful comments I’ve gotten so far!
Please don’t get this the wrong way, I really appreciate your input as I do appreciate your time you put into this.
I’m going to try and respond to your points in the best way possible:
(Website): I understand your point of view since you’re a developer and as a developer you’ll definitely have different expectations etc. but this website worked for me to express my idea & designs (at least I thought it did until now). Comparing my website to other similar companies services, (which I did), I didn’t find it horrible, but that’s only my opinion.
You pointed out the “Donate” button. Is that what makes the website horrible or the entire concept of it? I would appreciate your opinion if you’d be willing to share.
(Screenshots & Design): When I started this post, I didn’t even have a website to showcase my ideas. After the website went “live” then I added the link to it for anyone who’d be interested in more information. I tried to include as much information as possible on the website while also trying to protect my idea & designs. You can find a lot more screenshots, descriptions and other information on the website besides the “Donate” button
As far as prototype videos, there are none as there is no prototype. The “demo” video above is a very early, expiramental stage of the supposed product.
(10 Reasons why): I don’t make stuff up and just put them in a marketing video…
I might not be a developer myself, but I do know the market I’m targeting. I am an active POS Reseller, and a Sales Rep for Credit Card Processing, had my own pizza shop, worked as a manager at another, and now I’m out there with restaurateurs, seeing problems, costs (upfront, recurring), seeing services provided by competitors, and basically I’d dare to say that I have a pretty good idea how this specific industry works, as I’m already a part of it.
(Product): No you haven’t missed anything here, as this is not an actual product but concept only. Which I make sure to say that, everywhere I mention this project. This is a startup company.
(Raising Money) Lol no, I didn’t get that number out of my “hat”, even though I wish I could get the money out of it
The total estimated cost for a 100% completion of the project including all testing and quality assurance, is around the 2.2 mil. This is a final quote from the development company I’ve been working with on this project. No we have not started development yet, but they have spend way too much time on this project for putting everything together in the “white pages”.
(Different Solution/Innovation): If you haven’t seen anything new here, the website has way more information about this project. This post here is only a reference so yes, it does not include all the information. Even the website doesn’t include everything.
What I want to create, is a one stop shop for POS, that will be nothing less than outstanding, in every aspect of it. I don’t want to create one more system because the existing 160 are not enough but because less than the 1% of the existing systems gets anywhere close to what restaurants need. I want to make a difference!
Bells & whistles? Yeah sure, why not? Since we can have it, why not take advantage of it? Since you are a developer then you have a pretty good idea of how advanced the technology is today and how behind are the systems we’re using for our day to day operations.
There are options where no signature is required on a credit card slip, options for the customers to pay at their door or with other ways (e-wallets etc), which can eliminate the chargbacks because the payments & information are handled only by the customer, yet 99.9% of the businesses, not using any of these options and are still trying to fight chargbacks!
There is the PCI Compliance which is a mandatory service since 2006 and 12 years later people still have no clue what PCI DSS stands for or what is its purpose!
There are options such as starting a petition and submit it to the federal trade commision to change the law that protects Yelp & other similar services against the fake online reviews, but no one is taking action. Not that it will change anything, but its a start and who knows what the outcome would be.
There are over 75,000 pizzerias in United States alone and only 4,000 members signed up in PMQ.
There is the “Cloud” and the offline backups. However, when the Internet goes down in most cases or if the “Server” computer breaks down in all cases, hands are tied up and businesses are kneeled and no one seems to care enough about it to fix that problem. They are getting your money anyways I mean. So what if you can’t work few times in an entire year? not their problem!
There is the Voice Ordering Application of Domino’s. What is that really? So, I have to go to the web ordering first, choose what I want and save it as my favorite, and then use the voice ordering app to order what I saved in my favorites? Yes, that’s innovation!
There are POS that offer applications for drivers. But they can’t accept payments at the door? So you’re going to the water fountain but don’t get to drink? That’s nice…
There are options where you can accept payments at the door… But they don’t update the order to your POS as the payments are handled by your processor directly. Yeah, that’s helpful!
Hopefully you’re getting my point…
As I said, I want to make a difference and offer something unique. I don’t enter the POS world to compete with others. I’ve seen the mistakes first hand and given the chance, I’ll try to correct them. I wouldn’t settle for anything less, and I would NEVER sell myself short just to make a quick buck. I’m 46 years old, and I have fought for what I wanted ever since I can remember myself. Still doing it and I won’t give up now!
I said that I’m a POS reseller and a credit card processing sales rep already. So, with one of my customers who wanted to sign up for online ordering, the service that was integrating with his POS asked for $900 setup fee plus $89 monthly fee. That was what they would charge me as a reseller and I had to charge the customer extra if I wanted to make a profit plus the processing fees, plus the support fee. I was like, whaaat?!? That’s too much money! But they don’t care… nobody does care that a pizza shop owner’s work time doesn’t stop with him leaving the store but follows him around, no matter where he would be. Long story short, I refused to offer their services to my customers. Anyways, this is an other subject and a long conversation for another time.
My point is that if I was to be like that, I would have been already. I have the means.
I joined this forum as a recommendation from one of my customers who told me I should post my idea here. But since then, I really loved it, the whole connection between people, the knowledge, and just about everything in here, and I’m really glad that got the chance to be here.
As far as innovation and ROI I would say that this project, if ever becomes a product, it would benefit a lot the businesses who would use it as the only fee besides the initial purchase of the software would be the monthly support fee. A fair and acceptable fee that will allow me to give for free the online ordering, the digital menu integration, and a lot more services along with providing remote & phone support around the clock.
The point where businesses wouldn’t have to pay extra to process gift cards, offer loyalty & rewards, have online ordering, and many other services, since they would all be included in the initial purchase of the software, that alone would have been a huge factor in ROI.
Also, being the only one system that would not depend on a “Server” computer to run, have a “Voice Ordering Application” way more functional than Domino’s or Starbucks, have the option to accept credit cards at the door and scan ID for verification, have Facial Recognition, run on Computers & tablets, be a self efficient system and include many other options as well, I think that it should qualify as innovative.
I have already included in my calculations all the expenses including what you’ve mentioned above (rent etc.)
I didn’t say that I will be making a product that would not be taking in any money. But I also wouldn’t charge “$100/month for support plus “X” amount for online ordering, plus gift cards, plus loyalty, plus plus… or $300 upfront for 3 hours of support, or basic support package 9am - 5pm and no weekends at $900/year, or $30/month for online ordering plus 3% for over “X” amount of orders, or requiring the credit card processing to offer services”, or whatever the list of the ridiculous charges is, which I could go on and on about it forever. There is a huge difference in making a profit and ripping people off.
By posting my idea here, I had no intentions of offending anyone, and I’m really sorry If you feel that way. I didn’t came here to offer just promises, which you’re right btw, since this is what I do, but I had an idea, I worked on it for the last 3 years now, and when I had everything (except the money) in place, I decided to make it publicly known.
If it’s a dream? Yes it most certainly is! But I have done a lot of the homework that is involved with it, and I just hope for the best. Nothing else I can do.
Again, thank you so much for your post, you gave me a lot to think.
I really hope I have covered few of your points.
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