One year of Wavy.

On July 18, Wavy turned one. We decided to take some time to reflect on the past year, celebrate the little wins we’ve had so far, and dig into planning for the year ahead. 

Turns out it was quite the year. Below, I’ll tell the story of what’s happened so far and what we’ve learned along the way. For those of you who like to skim, I’ve included convenient ‘key learnings’ sections throughout, so be free and scroll on! 

It started out as an idea that Peter Kotzeff and I could not stop thinking about: could we help people find local activities in an easier, more personalized way? Could we recommend activities just as well as Spotify recommends songs to listen to? 

We wanted to solve the pain of looking for activities, only to end up with an endless scroll or 45-tabs open on your browser. We wanted to give more authentic recommendations than sponsored blogs, fake reviews, and search ads do today. So, we started to dream up the idea for Wavy: an app that helps people find local activities based on their interests and criteria in the moment. We got accepted into Startup Boost (a 6-week pre-accelerator program), further solidified that idea, and got to work. 

Summer ?? (July - September 2018)

We started testing our idea using Typeform, Google Maps, and email to send 125+ people on day trips around Toronto. As we joked, this test used very powerful AI (actual intelligence), meaning that we sat at our computers every night to make the perfect guide for each person that filled out our survey.  

During those first couple of months, over 20% of our testers actually went on their adventure and 87% wanted to receive another custom guide. It was pretty wicked to hear the feedback, too. We heard that our guides gave people something more exciting to do than just sitting on a patio. Another person told us that Wavy helped them feel like a tourist in a city that they’ve lived in their whole life. Hearing this reinforced that we were on to something.

We bought a domain (actually, we bought three), created some social accounts, incorporated - and boom, Wavy was born. If you’re wondering where the name came from, well, we named it while on a boat. We wanted to capture a certain feeling (spontaneity, adventure, the uncertainty of what’s coming next) with our name and I think Wavy does a good job at portraying that. 

Key learnings:

• People like getting recommendations that feel personalized to their interests. 
• People complete an average of three activities during a day of adventure.  
• People will travel across the city for a new experience if it seems worth it (which is where we come in).
• People want to get recommendations instantly, not within a 12-24 hour window. They also want to see lots of pictures, save places they like, and access their guides outside of their inbox.

In summary: It’s time to build an app, not an email service! ??

Fall ?? (October - December 2018)

This is when our vision and mission started to change. 

Yes, everyone likes to travel (including people outside of the Millennial generation - gasp!). Even though Millennials say that traveling is more important than buying a house, paying off debt, or even purchasing a car, they’re only doing so for a couple of weeks a year. We want to help people get the most out of the other 50 weeks - to help people experience the joy of travel in their own city and the surrounding area, one hidden gem at a time.

With this mindset steering us forward, we started to build the first version of our app. Using the combination of Sheetsu and Dropsource, we were able to put together a scrappy v1 that we could send to our initial test group. Then, we conducted as many user interviews as we could, and as a result, drank a lot more coffee than we should’ve. 

We also decided to really live our mission for a month, with an initiative called #GOvember. During the month of November, we did something new every single day. It required a lot of planning, completely flexible work hours, and overall, was a great transition from working at Nudge Rewards full-time to working on Wavy full-time. From testing our limits rock climbing at Joe Rockheads to listening to cosmic jazz at Burdock Brewery, grabbing tacos at Seven Lives, or even visiting the cheese vault at Cheese Boutique, we did it all. Some may say that this was an interesting way to get started… but I think it was an important step to take. We got to explore pockets of the city that we’d never seen before, check out places that we curated for Wavy’s database, and got a lot of inspiration to help others experience what we did.

Key learnings:

• People don’t like being forced through a strict planning process. Despite wanting personalized recommendations, they still want to be in control of how they discover things.
• People want to know the magic behind places. What’s special about a location? What should they know before going? They crave insider knowledge.
• People rely heavily on their friends, family members, and colleagues opinions before deciding to go somewhere.
• People love knowing about places that others don’t. They like to be ahead of the curve and they are proud of how they find out about places (aka, proud of having Wavy - which is pretty damn cool). 

In summary: You can build an app for under $200 - it won’t work very well, but it’s a start. You can also have a whole lot of fun while doing so. 

Winter ?? (January - March 2019)

Go time. 

We had gotten initial feedback on the app and despite the 45-second load time, people were interested. We had gone to San Francisco to take part in Joanne Fedeyko’s Accellerate program, where we spent a week learning, pitching, and networking. We also worked regularly with Neshay Ahmed (our technical advisor) and Luciano Abbott (our lean, mean, contract development machine) to build the beta version of Wavy. 

Peter started to learn more about development, product management, and user research. I started to learn more about public speaking, business development, and the world of investment. I think we can both agree that we felt like we were doing a fast-tracked MBA. 

We worked hard to get the beta version of our app ready and started building our community - both online and offline. We held a couple of events with partners, like a secret wine tasting with Mackenzie Putici (a certified sommelier and head of New World Wine Tours), or a bootcamp in a brewery with Alicia Wood (a personal trainer and the creator of Camp Fuel). On top of all of this, we had the opportunity to take part in Communitech’s Fierce Founders Bootcamp, where 24 startups competed for $100K in a final pitch competition. We ended up making it to the final round, where we got to present in front of 200 people and placed in the top three! It was a fantastic experience.

As March came to a close, we had a waiting list of 1,400+ people, a final to-do list before launching our beta program, and newfound confidence in sharing our vision for Wavy (preferably, with a microphone in hand). 

Key learnings:

• When it comes to testing, getting designs in the hands of users before developing is key. This has shaped 100% of what we’ve built today. 
• When it comes to development, everything will take longer than you expect it to - especially when learning how to estimate hours/ having unknown complexities. 
• Figuring out how to best structure goal setting, milestones, and productivity tools is important at the pre-launch stage. Big shoutout to Jordan Ekers and Mihnea Galeteanu for helping us with OKRs, product road mapping, and weekly prioritization.
• When it comes to marketing, people love giveaway campaigns, referral programs, and meeting IRL (through networking, conferences, and community events). 
• When it comes to public speaking, never speak with your hands below your waist. Also, never point at the crowd, or stand behind a podium! 

In summary: Building an app that works well takes time and patience... and if you’re building the right community around that, they will have time, patience, and excitement too! 

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Spring ?? (April - June 2019)

Ready, set, launch! We spent the first couple of weeks getting everything ready and launched our private beta on Testflight by April 15. We had scheduled email campaigns, social posts, a sweet giveaway campaign with Due North Rentals, and even created the Wavy Friend Zone to get others to help spread the word. Once we’d done some initial testing, we started sending out invites to our waiting list.

This quarter went by super quickly - we hired a couple of interns (Max Georgopoulos and Nyle MacLeod) to help with our database, marketing, business development, and events. We moved into TWG’s coworking space, took part in a couple of pitch competitions (ended up winning one), attended our first big event (Dundas West Fest), and had an overwhelming amount of support from people in the community. Shoutouts to Lorraine Manglagit for the UX and user research help, Kate Grant, Danielle Graham, Dessy Daskalov, Mark Bolusmjak and Tom Walsham for mentorship, and many many others who have chipped in along the way.

At the end of our two-month beta program, we had over 400 people join the app, learned a lot about what to do next, and received feedback and results that wildly exceeded our expectations. We achieved a 28% conversion rate from waiting list to download. 20% of our users were weekly active, 60% were monthly active, and over 40% planned a route with activities chosen through Wavy. We learned about what people loved (minimalist design, local tips, and the recommendations themselves), what people did not love (having to repeat the planning process every time, not understanding some of our UX, and not having a back button), and what people wanted to see next (time-sensitive activities, location-based recommendations, and being able to share with friends). 

We got to talk to a lot of people who used Wavy to explore Toronto. They went to coffee shops, beaches, and hidden bars. They planned date nights, group outings, and day trips around the city. One person even said they’d been using Wavy to solve disputes with their significant other on where to go - and that our app now makes the decision for them. We loved hearing how people described the app, too. From the ‘cure to decisionitis’, to a ‘great date hack’, or even ‘nuggets of wisdom’, these descriptions have helped shape our messaging and brand positioning moving forward. It’s been surreal to see Wavy having a small, but mighty impact on people's lives so far. 

Key learnings:

• People loved hearing that all our recommendations come from local experts. This is something we're starting to highlight more. ??
• People are looking for a better way to store and share activities they’d like to do. They’re proud of their curated lists and want a nicer way to access/share them - whether it’s places they’d like to go or places they’ve been.
• People think Wavy would be more valuable if it could recommend time-sensitive activities (e.g. events, pop-ups, and festivals). In fact, 87% of our users think this.
• When it comes to app design, the user experience can cause major dropoff! Things, like having too many onboarding screens or having a misplaced button, can lead to people leaving the app, which is something we’re working on fixing now. 

In summary: We’ve tested, validated, and successfully inspired people to explore more often. Now, time to make improvements, launch publicly, and scale (to infinity, and beyond). ?? 

Today, we’re working on getting more customer feedback, improving our app design, and getting the product ready for public launch. Our goal? To have 60,000 members actively exploring with Wavy by the end of 2020. From there, we’ll expand to six more cities, where there are over 200M+ Millennials who value experiences over things. Here’s to helping them find activities they’ll love, inspiring more spontaneity, and encouraging more quality time spent with loved ones. 

If you read all the way through, thanks for being part of our journey! It’s been exciting so far, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. 

Happy adventures,

Shawn & Peter

?? PS. As we continue to build Wavy, here’s how you can help:

1. You can sign up for our app and help spread the word by clicking here. 
2. We’re always looking to meet folks in the transportation (e.g. rideshare, carshare, bikeshare, public transit) and hospitality (e.g. boutique hotels) industry. Would love any introductions!
3. As we prep to fundraise, we’d appreciate introductions to Angel investors or early-stage VCs that are interested in travel, lifestyle, and women-founded startups.