They say that necessity is the mother of all inventions. The inspiring start-up story of Contapp proves this to be true. As mentioned on the Ticker News in Australia, Contapp is a tech start-up that just cannot be ignored!
How it all Started
Giuseppe Milazzo, the Founder of Contapp, met a LOT of people a few years ago while pursuing his marketing career in the UK. He was always going to events, exhibitions, and meetings.
After returning to the office, he was stuck with a pile of business cards that were very difficult to manage. Like most people, he found it difficult to remember the details of whom he met or what they spoke about. He would stack the visiting cards in his drawer, and they were never looked at again!
He realized there were a lot of many additional problems with printed business cards, such as:
- Expensive to print and design.
- Difficult to manage and search for the right people.
- Information can’t be amended (e.g., job title change)
- Not sustainable or environmentally friendly
- They can be lost or damaged.
- Required manual input of data into a database
- Required meeting people face-to-face only.
- Unhygienic when exchanging information.
- Took up a lot of unnecessary space.
- Required to be carried around when meeting people.
- Not appropriate as per today’s digital world.
- Limited information like contact number and address only.
Eventually, Giuseppe wondered if there could be a better way of managing these vital bits of business information. This led him to search for an app that would serve the purpose. However, he was shocked by the quality and build of existing business card scanning apps. They were challenging to use, not user-friendly, and had poor UI/UX. They were causing more problems than actually solving them.
The Birth of Contapp
Convenience and cost were a big concern with printed business cards, but there was also a massive environmental issue. Giuseppe has always been passionate about reducing paper waste. He made it his mission to help solve this global issue while providing value to business professionals. This led to the birth of Contapp, now regarded as one of the most popular all-in-one business card solutions available.
In a nutshell, Contapp is the more innovative and more convenient way of digitally managing & using business card data while reducing paper waste globally. It’s everything you wished your business card could be used for – Scan, save, share & manage. It helps save time, money, and the planet – simultaneously!
Founded and managed solely by Giuseppe Milazzo, Contapp is an entirely bootstrapped tech start-up with no money spent on marketing and zero outside investment. Contapp has grown organically ever since its launch in the App Stores in 2020. Giuseppe gains motivation from Contapp as it adds convenience, makes processes more streamlined, and can be adopted in people’s daily working lives.
When Giuseppe was asked why he chose tech as the solution to the problem, he said, “Almost everyone in business has a smartphone, and apps account for 89% of mobile media time. Our smartphones are something we use every day for work, entertainment, and convenience. Contapp is a convenient business tool, so a mobile app was something that made the most sense to us.”
“In business, we use our mobile phones to stay connected with colleagues and customers. Contapp is an app that keeps individuals connected to the people they’ve met without manually entering their phone contact details. The beauty of our business tool is that you can scan, save, share & manage the digital business cards via your smartphone.”
When asked what set Contapp apart from its competitors, Giuseppe said, “We focus on building a user-friendly business tool that can be used by anyone, at any age and any level of employment. User convenience, usability, security, and being streamlined were some main motives of the app development.”
“Contapp can be used as a digital business card and a business card manager, with many unique features that can’t be found on competitor business tools. Most other apps do either or, not both.”
“As a customer centric-startup, we always encourage our users to add their feedback and ideas to develop the Contapp platform further. With every feedback we get from our community, we analyze and test new ideas for future updates. This is why we value our users so much and will continue to do this for the rest of time.”
Giuseppe Milazzo has a team of outsourced app developers who help manage his app and build the code for the platform. However, Giuseppe has done it all by himself in terms of marketing, branding, UI/UX, and content creation. Contapp has bold and fun branding that reflects the ethos and vibe of the company.
On asking about how Covid-19 impacted Contapp, Guiseppe replies, “Contapp launched in the App Stores late February 2020, just before COVID hit the UK. Our quick-thinking team turned a crisis into an opportunity! Business professionals now see Contapp as the most hygienic, safest, and most convenient way of digitally managing & sharing business cards. In a time when we can’t physically share business cards face-to-face, printed business cards become irrelevant. The users can seamlessly send and exchange business cards with anyone in the world, contactless, via any platform from their smartphone.”
Vision and Future of Contapp
Giuseppe is confident about his start-up and its ability to reach every corner of the world! Backed by an innovative tech solution such as Contapp, a drive for excellence, and a chalked-out vision, Giuseppe has created global waves. The vision for Contapp has always been to add value to business professionals looking to create meaningful connections and save the planet.
Giuseppe mentions, “As we continue to grow, Contapp will become more of a personal business hub. This will include integrations with powerful software used by business professionals daily. This will add value to our users worldwide, as they will become even more connected with clients/customers and their back-office team. In the pipeline, we’re looking at integrations with CRMs, Calendars, Video Calling Platforms, Slack, LinkedIn, and more.”
“We have an exciting roadmap and a vision for Contapp to be implemented for individuals and corporations worldwide. Everyone at Contapp deserves the accolades as they are part of our start-up growth, not just me. I’m just spearheading the movement to become more environmentally friendly, but also making business card management more streamlined via our innovative business tool.”
Challenges and Motivation
However, while Contapp identified a gap in the market and capitalized on it, things weren’t easy for them. It is known that getting the right coverage for start-ups can be very difficult unless they spend a fortune on their marketing. They have to be patient and grow organically, which requires time but helps the business in the long run. Even though Contapp has collaborated with other start-ups and bloggers, it was challenging to find a consistent and adequate response to their efforts for collaborations and partnerships.
Positive user feedback is a huge motivational factor, and Contapp treats customers as an absolute priority. Also, if Contapp is adopted on a large scale by businesses worldwide, it will help reduce paper wastage globally. For example, if everyone switched from printed cards to Contapp, 7.2 million trees would be saved every year. This very thought motivates Guiseppe every day. He aims to make a positive change for the planet through the convenience provided by the Contapp business tool.
The start-up story of Contapp is fueled by the passion for reducing wastage and improving the way we all use & manage business card data. Truly, it is an innovative tech solution that helps improve business relationships and reduce global paper wastage – the two critical requisites for today’s world!
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