Best Startup
A QUICK INTRODUCTION ABOUT WHAT YOUR COMPANY DOES/YOUR VALUES/MISSION.
StepStack is a mobile application that motivates and incentivises teens to get more active. We are ‘By Teens, For Teens’.
TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF?
Over the last 30 years, I have worked in education and technology as: a teacher; a technology product owner; a President of a US subsidiary of a UK Plc, & a Chief executive of a large group of schools in England.
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME A YEAR OR TWO, WHAT PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOURSELF?
Don’t underestimate the time and resources required for marketing.
WHAT PROBLEM DOES YOUR BUSINESS SOLVE?
1 in 5 teens have a mental health problem and 1 in 4 are clinically obese. 87% of teens own a mobile phone and 20% of teens are online for 7 hours every day. Teens spend 75% of their time sitting down. StepStack motivates and incentivises teens to get more active.
WHAT IS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND YOUR BUSINESS?
Walking Barney, our Bernese Mountain Dog.
Just before lockdown we got Barney and the struggle to get Eddie, my 13 year old son, to walk him began. The problem was that Eddie’s PlayStation was more appealing than walking. After a degree of coercion he started to come for the dog walk. Almost immediately he realised the benefits (both mentally and physically) that regular exercise was having. He got to think about his friends who didn’t have a dog and weren’t going out. The statistics about teenage mental and physical health are really worrying and they are on a rapidly declining trajectory. How can we stop and reverse that trajectory? How can we motivate and incentivise teens to get more active?
StepStack was born.
WHAT IS YOUR MAGIC SAUCE?
We are ‘By Teens, For Teens’. The first thing we did was to establish a teenage user group. It’s been this group that has steered us as we developed the initial ideas into a prototype and then onto the MVP. The user group have acted as our core testers and provide a strong reminder of our purpose – getting teens more active.
That’s where STEPSTACK comes in! We know that by helping our young audience create positive habits and change early in life, they are more likely to stick to them, and experience great health and wellness in the years to come.
To use StepStack, you simply set a target and start walking. Every step you take is converted into coins that can be used to redeem discounts and special offers from our commercial partners in the StepStack marketplace which include: Selfridges, Bose, The Body Shop and many other commercial companies.
You can also use your coins to bid on physical products in our auction room, or donate them to one of our three charity partners: Just One Tree, Teenage Cancer Trust, and The Trussell Trust. In addition to tracking your progress, you can also participate in challenges, earn rewards, and share your achievements with family and friends.
WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR THE NEXT 5 YEARS? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE?
In 5 years, we want to have 1 million users targeting 1billion steps per day. There are 6 million teens in UK, 40 million teens in the US and 65 million teens in the EU.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE YOU’VE FACED SO FAR?
We went through a procurement exercise to find our development partner which we conducted on Upwork – an online freelancing platform. 19 freelancers and small agencies from around the world applied and after interviewing our top 6 we appointed a fantastic team based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
The team have been amazing but the Russian invasion inevitably caused, and continues to cause, huge disruption to their lives. Despite this, the team regrouped and have continued to work tirelessly to create an award winning app.
HOW DO PEOPLE GET INVOLVED/BUY INTO YOUR VISION?
Download StepStack today and start walking!
