1. Please tell us more about Waitpal and why you started the business?

We are Waitpal, and we have been operating in Poland mostly as a software house since 2017.

I have always dreamed of having my own business, where I could develop new technologies. The technological advances come out of a need to solve a problem, create efficiencies, and bring improvement to any segment they are being developed in. On the other hand, I was trying to find a way to use technology to improve the future of customer service – and as a famous saying goes – ‘’necessity is the mother of invention’’.

And while being an ordinary customer myself, and as funny as it sounds a simple life situation motivated me to develop Waitpal. One summer Friday evening I was on my way to the cinema and could not get my usual coffee due to a long queue in my favorite coffee house. And that was the time when I thought and actually said it out loud to my husband, that it would be great if there was an application where I could order a cup of coffee in my favorite coffee place before I actually leave the house so once I’m there, the drink would be just waiting for me to pick it up and enjoy it. And that’s how it all started!

2) What need does Waitpal answer for retail chains and what has been the response so far?

I started this business because I was tired of waiting in long queues to get coffee every day, and I believed there had to be a better way, and not only for coffee but for other beverages also.

We believe that once you have a business, your customers are the most important part of it, it’s always a struggle to keep loyal clients, and even more difficult to attract the new ones. That is why our goal is to improve customer support in such places, make the online ordering experience and payments as simple as possible and these days also bring some more customers to places which are struggling due to the pandemic situation as everyone wants to stay safe and not expose themselves in public. We all know that the queue for customers is always discouraging unless it’s the only iconic place in the city like the Dutch Fries Atelier,  but these are exceptions! Our Waitpal application will allow the user to place an order, pay for it and pick it up, while for example on the way to work or in between the meetings.

We are currently discussing with gastronomy places the potential of Waitpal and future cooperation. They are very interested in the project, and as we also offer a personalized application for each customer they are even more keen to be part of it.

The huge benefit for our clients is the fact that in the entire customer experience we are not an intermediary in the payment process – once the user orders, his payment goes directly to our client’s account.

3) What technology is used for Waitpal and do you intend to further develop it?

We are working to improve our technology, with one of our clients, and together we have developed an algorithm that will calculate the time when the order will be ready. But we won’t stop there – we are also planning to develop further features and implement them into our application, such as customer loyalty programs and many others.

4) How do you see Waitpal in the next five years?

Five years from now the top companies on the Fortune 100 list could easily be a very different group of names, I could only hope Waitpal will be there one day of course. The years to come will be quite interesting and unknown at some point because of the pandemic situation which we still don’t know how long it will last and what will come after it as many businesses are already struggling with lost revenue.

While success and money are the standards and one of the best goals, we have something a bit bigger in mind – we want to focus on changing and rebuilding the entire industry, not just our business. But first – we want to give the smaller gastronomy and coffee places the opportunity to meet the requirements of the current difficulties in winning back the customers. We are committed to supporting and enabling customers to securely and quickly order from their favorite places so the businesses will survive and the customers will still have some part of their every-day life in a busy schedule.

5) What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs/ startups?

First of all, I think that they should stop being afraid that something may not work out, because there is always a risk it won’t, that’s how the startup world works. I would suggest to keep challenging yourself, take the risk and believe in your own business, while finding the right people, and the right companies to support you and your project!

There are a lot of interesting support programs and accelerators, and we have found one to help us further develop–Brinc. We have been a part of the Brinc Scaleup Acceleration Program in Poland for a few months now. The support of experienced mentors and access to people who have already undergone the same path is invaluable and creates not only more new ideas, but also gives new opportunities, and what’s more important–makes us believe we will succeed.