Inside The Barbershop App Worth $750 Million | Forbes
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ต.ค. 2021
- Songe LaRon and Dave Salvant left their desks behind to create booking software for the nation’s 109,000 barbershops. Today, their fast-growing startup, Squire Technologies, is valued at some 60 times this year’s estimated sales and is featured on this year’s Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups.
Neither LaRon, a 37-year-old corporate lawyer, nor Salvant, who is 36 and worked in finance, had worked in a barbershop before - or run a small business of any sort. So, in 2016, they made a gutsy move: They spent $20,000 of the $60,000 of cash they had on hand to buy out the lease on an ailing barbershop in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market. “That gave us a test kitchen to develop the software,” recalls Salvant, the company’s president. “This was a huge gamble.”
They didn’t cut hair (which requires a license in New York State), but they did pretty much everything else: Ran the front desk, swept hair off the floor, ordered supplies, talked to customers. It was a crash course in how barbershops really operate. From the outside, a barbershop looks simple: Book an appointment, get a cut, pay with cash or a credit card. But behind the scenes are the complexities of a business in which barbers may rent chairs from the shop or receive different cuts of revenue, tips may be in cash or credit, and each barber may set their own schedule and their own prices. LaRon and Salvant realized they had to rework Squire from a glorified appointment app to something that could handle all the nitty-gritty headaches of running a very particular type of small business.
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Identified a problem and developed a solution.
Started in 2015, true grit. A great story for anyone wanting to create a business from the ground up…
Period
I used to talk with my roommate about this idea of an app for barbershops when I was in Bangalore. But we never had courage to get out and do it.Glad these guys did it.
ps: it's that roommate who shared me this video... 😊
hmm... time really waits for no one
Great Reminder that Ideas are worth nothing... They are just lifeless shells that we need to breathe life in through action. Thank you for sharing!
You both can still do it, it isn't late though 🤗
Well this is america and this type of app still doesnt exist in india…so go for it
U still can build in your Country...yet
From the ground up, self-made ‼️
Second minority owned company to hit $1B market cap this week.
Shoutout to Marshmallow insurance as well.
New to me. Thanks!
@@johnwaweru ehhh…. I think it is important to identify minorities that achieve this type success within the startup world.
Less than 4% of VC $ funding go to minorities. This will only help direct attention to other potential minority led unicorns.
Heartwarming and encouraging stories such as this should be the norm. Let’s keep reporting the “good news” of entrepreneurial ventures!
I don't believe that it should be the norm. Most people fail, so if we can learn from failures by showing them, that's all that matter. I think believing everything is sweet makes a harder fall is what I'm saying.
@@SidewaysInTraffic exactly!entrepreneurship has many obstacles and hurdles and you can learn just as much from failure stories as you can from success stories if not more.
More of this please forbes!!!!
My barber’s been telling me that he needed an app to manage his business more smoothly because he’s getting older and need to do things smarter. I said ok, I’ll look into it. I never did. And here it is. Business is more than an idea, courage, hard work, execution.
Bronx/Harlem raised Aerospace Software Engineer here. I would invest in this business.
Any guidance for a cat trying to make it in the software game?
@@oliveoil3917 For a beginner/self-taught, pick a space (front-end, backend, etc.) then Google, start coding/building. Fundamentally, you want to adapt your way of thinking to always looking at improving products you see around you, write it down (users, why it’s needed, etc.).
Their watch game is on point. Aquanaut on the one guy, yachmaster on the other. Respect.
was thinking the same thing. pure class
Proud of these dudes. Wish them more success.
I’ve had the app for a couple of years and it honestly is great from a consumer standpoint point. It’s also great for people who travel a lot, it’s helped me discover great barbers in cities I’m not familiar with.
This was a great success story and very inspiring. Big congrats and more future success to these two gentleman.
That is beautiful. So good to hear. :).
These people recognized a problem, and solved it. That's awesome.
Incredible! I’ve been telling my barber to do something like this for years! My favorite is the virtual waiting room! Salute to these gentleman! Genius!!! Kudos!!!
An inspirational video filled with valuable knowledge. Really enjoying this series.
loved the mission at the end, I think if y'all keep grinding that is an achievable experience for your customers
Round of applause for these gentlemen and their team! Inspiring entrepreneurial story! Resonates strongly - solve a problem and make someone's life easier - the rest shall follow!
Fantastic story, wishing these two nothing but the best, thank you for representing ✊🏽
This is so dope! Congrats to them for sure 🙌🏾
I identified the same problem and got a similar idea 2-3 years ago, told it to some people but they told me that its a useless idea. This video gives me confidence.
Wow! Great story & vision between these two founders. Inspirational!
Love this reporting.
Very inspiring. Especially with them finding someone to build it.
great story & beautiful to hear. congratulation to them ❤
What an idea!! Good luck moving foward.
Loved this interview! Great job fellas!
congrats and more luck to you both
Wow. Gives me a warm feeling. Super proud and I’ve never met these men in my life.
Dear lovely person, if you are reading this, keep going. You will succeed! I believe in you!
Have a great day! Love - Nat ❤️
much success to you NAT
Yes and Amen, thank you Nat
You as well, Nat! Thank you 🙏🏽
@@gregatx253 thank you
@@alphansoengland392 thank you so much my friend! You as well 😊❤️
My current shop here in Austin uses their software. Had NO idea! Kudos to the bros from NY!
Great work guys
I have been holding for awhile now, the market dynamism is really getting me uncomfortable here, I really need help deciding.
Tried trading myself and made more losses than profits, I won't suggest it to anyone else its very risky.
Most time having knowledge or insight about a particular activity can as well be a pleasing exercise, I can boldly say that forex and crypto trading is one of the profitable money exchange services that elevates investors and their financial status.
@Tommy Joel I've seen positive reviews of this professional must be exceptional for people to talk about her.
I'm surprised you know her too. I've been making alot of profits investing with her for few months now.
This broker result showed clearly from my search just needed to be sure.
YES! More of this PLEASE!
Kudos my brothas.
Love stories like this. Inspiring
Congrats Men, this is great.
Well done gentlemen. Keep going and try not to sell too early, if at all.
Take this same business model ecosystem and try to expand internationally under different names depending on the market
Wow, well done! 👏
Fantastic interview gentlemen - thank you for sharing your story. It’s inspiring partly because I wish there were more Black and brown founders, BUT, MORESO, because as an aspiring SaaS entrepreneur myself, so much of the journey is hidden behind jargon. Really helpful and encouraging to hear your story. Best of luck
We love to see it!
Wow! I love this for them and their families. Congratulations! ✨
great story. good for these guys. also, great insight into the grind!
educating, humbling and inspiring.
Squire is a dope name for a software.
Well done.
I love it!! Inspiring!
Now this is the type of news that I like to see perpetuated in the media about young black males. Change the messaging!🧐🧐🧐👍🏿🇯🇲🇯🇲🇯🇲
Love how they do the talking
Nice wrist game! Keep grinding!
Crazy my barber used this app. Works great
Loved the insight
Fantastic job guys!!!!
Salute to these brothers! African American tech founders, WE LOVE TO SEE IT!!
Inspiring duo!
Awesome. Well done!
Applaud these brothers, adoption will continue to be key and product services. Unfortunately, the barber industry especially in minority communities is an old business that has antiquated business model that deals in cash from the door to the floor for various reasons. Hopefully this will be adopted and an add value for the smaller barbershops and they won’t get gouged to access their core services.
when finances and law mix . they can built wealth together.
When technology levels the playing field ❤️
So dope
Love to see this🖤🙌🏼
very encouraging
so inspiring!
This shot for me 😊
Good job!
Love it!!!
Brooklyn!!!
They both have incredible haircuts.
Amazing!!!
love this
LOVE IT!!!!!
this awesome: can this be adapted to specific countries?
If the shop had a website, they could handle all this themselves and get ad rev
Congrats to these men….
I used to go to that babe her shop in the Chelsea market! Best Haircuts Ever!
Forbes finally upping their TH-cam game.
I’m happy for these guys very humble and awesome story it doesn’t matter we’re your from just keep your head up and dream big ;)
Great!
Amazing
Finding the market for product is so difficult...
beautiful
ty
Wow great
Black Exelence !
Dope
What does the app do? All I hear is just all the info outside the app. People already talking about the finished dream without all the steps it takes the. If this app can automatically send text messages to the clients to remind them about appointments would be amazing.
Massage app worth billions
LOLL this should have been a sign there was a huge bubble in SaaS in Nov 2021 :)
They're humble yet! That's being successfully
🔥🔥
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
how do they make money?
I had this idea lol
Woah! 🙌👏👏👏
So this means barbershops don’t have to be in 1 spot anymore. I can transform a sprinter into a barbershop and have all in need. 💪🏽
Not gonna lie, Dave S. intro made me think it was a picture of him, unti. he blinked.
Wow.
❤️
Forbes. Who shot this?! Y’all could have lit this properly. No excuse.
Like I always say:show me the cash not numbers
🏆 🏆
How do they make money? It is an app to run a business.
Software powered companies use software to deliver other products. Software companies deliver software as the product.