Giving and receiving gifts brings joy & happiness and strengthens emotional connections between givers and receivers. But did you know two out of five people lie about liking a gift? Actually, most people would like to receive cash, but very few like to give it to others. It’s hard to pick the perfect gift for a friend, family member or colleague. It should be both surprising and personal, and match the budget you have in
mind. If you are looking for a spot-on gift for your close friends and family, try the Boon & Bliss App – a unique solution.
Boon & Bliss allows you to set personal goals, and to ask friends to
pitch in, to fund from the crowd – for your own dreams, or as a gift to
others. Venture Mirror has the unique opportunity to interview CEO and founder of Boon & Bliss and to learn more about the company.
What is the startup / product / venture about? Give us a brief description of it.
Boon & Bliss is a Social Fintech start-up founded in the Netherlands that reinvents the way we give and receive gifts. With our mobile app you can give or receive cash with a purpose: to fulfill a dream. No more gift cards that you never use or physical gifts that are often – let’s admit it – waste. With Boon & Bliss every gift is spot on and fulfilling. No waste. No hassle. And don’t forget to invite your friends to chip in – no dream is too big. Rock that perfect gift – anytime, anywhere!
How many co-founders are there? Please introduce them and their backgrounds.
Boon & Bliss is founded by three savvy professionals from the financial, IT and consumer space, – a winning team with complimentary coverage and diverse backgrounds.
Katherine Baranova is the creative visionary, founder and CEO of Boon & Bliss. Her experience in leading international transformation projects in the financial sector, gained at ING and NN Investment Partners, was instrumental in developing the gifting app from idea to a concrete product.
Linda Paeez is a commercial strategist with extensive international experience at leading consumer brands such as Mars, Nutricia and Miele. Two years ago she changed the course of her career. She is now managing partner of boutique consultancy Growing Your Impact and co-founder of Boon & Bliss, where she leads the commercial activities as the company’s CCO.
Anton Baranau is the CTO and the company’s “Swiss army knife in IT”. He is a data scientist and R&D software engineer with almost two decades experience in Fintech, at Belhard, Rambus and NN. His main projects involved payment innovation, big data and various banking applications.
How did you come up with the idea? What motivated you to do this?
A year ago I had a number of good reasons to throw a party: I graduated from my executive MBA, brought a high-caliber transformation project to the finish line, turned forty and was about to take a sabbatical leave. I invited my close friends, whom I had hardly seen for two years – and it was great! The next morning I looked at the pile of gifts at my dinner table: a dozen gift cards that would never be used, books that I had already read, vases that would be buried in the attic… That moment I realized that our gifting habits are mostly good intent with poor execution. As I researched the subject from statistical, behavioral and economic standpoints – I embarked on a journey to solve this problem. I believe that every gift can be spot-on and fulfilling, without compromise, without waste. And every gift can connect far beyond the moment of giving and receiving.
Who is your target market? Why do you think your product will appeal to them?
We focus on digital natives aged 18-35 years. This group spends the majority of their time online, is comfortable with online payment, connected to their social networks far beyond their residential area, and they tend to dream big – more often about experiences than material things.
Who are your competitors? How are you different from them?
Boon & Bliss operates at the junction of a number of industries: digital gift-cards, (inter-) personal banking and payments, crowdfunding and social networking. We are a breed of our own, and we aim to build a habit-forming product for recurrent gifting occasions, leveraging the social networks of users.
What are the future plans with the product/startup? Any new features you are planning on?
We are excited about our strategic roadmap, and so do our investors. At this stage, we focus on user value creation – we make it easy and fun to give and receive gifts in a way that avoids the waste of time, money and CO2 emissions common in traditional gifting. We have exciting features up our sleeve to build further excitement, like a count-down teaser and interactive unwrapping. Next, we aim to onboard merchants to offer dream suggestions. Ultimately, we will build a multi sided platform that perfectly matches dreamers and providers. We aim to become your first gift in mind. Globally.
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