In July 2016, I attended the European Innovation Academy in Nice where I met three out of the four co-founders of StampOwl. It was a fantastic way to kick off our entrepreneurial journey. The hype created by the 400 highly motivated students and mentors made us feel like anything was possible. It was a fantastic opportunity to seek validation and develop new concepts before taking that vital first step into the market. We left the EIA with a global family and together we created memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life. The EIA taught me so much about life and entrepreneurship and I discovered a lot about myself along the way.

During the EIA we developed StampOwl, a service by which users can create and send personalized Postcards from their smartphones in 3 easy steps. The Postcards are then printed out at one of StampOwl’s printing facilities and are physically posted to the user’s desired address.

First, users can choose a photo from their camera roll. They can then crop it and add a filter of their choice.
Next, the user can write a message to be displayed on the back of the Postcard using the phone’s keyboard. Users can then add an address by typing it directly or importing it from their phone’s address book. Once a user adds an address, StampOwl automatically adds it to the users address book so they can easily use it again.

Finally, the user needs to pay using StampOwl’s secure payment processor Braintree (A PayPal owned company). StampOwl accepts a number of payment options including; Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Apple Pay.

StampOwl then receives the Postcard and prints it out. Delivery takes on average (3-4) days throughout Europe. Since StampOwl prints and posts the Postcard in the geographical vicinity of the postcard’s desired destination, StampOwl can guarantee a fast and safe delivery.

StampOwl also provides businesses with a unique marketing opportunity. Businesses now have the possibility to utilise a customer’s network of close friends and family to advertise their business directly by means of recommendations. When a customer is in the geographical location of one of StampOwl’s B2B clients, they receive a push notification inviting them to send a free Postcard which contains an advertising banner, designed by the business. This allows businesses to utilise a unique marketing channel. When one of their customers sends a Postcard containing their marketing banner, they automatically become ambassadors of the brand, in turn recommending the business to the recipient of the Postcard. This unique solution can help a business expand its customer base and directly increase sales.

StampOwl is available to downloads now from the App Store and Google Play Store. We would like to invite you to send a Postcard half price. Just enter the coupon code EIA at the order summary page! For more visit www.stampowl.com.

 

Article by James Gale
EIA 2016 alumni
The CEO of StampOwl