What if there was an application and website that allowed users to easily find immediate deals and specials in their community? With Dailynibbler, that is now possible.
John Ma, the founder and owner, grew up in a small town in Idaho slightly outside of Boise. He attended the University of Idaho for his undergraduate degree and then came to the University of Wisconsin for graduate school.
During his time at the University of Idaho, Ma was captain of the Idaho Formula SAE team, an engineering design competition in which teams execute an entire design process. He enjoyed the competition and the preparation for it, but Ma discovered that he didn’t wanted to be just a team member in his future career–he wanted to be a leader.
Ma and his friends would often go out for a bite to eat; however, they always had to either make the drive, or call the restaurant to discover if there was a special.
Ma said, “Every time we went, I would think: I wish there was a way to know what the special was without having to go there …(or) feeling as if we were burdening the restaurant by calling.”
With this in mind, Ma believed that he could create something that would allow consumers a way to discover if and when businesses were having specials or deals, without the hassle of time and travel. He realized that many businesses and restaurants generally had specials throughout the day, but that they often did not get featured anywhere.
“Consumers can go directly to business webpages and/or social media pages, but Dailynibbler allows for a consolidated place for consumers to find this info, and for businesses to advertise to new customers, not just existing fans or followers,” Ma said.
Unlike other applications, such as Hooked, Dailynibbler is meant to be easy to use, according to Ma. For example, no sign-in is required, and any user can post specials. Also, there is no exclusivity with the Dailynibbler; because users generate and engage with the content, any business with an existing deal is able to appear.
Ma recently presented his platform at the weekly 1 Million Cups event in Madison. A challenge that Ma was facing was how to advertise his service. With the help of 1 Million Cups, he hopes to gain awareness and even build new relationships in the community.
He also discovered the importance of users and businesses understanding what crowd-sourced data is and how it works. According to Ma, he is in the stages of “waiting and seeing” how to best mitigate false and inappropriate content. Currently, Dailynibbler’s review system allows users to report unwanted or inaccurate items. After a certain amount of users report a post, the image is disabled, but the post remains active in the case of false reporting. However, impermissible images are diminished for viewing.
For Ma, revenue comes from $30/month pro-membership, which allow for more active listings, scheduled listings, viewing listing history, reuse of previous listings and sponsor listings.
“I am considering other revenue streams for the future,” Ma said, “but at this point, it is only the subscription model.”
Ma thinks his platform is unique and has potential to advance not only in the Madison community but also beyond.
“In five years, I would like for Dailynibbler to be the go-to app for people looking for great deals or specials anywhere they go around the country and maybe the world,” Ma said. “Businesses are able to post their daily deals/specials, and consumers have a one-stop location to find them.”
