Martha Cantwell and Emily Pyke are the brains behind the new app Crowded Events, targeting Sydney and Melbourne’s hottest happenings.
Events can be categorised and suggested based on user preference, ensuring organisers and punters can connect faster than ever before.
You just add your event – public or private – to Crowded Events, and other app users can discover the hottest ticket in town in seconds.
“We believe any event can be a successful event and, with the right platform, anyone can draw a crowd. It’s free for organisers to promote their events,” says Martha.
We caught up with Martha and Emily to find out more about how it all works.
How did you come up with the idea for your app?
Our initial drive behind developing Crowded Events was from the frustration of consistently missing out on small, quirky pop-up events, simply because we didn’t know they were on. We knew there were a million blogs, newsletters, websites and social media pages that generally focus on one area or category of events and a lot of them also flooded with other irrelevant content.
What was the next step in the ideas stage?
We contacted a few locals who ran occasional small community events and fundraisers and they expressed the difficulty in finding a platform that didn’t limit people’s ability to find them. This is when we decided to create Crowded Events to make it easier for people to share and promote their events for free.
Martha Cantwell and Emily Pyke are the brains behind the new app Crowded Events
What were some of the challenges in getting the app created?
One challenge was knowing where to start and how to put our idea into an in-depth business scope, then into visual templates. Trying to imagine your product and its functions without having it there physically in front of you. Also, finding the right people for guidance and direction and knowing who to ask for advice. We found a lot of people are willing to help and offer advice, however only some of it could be applied or was relevant to our project.
Was it difficult coming up with finance?
Money was one of the biggest challenges in getting started. Between the two of us we made sacrifices and found a way to make it happen. Not many people have savings sitting in their banks ready for when that idea pops into your head. It was also challenging finding the time to get everything done. We both work demanding full-time jobs that require a lot of after hours work too. It was important for us to make time commitments for app work and staying disciplined. We also had to gain an understanding with our developers, as there was some language barriers and misunderstandings, we used a Sydney-based company who outsourced to developers in India.
Crowded allows users to discover any events and to connect with other users to find their events
What advice can you give to other people wishing to create an app?
Do your research before you choose a developer and find other people who have developed an app and ask lots of questions. When you don’t understand something that the developers are doing with your product, don’t let their confidence and tech talk hold you back from asking why. Know your idea and exactly what you want. You should be able to describe your product in 1-2 sentences with confidence. Also know you’ll make mistakes and things won’t go to plan. Recognise your market and biggest competitors. Make sure you read your contracts inside out and ensure your business scope is done in extreme detail not missing any functions or flows. Join community groups and build relationships with like-minded people. Believe in yourself and your idea and continue to maintain a constant positive attitude, as it can sometimes be really overwhelming and difficult.
How is technology helping you launch your app?
We’ve used Instagram and Facebook to share and promote our App; they have business pages where you can learn about your current audience and further target our market audience. We highly recommend using analytics to track the app’s progression and how the app is getting used. We are so blessed with how accessible people are today on social media, this has allowed us to reach out to individuals and businesses really easy. Email marketing and direct messaging has enabled us to build awareness and educate potential and current users. Throughout the process of development, we’ve learnt so much and have enjoyed being a part of the tech community. We see so much opportunity in the industry and look forward to future works with Crowded Events.
