Our latest startup for 10 focuses on one of the community’s newest companies. Hedira, the app that helps you take care of your plants, was founded this year. With its founding team in place, they’re looking to raise and (ahem) grow quickly.
We ran our 10 questions past Hedira co-founder and CEO Jess Samaurez.
1 – In your own words – what do you do?
Hedira is a free-to-download app that allows users to receive tailored and smart notifications to care for their indoor plants. With £829 million worth of houseplants being thrown out every year in the UK, we wanted to make a change and help people care for their plants (and remind them not to kill them!).
We help people keep their plants alive by taking into account the species of the plant along with the conditions of the room they are placing it in.
2 – What’s the most exciting thing about what you’re doing?
We work closely with independent plant shops to help us distribute the Hedira app and put it in the hands of people who need extra help with their plants!
These plant shops want to add value to their customers, but were lacking the tool to do so. That is why we are creating a plant index that plant shops can send to their customers by email. The email includes information about the plant the customer has purchased, but also a link to download the Hedira app.
3 – What are you most proud of so far?
Hedira has gone from a business plan earlier this year to being an app today! We have been going from strength to strength in under a year and we can’t see that slowing down.
4 – What have you found most difficult about being a startup?
Finding the right business partner. It was really important to have a great team when starting a business, both in terms of bringing the right skillsets to the business and also in terms of support. When Ben and I met we saw that our skillsets complemented perfectly and that we had similar ambitions and goals.
5 – What would you do differently if you started now?
No regrets here and wouldn’t change a thing! Although maybe I would try and spare my friends from my boring ramblings about the different factors of plant care…
6 – Where do you think you’ll be in 12 months?
We are currently fundraising and aiming to close our round by April 2020. Because of this, these next 12 months are going to be really exciting: We are going to be launching around the UK, growing our userbase, increasing our team size and developing our technology further.
7 – What tools/people/services/organisations from the cluster have helped you most?
So many people have been supportive! Natwest accelerator helped us when it came to making the leap to start the business and test the market, Paul from SetSquared has been a fantastic mentor and helped Ben and I meet (and eventually become co-founders).
TechSPARK has helped us when it comes to the events around Bristol, helping us connect with the relevant people. Get Set For Growth offered us free marketing and accounting support as we were gearing up for investment to make sure we were putting our best foot forward. YENA events have been great to speak to like-minded entrepreneurs… Bristol has so much to offer and we are making the most of it!
8 – What’s the best thing about the Bristol & Bath tech cluster?
I guess that follows on from my previous answer: The support. It’s always there, businesses just need to go find it or ask. I’ve found in Bristol & Bath that people genuinely want you to succeed and will help you grow. That is why we are hoping to concentrate our fundraising efforts in the South West as much as possible!
9 – Who will you be nominating for a SPARKie next year?
We have a list where we have been keeping a note of all the fantastic businesses/people who have been doing amazing things this past year. The list is getting longer so we will have to see who we will nominate nearer the time!
10 – Where can we find out more about you?
You can find out more about Hedira on our website and more about me on my Linkedin!
- You may like: Startup for 10: Forth
A Mettle business account for sole traders and limited companies with up to two owners could help you get your startup on the right track. Read more about Mettle here.
