STARTUP STAGE: Youtip provides digital tipping for hotels, tour operators and more

Youtip

Founded in September, Youtip creates digital solutions for cashless tipping. Users scan QR codes or tap links in email or text messages to access the payment system.

Youtip recently integrated with Volara so tips can be initiated with a voice command. The company says it will announce integrations with property management systems, texting systems and branded apps in the near future.

What is your 30-second pitch to investors?

Youtip developed a digital solution for the evolving cashless tipping economy. The company was founded in 2020 to serve as an enterprise system for digital gratuity. With the global pandemic increasing demand for contact-free business interactions, Youtip provides a cashless, contactless and “app-less” digital tipping service with full reporting for all business types.

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Youtip is a B2B2C software service provider. We sell our system to businesses that employ workers who rely on tips for income. We transfer money held by tipping customers to the bank accounts of these businesses and into their payroll systems using QR codes; text/email links; smartphone cameras; digital wallets; and credit cards.

Give us your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the company.

• Strengths: Deep industry knowledge and robust networks in both hospitality and fintech; solid UI and back-end technology design - we are "faster than cash"; modeled for quick, inexpensive deployment and flexibility; very low overhead.
• Weaknesses: We are navigating uncharted waters with no direct examples to follow; reliance on third-party payment systems that are not designed to easily accommodate our model. 
• Opportunities: Five million hotel rooms in the United States, 20 million worldwide with millions of tipped housekeepers; 60,000 hotels in the U.S., 500,000 worldwide with millions of tipped bellmen and valet parking attendants; 3,000 valet parking and shuttle service companies in the U.S., so millions of daily tip opportunities; 20,000 tour operation companies in the U.S. with millions of daily tip opportunities; 1.5 million non-profit organizations in the U.S. with millions of annual donation opportunities.
• Threats: Like most startups, we fear one of the fintech giants with unlimited resources stepping into a phone booth for a fight with us.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

• The emotional pain of the traveler who is unable to tip due to not having cash, or the correct denomination of cash.
• Missed income opportunities for the service worker
• Anxiety related to contact-related health risks
• The fog of tip-related accounting accuracy
• Conflict between workers regarding tip attribution and delivery

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

• Waiving subscription costs for all of 2021
• Leveraging relationships with partners who already have existing customers, for example, we have an integration with Volara, a company that facilitates voice tech interaction in hotel rooms. We plan to roll out several similar integrations in the coming weeks and months, with property management systems, texting systems and branded apps.
• Targeting brands, management companies and ownership groups for enterprise-wide deployments

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

We conducted hundreds of interviews and concept/prototype tests with travelers, hotel operators, tour operators, parking management company managers and industry experts. We included tippers, employers and tipped employees in the exploration, testing and interviewing process to validate our hypothesis.

How and when will you make money?

For our client companies we provide a SaaS model, and we charge a small convenience fee to the tipper for each transaction.

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team?

Sarah Taveprungsenukul has been a key player in the hospitality industry tech space for the past two decades working with large enterprises and startups alike and specializing in solutions that bring operational efficiencies and engaging experiences to local hospitality and travel brands.

Nicholas Okuley is a seasoned software architect and engineer with over 15 years of experience in organizations of varying size and industry. The breadth and depth of his expertise has helped companies rapidly prototype product concepts, architect multi-service systems and write flexible APIs for both internal and external integrations. He has aided companies during hyper-growth, served as a subject matter expert to executives and produced award-winning enterprise solutions.

Doug Miles has been a product and design leader in fintech for 20 years. He has launched over a dozen new trading and banking platforms and had responsibility for more than 30 platforms over the years. His teams were regularly recognized in fintech and investing publications for innovation, including a Webby Award for Best Practices in Mobile. He is co-inventor of two design patents for UI in financial applications.

How have you addressed diversity and inclusion within your business?

Youtip approaches all hiring, networking and partnership opportunities with an eye toward building a diverse and inclusive culture.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

Adapting to 100% remote work and travel restrictions.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact - so why are you going to be one of lucky ones?

We entered this market at the confluence of observed macro trends and the discovery of a large and growing product gap, both recognized through intensive study of data and ethnography.

The macro trends are:

• A world that is going cashless
• Coronavirus disease-driven understanding and utilization of QR codes
• Smartphones ship with built-in QR code-reading capabilities.

The large and growing product gap is the scarcity of cash to complete the transaction loop between tipper and service provider. Our approach is sound and scientific, any luck we may enjoy will be generated by hard work, hustle and relentless self-reflection, experimentation, testing and iteration on everything we do.

A year from now, what state do you think your startup will be in?

Youtip will be the most recognized brand in cashless tipping and “Youtip” will become a verb.

What is your end-game? (Going public, acquisition, growing and staying private, etc.)

We plan to grow and stay private until and unless circumstances compel us to change course.