Soo Ling Lim

The marketplace for unique quirky activities

“I am wary of smaller businesses’ own websites. The payment system

looks dodgy or insecure.”

Target guests

• Live/work in London

• Age: 25-35

• Income: >£50,000

• Bored of generic activities like going to Fitness First for yoga, eating at a restaurant

• Want something different

Soo Ling Lim

89% want to join activities that are non-mainstream/ unique/ quirky/ cool but can’t find them

85% happy to book and pay online

Guest Interview

Soo Ling Lim

“I’m happy to pay more for something quirky,

trendy or cool”

“I mostly go by word of mouth but I also search online, I like to find more independent studios”

“I need a website that puts everything, especially less well known activities,

in one place!”

“I want to find out about

smaller, more trendy things in London.”

“I mostly find out activities via word of mouth because this is the only way to find

more unique things”

“I would like a website with a reliable and trustworthy

booking and payment system that advertised more up and

coming/independent activities.”

“It is very difficult to find more independent things to do/visit

amongst all of the chain, mainstream things. I just walk around in hope of stumbling across things, or I just get

recommendations from friends.”“There are so many websites advertising

individual activities....a website that puts them in one place would be very

useful...the website should advertise more

independent businesses.”

Host Interview

• Interviewed 50 hosts: bookings, guest interaction, payment, cancellation, online presence, current tools, needs, wants, problems.

• Developed online marketplace

Soo Ling Lim

30% response rate

10% yes, will list activity on Kazoova

Host Trial 1 (5 days)

listed activity on Kazoova

Results: 2 listingsSoo Ling Lim

2%

Soo Ling Lim

Host Trial 2 (5 days)

30% response rate

20% looks great, can I have the login to add more details

10% I want to do it myself, I have better pictures

Results: 80 listings

• 8 million people in London

• 25% 25-35 (2 million)

• 10% of those are affluent (200,000)

• Average spending on recreation and culture (£3000pp/yr)

• Year 1:

• Target 1% of affluent (2000)

• 5% of activities booked from Kazoova (£150pp/yr)

• I.e., 2000 users £150pp/yr (turnover £300,000)

Sizeable Opportunity

Soo Ling Lim

• Why now?

• More self-employed providers of activities, more people looking for good value and unique activities

• London is multi-cultural, full of interesting people offering quirky activities

• Why hasn’t anyone done it yet?

• People are trying or have tried but failed. Problem with execution (e.g., Edible Experiences, Social Republic), poor quality listings + high burn rate (e.g., Gidsy)

Soo Ling Lim

• Kazoova:

• Low burn rate (build everything ourselves, creative marketing), very easy to list (3 minutes), competitive price (free for hosts), high cost for switching once hosts are with us (reviews, customer base)

• The goal is to become the largest activity marketplace

• Business model:

• Initially: Commission per transaction

• Future: Subscription for hosts who want advanced features (e.g., analytics); portal for related services (e.g., insurance)

Soo Ling Lim

Soo Ling Lim

TeamSoo Ling Lim

• PhD in Software Engineering

• Researcher at UCL Interaction Centre (social networks, HCI)

• Software engineer at software security start-up in Australia

• Consultant at CSC Australia

• Do things very fast (2 years PhD, 5 months Kazoova)

• UCL PoC

Peter J Bentley

• PhD in Computer Science

• Researcher at UCL Department of Computer Science

• Popular Science author (books translated into > 10 languages)

• iOS app entrepreneur

• Public engagement entrepreneur

• Contributing editor for WIRED

• UCL PoC, CS PoC

4 years working together (e.g., AppEco in New Scientist)

• Can we develop a state-of-the-art online marketplace? Yes

• Can we get enough good quality listings? Yes

• Next step: Will enough guests book activities using Kazoova?

Soo Ling Lim

Join a quirky activity today atwww.kazoova.com