How these founders used crowdsourcing to create their street food app

Samoza is a bootstrapped company that runs on small angel donations, reports Tech in Asia

Creative minds know that inspiration can strike at any time, especially when one isn’t prepared. Rohit Gehe found his idea about seven months ago when he got hungry running errands for his dad. His choice kebab shop wasn’t open, and as he wandered the streets on his pilgrimage for food, he had a revelation while watching a street vendor make parathas outside of his chosen chai shop.

“I was like: How do we find these guys? There’s no possible way online to find these guys. There’re blogs and stuff, but what about real time information?” he remembers. “There’s nothing available, basically.”

Armed with his new idea, he called his friend Armaan Kapoor in his excitement. This was the beginning of their partnership and the birth Samoza.

“It’s not only about the consumer. It’s also about the vendor,” Kapoor explains. “These vendors are [often] illiterate – they don’t have any formal education, but technology can empower them as well.”

The result, Samoza, is what Armaan describes as a “Zomato for street food.” Launched on January 1 on the Google Play Store, the app maps and allows for reviews of street vendors. It targets students, particularly those around university age who frequent street vendor stalls.

Samoza is a bootstrapped company that runs on small angel donations and money from family and friends’ money. The founders have crowdsourced a lot of the work on the app and have a monetization strategy in place. They plan on looking for funding soon.

Samoza’s services are concentrated in Bangalore for the moment, which is also where both founders are located.

This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here.