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David Reunert, seated, smiles with Michael Aaron, left, Rachel Manger and Greg Salvesen inside Colupon’s office on Route 7. Mr. Reunert, who has lived in town since 1999, came up with the business model last November. He aims to raise $2 million in seeding funding. —Steve Coulter photo
It’s not as big as Priceline — at least, not yet. But Ridgefield-based Colupon could be the next big tech start-up in Fairfield County.
Colupon founder David Reunert envisions his app, which reroutes the way students access savings by connecting them to small business via a digital coupon book, will impact college campuses across the country as well as draw attention to the Northeast’s tech industry.
“Most big tech start-ups originated on the West Coast, in California, but I know Fairfield County has a lot to offer,” said Mr. Reunert, who has lived in town since 1999. “It’s an untapped Silicon Valley right here on the East Coast and we have an opportunity right now to help this area become an innovative area and tap into all its resources and potential.”
The 20-year-old entrepreneur cites Priceline, which started in Stamford and is headquarted in Norwalk, as an example of that potential.
“It’s a $12-billion company — started right here in Fairfield County,” he said. “That shows you it can happen. Connecticut is not a bad place to do business and I think it’s important the business has roots here.”
Mr. Reunert came up with the idea in November after shopping at Woodbury Commons, and put together the business model over Christmas break.
“Woodbury Commons has this tangible coupon booklet that all shoppers can have access to, but what I determined was that no student is going to use that when shopping,” he said. “It made a lot more sense to me that there should be a coupon book app because kids are always on their phones.”
The app is initially being marketed to college students, but will make its way to the high school level within the next year.
“College is getting more and more expensive, and kids usually have a stipend from their parents or some allotted amount they can spend,” he explained. “What Colupon does is it helps them take advantage of college experience by saving money, which allows them to do more.”
Mr. Reunert has raised $45,000 in private donations since January and estimates he will need to raise $2 million total to launch the app, as well as hire talented developers to “take it to the next level.”
He estimates the potential worth of the business to be anywhere from $150 million to $800 million.
“Colupon has the best features of Groupon, Yelp and Yellow Pages, all in one app instead of three,” Mr. Reunert said in a prompted business pitch. “You can find any type of deal right in your pocket.”
He said the business’s chief responsibility is to bring relevant and valuable savings to students that they would want to share with their peers.
Although his business borrows ideas from other companies, he is quick to point out the competition’s flaws.
“The biggest problem with Groupon is that it’s ineffective and not sustainable for small business and students don’t use it, so it has a limited reach,” Mr. Reunert said. “Yelp is also detrimental to small business owners because it doesn’t offer them any discourse to connect to their customers. And with Yellow Pages, students and adults alike have to go out of their way to find information and the site doesn’t give enough value for the time spent.”
The app’s prototype isn’t complete, but Mr. Reunert plans to have it ready by Sept. 23, where it will launch on five campuses in Dutchess County. He hopes to have the app on 21 college campuses by the end of the first year and 63 by the end of year two.
When it launches, Colupon will be available on iOS and Android smartphones. The prototype for Windows phones hasn’t been started yet.
Colupon intends to offer its service for people of all ages, as well as launch a study-abroad version of the app.
Mr. Reunert has reached out to both small business owners and universities in Colupon’s intended areas about partnering with Colupon and “they absolutely loved the idea.”
“Most colleges prohibit direct marketing on campus so this is going to work as a partnership, where they communicate the service to students and the app will point out where they should be going to save,” he said. “We have to see universities and business owners as partners, not customers.”
One of the example coupons he uses is an extra large pizza and a two-liter bottle of Pepsi for $4.99.
“Pretty good deal, right?” he rhetorically posits.
Colupon will partner with the small business owners to get a discount on the app and the owner can change the deal day to day, week to week or month to month.
“Colupon gives the business owners incredible flexibility of how, when, where and what to offer — that’s one of the most exciting aspects of the app,” Mr. Reunert said.
He add that another key factors separating Colupon from Groupon is the retention of customers.
“Groupon offers 50 to 60% off standard prices, which leaves a lot of money to be generated elsewhere from other business means and that’s impractical when looking at it from a small business owner’s perspective because they operate on a tight, month-to-month budget,” he explained. Groupon “gives hard-core couponers an opportunity to shop at places they would never be able to shop at otherwise and who are never going to go back to shop there without the discount.
“We want our customers to use the coupons on Colupon and keep going back to those small business — building a loyal customer base.”
Mr. Reunert graduated from the Salisbury School in 2012 and spent this past year at Marist before leaving to work full time on Colupon.
He has always had a penchant for small business, listening to his parents’ friends discuss marketing, branding and fund raising at a young age.
“It’s always been a conversation I look to jump into,” he said.
When he was 16, Mr. Reunert began washing cars and launched that into a marketing internship with Ed McGill of BMW of Ridgefield, who is on Colupon’s board of advisers along with other local businessmen including Dave Huet, Nicolas Reisini, Dan Connolly and James Salvesen.
The Colupon office, which opened in June, shares building space with All for Kids on Route 7 and houses six employees, including Ridgefielders Greg Salvesen, vice president of development; Adam Huet, vice president of operations; and Jim Kreps, financial director.
Mr. Reunert hopes to hire six more by year’s end.
In addition to hiring local talent, he has offered three internships this summer to local students with in interest in business and mobile development.
He realizes it will take a leap of faith from investors to get the funding the business needs to launch properly. However, he sees endless opportunity in not only his idea, but this area.
“We’re looking for people who have faith that we have the creative knowledge to turn their dollars into something really incredible,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is change the world college students live in and this is the beginning of that process.”
Mr. Reunert thought of taking the business in the route of venture capital fund raising, but decided he wanted to keep the brand local.
“I would much rather have hard-working talent from this area who see our vision and are ready to take the jump with us to the next level of innovation.”