Kyle
One of the things I always bring up here at nibletz.com is the fact that sometimes the most useful startups aren’t the sexiest startups. Such is the case with DateCheckPro. DateCheckPro is a startup based in Whitewater Wisconsin and their main objective is to help keep store inventory fresh.
Date Check Pro is a cloud based solution for grocer’s to keep up with the ever important expiration dates. Andrew Hoeft the founder of Date Check Pro has done a great job of creating an easy to navigate cloud based platform and native apps for both iPhone and iPad.
Grocer’s can keep up with their expiration dates now. Date Check Pro reminds the grocer when products are coming up to their expiration dates which enables them to rotate stock or possibly put products on sale to get them out of the store before they expire and their money is wasted.
Hoeft is a student at UW-Whitewater, in between that and starting Date Check Pro we got a chance to interview him. Check out the interview below:
What is Date Check Pro?
Date Check Pro is expiration date management software that allows for proactive management of inventory expiration dates. Date Check Pro allows grocers to track expiration dates on a per product basis. By tracking these expiration dates, we can provide notifications to check items that have an expiration date coming up so that items are checked only when absolutely necessary. This saves labor hours, reduces shrink, and as you can imagine, customer satisfaction since you will no longer be buying expired food. The software is customizable to fit an organizations goals as well as includes reporting analytics. Date Check Pro is a cloud based software that is offered as a web-based application as well as in a native app for the iPad and iPhone.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
I am the sole founder of the company, but have a very talented team around me including our CTO, Andrew Shell. My background is actually in grocery. The idea for Date Check Pro came from when I was working in a grocery store to save up for college and got assigned the job of checking expiration dates on items in the grocery department. The first week of the job I literally pulled every cereal box off the shelf and checked every one of their expiration dates. It definitely didn’t take long to think, there has to be a better way! So I actually created a prototype of the product and eventually got the idea accepted into the 94 Labs incubator program which gave me the resources I need to bring Andrew Shell on board and really kickstart the idea into an actual product.
Where are you based?
We are based out of Whitewater, WI. I am currently a student at UW-Whitewater and am lucky enough to be attending a school that cares a lot about their student entrepreneurs. By being at Whitewater, we get access to resources such as office space, mentorship hours, and more. Besides the resources, it is an absolutely amazing experience working out of the Innovation Center here in Whitewater where the other student entrepreneurs also set up shot as well as a few other companies. This creates a great collaborative environment for bouncing ideas off one another. I definitely see the company staying here for a while.
What problem does Date Check Pro solve?
The dollar is king in business and every business wants more of them. Expired products create a problem wether you throw them out or sell them as you either lose money, or risk making a customer upset. The current solutions to managing expiration dates are basically all by hand. My job of going through the store checking items is just one example, but the bottom line is any method being used is either a trade off between efficiency and accuracy. By using Date Check Pro, grocers can lower the number of labor hours they use to check for expired items, reduce the number of expired products thrown away, and ensure that customer remain satisfied with the quality of their products.
Who is your target user?
Currently we are focused on the grocery industry. This is where the idea came from and the industry in which we have the most knowledge. However, expiration dates are all around us. They are on far more products than food products. The software could be applied to pharmaceuticals, manufacturing epoxies (glue), licenses, and more.
What is your secret sauce?
Our secret sauce, quite similar to many other startups, is passion! While truly lived the problem, the rest of the team has at least bought a few expired items at some point in their life and we want to provide our solution to others. Outside of the passion, the next biggest secret is lean startup. Given todays rapidly changing world and technology, you need to grow your company on the principles of adopting to change. Lean startup encourages companies to form hypotheses rather than a business plan that you continually test with customer and make changes to your business model accordingly. I could write forever about lean startup so I will simply recommend two great books. Lean Startup by Eric Ries coins the term lean startup and does a great job explaining the concept. For startups that want to be a lean startup, The Startup Owner’s Manual by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf offers a roadmap to building a company that lives and breaths lean.
What’s next for Date Check Pro?
Our software is great for tracking expiration dates and allowing grocers to pull items from the shelf before they expire. What we want to do next is provide the grocer’s with the means to discount those items before they expire so customers feel like they got a deal and the grocers can save even more money. We should be rolling out something big soon, but for now we will keep that to ourselves.
Linkage:
Check out Date Check Pro for yourself at their website here
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