It’s no secret that the booming new media and tech industry isn’t exactly booming with Latino entrepreneurs, programmers or start-ups. From the valley to the alley the Latino footprint is small. But a few good men are looking to change that. Enter the men behind Cardboard App — a virtual business card creation application. It’s no easy feat without having a huge investor backing, but the Puerto Rico natives not only built the app, but also launched it within a year. On the heels of its recent launch, ‘LLERO caught up with one of its co-founders Enrique Völckers Nin to get the inside scoop on what Cardboard App does and how the team was able to launch the app in record time.
‘LL: What exactly is Cardboard App?
EVN: Cardboard is a business card creation application. Through your mobile phone you can create your own business card. So instead of having to contract someone to design a logo and then go and pay to print them you can create your business card with your phone, with the touch of your finger moving things around and then sharing it with the contacts that you have. So what we’ve done basically is take advantage of the touch technology of the iPhone and integrated that so that you could do design your own business cards.
‘LL: How does designing the card work within Cardboard App?
EVN: There are about 1000 pre-designed templates available for the background for your business card depending on your industry. So you can pick one and then enter all your information: name, title, company, email and Twitter handle etc. and all the information appears on your business card. Then you drag the information around with your finger and change fonts, change colors, change text size; you have complete control on the design and positioning of the information of your business card. Then you can take that business card and share it on email, via text and even on Facebook and Twitter.
‘LL: What is the difference between say sharing a digital signature and using Cardboard App?
EVN: The difference is you have your own business card and people can then in turn share their card with you. Then you will have a digital Rolodex stored in the app where you can see all the cards of your contacts. Also, the cards are interactive so if you tap on the phone number of the card it will call it right from there. If I press on the email, it’s going to pop a window to write an email, if I press on the Facebook link it will take me to the profile of the person. So it’s an interactive business card.
‘LL: Where and when is this app available?
EVN: It is available on iPhone and Android as of November 18, 2013. Information created on an iPhone can be viewed on an Android, so even if you have two phones one of each the information is accessible on both platforms.
‘LL: What was the inspiration behind creating the app?
EVN: The inspiration hit [fellow co-founder] Luis González when he was in a business meeting, he had a big presentation and when it was over he realized he forgot his business cards. He thought, if only I had the card digitally I could pass it around on my phone.
‘LL: How was the app created?
EVN: It was actually a collaboration between four people: Luis González, myself, Roberto Soto and Christian González, we are four co-creators of the application. We each have different roles and responsibilities within the creation of the application. Luis is in the insurance industry, so he came up with the idea when he would go to meetings and forget his business cards over and over. He thought it would be so much easier if he had his business card in a digital format to access and share. So, he came to us with this idea. Christian González is the programmer; he is basically the brain behind everything in the application. Roberto is the lawyer so he makes sure everything is done correctly so we can set up our corporation for Cardboard.
‘LL: How long did it take to develop the app?
EVN: We started thinking about it in December of 2012 and then started hardcore developing it in February of this year. We did a soft launch in June just to test it out and get feedback from people. Then in November we did the big grand launch of the complete application incorporating all the feedback.
‘LL: What are some things you changed from the feedback received?
EVN: We changed some aspects of the design; we adapted a design for the new IOS7. We made more readable fonts, increased the font size. Also, we simplified the design so it moved faster for the user. Also we changed the navigation a little. Also, added the option to upload your own design as a background to use instead of one of the templates included.
‘LL: Is the app is free?
EVN: The app is completely free and will stay free. Once you download it you will receive one free credit, which can be used to create your business card. But if you want to create a second card, maybe you have two different businesses or work for different people, and then that second business card will cost you in credits. So you can by one credit for $.99 and five credits for $4.99 or 10 credits for $6.99. So if you compare it to what you would be spending to print like 100 business cards you are saving lots of money.
‘LL: What do you feel is the biggest accomplishment in creating and launching the app so far?
EVN: The biggest accomplishment has been this launch we did this year; it has been something we did from the heart. We don’t have investors; we just made it on our own time in the free time after our daily jobs. So, just getting it done is huge and we launched it within a year from when we thought of it. For us that is a big accomplishment.
For more information on the application visit www.cardboardapp.com.
Images courtesy of Majestic Relations