Startup profile: Lowdown
Lowdown is a British startup which has developed an app for meeting management
Lowdownapp is a British startup which has developed a mobile app for planning meetings.
What are the benefits for IT buyers?
The app helps users to discover more about the person they are next meeting with, as well as giving them information on the company, directions on how to get to a meeting from the user’s current or preferred location, and the capability to call, email, text or tweet without having to exit the application.
David Senior, co-founder of Lowdown, said a typical professional will spend an hour, on average, preparing for a business meeting.
Senior’s colleague and co-founder, Michael Worley, pointed out that this is due to the data collection process being difficult and lengthy, not because they want to spend hours pulling together data about their next appointment.
“The benefit for businesses is it could save an hour per person, per meeting," added Senior. "Extrapolate that across the workforce for people who have external meetings and the saving in time and efficiency is exponential.”
Lowdown hopes the app will save employees time by helping them work more efficiently and productively, which can be a great advantage for any enterprise.
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How does the technology work?
The application works by extracting information from the user's existing calendar appointments.
“Most business professionals tend to be quite tidy and neat with their calendar,” said Worley.
The information is then used to scour the internet for data such as location, company information, and Twitter and LinkedIn profiles. It is delivered back to the user in app format, without storing any data it doesn’t need. The app’s back end uses logic processing to select and display the data in context so the user can understand and use it.
By using the user's current location, it tells them how far away they are from their next meeting and when they should leave to ensure they arrive on time.
How will the technology work in a typical corporate environment?
Lowdown, available through the Apple App Store, is focused on individual downloads which the company hopes will lead to word-of-mouth mass enterprise roll-out.
Company-wide roll-outs can be negotiated through the Apple App Store or through an agreement with Lowdown directly.
Individuals wishing to adopt the app in a bring your own device (BYOD) setting can start with a 30-day free trial, after which the app requires a monthly subscription for full functionality, or will continue to offer limited functionality for free.
Who is the target market?
Lowdown hopes to appeal to a number of individuals across enterprises, from sales representatives who are often out of the office meeting people to the CIO with back-to-back meetings.
The app launched for iOS at the beginning of March 2014. There are also plans for an Android version and a desktop accessible interface.
Background of a startup
Lowdownapp co-founders David Senior and Michael Worley have been in the IT industry for 20 years.
Their personal experience of the time spent planning for meetings led them to the creation of Lowdown to help automate some of the processes professionals go through to organise their time.
The team now consists of five people.
