"I was running very late to a meeting at a coffee shop, and instead of texting them 'I'm sorry I'm going to be late,' I wanted to pull out my iPhone and text them that the first cup of coffee was on me," Prezto CEO Anne Jiao said.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Anne Jiao's clever Prezto app was born in a moment of desperation. "I was running very late to a meeting at a coffee shop, and instead of texting them 'I'm sorry I'm going to be late,' I wanted to pull out my iPhone and text them that the first cup of coffee was on me," she said. "But I couldn't."
Until now.
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View full sizePrezto App's white bunny icon Her Prezto (pronounced "Presto") app, which launches on Tuesday, July 1, enables subscribers to do exactly what Jiao wished she could do that day: send a friend a cup of coffee, a dish of ice cream or a glass of wine -- via your phone.
Jiao picked the name "Prezto" because "it's almost like magic that you can teleport an ice cream cone to your friend." She picked a white rabbit as her icon for the same reason, although she also has a pet bunny.
"I feel like so many people like to give little gifts," she said. "You want to treat your friend to a cup of coffee. You want to treat them to a cupcake or an ice cream cone. On the merchants' side, they see a lot of value not only because it brings someone into their store, but because they're there to buy [or redeem] a gift."
Prezto officially kicks off at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mitchell's Homemade Ice Cream in Ohio City.
"We're excited to be part of the initial group of merchants in Cleveland to work with Anne," said Pete Mitchell of Mitchell's Homemade. He said he and his brother, Mike, liked the idea that she was a Cleveland woman trying to start a business, and that Prezto's small transactions were exactly the kinds of sales Mitchell's specializes in.
Although more than 103 local independent businesses have signed on to let customers buy and send food or drinks via Prezto, it will take a while until they're all fully available on the app's menu of choices. The initial group includes: Mitchell's Ice Cream (only the Ohio City store for now), Sweetie Fry in Cleveland Heights, Chutney Rolls in University Circle, Pour Cleveland Coffee Shop, Superior Pho Vietnamese Restaurant, and Rising Star Coffee Roasters in Ohio City.
Jiao is the founder and CEO of Prezto Inc., along with two other equity partners she said don't want to be publicly identified.
Although all of the merchants Jiao has signed up are based in Northeast Ohio, consumers could live anywhere. "Someone in California could use the app to buy their friend an ice cream cone from Mitchell's here," she said.
Jiao, a 2006 graduate of Beachwood High School and a 2010 graduate of Duke University, chose to launch the app at Mitchell's because it's a well-known brand in Greater Cleveland. "Also, they have eight locations," she said, which makes it easier for a recipient who lives on the other side of town to redeem that free ice cream cone.
The folks at Shaker Launchhouse were so impressed that they awarded her a $20,000 investment last August in return for a 6-percent stake in the company. Prezto was also recently accepted into the App Store, and is exclusively available on Apple devices -- iPhones, iPads and iPods -- although Jiao is working on a version compatible with other phones.
So how does Prezto work?
After a user downloads the free app and registers with Prezto, she can pick a recipient from among her phone contacts. (The recipient has to download the app as well to receive the gift.)
She then chooses a small, medium or large gift from among the available icons on the screen: a cupcake, a slice of pizza, a doughnut, etc., and presses "Send."
Prezto tacks on a 50-cent per transaction delivery fee, and the total is charged to the credit card associated with the phone.
The recipient is immediately notified that he has a gift from the sender for a free cupcake or equivalently-priced purchase at the specified merchant, via a QR code redeemable for that amount of money ($3, $6, or $12).
If he happens to be sitting in that shop, he can redeem it immediately at the register by showing the merchant his one-time only QR code. Or he can save it for another day, because the code doesn't expire. There are no coupons to print out, and no gift cards to remember to carry around.
Like a gift card, the merchant gets the money when the code is redeemed, not when it is purchased.
"It's possible we might want to expand into, say, pedicures or manicures," Jiao said. "But right now we're definitely focusing on the food market."
Sally Schriner, former president of American Greetings' AG Interactive, met Jiao through JumpStart Inc. and agreed to serve as her startup advisor because she had never launched a business or created an app before. She raves about Jiao's passion and enthusiasm, is impressed by how many local merchants she has already recruited, and has high hopes for Prezto's potential as a business.
Regardless of whether Prezto catches on commercially, Jiao confesses that she developed it for selfish reasons. "I really started the company for my own needs," she said. "I just really wanted other people not to be mad at me when I'm late."
What local businesses in Cleveland do you hope are linked to this app? Tell us in the comments.