Brüha: Easily discover and create events
Brüha is a local Canadian tech-startup developing an entertainment discovery and ticketing platform to help users find something to do in their city and purchase tickets. They are based out of Hamilton, ON but one of their co-founders, Ryan O’Neil, is from Sudbury! We spoke with Ryan to find out more about Brüha, what’s it’s like to develop an app and his thoughts on the Sudbury tech scene.
Tell us a bit about Bruha and how you came up with the idea to start your company.
Brüha is an entertainment discovery and ticketing provider changing the way people interact with their community, discover local events and purchase tickets. Finding experiences/entertainment that you actually want to go to can be complicated with applications like Facebook, Google, Yelp or blogs. These platforms are often cluttered with content, making it difficult to find an enjoyable experience. Myself personally, moving down south was a big change. I would constantly be let down by the event page on FB stating 5,000ppl are going to the event. I’d end up going and there would be a creepy dude standing in the back corner in a fedora…while me and my girlfriend at the time were enjoying an overly priced cocktail.
I’d always find myself asking why is there never anything to do and what events are actually having people attending because Jack and I will never be friends (dude with the Fedora…. I named him Jack). A few years later I joined Brüha and that’s the exact problem we are trying to solve, finding events that are relevant to your interests… and actually having fun with more than just the one fedora wearing dude in the corner. We also noticed that event organizers and venue owners have a lot of difficulties in assuring stable attendance numbers to their events and establishments. In Hamilton one of our biggest complaints from venue owners is the student population rarely comes to the downtown establishments.
What has your experience developing an app been like? Is this your first start up?
This is my first time being part of a start up environment. It has been quite the roller coaster ride, honestly every day is different and exciting. It does have its hardships as well, but we have an amazing team that helps each other through the rocky patches and we all try and keep a optimistic outlook.
I’m the Art Director with Brüha so I get to have all the fun creating our products and working on some very cool creative material with community partners. I’ve also been responsible for a lot of the UX & UI of the site and applications. We also have two amazing developers that take my flat artwork and infuse some code to create magic on the pages.
You’re from Sudbury, how do you think Sudbury’s tech scene is changing?
I am from Sudbury, well Lively actually LDSS represent!! I am a graduate of the Cambrian design program and have worked in a few places as a designer and photographer in the city. I have been away from the great north but have always kept an ear to the ground of what is happening in the city.
I think NORCAT is on the right track with their Incubator and Start-up 101. Our company is part of an incubator ecosystem through McMaster called The Forge and it’s amazing. Having a space for entrepreneurs to hone their ideas and collaborate with like minded individuals is crucial for growing a “tech hub” and I think Sudbury is poised and ready to soon make the claim to be Tech of the North. Having more innovation centres and putting a bigger emphasis on tech will help the city defeat the brain drain they’re experiencing right now.
What changes/updates to your app can users expect to see in the coming months?
We have a ton of new things planned that will be coming very shortly, it’s really an exciting time for us! Event organizers will be able to add promo codes to their tickets, giving more flexibility and ease when setting up events. You can also expect a new UI for a better overall user experience and to optimize the customer’s buying process.
We have also been developing a new feature called Brüha Promoter which connects event organizers with community influencers. We strongly believe that having a database of community influencers who are ready to help event organizers increase exposure and ticket sales for their events is extremely valuable. If you are interested in learning more about this feature check it out at https://www.bruha.com/about/promoter.
Do you have any tips for entrepreneurs who are looking to develop their own apps?
I believe that there are 3 very simple steps to making any company/product.
Idea/plan – without a good idea and a solid plan you will just be sitting there spinning your wheels and you will not be able to execute efficiently
Brand – create a brand and I don’t just mean the visual, brand is more than just something one sees. Think of the voice, how do you want people to interact with your product. Brand is a very important one Brüha’s brand and identity went public almost entire year before the product went live, we created a following of 12K strong on social media with our brand alone.
Team – you’ll want to surround yourself with a very solid team of individuals that all have different strengths to help maximize output. A great team member is someone that you will actually want to have a beer with and hangout with after hours.
What’s next for Brüha?
What all companies want to do Pinky… TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Maybe not the world just yet but we have plans of growing across Canada, entering communities like Sudbury and becoming the official platform of choice. We’re also (pending funding) implementing a unique recommendation algorithm that is being developed in partnership with Brock University’s Mathematics department which will essentially connect our users in real-time to more relevant events and local experiences they’re interested in. Machine learning for the win!
This algorithm will play into the future of Brüha.
Emily Franceschini
Emily Franceschini is former full-timer and lover of all things purple. In a past life, Emily worked as a marketing manager and spent her free time searching for the perfect cup of coffee. Now all of her time is free time and she's spending it exploring the world.
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