Entrepreneurship & Strange Apps

| November 2, 2011 | By

Alright everyone - I saw this story earlier today and I literally fell off of my chair. Seriously. I share this story with you because a small group of entrepreneurs from Brooklyn got frustrated with not being able to find a clean bathroom in the big city. So what did they do? They decided to invent an app that connects two groups of people together - those with clean bathrooms and those who need one ASAP.

How it Works

The premise of the app is simple. If you are in desperate need of a bathroom, all you need to do is pull out your smart phone, login to Cloo (Community Loo) and look for people in the area willing to let you use their home toilet. If you find one, you click an icon and it sends the bathroom owner a push notification. If accepted, you can run to his or her house and use the potty. Then, all you do is pay for your indulgence by bumping your phones which transfers a small payment from your account to theirs. Now you can get on with your day knowing that you didn't have to use the Grimy bathroom in the local McDonalds and all is well...or is it?

 

When Will CLOO be Available You Ask?

CLOO is not available yet. As of current announcements, CLOO is set to launch next spring. There is not a lot of discussion on the boards right now about an exact date and the website is pretty vague at the moment.

If you don't believe me, check out this promo video:

CLOO' from Hillary Young on Vimeo.

 

Is This Going to Be a Successful Venture?

Please chime in and let me hear your thoughts on this one. Simply leave a comment in the blog post below. Do you think CLOO will be successful? Here are the arguments for and against it in my opinion:

Arguments for CLOO

  1. There isn't an app like it, so it is first to market from what I can tell.
  2. The idea is unique enough to create natural buzz. I'm not the only one blogging about it. Check out Springwise and Lifehacker.
  3. So far, the branding has been done fairly well.
Arguments against CLOO
  1. It's gross. I'm not sure people are going to want to use a stranger's bathroom. I would have reservations.
  2. Their website at CLOO-App.com is lacking information.
  3. If it does work, I would argue that the adoption curve on this one will be steep. I doubt there are going to be masses of people ready to sign up this spring.

So what do you think? Leave a comment and state your argument.