Sue Barile spent two years as well as racked up nearly 20 dollars, 000 in credit card debt to develop his first startup, Backflip , to life.
The former management consultant had spent years toiling in the startup grind, first at Uber, then, after taking a coding academy bootcamp through < a href="https://www.appacademy.io/"> AppAcademy (where Barile met his co-founder, Husfader Foosaner), at Google at a failed cryptocurrency startup.
Burned by the crypto experience, Barile was bad girls club audition about for his the next thing, and trying to find a way to scratch up some rent financial, when he hit on the perception for Backflip. The experience of sale electronics online was still poorly lit and Barile and Foosaner thought there had to be an easier way00.
That way became Backflip. It offers customers cash on exertion for their used electronics — anything from Androids to Xboxes and Apple devices to Gameboys.
“ When I first started working on backflip back in March 2019, I met this kid named Chris and he wished to buy some of my old iPhones. He had been students at USF and as a side hustle he started buying used devices and would refurbish them and either sell them himself or sell them to an official reseller, ” said Barile. “Chris started making so much money that he dropped out of school. That was a holy shit moment. He can make a bundle doing this and he’s performing a really good thing. ”
The situation, said Barile, was safety. “He’s got all these devices he’s acquiring paying cash for and he’s driving all around town… Everyone who works in the [refurbish and resell] industry has at least one story about getting robbed at gunpoint. ”
Backflip solved that problem by being the intermediary between buyers and sellers and taking a small commission for managing the transaction.
The company raised its first money at the conclusion of 2019, but before that, Foosaner and Barile lived off of credit and used electronics.
So far, Backflip has facilitated the exchange of roughly 3, 000 devices. The company handles everything from wiping a device and ensuring its quality to finding a buyer for the electronics. The company pays out roughly $150 per device and has deposited only a little over $500, 000 with users of the service, according to data provided by the company.
“We did all sorts of stuff to get our first few users, ” said Barile. We posted ads on Facebook Marketplace and Craiglist. We started experimenting at the end of the summer with the most bare bones mobile app kind of thing. At that time it was just Adam and I, ” Barile said.
Starting now, Backflip is working with UPS stores to provide in-person drop-off and packaging centers for the used electronics. With time, Barile sees those services expanding to offer cash on delivery. “The experience will be similar to an Amazon get back, ” he said. “Except we’ll be paying you. ”
Currently about half of the company’s inventory is used handsets and mobile devices, but Barile explained that could drop to a third of inventory as words that are spreads about the hundred-odd regarding electronics that Backflip will be willing to
“Unlike other resale varieties, Backflip prioritizes the user’s time and convenience, ” wanted to say Foosaner in a statement . “Forget the back-and-forth of negotiating over value tag and scheduling a meetup. We’re here to do all of the checking for the seller and make sure in which get paid fairly and instantly. Backflip users can realize that they’re getting the most for your devices without having to do anything pimple control bring them to The UPS Mall or box them enhance at home. ”
The connection to the repairing community started early over Barile, whose mother any side business called “Stone Cottage Workshop” where lady was flipping refurbished fixtures on eBay and at rest room thrift stores near Barile’s bucolic New Jersey hometown.
“We have to have build the Amazon of constructing things disappear from your residential home, ” Barile said.
