Abdoulaye Djire With FIND

Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Atlanta Business Radio, brought to you by on pay. Built in Atlanta, on pay is the top rated payroll and HR software anywhere. Get one month free at on pay. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:31] Lee Kantor are here. A very special episode of GSU ENI radio. Today on the show we have Abdoulaye Djire with FIND. Welcome.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:00:44] Hey, thank you for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] Well, I’m so excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about find how you serving folks.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:00:51] Yeah. So for the people who don’t already know what find is, it is a B2B social networking platform where through the use of pictures, videos, comments and ratings, we can all share our best one of a kind locations, what we like to call hidden gems.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:07] So what’s the had you had this idea come about? What was the genesis of the idea?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:01:12] Yeah. So there is there’s a couple of different stories that kind of weave together to make this story come alive. The most prominent one would be I have some relatives in Paris and I went to go see them one summer. And for me I was able to explore the city and stuff because I was there for a month while they’re at work and everything and I got to discover all these just very unique experiences and very hole in the wall of places. But the issue was when I wanted to show them my experience and have them go there too, there was no platform that had a solution like that, right? And when I came back home, there was I noticed so many people around me were living in Atlanta for years, but there are still struggling to figure out where to go and what to do to enjoy themselves. So once I saw these kind of two things happen, I was like, okay, well, I might be the one that needs to make something or do something about this. So yeah, that was kind of the start of fine.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:11] So when you’re kind of creating these kind of experiences for folks, how do you kind of vet them to make sure that just because you like them, other people will like them as well?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:02:23] Yeah. Great question. So best way I can answer that. It’s kind of like what you see on your Facebook or Instagram feed, right? So that content, Facebook is not creating themselves to give to you, right? Those are your friends on the platform making it what it is. So essentially here it’s the same exact concept. The places that you’re viewing are from the people who you’re friends with on the platform. So it’s to everybody is a value added that everybody posts great locations and great experiences.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:58] And the more that people do that, then kind of the app gets smarter and then you’re going to be able to find those hole in the wall gems.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:03:06] Exactly. You got it? Yeah. It’ll get eventually. We’ll have some kind of algorithm that will even show you places that you didn’t even know you would love. And you end up loving those places just as the same as the ones you thought you would. So that’s what we’re gearing towards.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:21] Now, is this your first tech startup?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:03:24] Yes, it is. First, this is a quote unquote. Yeah, that’s the best way to put it. The first. Yep.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:31] Now, since you’ve never been a founder before, was this a kind of difficult is this how you saw kind of your career evolving or did you think, oh, I’m going to go to school and I’ll get a job? And that’ll be that and this I don’t know if this is I would assume in a positive way has at least derailed that a little bit.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:03:52] Oh, absolutely. Completely derailed it completely. So for me, I got my exercise science degree and the plan was to get my doctor in physical therapy school. And so once I got some time after school, when I got finished, I realized that my passion ran out for the health care field. And so I was like, Man, I need to I need to think about something. I need to figure something out. So after praying on and brainstorming, a lot of this kind of entrepreneurial pathway was for me, something where I felt like I could dive all of my efforts into and still love what I’m doing in the process of it.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:35] Now, are you are you the technologist on the team or did you have to find one?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:04:40] I had to find one. And so as I was finding one, I became more and more tech savvy. Right. So. I kind of messed around with different bootcamps on Udemy, for example, and now I can know what code is and what’s going on, and then I can do a little bit of coding myself, but I’m also in my Master Information Systems program at State as well. So that ties in the business side to the technology side of things. So definitely not the expertise in the company as far as the technology piece, but I definitely have a very, very good understanding of it.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:23] Now, any advice for other founders out there when it comes to finding a technology partner on the team? How did you go about doing that? That seems like, you know, that’s kind of important, right? You’re building a tech startup.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:05:35] Yeah. No, that’s a that’s a great point. It definitely is. Just like anything else, I think even outside of their knowledge and outside of what they’re capable of doing, it has to be more so that the person that you’re working with, if you can see that being a long term relationship. And what I mean by that is, you know, your partners become the people that you speak to more than anybody else, literally more than your friends family, more than your close friends. So it has to be somebody that you can not only see yourself in a professional setting with, but somebody that you can actually personally see yourself being around for long periods of time. Right. And second, to how does that person kind of go about adversity and how do you guys talk about conflicts are the most important things versus what they’re able to do for the company?

Lee Kantor: [00:06:29] So how did you find this person?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:06:32] Yeah. So at first for me, it was. Kind of figuring out the things we needed to in the journey eventually led to. I contacted a friend of mine from I’ve known him forever. We went to middle school and high school together actually, and he got me in contact with somebody else that he felt was capable of helping out with what I’m trying to do. And so that’s kind of what led us to meeting each other. And eventually that person in particular also has their own set of stuff going on in their place. So they did have to walk away from the company. But we’ve been able to fill in our technology gap through other developers and through other people.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:20] Wow. Exciting time. Congratulations. That’s a big milestone to be able to get that part right.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:07:25] Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:27] Now, how did you find out about the Main Street program and and how has it been?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:07:34] Yeah, it’s been amazing. I’m very, very, very glad that we’re in it. I found out about it through Georgia State’s website soon after I graduated. And so I actually I applied for it last year for us to get in and we didn’t get in. So this year it felt like all the pieces were clicking together and that this is the year that God planned for us to be a part of it as part of this cohort. And it’s been great in the sense that any kind of plans that we want to execute, we can have feedback from the Main Street mentors and all the other businesses in the cohort that kind of, you know, get what they would think about the execution and then sit down and we think about ourselves and then we can adjust it accordingly and have even more successful way of going about it.

Lee Kantor: [00:08:24] So has there been any part of the process thus far that’s been most beneficial?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:08:30] I would definitely say our our sessions, right? So we through the six month program, we have different sessions where we’re talking legal or excuse me, where we’re getting legal advice, where we’re getting product market fit advice, accounting advice, just everything to really grow a business. So this for me, anything that I haven’t learned on my own or anything that I haven’t learned in the classroom is also plugging in those holes. So this is kind of to wrap things up as far as knowledge wise been very beneficial.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:08] So have you been enjoying the process? This is it’s a different kind of challenge, right?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:09:13] Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And me, I grew up playing sports, so I kind of that competitive edge or that kind of man. I really don’t feel like doing this as far as like certain things when it comes to the business. But it’s like, no, I know the end goal and I know what I want to achieve. So then you you’re able to kind of push yourself to do the things you don’t want because when it comes time to do the things you actually do, as far as the business, those are a lot easier, you know?

Lee Kantor: [00:09:44] So what’s next and what do you need and how can we help?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:09:48] Yeah, absolutely. The next few kind of steps that we’re taking is we learned a lot from our MVP. We garnered 1000 users organically on the platform and more than 800 gems were posted. So through all that feedback and the things we learned and that MVP, we’re taking into the full version of the platform and we’re hoping to get that launched and out there in the next couple of months. And our biggest challenge thus far has been really raising funding. So with the Main Street program, we’re able to get a grant, which was our first external funding and has been a blessing. And we also got second place in our first pitch competition. So that added on to some of our grant money. So really we’re just looking for funding to really do what we want to do because we’ve done so much with so little. So only imagine when we get the right capital to, to get this thing really going.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:52] And if somebody wants to learn more about the app or maybe get a hold of you, what is the coordinates?

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:10:57] Yeah, absolutely. My email is Abdoulaye at the find out and that’s as an app will be as in boy Diaz in dog 0ulaye at the find out dot com to find the app. And then also our website, the find app.com is amazing. And then last night at least would be our Instagram defined app underscore.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:26] All right. Well, congratulations on all the momentum and thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Abdoulaye Djire: [00:11:35] Absolutely. Thank you guys for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:37] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on GSU. Any radio?

Intro: [00:11:44] Today’s episode of Atlanta Business Radio is brought to you by on pay. Built in Atlanta, on pay is the top rated payroll in HR software anywhere. Get one month free at paycom.