App draws bead on hunting market
If you’re a hunting enthusiast who’s been frustrated while looking through maps, textual boundaries and complicated tables to determine the rules and regulations regarding what, when and where you can hunt, you need to check out iHunter.
The mobile app simplifies the process of abiding by the rules by making use of publicly available geo-spatial data and the Alberta Wildlife Act.
Hunters can precisely see which Wildlife Management Unit they are in using GPS built into their phones.
Once they know the wildlife management unit they’re interested in, they can view a simplified and accessible summary of big game, predator and game bird seasons that are open.
A location-based sunrise and sunset calculator ensures hunting during legal hours and email allows users to identify their location.
We recently talked to co-founders Mark Stenroos and Gareth Burke to learn more.
How did you come up with the idea for your startup?
After a long-standing annual hunting trip to Peace River never materialized this year, I began looking to establish new hunting grounds nearer to Calgary.
Without a network of fellow hunters in the area to guide me, I did as any software developer would do when needing answers, and used Google. Not surprisingly, I couldn’t find many hunters willing to give away their best spots, but I did find a variety of different web services that allowed anyone with enough patience to obtain the contact information and location of leaseholders of nearby Crown land (which can be hunted on with the permission of the lease holder). While I did find a few great spots to go hunting, I was intrigued by the data I was using and eventually stumbled upon the WMU boundary data. I had just been looking at the same data on printed, difficult to read maps a few hours before, and it hit me that I might be able to load this data on my phone. It was time consuming to retrieve, and in a coordinate system I didn’t yet understand, but it was interesting, free and I wanted to see what I could do with it. After a few hours I had one of 200 WMUs displaying properly on an iPhone, and I knew the data could be useful.
Once I determined that the entire province’s data could be loaded, and confirmed that others online had been asking for the very thing I had started to build, I was hooked.
What has been the biggest challenge so far?
I knew from the start we had a product idea that could be immensely useful to many hunters. I also knew that it was mid-September, and this year’s hunting season was well underway and ending in two and a half months. If there was any chance for this product to become part of a business, the idea needed to be validated by real users, during hunting season.
Going from product concept to shipping a polished, useful app that people have been willing to spend money on, in less than one month, has been the biggest challenge.
Is it more difficult to raise capital or find the right talent?
We haven’t had the need to do either at this point, but I hope it’s easier to raise needed capital than build a talented team.
What has contributed to your success to this point?
I don’t think we are at a point where I can say we are successful. We have early feedback telling us we have a product that is needed, but we don’t know yet whether it’s a sustainable business, or just a starting point for a great development and design partnership. The success we’ve had, though, is a result of hard work and relationship building. We have spent entire days in archery and gun shops talking with other hunters who have provided invaluable feedback. We started working with others in the Calgary startup community, which has been unbelievably inspiring and motivating.
To other startups, I would suggest getting out and meeting those in the community, and getting to know your users personally. Be responsive to feature requests, focus on building long term relationships rather than looking for a quick benefit for yourselves, and try to give something back to those that help you, if possible.
What made you choose to go down the path of entrepreneurship?
Both of us have had the entrepreneurial spirit for a while now. Gareth has been doing freelance design work since graduation. I have run a clothing company, done freelance work, and tried to launch an Internet startup.
I think we both just want to see the work we do directly impact users. Creating value is the key, and if we can continue doing that, we will continue down this path. What’s your ask right now? If you’re an Alberta outdoorsmen, please check out ihunterapp.com.