We asked EasyQ founder, Elston Yee, about building an app that helps businesses manage physical queues at their locations. Elston began his career in the MNC world, but moved to building his own tech startup back in 2014. He is currently working on a no-code platform, Forma, to empower businesses to digitise and automate their processes. Elston chose Bubble because the no-code platform enabled him to work out product specs, wireframes, database structure, and build his app quickly.
Tell us about your app and what it does.
From where I come from, many Food and Beverage (F&B) places are still using a traditional way of collecting customer information on paper while queueing or getting the customers to physically queue at the location. It is very time consuming for the customer and not the most pleasant experience.
For F&B staff, managing the queue manually through paperwork is not the most effective way. I thought why don't we build a simple app to empower those F&B places to make it a better experience for both their staff and customers. Our app is simple to use and inexpensive. Best of all, it doesn't need to be just F&B. Any place who needs to manage physical queues at their location can explore using EasyQ - clinics, retail stores, etc.
How does your app work?
A staff will log in to our app, and can start accepting customers information into the queue. Customers can walk around the mall or neighbourhood, and the staff with a click of a button send a sms to the customers when their table/queue is ready. For some places, if they like, they can toggle to a view where customers can key in themselves, freeing up the staff for other more important work. Customers can also easily check their queue status online without popping at the location to see how many more queue ahead of them.
Tell us a little about your background and how you discovered no-code tools like Bubble.
I started my career in an MNC world, but moved to building my own tech startup back in 2014. Currently, I am working on a no-code platform (Forma) to empower businesses to digitise and automate their processes. Heard about Bubble from my friend a while back, but didn't know what to build. Only recently with a very bad experience at a F&B place, I thought why don't build in on Bubble. And here I am.
Why did you build your app on Bubble?
I used to code almost 18 years while in school (as part of my curriculum), but was never the best at it, and stopped coding since then. I have always been more of a product and operations guy through my career. With Bubble, it makes perfect sense for me. I don't need to know the different programming languages needed. With my product experience, I was able to work out product specs, wireframes, database structure, and using Bubble to start building the platform immediately.
What have been your milestones or successes so far?
I started my Bubble journey a few weeks back in Aug 14. I learned the basis of Bubble through the tutorial, and started to build the platform mostly over the weekends and some weekday nights. There are still a few more touch ups to go and also to include the billing module. But I am challenging myself to launch live this coming weekend on September 5th 2021. Total man hours spent on Bubble were less than 40 hours.
What are your next steps or future plans for your app?
I hope to roll out this app to all different verticals that might need a simple app to manage their queue better through technology. Will add in more features for sure, as I can get more customers feedback on what else they love to see or need.
Learn more about EasyQ: LinkedIn
About Bubble
Bubble is a leader in the no-code movement. Bubble offers a powerful point-and-click web editor and cloud hosting platform that allows users to build fully customizable web applications and workflows, ranging from simple prototypes to complex marketplaces, SaaS products, and more. Over 500,000 users are currently building and launching businesses on Bubble - many have gone on to participate in top accelerator programs, such as Y Combinator, and even raise $365M in venture funding. Bubble is more than just a product. We are a strong community of builders and entrepreneurs that are united by the belief that everyone should be able to create technology.
Do you want your app featured by Bubble? Reach out to us and tell us about your app. In addition to this series, we sometimes select our best apps to showcase on our website.
