The Uber of haircuts? Squire is changing the barbershop game
Our Q&A with Songe LaRon, co-founder of the Squire app
The startup company started with a simple idea, solving a very basic need: how to you make the process of getting a haircut easier? And suddenly, Squire, and the process of “hassle-free haircuts,” was born.
“The idea came out of me experiencing the frustration of always needing to get a haircut and having to wait at the barbershop,” Squire co-founder Songe LaRon said. “It’s just one of those things that’s really annoying. Everything from finding a good barber, to making an appointment. It’s just really inefficient the way it currently is.”
Squire allows the app user to find available barbers, book appointments and pay for the haircut, all in one interface. It is currently available in New York City, with plans to expand to Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
So how did Squire go from an idea LaRon and his co-founder Dave Salvant had to an actual company? “An idea is great but at the end of the day you just have to execute,” said LaRon. “Start doing something, start talking to customers. Don’t just sit there thinking about it. That’s the worst thing you can do — getting to a point where you’re not moving.”
Throughout the growth of his company, LaRon has been given a lot of advice. But one piece he holds as particularly important relates to revenue. “People have different opinions about when to start charging and earning revenue,” he said. “Some people tell us ‘it’s ok, just build a product, get as many users as possible, and you can worry about charging later.’ We’re starting to realize that, in this climate, [it’s important] to start charging and show that this is something people will actually pay for.”
Find out more about Squire here, and see the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center’s “Faces of Entrepreneurship” series with LaRon here.
