Building BOOTH has me thinking about a question that goes beyond the barber industry: as AI makes software easier to build, what makes someone choose your product over something they could create themselves? We're moving toward a world where anyone can build software for their own needs. Gaps in access remain, but at this pace, it's naive to dismiss where this is going. More of what companies charge for will become accessible to people who previously couldn't build it or afford it. So where does value go next? If anyone can reproduce your features, what's in it for them to choose you? I don't have a complete answer. But I believe more of it will come down to how deep your network roots go.
Network Roots
By network roots, I mean the businesses a company builds with, the communities it participates in, and the digital connections that embed its software into an industry. I think of this as the ecosystem layer: where those relationships become useful to the person using the software. Bilt is the example I keep coming back to. It connects rent, an expense people already have, to a world of benefits: travel, dining, shopping, fitness, and even saving toward a home. Its value comes partly from how many areas of someone's life that network can reach. Someone could build their own rent payment app. They can't replicate the network behind it. Bilt's partnerships with landlords, airlines, and restaurants are what make it different. That's the model I see for BOOTH: the booth rent a barber already pays could become a way to reach opportunities and benefits across every part of their life.
Where I Want to Take BOOTH
Barbers already pay booth rent and buy clippers, blades, products, and supplies. Our initial rewards offerings have focused on those purchases, but our ambition goes further. Barbers travel, take classes, follow educators, make art, and support local businesses. I want BOOTH to connect them with brands, products, and opportunities across those parts of their lives.
Picture a barber who pays booth rent through BOOTH every week.
Over a few months, those payments can build toward a seat in a class with an educator they've followed for years, or help cover a trip to a hair show in another city. That rent was going to be paid either way. Now it's also an investment.
Building the Trust to Get There
Partnerships depend on good software and trust. Our focus is making BOOTH dependable, listening to users, and earning the trust to grow across regions. My ambition is to grow that foundation into an ecosystem that creates more opportunity, with partnerships people can benefit from in everyday life.
Want to reach barbers through BOOTH?
We're exploring partnerships with brands in products, travel, education, and more. Let's talk: partnerships@boothapp.co