“We free up time for small businesses to focus on the fun stuff”: The evolving story of Book That In
We’re continuing our exploration of Northamptonshire’s digital landscape by speaking to local digital experts, entrepreneurs and creatives to hear their stories.
This week we spoke to Tim Freed, CEO of Book That In, who told us what they’re currently working on, how the pandemic affected their business and their exciting plans for the future.
Can you tell us a bit about Book That In?
Book That In allows businesses to take bookings and payments on their own websites or via our website for events, courses, classes, subscriptions and appointments.
Whereas a booking system like Eventbrite just covers events and Calendly does appointments, we can do all of those things in one place.
We built Book That In with small businesses in mind because a lot of the software out there comes with expensive monthly subscriptions which can be prohibitive.
Our pricing structure uses commission payments, so we take a small percentage of each booking. That means if you only run one event per year, you can still use our software.
The idea is we allow business owners to automate all of their admin around bookings and payments so they can free up their time and focus on the fun stuff.
How have you been affected by the pandemic?
The pandemic definitely impacted us - our business is almost entirely based on people meeting up in person and that just wasn't happening. When everything stopped in the first lockdown, it was a bit scary for a time but actually coming out the other side things have been really good for us.
Immediately after lockdown lifted, we saw a huge spike in bookings going through Book That In and new businesses signing up. People obviously wanted to make up for lost time and get out and about!
And for businesses, whereas perhaps in the past they could have been more fluid about how they took bookings, now they needed to have a good handle on their numbers before an event ran so there are a lot more businesses who need a booking system.
When did Book That In first originate?
We started trading in 2017, though my business partner, Alec Wadey, had already been building the system for a couple of years by that point.
Alec is a bit of an IT genius, but he needed some help with sales - which is my area of expertise.
I already had a business (a magazine business called Toddle About) which needed a new website and, crucially, a booking system.
So it was almost a no-brainer for us to team up.
Customer growth with Book That In was slow initially, but we attracted a really great bunch of customers.
That happened through the website, word of mouth, networking events and Toddle About - many of them have now been with us for years! And all the time, the system has been evolving and improving.
It may have taken a little longer than we'd hoped to get where we are now, but it's starting to get really interesting.
Let's delve into that then. Where are you at now and what does the future hold for you?
We've got a couple of hundred businesses using Book That In now, and that is growing almost daily, but where we're headed is even more exciting.
Very soon, you'll be able to build your very own ‘service' marketplace business on the Book That In platform - we see this as a great opportunity for entrepreneurs who want to build or grow their own business, as well as an amazing growth opportunity for us.
Right now you have lots of ‘product' marketplace websites like Amazon, Ebay and so on. But - outside of specific sectors like travel and insurance - there are very few marketplaces for services where you can book and pay through the site.
If you wanted to find a yoga course, for example, we can create a yoga marketplace to make it easy for you to find, book and pay for a course near you. And the possibilities are endless… you could have marketplaces for cleaners, locksmiths, accountants, bungee jumping, climbing walls, horse riding … you get the idea!
We’ve already built a marketplace for our sister company Toddle About, which is for parents of young children to find and book activities in their area, and it’s growing really well.
We're now looking to partner with businesses that want to start or enhance their own digital marketplace, to launch our first few ‘pilot’ marketplaces.
What else are you working on?
We've also been developing a Book That In app - we’re calling it a ‘social scheduling’ app. It’s a work in progress but you can download that now from app stores and check how it works. We're looking for feedback at the moment.
When you want to meet up with friends, it can be difficult to combine diaries and find the best time. The Book That In app takes the hassle out of this by finding the best time for everyone. It also allows families to share their online calendars so they can stay organised and keep on top everything.
Finally, what do you like about living and working in Northamptonshire?
Northamptonshire has a great business community, which seems to be thriving. There are loads of networking events and I've met so many people through them. We've had support from organisations like SEMLEP and there seems to be a lot of help in the area for small businesses.
My wife and I aren't from Northamptonshire - I'm from Manchester and she's from Bristol - but we've found it has plenty to offer. We love going to the theatre at Royal and Derngate, and our kids are in all sorts of clubs. We spend a lot of time outdoors with the kids at all the Country Parks. It's a great place to live and work.