Hello and welcome!
My name is Zuzana, and I form half of the team behind the idea of chipin. The other half is my other half, my fiancé Fadi.
Let’s start by telling you about chipin and what it means to me.
Before chipin, I had a friend. A very close one. One who guarantees hour-long phone calls and hysterical laughter each time. Since I always thought of myself as fantastic at gift-giving, I naturally assumed that getting a birthday gift for her would be a piece of cake. *Oh boy, was I very wrong.
You know her type – the one that has everything. And that makes finding a perfect gift while still on a budget tough. I was stuck, so I tried many approaches – recalling any hints from previous conversations, talking to her other friends, scanning her social media, and the direct approach of asking her: “What do you want for your birthday?”
I thought I would at least get a little idea, but she hit me with: “Don’t trouble yourself!” and “Your presence at my party is present enough.”
*Ok, to be honest, she didn’t say the last bit, but I couldn’t resist such a ridiculous gifting cliché. 😅
I had to come up with a solution. So, I googled, researched #giftideas on Instagram, scrolled for gift inspiration on Pinterest, and in the end, came up with a cute little present idea for a polaroid camera to capture our best moments (#friendshipgoals amirite?). She was super excited when she opened it (*being a true friend, trying not to heart my feelings), so we took many photos on the day, and I have not seen the camera since. Most likely ended up in that “special place” for gifts at home, where you store the ones you can’t regift/sell/donate because the giver might ask you about them later.
The light bulb moment happened afterwards. After a long session of complaining on my end, I asked, “Why isn’t there a service that can tell you what someone wants as a gift?”. *Imagine Fadi’s eyes light up.
And that’s when the idea was born. So, we started our market research and discovered that the problem of not knowing what gift to get someone is much more common than we thought. And people continue guessing what that special person wants, sourcing it, purchasing it either in-store or online, wrapping it, and writing accompanying cards which can, in the end, be a very stressful, wasteful, time-consuming, and even annoying process. All also come with the risk of the person not liking it.
So that’s when we come in. chipin!
We want to make a difference and improve the traditional gifting process by offering a platform with a crowd-funding option for anyone’s desired gifts, or as we call it – crowd-gifting.
What are the key benefits of using chipin?
When you use your app, you:
Get better gifts – by allowing multiple people to chip in and put the money towards the item you want, regardless of whether it’s a physical item, experience, or fund.
Get better at gifting – by discovering what your loved ones want without the need to guess.
Help the environment – by reducing the number of unwanted gifts a person receives, which could end up in the landfill.
Eliminate the awkwardness – by allowing others to see the items you want, so there’s no need for those awkward questions.
Save time – generally wasted on the gifting process, which you can now spend with your loved ones instead.
Save money – with no minimum contribution required; you can spend as much as you can afford (because even a little makes a big difference 🙂 while still contributing towards an item the recipient would love. Also, no need for wrapping paper or a card!
So, a win-win outcome for everyone!
–
Zuz
