Could you tell us when and what you studied?
In 2016, I started studying for the Double Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising Communication & Audiovisual Communication at the Villaviciosa de Odón Campus. I liked the world of audiovisual media and advertising, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do. In my third year I went to the USA through the university. It was there that I discovered an app for meeting people who liked sports. When I went back to Spain, I discovered apps for meeting people, but none were specifically targeted towards playing sports or meeting others who liked sports. I have always played sports, although the people around me were not very active. I thought it would be worth pursuing something along these lines, but I knew nothing about coding or other technical aspects, so I was a bit stuck.
At that point I decided to use my Final Degree Project to conduct research and apply what I had learned during the degree: branding, market analysis, etc. to see if there was a gap in the market. And there was. A lot of people showed interest in the project, so I decided to set about creating it.
At what point did you start to realise the project was a reality?
You realise it’s a reality when you launch it on the market and, without advertising it, people start downloading it. In two months we have achieved downloads completely organically. That’s when you know things are going well.
What does the project consist of, how does it work?
The project is called N’joy, and it’s an application for connecting with other athletes. The interface is pretty similar to that of Tinder. That might be a bad thing, because the purpose isn’t to find a partner, but to meet athletes and organise plans. The key thing is that two people are connecting. There’s also a section for plans where you can create your own sports plans by level, a chat for talking, and a profile for other users to see.
How do you move past the stigma of it not being a dating app, but an app for training together?
As I said, the interface is really similar, so making it stand out has been quite difficult. However, through the content and what we communicate, we try to focus more on the meeting people part, full stop. In any case, when you create a profile, there’s a section for selecting “what you’re looking for”, be it a partner, friends for playing sports or fellow athletes to train with, or all three.
At what stage is the app at now?
We’ve been on the market for two months throughout the world. We have users in the USA, South America, etc., although most users are in Spain, mainly Madrid and Mallorca. Looking forward, we want to expand the team in order to revamp and improve the project, so that we can continue to grow.
Are you doing it alongside another job?
When I saw it had potential, I decided to drop everything and dedicate myself 100% to the project. The good thing is working on something you really love and enjoying what you do. The worst thing is fearing the project may fail when you’ve put your all into it.
Has that fear played a big part in the process? What’s the most difficult thing you’ve had to deal with?
It comes and goes depending on the moment. There are days when you think you’re going to nail it, and other days when you get ‘noes’ and you break down, but the key is to stay confident and keep going. What motivates me the most to keep going is the loyal community already using N’joy and the proposals and contributions that we constantly get.
As a student of advertising and audiovisual communication, in what way have your studies influenced your project?
They have helped me a lot. Learning the basics of video editing, image editing, communication, etc. through a degree makes it much easier when it comes to creating bigger things. It may be true that all this is available on the internet, but already having that basic knowledge will save a lot of time.
How many of you are working on the project?
I was working alone until a week ago when I was joined by Mafalda Villazán, another former student of Universidad Europea de Madrid, who has taken on the role of CTO and will be in charge of all technological innovation. There’s not many of us, but we’re excited to keep expanding the term to make sure this project flies.
What advice would you give to a future student, particularly someone who wants to start their own business?
Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you won’t achieve great things, because anything is possible through determination and hard work. Have confidence in your project, value it and if you really think it could be a success, put your all into it. We’re young and we have nothing to lose. If you never try, you’ll never know.