[Startup Interview] Henry Tang, Co-Founder, Turff, Netherlands

Turff is a Dutch startup that runs a software platform for financial management of consumables. Expenses in student houses, associations and canteens are tracked on a free tablet . Advertisements are then shown on the screen as a screen saver.  Henry Tang one of the startup’s founders explains.

Tell us about your startup?

Cost management of FMCG in associations, sports clubs, and student households can be quite a hassle. People often use pen and paper to keep track of consumptions, leading to frequent mistakes and limited overview.

Turff solves this problem with a digital alternative. A dedicated tablet is used to manage all consumables while an online dashboard provides real-time insight into stock and expenses. The entire system is provided for free, as ads are shown as screensavers. Therefore we have simultaneously created the very first digital-in-home advertising platform.

Who are the founders and what are their professional backgrounds?

Turff was founded by Henry Tang, Dimitri Stallenberg and Willem Li

As students from Delft University we personally experienced the hassle of financial management in our own student houses and all around us. We developed Turff als a solution to provide full financial insight for everyone, while creating a unique platform for advertisers.

How is Turff financed?

Bootstrapped

What are – in your opinion – the dynamics of Fintech & Advertising?

In the ad industry we currently see a strong shift to digitalization. Native Out-Of-Home is making way for Digital Out-Of-Home, allowing for more dynamic and programmatic campaigns. Turff jumps on the trend by briging digital advertising into the living room.

What problem or problems does Turff solve?

Our focus is on groups and organizations with a certain level of financial complexity. Often they require a more reliable solution than pen and paper, but don't necessarily need a full fledged POS system. This is where Turff comes in: A digital solution, provided for free.

The benefit to organizations, and especially the people in charge of the canteen and finances, is huge. Our users indicate a significant reduction in losses due to accounting mistakes compared to paper lists. Besides, the platform eliminates the need for manually accounting all expenses, saving a considerable amount of time.

Who are your customers?

Currently, we have installed 850 devices around the Netherlands, growing with a monthly rate of 100 new devices. Our advertisers include organizations like Red Bull, ABN AMRO, Deloitte, and the Ministry of Defense.

What is your growth strategy?

Currently, we mainly focus on student houses in the Netherlands as our beachhead market. However, multiple associations and even company canteens also started using our system. We believe the challenges of cost management of consumer goods are generic everywhere. Therefore Turff has the potential to expand to many more sectors and geographies.

In which markets are you looking to establish your presence?

As the applications for the platform are widespread, our ambition would be to become the number 1 platform for FMCG management.

In line with the big picture, we are currently also running a pilot with an AI-based automatic delivery system for FMCG. We will be able to predict when stock is expected to finish and automatically re-order as a de facto subscription on frequently used consumer goods. From an advertisers perspective this can be extremely interesting for sampling and product distribution.

What are your plans for the coming 12 months?

In 2021 we will maintain our focus on student households. However, we will continually evaluate and validate other market opportunities to define our growth strategy. We hope to actively expand to new markets in 2022.

www.turff.nl

This is an entry for the Dutch Startup Competition 2021

Read about the Dutch Startup Competition and how to participate here