Rich Martell
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (September 2016) |
Rich Martell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 10 February 1989 Bedford, Bedfordshire, England |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
Richard Lewis Martell, also known as "Rich Martell" or "Dicky M" (born 10 February 1989), is an Internet entrepreneur best known for founding Floxx Media Group, orderswift, being the creator of FitFinder and business expert on the television series Million Dollar Intern.
Early life
[edit]According to sources, Martell started his first internet business, when he was only 15 years old[1] to provide income throughout his education at Bedford School and later University College London. Whilst at University Martell worked in the Technology divisions of a number of investment firms including Goldman Sachs.[2]
FitFinder
[edit]Martell launched FitFinder on Friday, 23 April 2010 at 9am; within 6 hours of the site being up it had to be pulled down due to such high demand and abuse.[citation needed] He said the site was intended "just for a few of us to communicate on throughout the day, however word got out at UCL, and after 2 days of it being online, the UCL one alone had over 25,000 unique users.".[3] He was quoted later describing his surprise at the popularity of it as it was 'only a joke'.[4]
In May 2010, Martell was given the maximum fine by his university for 'bringing the university into disrepute'.[5][6] Martell refused to remove the site; however, on 28 May 2010, the website was removed and replaced with a holding page and message signed off by Dicky M citing 'increased pressure' from universities to remove the site.[7] He vowed to bring back a new improved FitFinder for the next academic year.
Floxx Media Group
[edit]On 3 January 2011, Martell launched his new business, Floxx. The initial concept of Floxx was based around a mobile app which was similar to FitFinder but with a few subtle differences. It was reported that Martell had initially raised funding from Dragons Den investor, Doug Richard and US super angel Kevin Wall.[8]
In July 2011, Martell announced that Floxx was going to focus on developing ideas that were specifically for use on mobile platforms, especially location-based social networks. A few months later, the app MapChat was launched reaching a top 10 ranking in the app store. In October, Martell launched Spottd – a location-based social network allowing users to share and discover posts around them.[9]
In early 2012, Martell announced that Floxx would be expanding and launching a digital media agency business as part of the company, thereby drawing from his team's experience with mobile apps, product design and highly scalable websites.
orderswift
[edit]Martell launched orderswift in March 2013 after being frustrated that his favourite restaurants would not take orders online and deliver. Previously called Delishery, orderswift was announced as one of the companies to raise investment from Telefonica and become part of the Wayra accelerator in London.[10]
In an interview with Real Business,[11] Martell said that he believes that restaurants have been slow to adopt technology, and cites the example of them being under capacity outside of peak times: “If you’ve ever been to Pizza Express on a Tuesday or a Sunday night you will realise that they are not even close to capacity.”
One of the key features of the orderswift experience is to give customers the ability to track their order in real time. Martell says “We are going to be allowing customers to stay up to date and know exactly when their food is cooked.”
Million Dollar Intern
[edit]In 2013, Martell was filmed as part of the BBC Worldwide television series, Million Dollar Intern.[12]
Personal life
[edit]In 2011, he was named as one of Business Zone's 'One to Watch'.[13] Late in 2011 Martell was also shortlisted for the Real Business Young Entrepreneur of the Year.[14]
References
[edit]- ^ BBC. (17 August 2013) BBC Million Dollar Intern Q&A
- ^ The Times. (31 May 2010) Revolutionising Library Studies – The Launch of FitFinder Archived 4 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Benhamou, Jessica, Cherwell magazine, (30 April 2010) Witness the Fitness
- ^ Spotted someone you fancy in the library? Confess your crush on Fitfinder | Education | guardian.co.uk. Guardian. Retrieved on 25 April 2011.
- ^ Bowers, Mary – The Times FitFinder website helps undergraduates find love in the stacks
- ^ Labi, Aisha. (1 June 2010) British Student Is Fined Over Controversial Dating Web Site – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education. Chronicle.com. Retrieved on 25 April 2011.
- ^ Floxx | The Beautiful Social Network. Thefitfinder.co.uk. Retrieved on 25 April 2011.
- ^ Barnett, Emma. (8 January 2011) Floxx: the ‘FitFinder’ flirting website for students relaunches with the help of a BBC Dragon. The Telegraph Retrieved on 25 April 2011.
- ^ Butcher, Mike. Floxx Pivots Towards Locations Based Offers TechCrunch
- ^ Business Zone. (28 March 2013) Startup accelerator Wayra selects its class of 2013
- ^ Real Business. (23 April 2013) Munch: Will it mobilise the restaurant industry?
- ^ BBC. (17 August 2013)http://www.bbcnordic.com/million-dollar-intern/profiles/rich/ BBC Million Dollar Intern – Rich Martell Profile
- ^ Business Zone. (12 January 2010) The Ones to Watch: Rich Martell, founder, Floxx.com. http://www.businesszone.co.uk/. Retrieved on 25 January 2011.
- ^ Real Business. (7 October 2011) http://realbusiness.co.uk/news/growing-business-awards-2011-young-entrepreneur-of-the-year-shortlist Growing Business Awards 2011: Young Entrepreneur of the Year shortlist