What inspired you to create Snowball Community, and how did
your personal experiences as a disabled individual shape the vision behind it?
The inspiration to create a Snowball community
came from a visit to a local restaurant following months in hospital, a year in
recovery and the experience of having a disastrous time in the restaurant
regarding toileting and access. After the meal I went back home and created a
Facebook page called Ability Access, which later became Snowball, to raise
awareness and the discussion of disabled access in the Leicester area and then
it’s just snowballed from there.
What were some of the biggest challenges you
faced in building Snowball Community and how did you navigate those moments of
difficulty or doubt?
There were a few big problems. The first was
building an audience and reacting to every social media post because I knew
that to take it forward, I had to have the audience to do it. So I was sitting
there for months on end asking people to join the page, liking every comment
and inviting people who commented to the Snowball page.
The second one was finance because we had been
quoted £340,000 for the first app which we simply couldn’t afford. It was only
about four or five years later that more app development firms started to pop
up and the price dropped significantly so it cost us about £60,000 which we had
to raise from savings and award grants. It was a big gamble because we had no
idea if it was going to work.
It also became apparent that I couldn’t do it
alone. Luckily I have my wife by my side most of the time but also assistance
from friends and family. You have to show up for everything. I enrolled on a
business course at De Montfort University. I turned up for every meeting, every
event, every conference, right across the country and it was absolutely
exhausting. You have to speak to people, take their advice and their
criticisms. You have to take their business guidance and this is the only way
you’re going to succeed and move the app forward.
When did you feel like you really had something
very special with this project.
We thought it was quite special quite soon on
even when we had no reviews on the app, as we started receiving messages from
people saying that they waited all their lives for someone to do something like
this and that was quite humbling.
Your incredibly successful appearance on
Dragons’ Den brought Snowball Community into the national spotlight — what was
that experience like?
The appearance on Dragons’ Den was a horrific
experience for me as I suffer from dyslexia. I would advise anyone going on
Dragons’ Den to be very prepared as it is a very tough process. Because of my
dyslexia I did not enjoy the experience and preparation at all. You have to pitch for
45 minutes even though it’s not shown, and I practised this 3 to 400 times. I just couldn’t get through it, so I had to
speak to the producers and request that for recording purposes I would be using
my phone for assistance because I’m dyslexic.
Early days maybe but how has it impacted your
business and mission since then?
There is no doubt that Dragons’ Den has boosted
awareness of Snowball and increased
downloads and reviews. It’s also helped Snowball already to reach an audience
who may not be aware of our work before, which we are very grateful for.
The Snowball Community focuses on accessibility
and inclusion — how do you see technology transforming opportunities for
disabled people in the coming years?
A few weeks ago we visited Google and we saw
the tech that they are bringing out and using but we also saw the tech that’s
available today and it’s so impressive to know that will massively improve people’s
access to Snowball. It’s going to be as inclusive as possible and transform the
lives of disabled people in the years to come. Snowball is just small cog in
the machine in this and we have to play our role to change as many lives
as possible.
Click here to become part of the Snowball Community
