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 [1]