If you are still stumped on what to get someone for the holidays, the guessing game is over thanks to startup MeGive, an online community where users can create wish lists for virtually anything from weddings to birthdays and holidays. Founder Scot Anderson shares insight to developing MeGive.
This is such a great service, especially for the holidays! How did you come up with this idea?
My wife and I had the idea last christmas, we up being so frustrated by the time Christmas came trying to get each grandparent, aunts, uncles, and friends the kids Christmas list. You give one person an item to get and they either don’t like it, or they don’t want to spend that much. So you have to figure out what else for them to give kids and what gifts to give us. Finally, you’re like “just give them money”. Now we just say “Go to MeGive.com, click on whatever gift you want to give the kids. They ask “what does your wife want?” I say, “go to MeGive”.
When I talked to my business partner in August about this idea. He liked it so much, he said lets do it.
Do you feel that there are competitors?
That is what baffled us – there are no sites like ours. I didn’t think this was a totally new concept, but it seems to be. Sure there are some gift registries, but they, in my opinion, are very hard to use. This is the Facebook for gift giving. Users can go directly to the gifts to purchase – they purchase from the linked site not directly from MeGive. Once the gift is purchased, it’s noted on the list to avoid repeat purchases and the gift giver stays private – so the element if surprise is maintained.
What has the response been like?
It has been live since November 18, 2013 and people absolutely love it! It makes giving and receiving gifts so easy.
Have you raised any money?
We actually didn’t need funding. My partner built the site.
How can readers get started?
Go to www.megive.com. It’s simple and it’s 100 percent free. There is a very simple tutorial for those that want to get the most out of the site.
What’s next for you guys?
We want to keep improving this site. We take all our users comments and suggestions very seriously. We have huge board that we brainstorm of off. If you stop improving, you get left behind. We want this site to be simple, fun, and very useful.
Learn more about MeGive here.
