A New York couple is betting on the idea that at least one thing is recession-proof: demand for a convenient and clean public toilet.
SitOrSquat, an ad-supported Web site and mobile application created by Danika Landers and Jonathan Glanz, delivers a handy listing of public bathrooms, from the ones at Starbucks to Saks Fifth Avenue, in various cities. The mobile version uses an iPhone or BlackBerry’s location detection capabilities to find nearby bathrooms. “Think of it as a restaurant review site, but for toilets,” Mr. Glanz said. The site’s database is generated by users, and people can add short descriptions and photos and indicate whether cleanliness levels make it advisable to “sit” or “squat.”
Ms. Landers, a 28-year-old graphic designer, came up with the idea for SitOrSquat after discovering the dilapidated condition of the ladies’ room at her Manhattan office. The Web site started out as an inside joke among her friends until she and Mr. Glanz found themselves stranded at a party without a bathroom and realized they had a product with potential. Mr. Glanz, who is a software engineer, developed an application for the iPhone, and the pair released it in early November.
Since then, Ms. Landers says, the application has taken off. An estimated 25,000 users have downloaded it, and traffic on the Web site reached 1.2 million page views last month. That was enough to convince Ms. Landers to quit her job of 18 months, giving up a salary of roughly $50,000 a year, to focus her efforts on SitOrSquat full time.
With unemployment a surging, the move seems counterintuitive at best. But with no children, no mortgage and a reduced rent thanks to close ties with the landlord, Ms. Landers says she is willing to rely on her savings for a few months and see if she can get the project off the ground. (She does have a safety net: Mr. Glanz is holding onto his job, and the two live together.)
In a start-up landscape that is rockier than ever for tech entrepreneurs, some see iPhone applications as something of a golden ticket. Tapulous, a group of iPhone app developers in Palo Alto, Calif., that has received venture capital backing, recently signed deals with the recording artists Weezer, Moby and Daft Punk to feature their tracks in its games…
By Jenna Wortham
Source: New York Times – U.S.A.
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