Going Analog
I’ve been up to something really cool. This is the story.
We are living in the age of AI, sure.
Everything we do is being scoped, chewed, regurgitated by AI, sure.
And that’s fine, I know I use it even to plan the perfect hour to brush my teeth (exaggeration) but we thought it different this time.
We wanted to make something more analog, yes use AI as a tool and offer AI tooling inside but at its core we wanted to be human, local, in person “old school” like when we were kids and that lady at the deli would put some extra stuff just because it was nice. It was all about building connections, and in a world dominated by AI (and that’s ok) I think in the not-too-distant future we will all be searching for those connections. What feels real.
So Ramon, my business partner for the last few years had a dream like a decade ago if I’m not wrong. He dreamed about creating a new way for shops to connect with customers.
This was before AI, he wanted to create this nexus in a different way, he called it Bargly.
Derived from bargain. The idea was in a drawer for a while, as there was a lot of technical stuff that needed to happen and the cost of building just a tiny part was huge.
Since we started working together almost 7 years ago Bargly came up in a few conversations here and there, but was a monster so we skipped it a few times. It was only early this year when after two plus years of building with external teams we both decided to give it a go and build it ourselves.
Over those past four years I’ve been increasingly learning the ways of a technical samurai, getting deep not only into agents and code, but also architecture, and basically awesome tech.. I started small to the point I got enough confidence to start building bigger, and bigger.
And during the past 24 months this was exponentially exceptional.
So in a conversation we were having about Dotio (one of our other startups together), Ramon brought Bargly up again, and we talked about it for a while.
The difference this time was that it didn’t sound crazy or too-big for us, it sounded perfect fit to both.
We went fast from “we can make this” to “f**k let’s do it” in a split second. We talked for a bit more about how it was back then when Ramon had that idea and how that translates to today.
The next day we incorporated a UK LTD (SEIS/EIS ready wink wink), because we thought “this is a multi-billion dollar market expected to reach $154B by 2030” it’s massive.
Plus Bargly is launching global, we need to be sure we are ready.
Loyalty management software was $13–15B in 2025, and heading to $20–31B by 2030–33
Broader loyalty market (program spend incl. rewards) is $80B in 2025 → ~$154B by 2030
US local advertising alone: $169B in 2025 (BIA)
US SMB ad spend collectively: ~$640B/yr
And just like that. Bargly was born.
We created this amazing tool (web + iOS) that combines the best of the social discovery experience, the quality of curated shops with all the tools a shop can have for loyalty and discovery.
A way to describe what we want to do is simple
“Bargly makes local shops impossible to forget. Hyperlocal discovery and rewards for the places people actually love.”
We launched in 28 languages across 60 countries including Asia, Latam, EU, Middle East, US and Canada.
We talked to so many shop owners, across different cities. There’s so much out there, so many opportunities.
With Bargly now shops get tools to capture audience, get discovered and retain those people coming back at basically a fraction of the cost of other apps. But there’s more.
And we know every single one of them, I think I never ever ran such an exhaustive review of the competitor landscape as we did. So much info that I can write a paper on the fidelization and the loyalty market in general.
But we don’t stop there, we don’t give them just a card or a plan or a marketing tool, we bring them audiences, people.
This is key, in a world where everyone is disconnecting and in person is getting less attention, in person will become the commodity.
For shoppers, it’s a great experience. The app has all they need and it’s always there on the phone or iPad.
That’s it, imagine you jump on a city you don’t know, you open Bargly, walk and you get pinned by real local experiences and places, the same places that the people who live there go to. No tourist traps, the real deal.
You can also import all your cards so you don’t have to carry them, find deals or bargains.
If you read this far there’s something for you.
We are working to incorporate the first 100 shops per major city, in a super personalized way, and we are open to help any shop (on us) that’s local from a friend, family or that favorite shop that might want to use Bargly on the house.
We want to bring the analog back! Drive more sales to shops, unlike Phoebe Gates, we really want people and shop owners world wide to get discovered, to become impossible to forget, and better retain those who always come back, so they have another reason to come back, post about the shop, tell friends and coworkers.
