Bubble Group Case Studies Revolutionizing Sailing Experiences with IoT: The GoSaily Case Study

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	Revolutionizing Sailing Experiences with IoT: The GoSaily Case Study Bubble Group

Revolutionizing Sailing Experiences with IoT: The GoSaily Case Study

Bubble Group

Technology Category	Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Private Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms
Applicable Industries	Equipment & Machinery Marine & Shipping
Applicable Functions	Maintenance Sales & Marketing
Use Cases	Building Automation & Control Time Sensitive Networking
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Training
Challenge	GoSaily, a web app that connects private sailboat owners to sailor crews, was initially built with code in 2015. However, the founders, Stefano Failla and Paola Ginella, faced challenges in maintaining the platform due to high costs and time-consuming processes. The Italian sailboat market was relatively small, and GoSaily had to compete with well-funded competitors who were willing to invest heavily in web and social media marketing. The platform had gained a niche in the market, but the business model was not economically viable. The founders were looking for a solution that could reduce the running costs of the platform while maintaining the same number of features that GoSaily users already had. In 2018, due to personal reasons and lack of time, the founders decided to temporarily close GoSaily and switched to a simpler Wordpress site for promoting their local sailing activities. Read More
About Customer	GoSaily is a web app that serves a community of sailing enthusiasts. It connects private sailboat owners to sailor crews through a two-way marketplace. The platform allows sailors and boat owners to start personal connections and become “friends”, share messages in their private chat, ask or offer advice about sailing gears and equipment, and post, reply, and comment on a brand-new community forum. The platform also allows users to post ads for boat rentals with or without a captain. The users of GoSaily are primarily private sailboat owners and sailors who are looking for a sailing experience or want to charter a boat without a captain. Read More
Solution	In 2017, the founders decided to convert GoSaily to a no-code platform using Bubble. Bubble offered advanced no-code functionality and the right architecture that allowed them to build their app and scale. It took them three months to rebuild all the features already existing in GoSaily. The platform was relaunched in 2020 with significant changes to the business model and many new features. Instead of following a two-sided marketplace model with complex money management activities, they switched to a basic subscription model where all user accounts were free of charge, and only boats listed had to pay a small fee for a yearly subscription. They also added features like an internal chat available for sailors “friends”, the friendship connections, the gear and equipment expert advice section, the crew ads, and the new sailor community forum. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Private Cloud

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Application Development Platforms

Applicable Industries

Equipment & Machinery

Marine & Shipping

Applicable Functions

Maintenance

Sales & Marketing

Use Cases

Building Automation & Control

Time Sensitive Networking

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Training

Challenge

GoSaily, a web app that connects private sailboat owners to sailor crews, was initially built with code in 2015. However, the founders, Stefano Failla and Paola Ginella, faced challenges in maintaining the platform due to high costs and time-consuming processes. The Italian sailboat market was relatively small, and GoSaily had to compete with well-funded competitors who were willing to invest heavily in web and social media marketing. The platform had gained a niche in the market, but the business model was not economically viable. The founders were looking for a solution that could reduce the running costs of the platform while maintaining the same number of features that GoSaily users already had. In 2018, due to personal reasons and lack of time, the founders decided to temporarily close GoSaily and switched to a simpler Wordpress site for promoting their local sailing activities.

About Customer

GoSaily is a web app that serves a community of sailing enthusiasts. It connects private sailboat owners to sailor crews through a two-way marketplace. The platform allows sailors and boat owners to start personal connections and become “friends”, share messages in their private chat, ask or offer advice about sailing gears and equipment, and post, reply, and comment on a brand-new community forum. The platform also allows users to post ads for boat rentals with or without a captain. The users of GoSaily are primarily private sailboat owners and sailors who are looking for a sailing experience or want to charter a boat without a captain.

Solution

In 2017, the founders decided to convert GoSaily to a no-code platform using Bubble. Bubble offered advanced no-code functionality and the right architecture that allowed them to build their app and scale. It took them three months to rebuild all the features already existing in GoSaily. The platform was relaunched in 2020 with significant changes to the business model and many new features. Instead of following a two-sided marketplace model with complex money management activities, they switched to a basic subscription model where all user accounts were free of charge, and only boats listed had to pay a small fee for a yearly subscription. They also added features like an internal chat available for sailors “friends”, the friendship connections, the gear and equipment expert advice section, the crew ads, and the new sailor community forum.

Impact #1	The switch to Bubble and the changes in the business model have allowed GoSaily to continue serving its community of sailing enthusiasts without breaking the bank. The platform now offers more features than ever, including an internal chat, a community forum, crew ads, and a gear and equipment advice section. The founders have been able to manage the platform more easily and at a lower cost. The platform has also become more user-friendly, with users now able to connect with each other, share advice, and post ads for boat rentals. The founders plan to continue improving the platform and make it available in English using the language management in Bubble.

Impact #1

The switch to Bubble and the changes in the business model have allowed GoSaily to continue serving its community of sailing enthusiasts without breaking the bank. The platform now offers more features than ever, including an internal chat, a community forum, crew ads, and a gear and equipment advice section. The founders have been able to manage the platform more easily and at a lower cost. The platform has also become more user-friendly, with users now able to connect with each other, share advice, and post ads for boat rentals. The founders plan to continue improving the platform and make it available in English using the language management in Bubble.

Benefit #1	GoSaily was able to keep all the 1500 existing users onboard when they switched to Bubble in 2017.
Benefit #2	GoSaily had 150 sailing boats registered three months after its initial launch.
Benefit #3	GoSaily was able to offer many new features to its users in just a few months of part-time work in 2020.

Benefit #1

GoSaily was able to keep all the 1500 existing users onboard when they switched to Bubble in 2017.

Benefit #2

GoSaily had 150 sailing boats registered three months after its initial launch.

Benefit #3

GoSaily was able to offer many new features to its users in just a few months of part-time work in 2020.

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Overview

Revolutionizing Sailing Experiences with IoT: The GoSaily Case Study

Operational Impact

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