Rich Winley Dishes On ‘No Chains’ Food App and Launching a Mobile Product

After participating in The Iron Yard, a Greenville, South Carolina-based, 13-week tech accelerator associated with Startup America Partnership’s Global Accelerator Network, Rich Winley launched the public version of No Chains

, a mobile app that helps travelers and foodies find the best non-franchise restaurants that they’ve never heard of. He wanted to create a platform that gave voice to fans of independent restaurants. He took the app from Greenville to Austin, Texas for SXSW, and next week he will be launching it in New York City.

BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Winley to discuss his business model, what he learned in the accelerator program, and what inspired him to call the app ‘No Chains.’

Where did the name “No Chains” come from?
The name first came from my pitch.  No Chains is an app that helps people find non-chain restaurants.  As I interacted with the different restaurant owners, it then later began to have real meaning. Opening a restaurant represents the American dream. For entrepreneurs to jump in a business that has a 90% fail rate, that shows nothing can hold them back (i.e. No Chains).

People ask me all the time if I hate chains.  I’m not against chains, I’m just for independents.  If we can help an independent grow as large as a chain, we’ve done our job.

How does it work?
We’re essentially becoming a food/dish search engine.  We take into account your preferences, tastes, dietary needs, and search history when you use No Chains. No one has really made a breakthrough in the food market for personally recommended actions catered to taste.

Describe the problem that No Chains solves. Who will benefit from it the most, and how?

In short, the app helps you find the best restaurants you’ve never heard of, reviewed by the menu not the venue.  We help consumers discover independent restaurants wherever they are, and everything is reviewed by the menu not the venue, so that helps differentiate ourselves from the rest.  Consumers can also filter by dish, cuisine, or preference.  So, if you want to find the best burger or Pad Thai in Manhattan, just search for it.  If you’re vegetarian or gluten-free, just filter by it.

For restaurants, we help them build an online presence. Most small, independent restaurants don’t have a website.  If they do have a website, it’s not optimized for mobile. With our platform they can come to No Chains and build their website in under 30 minutes and every time they update their menu online it automatically syncs with the No Chains app.  One of the most searched things when looking for a restaurant is the menu. We also help them build social media presence by aggregating all their social media accounts, and we give them the ability to manage them all from one place.  We have a lot of other cool stuff coming out, but we can’t tell everyone about our secret sauce.

What is unique about No Chains compared to similar products like Yelp or Google Reviews?

We only support independent restaurants. I’ve used other popular apps to search for a good burger in the middle of Manhattan and several of them suggested a McDonald’s nearby. With No Chains, everything is reviewed by the menu, not the venue. We actually care about the restaurants. The other review sites in our industry seem to be pretty advertising focused, compared to actually helping.

What practical advice or tips would you give tech entrepreneurs about launching a mobile app when you don’t have the technical skills?

Try to learn as much as possible about what you want to accomplish with your technology before you approach any developer. It’s a lot easier, faster and cost efficient if you know exactly how you want to work.  Being able to articulate your idea will help when evaluating developers.  Also don’t jump for the first developer who says they can build your product.  Put them to the test before signing a contract.  There are a ton of resources online to help you through this process. For example go to Elance.com, a global, online, staffing platform where anyone can hire independent freelance professionals. Look at the descriptions of what people have posted and it will give you a framework of the types of questions to ask a developer. So, before you start trying to get your big idea developed research, research, research. Try to better understand how product management works that way you can set realistic expectations.  It took us about one year before we even talked to a developer.

What advice do you have for startup entrepreneurs who are planning to participate in an incubator or accelerator?

Apply to more than five of them. You never know which one will accept your company. After talking to several investors they seem to like companies that come out of accelerators.  Basically the accelerator does most of the due diligence when they interview companies. It makes it easy for the investor and it gives the company some instant credibility.

How can you best take advantage of these programs?

I’m a huge advocate of research, so research past companies and current companies in the program you’re in. It’s important to communicate with mentors in the program as much as possible. Also get a product out so you can test it with your market as soon as possible.

Why did you decide to keep your tech companies in the Southwest as opposed to move to Silicon Valley or New York?

Well the honest answer is that I’m getting hitched soon and she lives in Houston. One of the advantages of being in the south is that it’s a heck of a lot cheaper in regards of cost of living.  Also you can find some great talent here, so investing in a great team here is a fraction of what you would pay in other places. With that being said, we’re still deciding on where we’ll be located. Most of it depends on where we accept our investment money.

How will you make money from the app?

Basically our model is to get as many restaurants on our freemium service, and hopefully show them value in using some of our premium features.  We make money from our premium subscription services.

How has this journey down the tech entrepreneurship road changed your life?

It’s just a different take on things.  It’s harder to find circles to fit in because most people don’t get tech.  I was at someone’s house and they asked me what I did. I answered them, and they said, ‘My friend builds apps on the side and sells them for .99 cents.’ Most people see that Facebook and Instagram made billions and that’s all they have for reference.  They see all their friends using these services but they don’t see the behind the scenes view, which involves hours of coding, months of pitching, and a lot of time trying to validate your product. So my life hasn’t changed too much other than finding circles of people that get it. Other than that I’ve gotten more creative in all areas of my life: creative financing, creative traveling, and creative lodging.

For more on “No Chains,” read our Tech Startup of the Week feature here…