Convenience is a luxury that people value. That’s Ali Carter’s motto for his business, CONNEQ.
CONNEQ is an app-free digital business card through which businesspeople and creatives can share their social media and contact information quickly. The digital business card is accessed on CONNEQ’s products with a smartphone, either tapping the phone onto the product using near field communication (NFC) or scanning a QR code. Users can share their whole profile or prioritize just one link, such as Instagram or LinkedIn.
Currently, CONNEQ sells three main products: a business card, a phone tag and a wristband (which Carter calls “follow bands”). The wristbands are the original product, and the business cards are the most popular. Carter is testing out a PVC foam stand, designed specifically for small businesses to put on display.
Carter officially made CONNEQ an LLC last September, and so far, has made roughly $1,200 in revenue. He has not received any outside funding or investments and has used his own money to build CONNEQ.
He also hopes to pivot CONNEQ into making it more convenient for small businesses to obtain data analytics from their customers. As a manager at IHOP, Carter has seen the long, arduous process that businesses use to try to get feedback and reviews from customers through websites and promotions. With CONNEQ, he hopes to expedite the process to a minute and a half at most and make it fun and user-friendly, like Instagram polls.
Carter heavily credits his friends, family and fellow entrepreneurs in helping him start and better his business.
At the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey, Carter was inspired by the black-owned podcast Earn Your Leisure, so he began interviewing entrepreneurs.
And even talking with strangers has led to Carter’s success.
One day he went into the local library looking for someone to help film content for CONNEQ, and that’s how he met Shafna Shamsuddin, owner of Elaka Treats and an alumna of Launch Greensboro. When Carter showed Shamsuddin his product, she offered feedback and informed him about Launch Greensboro’s programs for entrepreneurs.
Shamsuddin is now one of CONNEQ’s biggest users, having over 217 shares on her digital business card.
Carter says that getting involved with Launch Greensboro provided a structure for him to step back and gain clarity on his business and his goals. It has helped him refine his target audience, his identity and his competitive advantage.
He also learned how to evaluate his progress.
“[Shamsuddin] talks about working in the business versus working on the business. When you’re working in the business, you’re trying to create content, trying to make sure I’m posting on social media and things like that. Versus when you’re working on the business, you’re looking at what’s working well for us and what’s not going well for us,” Carter said.
Talking with other entrepreneurs has given Carter the constructive feedback he needs to stay innovative. One of the people he met through Launch Greensboro, an owner at Breez Cheez, suggested ideas for subscription-based features Carter might not have thought about on his own.
These conversations and brainstorms with other like-minded entrepreneurs will allow Carter to maintain CONNEQ’s competitive edge long-term and evolve his business’s identity.
“You’ll run into a lot of people, they got shirt brands, they got a catering business, a lot of people doing a lot of things. You really have to find a way to be different and have an identity about yourself,” Carter said.
