Mailani Veney’s Hawaiian heritage permeates the culture of her Lincoln startup, DealAnyDay.

“It’s been really easy for us to recruit talent because of our ‘Aloha Spirit,’” said Veney, the company President. “It’s the spirit of doing something without expecting something else in return.”

DealAnyDay is a website and mobile app that allows users to search for daily specials or promotions by categories like location, business type or population groups such as college students or military.

“We provide a mobile platform for businesses to be discovered,” Veney said. “Almost 50% of millennials say that specials are their number one criteria.”

Restaurants, bars and other businesses can list specials on DealAnyDay at no cost.

Thanks to our sponsor

Become an SPN sponsor »
Meet our sponsors »

“You can list a deal for free whether you’re super small or a company that can afford marketing,” Veney said. “We do the work and you have the fun or the customers.”

The immediacy of finding information about specials and promotions is key.

“People want an answer right now,” Veney said. “It might not even be about saving money, it’s about enjoyment.”

Data insights for small business

So if DealAnyDay is free for both businesses and users, how does the company generate revenue? It comes down to data.

“Small businesses have three problems,” Veney said. “Too much data, too little data, or not relevant data. We provide actionable analytics to help them understand what they can change to increase brand visibility and profitability.”

DealAnyDay operates on a subscription model that includes data, recommendations and personal consultation.

“The recommendations part is huge,” Veney said. “The data may show that a Tuesday special isn’t working well so the business may want to change it.”

National impact

DealAnyDay already has a national footprint in users and employees.

“We’re in 25 cities, soon to be 28,” Veney said. “We list about 2,500 deals in Lincoln. Same in Omaha. Non-coupon deals, by the day and category.”

The cities include Des Moines, Kansas City and, of course, Honolulu, Hawaii.

The DealAnyDay workforce is spread all over the United States.

“We’ve hired all over the country, employees and contractors,” Veney said. “They can work remotely and are involved in all aspects of the business.”

Keeping with the Hawaiian theme, there are daily and weekly ‘Surf’s Up’ meetings.

“We have a secure Facebook page as a forum for people to post suggestions and get to know each other,” Veney said. “We talk about wins and challenges and have a fun question of the week.”

Nebraska support

DealAnyDay has benefited from relationships with Nebraska Global and Don’t Panic Labs.

“We’re Nebraska Global’s second woman-owned investment,” Veney said. “And our collaboration with Don’t Panic Labs has been fantastic.”

The company has also received an Innovation Grant from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

“I heard they were running out of money so I didn’t expect to get the grant,” Veney said. “But we got phenomenal letters of support from customers who said, ‘This is what we need.’”

What will they do with the Innovation Grant funds?

“We’re going to build out the analytics platform to make it more robust, and provide a secure logon for businesses,” Veney said. “Right now we generate a manual report. This will make it more interactive.”

Riding the wave

DealAnyDay has been in business for just over a year.

“We want to grow to 300 cities in the U.S. and move international in the next 18 months,” Veney said. “And we want to move to more of a crowdsource approach where people can favorite and share deals.”

At the end of the day, according to Veney, it comes back to people and culture.

“People are number one for us, helping them understand their talents and strengths,” Veney said. “We want them to be riding the apex, the top of the wave.”

—

Rod Armstrong is Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for AIM in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a regular contributor to Silicon Prairie News.