by Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi

Sam Ovens is a New Zealand entrepreneur, in the field of technology, who has pursued the dream of starting up his own business at a very young age, after forging himself at The Foundation school. His smartphone App, SnapInspect, conceived for property managers, proves how not all formidable tech-novelties come from Cupertino.

Sam explains in this exclusive interview the conception and use of SnapInspect:

How does SnapInsect work exactly?

SnapInspect is a property inspection app for both Android & iOS that allows property managers to inspect their properties with their mobile devices instead of old-fashioned pen and paper.  The app allows them to complete a checklist, write comments, take photos and videos and then automatically produce a beautiful branded report with 1-Click.

Is it meant specifically for property management companies?

Yes, currently we serve residential property management, commercial property management and vacation rental management.

How did you come up with the idea?

I researched the property management industry to find their “most painful problem”.  After 1 month of talking to property managers I found this to be property inspections.  I then decided to make them easier by building an app.

What is your background both in the field of technology and of property management?

I had tried to start 3 technology companies before SnapInspect with no success… I had no experience or background in the property management market but I was interested by it and decided to start researching it to find problems that I could solve with technology.

How is the response going so far?

Very good!  Right now SnapInspect is around 3 years old and we have over 1,600 customers all over the world.  Each month we grow faster and faster and we are only really just getting started.

Do you think your App may change the way the real estate market operates?

Yes, absolutely!  Right now more than 500,000 properties are being managed with SnapInspect which means that inspectors and property investors are receiving digital inspections instead of traditional pen and paper and they are loving it!

What would you recommend to people who would like to start their own business in this field?

Find a problem and solve it.  Don’t think or dream up ideas – those don’t sell.  Find a painful problem that is wide-spread across an entire industry and then solve it with a piece of technology.  People buy things to solve problems, they rarely buy things because they’re “cool”

Are you planning to amplify SnapInspect or are you working also on other Apps?

Right now my focus is scale. I want to acquire as much of the property management market on a global basis as fast as possible and get them using SnapInspect.  Once I achieve that I will look at building additional products for the property management space.