Easy Salon: Easy Is Beautiful

As a world economic recession is coming, many businesses are getting to follow Schumacher’s “small is beautiful” with plans for down-sizing and cutting costs. The following story of Easy Salon - a spa & beauty salon management application - tells us that not only small but also easy is beautiful.

“Simplicity and Execution are critical”

It was a chat among investors just before the Gala Dinner of Surf Da Nang 2019 started. Randy Thompson, Chairman & CEO of Valhalla Private Capital and Angel Investor of the Year in Canada, dropped himself on a chair, looked around a table of both national and international investors, then archly asked “So, who do you think will be the winner?”

A long day of exploring prototypes, attending panel discussions, talking to founders, and judging investment pitches made the investors a bit tired and the question was waking them up. Each gave their own assessment and preference. They then looked back to Randy, waited for his preference. “Well, I like the beauty salons management and CRM app,” Randy sipped his beer. “It is easy to understand their simple product and business model. Perhaps, their easy-to-use helps them getting more and more customers,” Randy continued. For Randy simplicity of a business model and excellent execution are critical indicators.

Good things take time: Be patient

Six months later, Easy Salon has expanded from their home city Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City where the population of spa and beauty salons is at least ten times larger. Since Surf Da Nang, the number of paid customers of Easy Salon has grown 120% to 115 customers, mainly in Da Nang (45) and Ho Chi Minh City (57).

The beauty of simplicity and easiness of Easy Salon is also recalled in a consultation session between Founder Incubation Program (FINC) by Swiss EP's partner organization Da Nang Enterprise Support (DNES) and a tech founder. Helping the founder remake his mini-ERP application for foreign language training centers, Truong – the manager of FINC and CEO of Flying Fish Investment – gives an example. “Let’s look at Easy Salon. They do not solve all problems of the spa and beauty salons. They focus on the most painful. And their application is easy to use so that any staff member of the spas can work on it.”

Last but not least, DNES introduces Easy Salon to network of startup support programs beyond Da Nang. One of them is SME Mentoring in Ho Chi Minh city. Mentor Ted Nuyen has guided the founder of Easy Salon to develop personal capacity for leadership and decision making.

The Covid-19 outbreak is a great challenge to Han and his 7 team members as the spas and beauty salons have to closed – for only a short while, we hope. Han’s plan for doubling the sales team to conquering is now on hold. “His small team allows Han to keep bootstrapping, fortunately. When the market returns, easy-to-use application allows them to acquire customers quickly and cheaply,” Truong acknowledges.