snapcircle🎯

Dec 26, 2019 00:00 · 449 words · 3 minute read snapcircle startup mvp

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Moving to Ireland at 35 changed my relationship with coffee completely. Back in Dubai, I barely touched the stuff – maybe it was the heat, or just different habits. But Ireland’s coffee culture? It pulled me in fast.

Soon I had a routine: morning coffee from the local shop, another at the office before our daily sprint (essential for staying awake during those early meetings), and one more from “Seven Wonders” on my walk home. Three different shops, three different loyalty cards stuffed into my wallet.

That bulky wallet became a daily reminder of a problem that seemed so obvious, yet unsolved. Why hadn’t anyone tackled this yet?

The Idea That Wouldn’t Go Away

During my first week in Ireland, I started jotting down ideas in my iPhone Notes app. What if there was a simple way to consolidate all these loyalty cards? It felt like such a basic need, especially in a country where coffee shop loyalty is practically a religion.

But life got in the way. Being the first member of the EMEA DevOps team meant I needed to focus on proving myself. I followed the “keep your head down and work hard” strategy – probably the smart move when you’re the new guy trying to establish credibility.

Finally Making Time

Months passed, and that familiar itch started – the need to build something of my own. The loyalty card idea had been sitting in my side-project list, quietly nagging at me. Finally, I carved out some evenings and weekends to bring it to life.

snapcircle was my attempt to modernize the humble punch card. Nothing revolutionary, just a practical solution to a daily annoyance.

🌐Website: https://snapcircle.io/

Early Prototype

This is what I built a few months in:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/326041998

Demo Video

https://www.youtube.com/embed/JLxGOtLHVGU

Interactive Prototype

https://marvelapp.com/prototype/a36ae68

Tech Stack

What I Learned

Looking back, snapcircle taught me valuable lessons about timing, market validation, and the reality of building in competitive spaces. Sometimes the best education comes from projects that don’t make it to market – they’re still worth the effort for what you learn along the way.

Update: By the time I was ready to launch, another innovative NFC-based solution had entered the Irish market. After using their product, I realized they’d built exactly what the market needed – and frankly, they’d executed it better than I could have. Sometimes knowing when to step aside is just as important as knowing when to push forward. You learn to pick your battles and appreciate good solutions, even when they’re not your own.

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