Reuben May. Image: TVInstaller.ie
Our Start-up of the Week is TVInstaller.ie, which helps give users the perfect home cinema experience using the latest installation methods and technology.
“Flatscreen TVs are designed to go on a wall but the majority of televisions in Ireland are still sitting on a stand,” said TVInstaller.ie founder Reuben May.
“We’ll help create space in your home by wall-mounting your TV, giving your room a slicker, more stylish look, and providing you with the ultimate TV viewing experience.
“And we can have a technician to your door in 60 minutes after booking through our intuitive online booking system.”
‘We’re bringing the well-established business of booking a TV installation to the digital world’
– REUBEN MAY
May, a seasoned digital executive who previously worked with Michael O’Leary and Denis O’Brien, noticed a gap in the TV installation market and decided to make the jump to set up his own company.
Shortly after launch, TVInstaller.ie became the exclusive TV installation professional for DID Electrical and is recommended to customers by Arnotts, Currys and Expert.
The market
May said that the company’s target market is anybody who wants the ultimate home cinema experience.
“It’s a myth that people are watching less TV these days; television still plays a massive role in the Irish home. In fact, the average household these days watches over three hours of TV each day – it’s actually up by 11 minutes compared to 10 years ago.
“And viewers want an immersive TV viewing experience in their homes. The average screen size in the living room has also increased by nearly 7in over the last four years, from 40.4in to 47.1in.
“We’ve found that millennials in particular are using our service. They are dedicated to getting the ultimate TV viewing experience and we’re helping to provide it.”
The founder
May was previously head of digital marketing at Ryanair, reporting directly to O’Leary, and he helped bring the company into the digital age.
“It was a really exciting time to be involved with the company, with the share price and passenger numbers reaching an all-time high during this period.”
May then went to work directly for O’Brien, turning around his BuyandSell.ie and AppliancesDelivered.ie companies by redefining the original classified business model into one that concentrated on selling home appliances online.
“My family have been involved in the TV installation business for over 50 years, so last year I decided to combine my digital knowledge with my installation experience to create an online TV mounting service with TVInstaller.ie.”
The technology
Previously, arranging an installation has been a clunky and frustrating customer experience.
“We’re bringing the well-established business of booking a TV installation to the digital world,” said May.
“We’ve designed everything around creating the perfect customer experience. From choosing your type of installation, processing the payment on the day with credit cards or cash if preferred, to securing your booking slot at a day and time that suits, TVInstaller.ie makes the whole process really easy and hassle-free.
“We believe TVs can do so much more than just sit on a stand. There is a wide range of brilliantly designed fixing brackets, including full motion, tilt or flat brackets, and we can hide all those unsightly cables as well. We are dedicated to staying at the forefront of the best installation techniques and methods to give our customers the best experience.
“When it comes to the installation itself, we won’t finish the job until the customer is 100pc happy, and we’re proud that the positive customer feedback reflects that.”
May said that the ultimate goal is to be the go-to TV installer and to give homes across the world the ultimate TV viewing experience. “For now, we want to help bring the home cinema experience to every home in Dublin, and we’ll do this through our dedication to customer satisfaction and high-quality craftsmanship.
“We’ll then expand our focus across the rest of Ireland, into the UK and then across the rest of the world. Our customer-centric approach and the resulting positive online feedback has meant that we have already had dozens of requests for installation from across the UK.
“So, growing our team to fulfil the demand and expand internationally will happen sooner rather than later.”
Fine-tuning a market
May said that the company essentially created a market in Ireland that did not exist.
“Nobody else was providing a dedicated TV installation service in Ireland. We spotted the gap in the market last year and being the first mover has helped a lot.
“We’re proud of our customer conversion rates, which are well above industry standards, and we’re obsessed with providing the ultimate customer experience.
“We’ve already had some great celeb testimonials, including Vogue Williams, Suzanne Jackson and MMA trainer John Kavanagh, which have helped raised our profile, but most importantly we are most proud that TVInstaller.ie has a five-star rating on Google.”
The company is not currently seeking investment, but that is likely to change when it embarks on its global expansion.
“Like most start-ups, capital was a big challenge at the beginning. We were fortunate that, shortly after we started, we secured a contract with DID Electrical to become its exclusive TV installation partner.
“We also started relatively small and just kept investing the money back into the company rather than getting funding and giving up equity at an early stage.”
His advice to fellow founders is to just go for it. “If you have an idea that you think is better than the alternatives out there, do your research, form a strategic plan, figure out how to secure a bit of initial capital and get going.”
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