While sitting hungry and sweaty at a football game that had long concession lines, Victoria Liu discovered a problem she wanted to solve. That’s where Byppo was born.
On September 7, 2018, Liu went to her first football game where the University of Florida was playing Kentucky. She never had any interest in sports, but she knew she had to attend one game before she graduated.
“Because I didn’t know what was going on in the game, I started thinking far into the distance and thinking, who else has this problem that I’m facing? Where they’re hungry, they’re thirsty, they can’t get something to eat, they don’t wanna stand in line, and the people who care and know what’s going on in the game, they must really not want to leave their seat.”
Liu thought of the idea of creating an app that could make food ordering more convenient at concession stands. That December, Collin Austin spoke in Lui’s entrepreneurship class. Feeling inspired, she decided she was going to start a business.
In March of 2019, she created Byppo, an online ordering app that aims to change the world by making food ordering easier.
She had no idea how to develop an app, so she went to UF’s entrepreneurship center and was connected with James Gibson, the founder of Quottly. She wanted to develop the app right away, but instead, Gibson guided her to first go to her customers and see if her idea could solve their problem.
“You have to sell your idea. Do not go and develop your product without selling your idea and proving your concept.”
She began surveying football fans at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with her app idea. After many good responses, she reported to Gibson, and he connected her with a freelance developer who is now her full-time developer at Byppo.
That May, she graduated from the University of Florida with a master’s degree in Accounting. She had a full-time accounting job lined up in her hometown, Miami. Despite the challenges faced by her family, Liu knew she wanted to pursue starting a business, even if it was the more challenging, unplanned path.
On August 27, 2019, Byppo was launched at a softball game. Liu saw a man at the concession stand who wanted to buy fries for his daughter but didn’t have any cash. The cashier told him about Byppo, and Liu had her first customer.
“It was so rewarding to see something I created from scratch actually worked.”
Today, Byppo is used by 30 businesses across Florida and Texas. Liu pivoted her business to not only providing services to concession stands but also providing services to restaurants.
“I go back to ask myself, why did I start a business? And it’s to solve a problem and to help people. Whether it’s at a stadium or locally at restaurants, I don’t think it makes that much of a big difference for me.”
Listen to the 146th episode of the WHOA GNV podcast to hear more about Victoria Liu’s entrepreneurial journey to starting her own business out of college.
