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The U of T alumni behind a startup called Orchard – a diagnostic app that appraises and helps resell old iPhones through its online market - have figured out exactly the moment when iPhone users will want to get rid of their old handsets. And that moment is right now.

 

“An unlocked iPhone 5 16GB can sell for $396, or a 32GB iPhone 5S with Rogers can go for $567,” wrote the Orchard team in a recent drawing on user data from eBay Transactions. “Given what we know about past years, you can expect the price of that iPhone 5 to drop to $336 over the 15 weeks after the launch. The 5S will probably fair a bit better: we expect the price to drop to around $481 in the 15 week window.”

 

Computer science alumnus Hamza Javed and Rotman MBA alumnus Alex Sebastian, along with their co-founder Bruno Wong, have earned plenty of media interest from their startup, which called “the only app you’ll need when the iPhone 6 launches.” 

 

Their combination of thorough diagnostic scan and immediate placement within a market for used iPhones offers users everything they need to turn what might otherwise be a very expensive paperweight into cash.

 

"People can decide how quickly they want their phone sold and how much they’re willing to part with it for – all on one screen," says Javed, co-founder of Orchard.

Javed says he and his co-founders developed Orchard to make re-selling iPhones a simple, safe and viable process for anyone across Canada, regardless of market know-how.

Orchard caught the attention of , , and more. The combination of media-propelled buzz and user interest drove the organization's growth from a coffee-shop-based startup in 2013 to a staffed company poised to make a serious dent in the U.S. market later this year.

"We’ve really grown to answer the demand that we’ve heard from Canadians," says Javed, explaining the recent addition of a "concierge" function in the app, which tailors the re-selling process to the needs of each user.

Javed spoke with U of T News about what's next for Orchard.

What does your startup do?
Orchard is an online concierge service that makes buying and selling used iPhones incredibly safe, easy and fair. We built the first app of its kind that automatically runs a full diagnostic check on your phone and, based on its condition and what identical devices are selling for on other marketplaces, finds you its fair market value. We use this app as a way to help people sell their used iPhones and as a tool to help us ensure the quality of the used iPhones that we sell to our buyers.

How did you arrive at the concept for your startup?
We identified the need for a better system to buy and sell used devices. After doing some digging, we discovered that $9 billion worth of used iPhones are left to collect dust in sock drawers every year and more than 75 per cent of people do not consider the value of their used hardware to be worth the effort of selling it. This suggested to us that the current process available from large retailers and online classifieds is inconvenient, unsafe and unreliable. Orchard was founded to be the answer to this problem, providing Canadians with safe, secure and affordable options for used devices.

How's everything been going since your launch?
Great! We launched the beta version of the Orchard app in late 2013 and grew into our e-commerce platform in March of 2014. We’re seeing a lot of great press – we were hailed as the only app you’ll need when the iPhone 6 launches in September – and we’re working hard to expand to supporting Android devices soon.

 

How will your startup change the world, the lives of our readers, or the future of your sector?
We’d like to become the go-to solution for anyone who wants to buy or sell a used electronic device. We’re looking to achieve this goal by empowering our users and offering them tools to ensure that they walk away with a phone that meets or exceeds their expectations.

Most buyers of used electronic devices don’t know what to look for past a crack in the screen, so we want to help people navigate quality checks on the actual guts of their devices. Our app is a tool that helps users do this, which we offer people for free even if they don’t want to sell their phone with us.

We also built a free IMEI [international mobile equipment identification] check for anyone who is buying a used phone from a stranger. They just enter the phone’s IMEI, which checks that it has not been reported as lost/stolen/blacklisted from use in Canada.

We’re looking to continue to build and innovate in this direction. We hate to think that there are so many perfectly good used devices being left to rot because the buying and selling process can be so overwhelming, so we’re doing everything we can to make sure these used devices find a good home.

How did U of T help you develop your concept?
U of T helped in a few ways. I was introduced to good courses that definitely helped shape my convictions of going the entrepreneur route. These were “Business of Software” taught by former instructor Arnold Wytenburg and “Technical Entrepreneurship” by Paul Salvini. Both these instructors bought their extensive experience to the table that was very helpful.

I also met my co-founders at U of T. One the co-founders, Alex, was doing his MBA at Rotman at the time and we had mutual friends who introduced us. I had made it well known to my friends that I was interested in entrepreneurship and Orchard was looking for a CTO and co-founder to get off the ground at the time.

What have you been up to since graduation?
As of February, I have been working full time on Orchard, out of our office at a co-working studio called MakeWorks. As the CTO, my day-to-day consists of directing the build of our business’s infrastructure, both online and on mobile. I’m also looking forward to continuing to devote my time to finding new opportunities for Orchard to grow and leverage the exciting things we’re building.

What’s next for your startup?
We are going to start raising our second round of investment shortly. The big benchmark we’re looking forward to is the iPhone 6 launch in September. After that, we have our sights set on entering the U.S. market in late 2014/early 2015.

Brianna Goldberg writes about entrepreneurship for U of T News.

The Spotlight on Startups series features the many entrepreneurial efforts growing from the hundreds of companies spun out from research and connections sparking every day at the University of Toronto:

U of T hosts more than 50 enterprise-fostering courses, programs, labs, clubs, contests and speaker series across its faculties, departments and campuses – and then there are all the innovations developing in informal settings. U of T ranks No. 1 in North America for number of startups launched. And its roster of spin-off companies driving innovation in Toronto and around the world continues to grow.

Visit the University of Toronto entrepreneurship site to learn about U of T's enterprise-fostering courses, labs, programs and more.