I came in thinking about my time. I left thinking about his business.
Before preparing my final-year project presentation, I went for a haircut and found myself waiting again. I asked my barber how a booking system could help.
He described a working day shaped by crowded periods, quiet hours and calls that interrupted every service. The conversation changed what I wanted to solve.
With my technical co-founder, we built a first version and put it into the salon. Customers could book through a web page and receive updates on WhatsApp. Real appointments gave us a way to test the idea against daily work.
Start with the way people already work.
I wanted booking to fit the habits of the customers we were serving. We chose a web page people could open from a link, with WhatsApp communication around the appointment.
That choice was about adoption. The product had to be simple enough for the customer and useful enough for the salon to keep using it.
Today, five pilot salons use Besalis. Together, they have completed more than 5,000 bookings over one year. Some now receive all bookings through the platform and report very few booking calls.
Build the salon’s brand into the experience.
A luxury barbershop earns its reputation through its people, service and identity. I want the digital experience to strengthen that investment.
Each salon has its own branded booking page. Reservations and WhatsApp notifications organise the customer journey. Follow-up invites customers to leave a Google review after their visit.
Multi-salon management is also live: an owner can manage several locations from the same dashboard. The product is starting to support the business around the appointment.
My role is to turn the conversation into a direction.
I work on business development, positioning and marketing. I bring owners into testing, understand what gets in their way and help decide what we should build next.
My technical co-founders lead development. Our work meets in the product: what we hear from owners becomes something they can use, test and improve with us.
We are still early. The five salons give us a working foundation and a reason to keep listening closely.
Give the owner room to grow.
My ambition is to help owners spend more time developing their team, their brand and their next location, with less of the day consumed by appointment administration.
Marketplace discovery, product sales and chair rental for freelancers are planned opportunities. Each would extend what an owner can build around the salon.
The principle stays the same: preserve the salon’s identity and give the person behind it more room to build a business.