Aliya Abreu
PANAJI
Shawn Pereira, a third-year Computer Science student from the Goa Engineering College (GEC) made waves in the tech community across the globe earlier this month with his product called whatsappr (whatsappr.com) which facilitates messaging on the popular messaging app, WhatsApp.
With Shawn’s product, which is available for free, a user can create a message URL and can forward a pre-typed message via WhatsApp.
When Shawn’s product was launched earlier this month, it was released on a website called “Product Hunt”, a website which launches original products. Within hours, Shawn is reported to have received feedback from hundreds of people from the tech community from different parts of the world, including the USA and Europe.
Shawn explains that his product is beneficial for WhatsApp power users who are “fed up with the limited functionality of the app.”
“Whatsappr is an easier and more personalised way to send messages to multiple people rather than just forwarding them. It’s also a simpler way to generate WhatsApp message URLs.” For example, if a small business wants to share a message among their customers, send a referral link or discount code, it can do so using Whatsappr. For the individual user, the biggest advantage is that when forwarding the message through WhatsAppr, he or she won’t get the “forward” tag and arrow that now comes along with forwarding a message on WhatsApp. This makes the message look more authentic and personalised.
The app was ranked fourth as the product of the day on the Product Hunt leaderboard, Shawn said. At its peak, it was ranked second for some hours. The product was also given a shoutout by the Product Hunt Twitter account which has 4 lakh followers.
Speaking to The Goan Shawn said he was surprised and happy with how well his product was faring. “Getting to the top 5 on Product Hunt is a pretty big deal. I wasn’t expecting it to do so well,” said Shawn, explaining that it was exciting for him because Product Hunt was browsed mostly by other makers, startups, angel investors and VC.
The engineering student also said that the start-up company Nova Semita, which helps students looking for a career in engineering, helped him create his product. “Raj (Kuncolienkar) from Nova Semita told me about the need for an easier way to create WhatsApp message URLs and suggested that I build something. Along the way, I also got ideas from friends on what else would be useful,” Shawn said. “The team at Nova Semita has changed my outlook and helped me discover new things,” he added.
