There are thousands of apps out there – literally – so we really are a bit spoiled for choice when it comes to deciding which one is best for being social, editing our photos or helping us exercise, just to name a few. But what about deciding other things? I’m sure we can all recall time spent wandering around a clothes store, unable to decide if a dress is really worth it. Well, now there’s an app for that.
Wooju is the brainchild of Calum Leslie, who has taken an idea from a bizarre situation into an international app which has already attracted almost 100,000 users. We got in touch with Calum to find out more about where the app came from, what it’s all about and how it can help young people with everyday life decisions – is a third slice of toast with Nutella for breakfast acceptable…?
Hi Calum! Tell us about about Wooju and how the idea came about.
I studied for a while in the US, and one evening I was at a party talking to this girl. I genuinely thought things were going well, until she pulled out her phone and took a picture of me. So I asked her why, and she said: “I’m taking a picture of you to find out if my friends think you’re hot.” So that’s where the idea for Wooju came from. You just take a picture, ask a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question, and send to the friends that you want to help make a decision. You get an easy to use poll, vote yes or no and you make a decision. If you’re not happy with your friends’ results you can always ask a member of the Wooju public.
What made you get up and turn that idea into a product?
I remember my dad handed me Richard Branson’s book Screw It, Let’s Do It when I was in high school, and from that moment onwards I didn’t want to do anything other than entrepreneurship!
The app only launched last year, but how many users does it currently have?
We’re just about to hit 100,000, and the aim is to hit a million users over the next 12 months.
We know that the new version of the app is launched today. What’s changed?
The new update is ten times faster with a new look so it’s going to be a lot more user-friendly, and there’s a couple new features as well. Keep your eyes peeled on social media for the new interesting ad we are working on!
You must have seen some interesting Woojus since the app launched. What’s been your favourite?
The biggest validation was when someone sent one saying, “should I get a tattoo?” and then they sent one with the tattoo! So for us, it’s insane that you can think of something and launch it, and it actually affects what people are doing in their day to day lives.
Why is Wooju suited best to students, and a young audience?
Ages 17-26 are the most active on smartphones and apart from anything else, teenagers and university students tend to be the most indecisive!
Does Wooju have any celebrity users or claims to fame?
Jamie Laing and Oliver Proudlock from Made in Chelsea picked up on the app on Twitter because we were trending, so I guess they are our two most high profile users! Calum Best as well, and Alex Salmond used to have an account. We are also featured in a movie coming out in September this year, so stay tuned for more information on that.
Where can we download this exciting app?
It’s available all over the world and we’re hopefully expanding to an office in New York soon. You can download it on iPhone and, as of recently, Android as well. It’s free, and it always will be – I’ll make that a promise.
And that’s a promise we like! What we also love is that Wooju sends out a Question of the Day, where users can vote and view the public’s reactions on a particular topic. The new version of the app launched today (1 June), and is available for download from the Apple App Store and Google Play. If you can’t make up your mind on what to order from the menu, what to wear, whether to get out of bed or not or, in Calum’s date’s case, whether someone is hot or not, then we suggest you download Wooju now.
We would love to solve our indecisiveness with the help of the world – Wooju? Find out more at woojuapp.com.
