Curious about Givvie’s next chapter? Join the early list →
The Givvie Story
Givvie began as a mobile app for gifting food and drink experiences from independent Amsterdam businesses. We brought it to life with a pilot at MLT Bakery in Amsterdam West.
Now, I’m exploring a simpler, consumer-first experience: helping friends discover places and decide where to go together, with AI making that easier. This is the story of that first chapter and what I learned.
Brand photoshoot outside MLT Bakery, and a line from the Instagram teaser campaign.
01 The beginning
I wanted to understand what it meant to take an idea, build a brand, create a product and convince someone to try it.
I’ve learned a lot in my corporate career working with enterprise customers. With Givvie, I wanted to put my curiosity into something of my own: something I could share with family and friends, and that gave me room to express my creativity.
Givvie is the first step toward exploring what building a business looks like for me, in a space that I’m interested in.
02 The idea
The personal moments behind Givvie
Living in Amsterdam while my brother was in Chicago meant missing everyday moments together. For his birthday, I sent a card promising dinner and drinks the next time I was home. I wanted to send something he could enjoy then, even if I couldn’t be there.
That became the idea behind Givvie: a small treat from somewhere someone loves, whether a coffee and pastry down the street or drinks at their favourite bar.
Independent local businesses were central to it. I started with the places I knew in Amsterdam West and gathered input from owners along the way.
03 The product
Givvie let friends send food and drink experiences from local Amsterdam businesses. The recipient received a link to open their gift and redeem it in store using a QR code. Based on user feedback, recipients could receive and redeem their gift without downloading the app.
Pick a place. Each business shows the gifts you can send, like MLT Bakery.
Coffee and cake, pastry and coffee for two, or matcha and cake.
Say who it is for and add a short note, from happy birthday to just because.
Check the gift, pay, and get a gift link to share with a friend.
The recipient gets a link by text that opens a gift page. No app download needed.
The recipient shows their QR code, and the business scans it to redeem the gift.
Pick a place and see the gifts you can send.
Coffee and cake, or pastry and coffee for two.
Say who it is for and add a short note.
Pay and get a gift link to share.
A link by text opens the gift. No app needed.
The recipient shows their QR code, and the business scans it to redeem the gift.
For businesses
I built a web application for businesses to register and create gift packages, alongside a mobile app for staff to scan gifts, view pending gifts and track redemption history.
04 The creative journey
The creative side was one of the parts I enjoyed most. We explored Givvie’s values, who it was for and how gifting should feel, then brought those ideas into the app wireframes, visual identity and Instagram content.
The photoshoot at MLT Bakery was a highlight. Two friends helped bring Givvie to life through coffee, treats and time together. Sharing that moment with people close to me made it special.
Alongside the shoot, we created Instagram graphics and short videos, with collaboration making much of this work possible.
05 The operational dependency
That’s the dependency I want to change.
On the surface, Givvie was a gifting idea: one friend sending another a treat. But nobody could send a gift from a business that had not joined first.
The business had to register, set up its gift packages, connect Stripe for payouts and be ready to scan a QR code at the counter. That made onboarding businesses a first step the whole gifting experience depended on.
Registers, creates its gift packages and connects Stripe.
Its gifts are live in the app, ready to send.
Picks the business and a gift, adds a message and pays.
Opens the link and shows a one-time QR code in store.
Through the Stripe setup from the first step.
06 The first pilot
Meltem and Yakup, the owners of MLT Bakery, brought the perspective of people who would actually use the business side of the product. They gave feedback on the gift packages, the merchant summary page and the redemption experience. They were open to figuring things out with me, which I really appreciated at such an early stage.
07 Reflection
The goal was helping someone make a thoughtful gesture. Building Givvie taught me to distinguish that experience from all the applications and processes supporting it.
Before anyone could send a gift, a business had to join, create experiences and set up payouts. I learned that merchant onboarding was central to the model and limited how easily I could reach consumers.
Working with MLT Bakery gave us feedback another design review couldn’t. Their needs at the counter helped change redemption from a swipe to a one-time QR code.
Building with AI expanded what I could create and taught me where human expertise mattered most. The next opportunity for Givvie is to use agents to make discovering places, narrowing choices and deciding together easier for friends.
Tools I used
AI and design
Product technology
What I built
Join the early list for occasional updates and an invitation to try the beta when it’s ready.
Have an idea or want to connect? LinkedIn · sammie@givvie.ai