'Samply' Success for Entrepreneurship Graduate

Originally from Preston, Josh's ambition had always been to start his own business – he believes he owes a great deal both to Lancaster University and his family for where he is now.

“My father started a string of successful businesses and I grew up in a very ‘entrepreneurial’ environment, so starting my own business seemed a relatively normal career path. Studying Management and Entrepreneurship at Lancaster seemed the obvious choice – there was a great mix of academic and practical modules, and I was able to take a year out in industry, which gave me great real-world experience.”

With a background in mobile technology and social media, Josh's decision to launch Samply was prompted after he started looking into the marketing and promotional activities for top brands, and he quickly identified sampling as a multi-billion pound market which the right technology could transform. 

Josh now lives in Manchester, where his time is spent overseeing the application design and development work for Samply. The app is designed to be a market research platform for brands as well as giving a voice to consumers and rewarding them for their opinions.

Josh will be hosting launch events at universities across the country with the first one at Lancaster University on 28 October 2014, where students will be able to sample products from big brands such as Coca Cola, Cadbury and Propercorn.