Company: QLess Inc., Pasadena, CA
Company Description: QLess is a software as a service company that eliminates physical lines and gives time back to retail customers, healthcare patients, college students, government constituents, and people who would otherwise be trapped in line anywhere by letting them enter virtual lines from cell phones, web browsers, or kiosks, roam freely while they wait, and get summoned when their turns for service arrive.
Nomination Category: Company / Organization Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year - Computer Services

Nomination Title: QLess Inc.

Tell the story about what this nominated organization has achieved since January 1 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

When Alex Bäcker got stuck standing in line in a Southern California theme park, he asked himself if there was no better way to wait than standing in line, a custom that dates to Ancient Egypt. QLess was born.

Americans spend 2 years of their life waiting in line. Businesses lose up to 50% of prospective customers who give up while waiting and walk out.

Founded by a team of entrepreneurs from MIT, Caltech, McKinsey & Yahoo, who have 4 previous start-ups under their belts, QLess eliminates standing in line by letting people enter virtual lines from their cell phones, web browsers, or kiosks, roam freely while they wait, then receive a call or text message when their turns for service arrive. At this writing, over 30 million people on six continents have been liberated from standing in line at DMVs, doctors’ offices, colleges and universities, retail stores, theme parks, and all types of establishments where people often have to wait.

QLess is interactive, allowing users to request more time, leave a line or request a status update at any time.

QLess is a Software as a Service company, requiring no special-purpose hardware nor any software installation, and is available from any device with Internet or cellular access.

In 2014, QLess more than doubled its user population, bringing the total number of users served to over 25 million, and saving them a cumulative seven centuries of time that they would otherwise have spent waiting in line (at this writing, the cumulative number of years saved is almost 900).

Bootstrapped by two founders out of a California garage with no venture funding, QLess has more than doubled its recurring revenue each year since its founding. In 2014, QLess doubled its customer base and deepened its penetration into the higher education, government, healthcare, and technology retail markets. Signature new accounts in 2014 included Vodafone Group, NYU, the Nevada DMV, the Tennessee Department of Public Safety, the Orange County FL DMV (including the city of Orlando), the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office, Ransom Hospital, and Care XPress Urgent Care, among many others. The company continued to innovate, implementing its patented FlexAppointments solution across industries and completing 70 product releases in 12 months.

FlexAppointments notify patients and others if their service provider is running late, and lets them push their FlexAppointment back if they need more time, allowing those in the wait list faster access to service.

QLess boasts 99% user satisfaction, 99% customer retention and an average annual growth of over 100% since inception.

In 2014 QLess was featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal, Wired, CNet, US News and World Report, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, Time Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal, among many others, and appeared on TV around the country.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) of the chief accomplishments of this organization since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

-Doubled our customer base.
-Doubled MRR over the same period; our growth rate places us in the top 10% of the Inc 5000.
-Launched at world’s most valuable retailer to manage its in-store service centers.
-Completed 70 product releases
-Implemented QLess for three large DMV customers that signed in 2013: Nevada DMV (to date, almost 240 years saved in 12 locations), Texas Department of Public Safety (to date, 263 years saved in 16 locations), Michigan Department of State (to date, 57 years across 10 locations)
-Yelp reviews for Texas DPS, post QLess, showed a 100% increase in average customer ratings; several locations got first-ever 5-star reviews after implementing QLess. Read more here.
-We invested 100% of our profits in growth, doubling employee count and filling key positions.
-We continued to receive rave reviews for the QLess application; click here to read them

Of the following measures of success, which ONE do you want the judges to most appreciate about your organization's story of achievement since the beginning of 2014?

Overall Innovation