Wasiq Ali

Former Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence student, Wasiq Ali, shares how the Henderson Innovation Seed Fund helped him develop business networking app, Foundrly.

What course were you studying?

I recently completed my BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence at Birmingham City University, graduating with First Class Honours. I have always been interested in how technology can solve everyday problems, so having the opportunity to build something of my own alongside my degree was particularly important to me.

Tell us briefly about the project, product or business idea you received funding for.

Foundrly is a mobile app I developed to help people with business ideas connect with the right people. Someone might have a promising idea but need a co-founder with technical skills, advice from an experienced mentor, or an opportunity to speak with an investor. Finding those connections is not always easy, particularly when you are just starting out. I wanted to bring these opportunities into one place. Foundrly includes profiles, personalised connection recommendations, direct messaging and a community space where people can share ideas and interact. I built it as my final-year project, but from early on I wanted it to become something people could actually use beyond university.

What inspired you to develop this idea?

I have always been interested in starting and building businesses, and I kept coming back to the same problem: having an idea is one thing, but finding the right people to help you move it forward is another. You might know exactly what you want to create but have no idea where to find someone with the experience or skills you are missing. I also felt that many existing platforms focus on general networking rather than the particular needs of someone trying to start a business. I wanted to create something more focused, where connections are made for a reason and people can find each other based on what they are working towards. That was the starting point for Foundrly.

What stage was your idea at when you applied for the Innovation Seed Fund?

When I applied, Foundrly was still being developed as my final-year university project. I had worked out the concept, planned the main features and started building the mobile application using Flutter and Firebase. I could see how the different parts should fit together, but there was still a lot of work involved in making everything reliable. The application was more than just an idea on paper, although it was not ready for a public launch. I was concentrating on getting the core features working and understanding what it would take to make the app useful to people outside my university project.

How have you used, or how do you plan to use, the funding?

My plan is to put the funding towards getting Foundrly ready for real users. That includes the practical costs of running and testing a mobile app, such as online services, development tools and publishing requirements. I also want to use part of it to introduce Foundrly to its first users and find out what they actually think of it. I do not want to spend money adding features just for the sake of it. My priority is to launch a dependable app, understand which parts people find valuable and improve it based on genuine feedback.

What has the funding enabled you to do that you might not otherwise havebeen able to do?

Building the app myself has kept development costs down, but taking it beyond a university project brings different challenges. There are costs involved in testing, publishing, maintaining services and reaching people who might use it. The support gives me more room to plan for those steps instead of treating the finished university submission as the end of the project. It also gave me the confidence to take the business side of Foundrly more seriously. Being recognised through the Henderson programme made me feel that the idea was worth continuing to work on.

Can you give us an example of something tangible you have achieved or developed as a result of the funding?

The clearest result is that I have continued developing Foundrly as a working mobile application rather than leaving it as a completed university assignment. It now has the foundations of a platform where users can create accounts, build profiles, discover connections, communicate and take part in a community. I have also worked on the administration side and on improving the experience across the app. I had already started much of this development before receiving the award, so I would not say that the funding alone created those features. What the support has done is help me focus on turning the working project into something I can test with genuine users and eventually launch publicly.

What have you learnt through developing your idea?

The biggest lesson has been that building something which works for you as the developer is not the same as building something that works well for everyone else. Features can look straightforward when you plan them, but connecting everything together, managing user data and making the app feel smooth takes much more thought. I have had to solve problems, revisit decisions and sometimes rebuild parts of the app when the original approach was not good enough. I have also learnt to be more selective about what I work on. A long list of features is not necessarily useful if the basic experience is confusing. That is why I want real user feedback to shape the next stage of Foundrly.

Have you developed any new skills or confidence as a result of working on your project?

If so, tell us about them. Yes, definitely. From a technical point of view, I have become much more confident working with Flutter, Firebase, authentication, databases and the different pieces that make up a mobile application. More importantly, I have learnt how to investigate problems independently and keep going when a solution is not immediately obvious. Foundrly also pushed me outside the technical side of my degree. I had to think about how to explain the idea to other people, present it clearly and show why it matters. Presenting the project through the Henderson programme helped me become more comfortable discussing my work as a potential business, not just as a piece of coursework.

Has receiving the Innovation Seed Fund changed how you think about innovation, entrepreneurship or your future career?

It has made entrepreneurship feel much more practical to me. At university, it is easy to focus on building the technical solution because that is what you are being assessed on. Working on Foundrly and taking part in the funding process made me think more about users, costs, trust and what happens after the app is built. I still want to develop my career in computer science and artificial intelligence, but I do not see that as separate from entrepreneurship. I would like to keep building products of my own and apply my technical skills to problems that people actually experience. Foundrly is my first serious opportunity to do that.

What stage is your project or business idea at now?

Foundrly is now a working mobile application, and I am continuing to improve it before making it available publicly. The main platform has been developed, including account and profile features, ways to discover relevant connections, community functions and messaging. I have also been improving the admin tools and the overall layout and usability. I have completed my degree, but I have not stopped working on the project. I am concentrating on making the app stable and straightforward to use so that people have a good first experience when it launches.

What are your next steps for the idea?

My next step is to launch Foundrly publicly. Before doing that, I want to finish testing the important parts of the app and make sure the experience is reliable for new users. After launch, I plan to focus on marketing and reaching the people Foundrly is designed for: students with business ideas, early-stage entrepreneurs, potential co-founders, mentors and investors. I particularly want authentic user reviews, not just compliments from friends or people who already know the project. I want to understand where users get stuck, what they find helpful and what is missing. I will use that feedback to decide what to improve and which features are worth building next.

What would success look like for your project or business in the future?

I would love to see Foundrly become a platform that people genuinely rely on when they are starting or growing a business. For me, success would be hearing that someone found a co-founder through the app, received useful advice from a mentor or made a connection that helped them take their idea forward. Of course, I want the app to grow and eventually become a sustainable business. But I would rather have a smaller community making valuable connections than a large number of downloads from people who never return. If Foundrly helps people move from having an idea to actually doing something with it, that is the kind of impact I want it to have.

What would you say to another student who has an idea but isn't sure whether to take it further?

I would say: start working on it, even if you are not completely sure where it will lead. You do not need to have the perfect plan from day one. I certainly did not. Foundrly has gone through plenty of changes, and I have spent a lot of time fixing things that did not work as expected. The important thing is to give yourself something real to learn from. Build a basic version, speak to people, listen to their opinions and make improvements. Also, take opportunities to present your idea and apply for support. Putting Foundrly forward for the Henderson programme helped me think about it in ways I probably would not have considered if I had kept it to myself.

In a few sentences, what difference has receiving the Innovation Seed Fund made to you and your idea?

Receiving the Innovation Seed Fund recognition gave me a real boost at a point when Foundrly was moving from a university project towards a possible business. It made me more confident about continuing the work after graduation and gave me support to plan the next steps properly. I am proud of what I have built so far, but I know the most important part is still ahead: launching it, hearing from real users and improving it based on their experiences.