Innovation in Action in UCC: Alex Goodison, Homeplan

20 Jun 2024

As part of our Innovation in Action in UCC series, we have been speaking to the Quercus Innovation and Entrepreneurship scholars about their experience of entrepreneurship as a third level student and the supports available for budding student entrepreneurs in UCC. The Quercus Talented Students’ Programme supports and promotes excellence in academia, sport, creative and performing arts, active citizenship, and innovation/entrepreneurship. The Quercus programme awards up to three scholarships each year to students registered on an undergraduate/level 8 programme, who demonstrate an exceptional level of excellence in the innovation and/or entrepreneurial space.

Alex Goodison has just completed his third year of his BSc in Computer Science and is a Quercus Innovation/Entrepreneurship scholar. He began making websites when he was only seven years of age. His father worked as a software engineer, which Alex says ignited his interest in software engineering and web development from a very young age.

Alex set up a graphic design business called Goodie Graphics at eleven years old, selling logos and business card designs after he returned home from primary school.  Over a number of years, Alex built his customer database to an impressive two hundred clients across the world. In 2016, he was awarded first place for his business in the Student Enterprise Awards Limerick.

In true entrepreneurial fashion, Alex used the profits generated from Goodie Graphics to buy his first laptop, which led to him beginning to work on app development. Alex’s most successful app, Swiipe News, a news app made for teens, featured in publications like Mashable and the Times. Other apps Alex has released include Defib.live, an Irish defibrillator locator. He has also won multiple awards at BT Young Scientist, such as the ISTA Award, and placed second nationally at the Student Enterprise Awards.

Following the onset of the pandemic and an extended stint of being in lockdown in 2020, Alex realised that he wanted his next project to be impactful. He reached out to a number of contacts to inquire about what kind of projects they were working on. One contact in particular – his now co-founder, Bash - sent him his concept for Homeplan, which would go on to become his next significant venture.

“We officially signed the documents of incorporation for Homeplan during my Leaving Certificate examinations. Just after Irish Paper 2”, Alex explains.

Homeplan is a home management app that pairs homeowners with software and a home assistant to digitally and automatically manage their homes. Homeowners can track maintenance, repairs, appliances, insurance, documents, pay bills and handle common tasks associated with home ownership, passively – moving away from time consuming hands-on processes like excel, text, phone calls, emails, lists and in-person appointments.

“These days, we all have digital ways of managing things in our lives but the home is so fragmented. We wanted to solve that with our app.”

Despite hailing from two different corners of the world (Alex is from Charleville, Co. Cork, his co-founder Bash is from St Louis, Missouri), Alex tells us that he and Bash align in terms of personality and ambition.

“Bash and I share the goal of wanting to help people with our business. A big part of our Homeplan platform is educating people on how best to take care of their home. We have a variety of guides available to help people gain knowledge on how to efficiently manage their home.”

The Homeplan team are currently working on a unique mobile experience for use in the real estate space, with both homeowners and non-homeowners in mind.

Being a Quercus Innovation/Entrepreneurship scholar has given Alex access to academic mentors, as well as a supportive community where ideas can be shared among other Quercus scholars. As part of a partnership established between Quercus and IGNITE, Alex has also been able to access the support of IGNITE workshops, seminars, guest speakers and mentors. He recently shared his entrepreneurial insights at one of IGNITE’s Inspiring Entrepreneurs talks along with the other Quercus Innovation and Entrepreneurship scholars.

Alex, along with a fellow Quercus scholar Conor Kelly, are currently undertaking yet another entrepreneurial endeavour - a unique online learning platform for third level Medicine students, with interactive lessons for various aspects of the Medicine course. Their goal is for their site to become the ultimate learning aid for 3rd level medicine students, and they hope to launch during the next academic year.

When asked what advice he would give to aspiring entrepreneurs, Alex’s answer was simple, and reflective of his early start in the world of entrepreneurship:

“There’s no better time to start than now. Some people try to wait for the right time to do something and that time never comes.”

Alex and the other Quercus Innovation and Entrepreneurship scholars are some of many examples of innovative activity taking place throughout the UCC Campus. If you are engaging in innovative activity in UCC, or know of a colleague/student who is adding to the entrepreneurial and innovation space on campus, we would love to hear from you! Please email snolan@ucc.ie to get in touch and to be featured in our Innovation in Action series.