We’ve all been there. You finally pull the trigger on those new shoes you’ve been eying for months, only to see them on sale a month later for half the price, leaving you shouting to the heavens: “Why me, why?”
Ok, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but it still bites to miss out on a killer deal. And that’s where Waldo comes in. The Boulder-based company, which launched today, has built an AI tool to track price changes after your purchase an item and help you recoup the difference.
While most people know airline tickets and concert tickets change prices on the hour, most people don’t know that regular retail prices do the exact same thing.”
Retail prices, it turns out, change more often than the fashion whims of teenagers, and it’s not just during sales. In fact, something as small as a $5 keychain could fluctuate in price 50 times a day, said Waldo’s co-founder Colin Ristig.
“We track millions of products every day, and while most people know airline tickets and concert tickets change prices on the hour, most people don’t know that regular retail prices do the exact same thing,” Ristig said. “I bought a new router from Best Buy, and with the software, was able to get $10 back. I had no idea the price had dropped.”
Ristig started Waldo in February with two of his coworkers from the analytics software company Alteryx, Ben Sanders and Greg Lamp. The seeds for the idea were planted about four years ago when Sanders dreamt of an AI that could make money for people.
“The core idea came from that thought,” Ristig said. “It was like the nirvana of what AI could be.”
As the trio continued to work together on retail projects, that far-fetched dream started to materialize into an opportunity. They noticed how often prices changed, and knew that nearly every retailer offered some form of reimbursement for those price differences. However, most people don’t have the time to keep tracking the prices once they leave the store.
So, they built an algorithm that could not only track price changes after your purchase but could also initiate the reimbursement process on your behalf. And voilà: a money-making AI.
“Once we had the system up and running to track these product prices, the volume of money from price changes day-to-day was mind-boggling,” Ristig said.
For example: A KitchenAid Mixer at Best Buy might be listed at $259.99 now, but Waldo’s algorithm found that it sold for anywhere from $199 to $400 over a monthlong span. Through Waldo, users link their Gmail accounts and rest assured they’ll get that mixer at the best price, even if that occurs a month later, Ristig said.
The algorithm syncs with the person’s email receipts to track the prices and initiates the transactions. The company takes a 25 percent cut from any reimbursement it finds, but the rest goes to the user.
The AI works on purchases from more than 100 retailers, including Target, Best Buy, Amazon, J. Crew, and more. However, Ristig said the company is looking into a system that works on airline tickets, car insurance and more.
For now, the company is focused on adding users. After a successful Beta launch and angel funding round, the company is confident in its future.
“We finished our fundraise in a two-week period,” Ristig said. “That gave us a ton of confidence that the idea is there, and the market is huge. Everyone shops online.”
