Frequent Pass looking to replace loyalty punch cards with mobile app

Frequent Pass is a virtual replacement for the paper loyalty punch card. The three-employee startup will look to bring on sales reps after wrapping up a pilot sales program in the coming months.

Born in Malaysia, Frequent Pass CEO and Founder Rahim Rahman first came to Colorado to attend Colorado School of Mines in 1993.

He worked as a software developer in Denver and Boulder from 1997 to 2009 before a two-year stint in San Francisco, then returned to Denver in 2011.

After coming back, Rahmans says he worked in a lot of coffeeshops in and around his home in the Berkeley neighborhood, directly leading to the idea for Frequent Pass. "What annoys me the most is I keep forgetting punch cards," he says. "It happens way too often."

But he always remembered his smartphone, so he created an app that replaced the punch card and added some digital bells and whistles. He launched at last year's Totally Tennyson event, where $30 nets participants products or services at more than 30 participating merchants on Tennyson Street.

"I offered my app as an alternative to the punch card," says Rahman. Of the 300 downloads, about half were used instead of paper.

Today, downloads are in the thousands, and Frequent Pass just launched with with Civic Center Eats, a summer lunch program on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Civic Center Park. He is also partnering with the Colorado Restaurant Association.

Rahman is actively marketing Frequent Pass as a low-cost mobile app for businesses. "I have a demo with Green Garage," he says. "It will be a very cheap way for them to get a smartphone app."

Non-branded subscriptions run $10 to $30 a month; branded apps are $750 plus a monthly fee of $30 or more.

"Most merchants want people to come back," says Rahman. "With a paper punch card, you don't know who your customers are and you can't learn anything about them," he says. "You can with Frequent Pass, and entice them and offer deals."

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Eric Peterson with tips and leads for future stories at eric@confluence-denver.com.