Dale Lipan

A former Butler resident has launched an app that helps people save and make money by obtaining and sharing promotional codes and coupons offered by businesses.

Dale Lipan, who moved with his family from Butler to Charleston, S.C., a few years ago, said he came up with the idea for his app “Referred” while listening to podcasts that contained advertisements with promotional codes.

Using a bank as an example, he said an ad would offer people $100 for opening a new account and another $100 if they refer someone to open a new account, and the bank will also give that person $100.

“These companies give these promotional deals away all the time, but we never get to take advantage of them. In the end, the money gets left on the table and the companies know that. That’s why they do it,” Lipan said.

The app lets people who receive promotional offers and coupons share the discounts with other people around the world.

“On the app, you create an ad with the offer using your promo code. Someone gets on the app and contacts you, and you share the information to make it happen,” he said.

Offering the discounts to people through the app allows users to avoid asking family and friends to buy something to get the discounts and deals.

“You don’t want to pander to your friends. It’s cumbersome,” Lipan said.

The app includes gamification in which users are ranked globally based on the number of deals they have offered.

“You could be the No. 1 bank referral in Pennsylvania. Banks will see that and send deals to you to open an account. The banks will say, ‘I can’t afford not to have you as a customer,’” he said.

The app is available for free through the App Store and the Play Store.

“That’s my favorite price,” Lipan said.

A former corrections officer at the Butler County Prison, Lipan said he is in charge of business development for a home inspection company in South Carolina and isn’t highly skilled in technology, so he partnered with Integral App Studio to create the app and launch it in October.

Since then, it’s been downloaded by people looking to save money in the United States and other countries, including China, India and the United Arab Emirates, he said.

“It’s been taking off. It’s been absolutely blowing up,” Lipan said. “We’ve got users everywhere taking advantage of it.”

The app has also attracted copycats.

“The moment we launched, there were copy cats everywhere. They popped up almost instantaneously,” he said.