Chérie Oduwole did not start with a factory or a hardware lab. She started with a name that mashed travel and tech together, a kid’s habit of taking gadgets apart, and a price sheet that made one thing obvious: a custom smartwatch built from scratch was not happening.
That constraint is how Trevit exists. The British Columbia founder still wanted an affordable watch people could actually buy, so she changed the plan instead of abandoning the business. Alongside Trevit, she runs Audit by Chérie, a service that optimizes existing websites rather than building them from scratch. She handles both as a one-person shop.
In this Q&A, Oduwole talks about where the Trevit name came from, what the hardware sticker shock forced her to change, how close she sits to her customers, and what would make both of her companies feel finished five years from now.
Where did the name “Trevit” come from? Does it have special meaning?
It came from an idea of mine combining Travel + Tech, a “tech on the go” kind of concept. I played around with a few different wordplay options before landing on Trevit as my pick.
When you realized building a custom smartwatch came with a heavy price tag, what did that force you to change about your original plan?
When I first priced out what it would actually take to build a smartwatch completely from scratch, custom hardware and all, I realized quickly I couldn’t afford that route. But I was adamant about still starting this business, so I had to figure out another way to provide an affordable option, without creating one from scratch myself.
As a solopreneur handling almost everything yourself, where has that closeness with customers helped you, and where has it made things harder?
In both businesses, hearing directly from customers gives me better insight into what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve. That closeness is what tells me where to focus next, on the product side and the service side.
It’s also difficult, though, because there really aren’t days off since everything runs through and from me. There’s no one else to hand a hard day off to, and no distance between me and my businesses. I feel every high and every low of it directly.
Where did your technical skills in software and hardware come from? Was it all traditional schooling, or did you have some unique learning experiences?
I’ve always been a technical person. When I was younger, between 5 and 10 years old, I used to take apart or mess with every device I could get my hands on, just to understand how it worked. A lot of that started of boredom, but it turned into a real passion. I started my first business at 17, while still in university, and school just helped build a bit on the passion I already had. It helped with both Audit by Chérie and Trevit, and the business side was pure experience.
You also have Audit by Chérie. What are some of the biggest mistakes people make with their websites that it helps avoid?
Audit by Chérie is less about helping people build a site from scratch; it’s mainly about optimizing sites that already exist, along with other technical tasks.
Two mistakes come up a lot. The first is people putting all their focus on how the site looks without thinking about actual visitor behaviour, or the reverse: wanting conversions without considering how the design affects that behaviour. The second is not planning based on data. Before I make any changes for a client, I look at the data first, so decisions are grounded in what’s actually happening on the site instead of random guesses.
How do you balance running Audit by Chérie with Trevit without one taking over the other?
Honestly, I work based on priorities in the moment and deadlines rather than a strict split between the two. I respond to all inquiries across both businesses within one business day, no matter which one it’s for, and then I work through tasks based on how urgent they are.
Looking five years from now, what would make you feel like both Trevit and Audit by Chérie truly lived up to the reason you started them?
I’ll know they’ve lived up to why I started them when I keep hearing that what I do is still helping people, and when I know I’m still making an impact. That’s the most important thing for me. Everything else is secondary.
The Trevit Smartwatch is available at trevit.store. Audit by Chérie is at auditbycherie.com.
Trevit’s Instagram @trevitribe
