KeepUp: Interview With Lauren Washington, Co-Founder & CEO
We had the opportunity to interview Lauren Washington, the co-founder and CEO of KeepUp. She launched the KeepUp app in 2015 with a mission: to allow users to take back their lives from social media, with out missing out on the important moments. KeepUp is a productivity app that tracks 12 major life events from six social media sites, giving users control of who they follow, what events they see, and when they get updated.
Lauren Washington, Co-founder and CEO of KeepUp
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and KeepUp?
A: KeepUp is a cloud based app that uses machine learning to help businesses create hyper-personal ads to their followers. We started off as a consumer app, which launched in 2015, but were approached by a number of businesses who felt they could use what we provided to make better connections with their followers. So we built a web app that did just that. It tracks 12 high engagement, high purchase (events that people tend to spend a lot of money on) life events that people are talking about on social media, such as birthdays, weddings and new jobs, notifying businesses so that they can respond with a message or personalized discount. We also track trending conversations so you know not only what your followers care about, but also what they talk about. In addition, we just released a leading generation feature that allows you to find people who are talking about things relevant to your business’ services. I’ve spent most of my career in social media and came up with the idea for KeepUp after creating insights for global companies using social media data. It sparked the idea that if we can cull through all of this information using keywords and queries, then adding an algorithm on top of that would help us do it automatically.
Q: What made you want to start your own company and how has KeepUp impacted your life?
A: I really wanted to start a company so I could build something from the ground up that would make an impact on the world. There are a million unique ways to impact the world that don’t include entrepreneurship, but this is how I believe I can best contribute.
Q: Have you hit any roadblocks that almost caused you to throw in the towel?
A: Of course - too many to count! When they say entrepreneurship is a roller coaster, it’s true. Every dip doesn’t mean it’s the end though. I think it’s about deciding whether your potential opportunity outweighs all the reasons not to move forward. If you see potential, keep going, but also be sure to have a concrete idea of what your personal limits are.
Q: What has been the greatest award or achievement that your company has attained so far?
A: The greatest award we’ve received is winning the 43North competition, which gave us $250,000 and incubator space for the year. It’s incredible to see an idea you have worked on, validated in that way.
Q:How will your KeepUp app improve the lives of its users?
A: KeepUp aims to cut the clutter of social media for both everyday users and businesses. While social media has absolutely changed our lives, it’s so ubiquitous that it can be really overwhelming. What we’re doing is allowing people to step back, but not miss out, by finding and notifying them on the most important events.
Q: KeepUp is able to track six social media platforms with the possible prospect of looking through and accurately tracking photos (Pinterest, Flickr). Do you plan on expanding your technological reach in these areas?
A: Right now we are only still tracking these six platforms for a few different reasons. First, we’re looking at places where people post major events about their lives and these are the main places those posts are taking place. Second, the ability to track photos is improving, but isn’t quite at the level we need to provide the level of accuracy we currently can through text. We’re definitely open to exploring more social channels in the future though.
Q: In 2014, there was discussion about a possible data marketplace being built for the app. Is this platform still in the making or has the model changed since then?
A: Our business model has changed in the last few months. We recently launched a platform for businesses to track their own followers. We still have the ability to potentially connect users across all social platforms on our backend and may even pursue it down the line, but found there was more demand for this tool right now.
Q: Are you looking for additional funding via a traditional capital raise and/or crowdfunding? If so, how can interested readers learn more?
A: We are not actively raising a round, but are definitely looking for partnerships. Interested readers can reach out to me at talktous@keepupapp.com.
Disclosure: Startup Watch is a platform TalkMarkets provides for startup company executives to discuss their companies in depth. TalkMarkets provides a suggested list of questions but the format ...
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