Thanks for taking the time to sit with us to share your Startup Story with our readers. Can you start out by sharing a little bit about yourself and your company?
I'm a co-founder at Dare Drop (daredrop.com). Dare Drop is a 2-way marketplace for branded content that connects brands and influencers at scale. We help influencers make better branded content and grow, and we help brands show off their products to audiences who want them.
Every business has some sort of catalyst for getting started, or some inspiration. What was your "ah ha" moment?
My co-founder and I were previously at an influencer marketing platform called Reelio, acquired by AT&T in 2018. After the acquisition we realized that influencer marketing platforms still had two key problems 1. scaling influencers as a brand and 2. interesting and engaging content ideas for creators that help them grow. Through spending time in the ecosystem and aligning on prioritizing influencer success, we came up with a "gamified" solution that could help solve these problems in Dare Drop.
Your collection is already set up for you with fields and content. Add your own, or import content from a CSV file. Add fields for any type of content you want to display, such as rich text, images, videos and more. You can also collect and store information from your site visitors using input elements like custom forms and fields.
Be sure to click Sync after making changes in a collection, so visitors can see your newest content on your live site. Preview your site to check that all your elements are displaying content from the right collection fields.
With a million business ideas out there, what makes your business unique?
For brands we help give them scale with influencers that no other platform can give (without a lot of people behind it). Our campaigns involve hundreds to thousands of influencers per drop. Our gamified solution for influencers’ audiences creates a unique interaction that drives further viewership and long-term growth.
Launching a business is hard. Do you have a team, or a people that have helped you get to this point? And, can you share a little bit about that?
Having a solid team is at the core of any successful startup or business. I don’t believe anyone can scale a business without help from others. Our team is ~20 people. A little more than half of the team is engineers while the other half is the business team. The business team is sales, account management, and community managers. Community management is so important in what we do. We work with influencers of all sizes and the community team really drives a lot of our marketing by fostering great relationships with influencers.
People love an inside scoop. What is something most people might not know about you or your company?
We’ve started our business in gaming but are expanding outside of just gaming. The Dare Drop model can work anywhere and with any audience.
Every business hits that wall, or hurdle. What is a major hurdle your business is facing? And how can our readers help, or get involved?
Right now, we have more demand on the sales side than we can keep up with. We need to raise and hire to keep up with the growth potential on both sides of the marketplace.
Starting and running a business is a major learning experience. Up until this point, what is the biggest lesson you have learned, personally, about running your business and the field you are in?
In the early days you need to focus on solving a real problem for users. If you can’t do that you have nothing! Then, once you have the product-market fit, you need to be ready to grow your business. Lately, my learnings have all been around scaling what we have. That includes hiring the right people and building an amazing team, as well as creating scalable processes and operations that will allow us to grow while still navigating the day-to-day tactical and strategic challenges the business faces. It’s all a lot of fun, but it’s hard!!
For our readers first learning about your business, could you share three key take away's that you believe our readers should know about you, your business or your product/solution?
We connect people to products they need through content they love.
We’ve done that by building an ecosystem that’s win, win, win! Brands get authentic & enthusiastic viewers. Influencers get access to great opportunities, rewards and a little extra help with content. Viewers get engaging interactive content and rewards from brands.
Because of that, we’ve just crossed the threshold to where over 50% of our influencer user growth is organic. Thank you community!
For that person learning about your business, why would they sign up for, or use your company or solution?
For brands, CAC is rising in most paid channels and the effectiveness of influencer marketing continues to grow. Scaling it is the biggest hurdle, we do that better than anyone else.
For influencers, we’re creating more opportunities to monetize your content without sacrificing creative control. Make awesome content, earn money for it, and grow your audience. It’s a win all around!
Are you currently seeking funding, co-founders or building out your team? If so, how can our readers help out?
We’re currently raising a seed round to help us grow.
Additionally, we’re hiring in a few areas on the business team particularly in Sales and Account Management.
And personally, I’m super interested in connecting with other founders and entrepreneurs who helped scale companies to many users.
Well, it has been wonderful sitting with you today to learn more about you and your company. How can people find out more about what you guys are up to?
Thanks! Definitely reach out to me paul@daredrop.com if you’d like to chat and learn more about Dare Drop. If you’re an influencer, please don’t hesitate to join our discord or check out the current drops we have on our website daredrop.com
Thank you for taking the time today to sit with us and share your Startup Story.
Pleasure as always, Joseph!
Startup Stories.
Every startup has a story.
ABOUT TECH ALLEY STARTUP STORIES
The start up ecosystem is in a constant state of re-invention. Startups are born from inspiration unique to the many founders and circumstances that led to their "ah ha" moment. Too often, these stories are buried in an about section, forgotten, or never shared, due to the natural churn of the startup ecosystem.
Tech Alley's to "strengthen communities by bringing people together, fostering a creative class, and creating an inclusive, diverse, and innovative technology and startup culture."
One of the best ways to accomplish this, is to simply tell the stories of the founders that make up this community.
Tech Alley "Startup Stories" would like to share the story of as many startups as possible.
Because every startup has a story.
And we want to share yours.
Joseph Haecker
Denver Chapter Organizer
