Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Alvarez-Cohen & Nick Eischens. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Jason and Nick are best friends from UCLA. During college, they would go to many social events (parties, networking events, etc.) just to make new friends and grow their network. Business cards and manually typing in phone numbers and social handles wasn’t cutting it and often led to missed connections/opportunities. There had to be a better way.
Then they learned about an NFC technology and invented and patented the first-ever digital business card phone tag – the Popl! They launched Popl in February 2020 with the help of a viral Tiktok (80M+ views).
The company went through the Winter 2021 batch of Y-Combinator and raised a $2.2M seed round shortly after.
Now, Popl is the #1 digital business card platform for both teams and individuals and is revolutionizing the way people connect. Popl is the last business card you will ever buy…
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with every startup, we’ve overcome many challenges.
Some notable struggles:
– Managing different personalities as the team continues to grow. The hardest part of Jason’s job as CEO is keeping everyone happy.
– Getting in-store placement at Walmart and Staples! This process took >1 year to make it happen.
– Saying “no” to cool opportunities that just don’t fit with our mission. It’s crucial to stay focused.
– Lots of complex contract negotiations and hefty legal fees. Contracts are no joke!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Popl?
Popl is the next-generation business card. Teams and individuals use Popl to make instant digital connections with everyone they meet. Our hardware products combined with our mobile app treat Popl users to the most comprehensive digital business card platform.
This year we launched Popl Teams, our b2b desktop application for companies looking to modernize their business by switching to digital business cards. Popl Teams is growing fast and we’re excited to bring other companies into the future of networking.
Pricing:
- Popl Phone Tag: $19.99
- Popl Card: $14.99
- Popl Wristband: $24.99
- Popl Pro (in-app subscription): $7.99/month
- Popl Teams: Starting at $14.99/seat
Contact Info:
- Email: nick@popl.co & support@popl.co
- Website: popl.co
- Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/popl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/popl.co
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/poplco
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQKT5Xlndffvt1JBScnUjvw
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@popl
