Meet Innovator of The Week
Joel Robinson
CEO and Co-Founder of VidFall.com
Tell us about yourself and your business.
Hi, I’m Joel Robinson, and I am the co-founder and CEO of VidFall.com. After graduating from Lehigh University in May 2014, I moved to New Hampshire to pursue my start-up full-time, with the help of Wasabi Ventures. I have always loved innovation and start-ups, so making the leap into entrepreneurship after graduation was a dream come true.
I was tired of paying retail prices, and I was intrigued by the gamification of shopping. So I decided to create VidFall as my own buying game. At the time there were a few companies that monetarily rewarded people for watching video advertisements, but it simply took too long to achieve anything meaningful. I thought it would be cool to crowdsource the ad revenue that was generated, in order to create a meaningful discount for individuals. Since then VidFall has adapted into a powerful marketing tool for emerging brands to grab market shares through branded video content.
Please provide your 30-second pitch about your company.
VidFall is a marketing platform that provides brand identities, meaningful conversations with shoppers, and minimal customer-acquisition costs through crowd deals. A crowd deal is an event in which shoppers collectively lower the price of a product by watching relevant and engaging videos. Each time a video is completed, the buy-now price of the item for sale is decreased by a few pennies. The first user to deem the price low enough and click “Buy Now” gets the entire group discount. It is a fun and engaging way to create a conversation with emerging brands.
Who or what was your best resource for starting your company?
If it weren’t for TK Kuegler and Wasabi Ventures, I would be working in corporate finance at a big bank. I am incredibly thankful for the development resources, advice, and time that Wasabi Ventures has invested in me and my company.
What’s the best advice you have received?
The key to success is treating everything like it is your first project, like you are an intern. As the CEO, I don’t have to report to anyone. My success thus far hinges on treating each project like it is my first and holding myself accountable.
What about the NH lifestyle appeals to you?
New Hampshire is an incredible place to build a business. The access to start-up capital, a favorable tax structure, and a community of innovators has made this an ideal place to start VidFall. Exploring the great outdoors in New Hampshire is also a release for me. During the summer months, I enjoy hiking and kayaking with my co-founder, Steve Messa. There is nothing like talking about new product features and crazy start-up ideas out on the lakes.
What does the future look like for your company?
VidFall is positioned for growth this quarter. We have proven that people enjoy playing our shopping game, and we can make money through our discounting service. Our focus is serving more branding clients, increasing our reach with more shoppers, and continuing to provide a platform that consistently offers low customer acquisition costs and meaningful conversations for brands, apart from traditional marketing platforms of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It is going to require a lot of hard work, but our team is excited by the challenge.
What was your biggest obstacle in starting your company and how did you overcome it?
VidFall is a unique business model. It requires a lot of time and effort to educate new users on how our site works. Carving out a new industry can be very challenging, but that is what makes it fun to build VidFall. A big goal in my life has been to make a mark on the world, by creating a technology or service that no one else has built and turning it into a sustainable business. We continue to educate the market about our solution, and we work each day to make our messaging more concise. It’s all about repetition and improvements. So I think we will hit the tipping point soon and turn VidFall into the next big New Hampshire tech company. Check us out at VidFall.com and grab one of our next great crowd deals!
Connect with Joel on LinkedIn and Twitter.
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