Innovator of the Week – Where Are They Now?
Jag Vootkur
CEO of KudosWall
What’s new and exciting? 
KudosWall has grown a lot since we were featured on Live Free and Start! 2016 has been an amazing journey and had brought a lot of good fortune to us. From being featured in Business NH Magazine and the Union Leader, to winning the audience-favorite award (and $20,000 with it!) at TechOut 2016; KudosWall saw a lot of good days, and we think that the future for KudosWall looks pretty bright too!
With our new team member on board helping us out with marketing, Natalie Shaw — who was briefly a Nashuan, and is from Minnesota — we’ve been able to spread the word and tell more folks all about who we are and how we can help them with our tool.
We’ve been marketing our existing tool (now called KudosWall Edu) which is still incredibly useful for younger students, and their parents + educators to keep track of their proudest moments and make sure they’re never lost or forgotten. KudosWall also got a pretty exciting new addition to the family; KudosWall Pro! KudosWall Pro is designed with young, fresh, professionals and first-time resume-builders in mind. It allows anyone to create their resume without the hassle that comes with the skillful-art that is resume writing. We are just releasing it now, and have done a pretty good job at keeping it under wraps.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned in the last year?
Earlier this year, we travelled to Knoxville to let people know about all we had to offer at this year’s Destination Imagination Global Festival, where we talked to hundreds of incredibly-talented students from all across the nation (including our NH teams!) and globe, as well as their parents and educators all about how KudosWall could help them out! Unsurprisingly, they understood how important it is to keep track of students’ proudest moments. We had a great time there, and are glad that so many young people are not only doing so much, but are also so focused on their futures — and to be a part of that brought so much joy to us. While we there we had the chance to talk to some of the older students about our upcoming tool (KudosWall Pro) and many of them were ecstatic about the tool, especially because it made the daunting task of writing resumes look like a breeze, mostly because with Pro, it is.
Being in the startup world has been such an amazing learning experience for everyone on the team, and we are so thankful for all of the incredible people, organizations, and programs that New Hampshire has to offer for us and the many other emerging startups in the Granite State. We’ve overcome many hurdles in the last year, and we love to say that calling a Startup a roller coaster doesn’t do it justice.
What’s the next year going to look like?
We think things are looking up for KudosWall with the release of our new tool, as well as increased excitement and positive reactions from those we’ve talked to so far. As we continue to grow, we are excited to see all that the rest of this year, and the years that come after that, will bring!
As for now, we’re taking it day by day and will continue to make storing and showcasing the proudest moments of everyone the key focus of our company and of our products!
Check out KudosWall’s original Innovator of the Week profile here.