Innovator of the Week – Where Are They Now?
Maria Edvalson
PickUp Patrol
What’s new and exciting?
2016 was a very good year for PickUp Patrol. We were one of just 32 companies selected to be featured in the Startup Pavilion at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) convention in Denver in June, and we attended the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) convention in Washington, DC in July. We launched the PickUp Patrol app for iOS and Android and parents whose schools use our product are very excited about it.
What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned in the past year?
I’m not sure I can put my finger on just one, so I’ll mention a few of the most significant things we’ve learned in the past year. First of all, the conventions we attended helped us learn how critical it is to continue to hone our marketing message. We spend a great deal of time focusing on that one aspect of our business, and we have seen increasing success as a result.
One of the most difficult things to do as a startup is to stay focused. Many different ideas come at us from all kinds of directions, and it’s easy to start chasing squirrels. We’ve learned that the more we stay on our path, and the better job we do at prioritizing, the more success we have.
And for us, listening to our customers and getting their feedback so we can meet their needs continues to be a key goal of our company. We’ve been able to make improvements and add enhancements to our product that have made our clients very happy, and that has gone a long way towards gaining their trust and loyalty.
What’s the next year going to look like?
We are working on various campaigns that will help us expand into even more states and open new sales channels. We are currently working on a new product to add to our application which will give schools even more ways to streamline their after-school dismissals. 2017 is looking very bright, and we are looking forward to seeing where it will lead.
PickUp Patrol is a cloud-based web application that streamlines the after-school dismissal process. It won the Ultimate NH Connection competition in 2015.
Check out PickUp Patrol’s original Innovator of the Week profile here.