Social Prize

Description

We're a humble startup in it's fledgling stages but, in terms of success, I think we've been great at building relationships and providing a more human experience. What makes us unique is that we make online promotions, particularly sweepstakes, a more social event.

Every week we're adding new features to add layers of game mechanics, not merely to make our site more sticky but because we are gamers ourselves (well, most of us are at least). The challenge is meeting today's needs while innovating enough to be ready for tomorrow.

We see a huge paradigm shift in the works whereas referrals, authenticity, and engagement take a real shape. Our platform combines the best-of-breed technologies from sites such as Klout, Empire Avenue, OfferPop, and the like while bringing our own "secret sauce" into the mix. These brands have done some big things and we hope to create our own ripples.

When folks mention Social Prize, we hope that they first touch upon our increased transparency, authenticity, and warmth. We don't want to be another faceless marketing entity nor do we want to be merely a publishing solution. For brands, we want to be known as the folks that help level out the playing field so it's not just the big names (and huge budgets) stealing the thunder. For consumers, we want to make the marketing experience more about their needs, having fun, and sharing authentic, compelling stories because we know sales pitches don't excite anyone.

So far, I'd say we're doing an awesome job but there are many opportunities left to capitalize upon. Our audience has been instrumental in our growth, with critical feedback coming in daily via various channels. We love our members, sponsors, and supporters!

Why we deserve your vote !

I really feel we have a team that cares just as much about being profitable as much as we care about human connection and helping others. When we develop new features or content, we always think...

- How does this help others?
- Is the proposed value authentic and clear to understand?
- How well are we communicating our core experience?
- Are we being transparent enough? Would we trust this if we were not associated with this?
- Would I use our platform again as a sponsor/business?
- Would I be compelled enough as a member to return daily?
- Is it easy and intuitive enough?

In short, we really want to create an experience that everyone can enjoy. Sure, there are lots of sweepstakes sites and social media tools out there. The concepts of game mechanics, team-driven referrals, and social metrics are not completely ground-breaking but what we are cooking up here is going to knock some socks off soon.

Even today I think we have created a nice "one-stop shop" for businesses of any size to put to work. We do great as a lead generation platform but I feel where we really shine is at creating social buzz and re-activating audiences. Any business looking to do more with their social media efforts and increase (PLUS retain) their audience will soon be looking at us as we become more pervasive.

I truly behave we have a very talented team with a diverse background and a true passion for what we're doing. We're not merely jumping on a hot trend. This is something that makes sense for us on so many levels: there is a need, there is a void to be filled - and we're doing just that!

Simply put: we're doing something special here. For our fellow geeks in the audience, there's some awesome sauce cooking here!

The prize money will create more jobs by...

There's no doubt that, collectively, the sectors of mobile, online promotions, and social media are huge. There is virtually limitless growth there and it won't go anywhere any time soon. That said, these are all highly-competitive and perhaps saturated sectors.

Our mission is to find the intersection of the hot trends and secure unique advantages to be ahead of the pack. This is critical because many startups come and go in this marketplace.

We're actively measuring, listening, and learning about our own business, the competition, and potential "complimentors" so that we can maintain a sustainable growth pattern. In other words, we have lofty, perhaps humanitarian goals, yet we have tangible goals that will make us profitable and keep us growing. We know that's the only way to create jobs and provide growth opportunities for our team members and clients alike.

Our initial hiring phases will likely focus on sales staff to help us spread the word about our brand. Realistically, we can only pay these folks on a performance basis right now which is why any sort of funding would really help us stimulate growth. It'd also help for us to have additional technical team members so that we can sustain a rapid/agile development environment.

I'd say we are primarily a technology platform, then a marketing/social entity. With that in mind, all personnel really have to get the gaming, technical, and social aspects of our business. This is what will create passion and create the type the type of ideavirus Seth Godin often speaks of. We want folks engaged in casual conversations about what we're doing to say, "Hey, that's pretty darn cool!"

My personal vision is for us to be a very progressive company that's fun to work in. A place where people look forward to working because they feel they are contributing to positive change. While we welcome all business, we feel our sweet spot will be with "solopreneurs" and small businesses as we provide very budget-friendly solutions. Talents with background in SMB will be particularly attractive when we go all-in with hiring.

Realistically, we believe we can double, if not triple, our team size as soon as first quarter 2013.. Maybe sooner!

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