Today is Demo Day for Batch 10 of 500 Startups, and after having trended on Product Hunt, mobile marketing solution Uplette should be riding high on a cloud. Amanda Parker, cofounder and CEO, says that her time spent in the 500 Startups program has allowed her to expand the number of people she counts as her closest friends. “I’ve learned it takes a village to build a business, and having other founders for support and advice is incredibly valuable because everyone is going through the same things,” she says.
Uplette empowers brands and agencies to easily deliver highly personalized and relevant mobile ad content by delivering proprietary technology to fill the gap between exchanges. “It can integrate easily into third-party platforms,” according to their demo video, which makes them “the perfect platform for RTB Providers, Ad Exchanges, Retailers, Creative Agencies, Media Agencies, and more.”
“Currently mobile advertising just simply sucks. Most advertisers rely on that spray ‘n pray model,” says Parker. Uplette offers a unique experience with highly personalized, highly targeted, context-aware content by taking information from the phone and putting it back into the ad exchange.
Coming from Toronto, Parker says that the ability to connect with people willing to take a meeting or call in Silicon Valley is part of the open startup culture there. She hopes to bring this culture back home and help facilitate a strong startup community in Toronto. “For example, less than a week after I moved here we landed our first DSP partnership – that could have taken months to land if I weren’t here. Just last week we had a potential adviser and investor reach out to us on social media. As long as you are willing to ask, you can make the connections you are looking for.”
“I’ve learned so much from everyone and the healthy competitive spirit here allows us to keep pushing to do bigger and better things,” adds Parker. Even walking down the street, she says, can be an educational experience as you overhear discussions of MVP, server loads, and beta launches.
“It’s a bit scary to not know exactly where we might be in one year’s time, but really exciting as well.” 500 Startups Batch 10 Demo Day is today in Mountain View, CA.
