HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background.
I am a 23-year devoted geek to software development, consulting for a wide range of large corporations. I was inspired as a kid by the game Zork, and the rest is history; at the time, I just wanted to code text-based games.
What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do?
Joticle is a topic-focused social learning platform that brings together experts, educators, hobbyists, creators, and students and rewards participation through gamification.
What is the origin story?
I was inspired to create Joticle when I found Google was an inept tool for learning and researching a vague topic I was interested in. It became a tool I started that evolved when I brought it to Jeff, a pro-Long driver, and we began to see how this could make a significant impact across topics and in the research and learning world.
What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem?
I love the communication and flexibility of the team, their willingness to be fluid, and we all show up 24/7 at work through Slack and get stuff done. It amazes me that when you take the confines away from the work process and let people work at their peak times, how much gets accomplished. Having a group of people that embrace and are always ON is a fantastic feeling and keeps me motivated to strive even more for them. My team is passionate about our mission and what we have created. We come from different backgrounds, but all converge on the platform's potential and impact utilizing the internet to research and learn.
If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing?
Writing code for someone else’s big idea.
At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics?
I measure success in growing a little company that has endured much and keep fighting with each challenge. Our core success is that we are now on a global stage with investor discussions, made a significant pivot in our business model based on user feedback, and have returned even more robust with a solid product. As an early-stage company that has gone from generating revenue to putting that on hold to improve the product and survive, that is a testament to the people on the team, and with that kind of success, the rest is numbers
What’s most exciting about your traction to date?
The more evolved and clarified we had made our story and pitch, the more people have understood its potential and the power of what we can accomplish. This traction has led to some fantastic expert and educator discoveries. Getting to know their stories and folding them into the Joticle mission is probably the most exciting part about Joticle. It is about the passion people have for their topic and their willingness to share it on a more personal level than traditional social media.
What technologies are you currently most excited about and most worried about? And why?
I am excited to see where the next stage of the internet takes us. We are all dabbling in a medium that, other than selling stuff, the potential has just begun to be tapped and is only limited by the imagination. EdTech, our sector, is just barely getting its wings, and being a part of that is beyond exciting.
What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform?
Outside of the fact that the green font color of my Zork youth is all over it. I love the energy of the site, the excitement it eludes, and the quality of the content. This may be superficial, but I love the quirky UI. It is a place I can get fired up about startups, and it is a great place
What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself?
Challenge yourself every day to be a more improved version of yourself each day and don’t fall into the trap of accepting average. Value family, friends, and fun as a core support system and take more risks with your career early on. I would also give me some advice on what not to do in the music business. I also would tell myself to give grace more often and be patient with those shortcomings but willing to support or rise to meet them in the middle.
What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing?
Don’t expect your friends or family to support or even understand your startup journey; go to your industry community for that validation; they know what you are going through and the hurdles you will climb and are far better cheerleaders than the buddy you drink beer with.
Vote for Joticle for Startup of The Year in Scottsdale.