by Mike Montgomery
An introduction to CALinnovates’ Newest Member
In a world where Twitter has over 200 million users and Facebook has reached the one billion member summit, tapping into the vast social wells can be challenging for businesses big and small.
Enter Kit, the newest member of CALinnovates, which is aimed at filling a big need for businesses interested in better using social to create brand ambassadors, convert more sales, and interact with their fans. Founded by Michael Perry just three weeks ago, Kit has already contracted with a gaudy number of high-profile clients eager to use their product. Kit is, according to Perry, working with more than 1,500 brands, including numerous Fortune 500 companies.
“Our goal was to build a kick-ass product for brands,” Perry says. “We’re not cutting edge like Google Glass, but we’re insanely relevant.”
Kit has certainly nailed the kick-ass product part by building a simple tool allowing businesses and brands to identify their biggest fans via social channels. Looking for the #1 person who likes your posts? Wondering how big their network is? Looking for ways to offer incentives to turn your best fans into even bigger brand ambassadors? Kit is the simple toolbox you need.
That’s a lot to offer businesses, which makes it all the more surprising that Kit isn’t some lumbering social media research firm. In fact, they’re ridiculously limber, consisting of three people. Perry himself does business development by day with Aram Prigian and coding by night alongside CTO Mike Taylor, a former compatriot at Perry’s previous startup Gving.
Despite the company’s anorexic payroll, though, Perry believes Kit can easily compete with the biggest players in the market. “Some people would say David vs. Goliath was an unfair fight,” he says. “But we all know how that turned out.”
This confidence has served Kit well so far. But if you think Perry and company are just building another startup in search of a buyout you’re wrong. “Our goal is to build a great product and acquire, rather than get acquired,” Perry says. “We’re not interested in an early, easy exit.”
As for achieving the company’s goals, Perry is refreshingly frank, invoking a Field of Dreams mentality. “If we can’t build a million dollar business, we don’t deserve Silicon Valley investment dollars,” he says.
Those are words a lot of startups should take note of.
We’re excited to welcome Kit as a member of CALinnovates. You can learn more about them at kitcrm.com.