Kyle
Klout is still a big mystery to most, how do you get those crazy Klout scores. If you know how it’s really calculated feel free to send me an email. Klout Perks is a great program that puts manufacturers products into peoples hands. They presumably want the cream of the crop when it comes to Klout, but we have no idea who that really is.
Sumpto is looking to do something along those lines when they launch next week. They’re going to match products to college students with influential social graphs. Sumpto will rank a college students social clout (with a c not a k) and then link manufacturers with college brand ambassadors who can presumably get the word about those products out to the masses.
Manufacturers love it when they can get exposed to people with real influence. Ranking that influence can be a challenge but Sumpto’s Founder and President Ben Kosinski seems to have figured out the magic formula. Yes, Sumpto’s partners will most likely reach the hands of the right people.
The college demographic is a hard one to crack, with free stuff though it may be easier. When you add the free stuff to an exclusive layer of folks, your destined to gain exposure down the lines to the masses. That’s exactly what Sumpto is going to do.
We got a chance to interview Kosinski check out the interview below:
Sumpto is an online platform that measures and rewards the social influence of college students while providing brands the ability to target the college demographic. Essentially, we give free products and exclusive promotions to influential college students.
After the student confirms a valid .edu email address and connects to Facebook, Sumpto measures their social influence in the form of their Sumpto Score, a 1-100 rating system. Based on their Sumpto Score, the student is placed into one of three tiers, with the top tier being the most influential. Each week, a student is eligible to claim their Weekly Sumpto Reward; the more influential they are, the more valuable their Reward will be. Once claimed, the student can also participate in the engagement prize.
I am 23 and from Weston, CT. I played two years of basketball at Clark University and once I blew out my knee I transferred to the University of Miami. After graduating in May of 2011, I didn’t know what I wanted to do and eventually thought of Sumpto which was founded in January 2012. My partner, David D’Ambrosio, attended the University of Miami as an undergrad and received him MBA there as well. He has worked at a few previous start ups and is the SVP strategy.
Miami, FL
The startup scene is growing and there is a tremendous amount of visionary and determined people. There is also a lot of money down here but not that much faith with the entrepreneurs. It’s something I hope to see change but something that must be proven first. I chose to launch in Miami because that’s just where I was located; it’s where we are for the time being and if any opportunities arise in other cities, we’ll make that decision when the time comes.
Brands being unable to effectively reach and engage with the college demographic. College students are very difficult to reach as they grew up with Facebook and largely ignore traditional advertisements. They represent the beginning of brand loyalty and independent purchasing decisions, and have infused their daily lives and relationships with social networks. By providing brands with a previously unavailable platform that allows them to introduce their message and product through credible word of mouth recommendations, we essentially transform traditional marketing to a collaborative process where students do the talking.
I would probably say it is our algorithm. We have specifically tailored it to the college demographic, which is one of the ways we differentiate ourselves from a few other companies in our space. For example, due to our network comprised solely of college students, we are able to incorporate certain factors like school size and percentage of out of state students into the algorithm. These statistics are not only unique to the college demographic but also provides Sumpto and the brands with a ultra targeted network of influential college students. Then when you combine this targeted approach with a platform that cultivates influence into brand advocacy and loyalty, I think there is tremendous value to both the brand and student.
Our first launch was set for early May and a few weeks before, I decided to pivot. We had spent months developing a platform and then I had to make the decision to stop and change directions. It wasn’t easy, but I think I was so immersed into what I was doing that I forgot how important it is to take a step back and think what is the problem we are solving, who does it benefit, and why will people use this?
I would probably say convincing people of my idea. It started off as this discombobulated structure of words that somehow made a little sense, and then turned into a concept that provides a solution to all parties involved. Once I was able to bring my partner on, I learned that the best thing one can do is to ‘know what you know and know what you don’t’. With that, I’ve tried to bring on smarter people than myself and our two advisors, Elliot Moskow and Ethan Austin, offer tremendous insight and value to Sumpto’s growth.
We are launching on July 30th with a two week marketing campaign on BroBible.com, a college lifestyle website. After launch, we will be opening up our seed round to raise $500,000 to implement exciting new technology features and acquire more student users. With the seed round, we hope to be able to get closer to our vision which is to transform traditional marketing into a collaborative process between brands and college students.
