Kyle
Chicago startup Evzdrop has put a new spin on social discovery. Rather than going somewhere and seeing who’s around you, you can “listen” to places using Evzdrop’s website and mobile app. Essentially what Evzdrop is doing is combining event discovery with people discovery, in reverse.
To understand this better here’s how it works. When a user goes somewhere they do a drop, basically putting a pin down where they are at. “Dropping” is Evzdrop speak for checking in. Once you check in or “drop” you can leave a tip or comment about the place. Through your setting you can decide if you want to share your “drops” with people in your network or the public at large. Or, if you rather just lurk in the shadows you can go into “stealth mode” kind of like those startups that think they have original ideas.
You can update your drops as well. For instance if you go to your favorite burger joint and they’re out of milkshakes, that may be important information people need to know. Or perhaps you’ve gone out to one of your favorite clubs but tonight it’s a pure sausage fest.
These drops make event and people discovery for other users a breeze. Now people can look at all the places they want to check out. Users can search for a place or see what’s trending. When they do that, they’ll see all the drops from the people there already. They’ll know if it’s hot or not, by just looking at the drops on the mobile app.
If you’re the “dropper” your drops can be voted up and get you points by the more people that check out your drop. Evzdrop calls this whole thing listening in. So now you’re listening into places rather than just checking them out.
To put it another way. FourSquare is great for checking in you want to check in and get points, and show all your friends that you’ve checked in to such and such place. You may even want to be the mayor (do they even do that anymore). With Evzdrop they’re giving the drops a real purpose. When’s the last time you went to FourSquare to see if a place was hot? You looked for the people right? Evzdrop puts that idea in reverse.
We got a chance to talk with the Evzdrop team. Check out the interview below:
Evzdrop. Be Heard. from Evzdrop on Vimeo.
What is Evzdrop?
Evzdrop™ is a location-based interest network that lets people stay connected to what’s happening at places in real time. It’s a free iPhone app (Android version coming soon) and Web platform that allows users to “eavesdrop” on places to get an inside look at what’s happening through the people who are present and posting about what’s going on at any given moment.
For businesses, Evzdrop provides a new lens into how customers who are actually in their store view their business. Our business dashboard provides key demographic information for business owners, as well as conversation volume and sentiment. Evzdrop also allows businesses to connect with their customers through custom mobile campaigns that can target by demographic, sentiment, time of day, zip code or current location.
Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?
David Rush is the cofounder and CEO of Evzdrop. He has over 17 years of operational and sales leadership experience with early stage companies in digital media, software, marketing research, and technology services. Previously in his career, David held senior management and sales leadership roles at companies such as Akamai (AKAM), Gartner Group (IT), PostX (acquired by Cisco), and Iconoculture (acquired by Corporate Executive Board). In addition to these roles, he has been an active consultant and advisor to several other early-stage businesses in social media analytics, financial services software, and payments software. David also has experience in private equity and private banking, and has advised high net worth individuals and family offices on various alternative investments. David holds a BBA in Marketing from Southern Methodist University, where he was also a scholarship member of the men’s varsity golf team. David resides just north of Chicago with his wife their three kids. In his free time, David enjoys spending time with family and friends, playing golf, snowboarding, seeing live comedy or live music, and traveling.
Erik Brown is cofounder and CTO of Evzdrop. He has been involved in building and leading engineering teams for over 12 years. Previously, Erik was a consultant at Arthur Andersen, BearingPoint and West Monroe Partners responsible for architecting and building complex, distributed systems. This included the successful development of two commercial software products and numerous software systems including the electronic trading platform for the Chicago Board of Trade (acquired by the CME Group). As one of the original employees of West Monroe Partners, Erik served on the leadership team and helped grow the company from 10 to over 320 employees. At West Monroe, Erik led the Technology Integration practice, responsible for services including application development and integration, business intelligence and mobile solutions, and he also served that group as the internal CTO. Erik earned a BS in Information Systems from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, where he also studied Electrical Engineering and took part in the pioneering Technology and Management program. Erik resides just north of Chicago with his wife their two kids. Erik is a passionate music snob, wine enthusiast, and enjoys spending time with friends and family.
What’s the startup scene/culture like in Chicago?
The startup culture in Chicago is growing at a fast clip. The city continues to establish itself as a respected place for launching a startup. Obviously, Groupon brought a lot of attention to Chicago a couple of years ago and the city has drafted off of that momentum. There are a lot of incubators and accelerators such as 1871 and Excelerate that are helping to foster this growth and bring more talent to Chicago from across the Midwest and throughout the country.
What problem does EvzDrop solve?
Evzdrop brings focus and relevance to the overwhelming amount of content being created on social media. Evzdrop employs the interest graph as the thread that ties its network together, letting you follow or “listen” to the places you care about. It’s less about connecting with friends and more about getting credible, real-time insight from a stranger standing at a place you care about whether that’s a restaurant, stadium, hotel or club. The app provides a collective snapshot of a location at any given time and opens up a lens of insight well beyond one’s social network.
What is one challenge you’ve overcome in the startup process?
We took a different approach to funding that allowed us to stay focused on building the product and the business here in the short term. We now have the resources to execute over the next few months to prove out the model and justify a larger raise later this year.
Who are your mentors and role models?
We have a group of advisors that brings a strong set of experiences and insight to Evzdrop. This includes expertise in wireless and mobile, data and analytics, product development, and proven entrepreneurs who can share the wisdom they’ve gained in starting and growing successful businesses. Beyond our advisors, we look to different business leaders and technology visionaries to help us shape our thinking and vision.
What’s one thing the world doesn’t know about Evzdrop?
Aside from the fact that our app is free in the App Store, we are actively hiring talented people to join us in our mission. We are seeking strong technical, product and marketing talent to help us execute the goals for the business. We welcome any inquiries!
What’s next for Evzdrop?
In addition to product enhancements and new features added to the existing version of our mobile app, our Android app is currently in development. Stay tuned!
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