RECAP: 1 Million Cups focuses on time with Mixtape, Flowh
May 27, 2015 | Abby Tillman
There was a theme at today’s 1 Million Cups KC, and it was time.
Mixtape founder Joel Johnson
Two startups presented their businesses, both at different stages, and both in different industries, but both dealing with time — how we remember it and how we manage it.
Mixtape founder Joel Johnson was first to present his firm, which created a card game that prompts players to pair songs with life experiences to cultivate story telling and memory sharing.
“Mixtape gives people a chance and an opportunity to be vulnerable in front of each other, to share something personal about themselves through song,” Johnson said. “These stories are the glue to our relationships, our experiences and our history. …This game helps people tell them.”
Johnson is currently running a Kickstarter campaign, the proceeds of which would allow him to produce cards for the game and get the game into the hands of his customers. He plans to sell the game for $25 at retail locations, though it comes with a discount through the company’s Kickstarter campaign.
After Mixtape, co-founder Eric Darst presented Flowh, a calendar exchange platform. Flowh connects all of the online calendars of interest to a person to one personal calendar with the simple goal of solving the mess of scheduling in a digital world.
“The calendar world is a mess, it’s scattered and inconsistent,” Darst said. “With Flowh you can follow all the calendars that interest you with one click, and sync any events into your own personal scheduler.”
The Flowh team has a growth plan in place, which will follow three phases. First, they plan to expand the use of their “follow” button and secure patents on their product. Next, it will move into the big data industry, and finally, will scale its product internationally.
“We have a desire to be acquired at some point,” Darst said. “So, (our) number of users is very important to us.”
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