2019 Startups to Watch: SquareOffs curing ‘comment chaos’ with two-way conversations
January 14, 2019 | Elyssa Bezner
Editor’s note: Startland selected 12 Kansas City firms to spotlight for its annual Startups to Watch list. The following is one of 2019’s companies. Click here to view the full, ranked list of Startups to Watch.
SquareOffs’ elevator pitch: SquareOffs is a microdebate platform used by online publishers and brands to promote meaningful conversation, increase engagement, and create new revenue.
The launch of a new SquareOffs consumer site is expected to cement the startup firmly as the “YouTube of social polling,” said Jeff Rohr, noting the potential to reach 100 million pageviews per month on partner sites in 2019.
Founder: Jeff Rohr
Founding year: 2012
Amount raised to date: $1 million-plus
Noteworthy investor: Howard Tullman (G2T3V), Leawood Venture Capital, Greenway Capital, KCRise Fund, Missouri Technology Corporation, BMD Partners
Programs completed: Pipeline Entrepreneurs, LaunchKC
Current employee count: 6
“The site will feature all of the top debates going on in news, sports, and lifestyle,” the founder added. “This is going to highlight debates from the partners that we work with, from our own writers, and it would also allow the everyday person to create a Squareoff and share it out.”
A SquareOff is a content type built for conversational debate involving a question with two possible answers — giving the audience an opportunity to pick a side and justify the position, he explained, noting that multiple partners signed on in 2018 who utilize the format in varying ways.
The platform provides pathways for partnering publishers — which include News Press and Gazette Co., TastyTrade, Sports Publishers Group, Dear Abby, and KC-based Andrews McMeel — to take ownership and monetization of conversations relating to their content that are happening on social media sites like Twitter, said Rohr.
Click here to read how SquareOffs is creating its own new niche.
Ruben Espinosa, SquareOffs developer
“The consumer site will be up within the next month,” he said. “We’re already starting to send some of that to our social channels and we’ve been running tests since the summertime with various categories — looking at which ones are doing well, like sports, food and product review and so on.”
The team, headed by Rohr with experience in business-to-business products at tech startup iModules, benefited greatly from the addition of CTO Rachel Smith, said Rohr, adding the science and development background manifested into a impactful versatility.
In 2019, the startup is expected to expand the team to more than a dozen employees, he added, noting building the audience on the platform as well as new partners are the top priorities.
“Our biggest goal is to make news sites more of a two-way conversation,” said Rohr. “You have these comments just sitting at the bottom of an article and they’re not super productive. By asking a question, we sort of frame the conversation and do what we call ‘curing comment chaos.’”
1) Bungii
2) ShotTracker
3) RiskGenius
4) Metactive
5) Pepper IoT
6) Signal Kit
7) Life Equals
8) Bellwethr
9) Homebase.ai
10) Tea-Biotics Kombucha
11) SquareOffs
12) Zohr
2019 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
‘This is the end of The Sundry’ — Sustainable food problem remains after startup’s closing, founder says
The Sundry market-and-restaurant concept at Plexpod Westport Commons simply wasn’t solving the problems of scope and scale within sustainable and local agriculture as intended, said Ryan Wing. Ultimately, that meant the venture itself couldn’t continue as originally envisioned, added Wing, founder of the sustainable food startup, which abruptly closed to the public last week. “Expectations…
First couple of KC Dapper Rap launching first-of-its-kind coworking space for city’s urban core
A new self-style space in Midtown is expected to offer hair, beauty and wellness entrepreneurs an opportunity to cowork under one roof without the burden of securing financing or paying for utilities, said Lauren Euston. “If you are a busy stylist or busy wellness professional and you are working hard to reach the next level…
The Prospect: ‘Cutthroat Kitchen’ winner on the move with chef-inspired workforce training
Everyday consumers can elevate Kansas City through the simple of act of eating a meal, said Chef Shanita McAfee-Bryant. Her in-the-works non-profit urban eatery concept — The Prospect — caters to a marketplace hungry for culinary-oriented workforce development training: students looking for a window into entrepreneurship through cooking, said Bryant, 2014 winner of Food Network’s…
BacklotCars parks another $25 million in Series B round led by NY-based investor
KC-fueled BacklotCars will further its mission to disrupt the wholesale automotive space, thanks to the close of a $25 million Series B funding round, the company announced Monday. Led by New York-based growth equity firm, Stripes, the round brings BacklotCars — which seeks to ease pain points for automotive wholesalers — to $38 million in…