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Startup Name | PopTalk |
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What problem are you solving? | PopTalk aims to solve the world’s expensive communication and connectivity problem through a new and innovative way: By letting advertisers rent your lockscreen, you receive credits that you can use to call, text, and get online on your phone — for free. Although cellphones are getting cheaper and cheaper every day, for most of the world, the service is not. In many countries, people spend 10% of their income on mobile communications through the local carrier. Because of the high cost of mobile service, at any given point in time, 35% of the 4.2 billion pre-paid phones in the world don’t have service or credits left. PopTalk aims to change that by allowing anyone with a smartphone to stay connected and get online by simply renting out their lockscreen to our sponsors who then pick up the tab. |
What is your solution? | Our mission is to help people around the world to stay connected and get online. By letting advertisers rent your lockscreen, you receive credits that you can use to call, text, and get online on your phone — for free. You can also use your credits to recharge your loved ones’ pre-paid phones. Although cellphones are getting cheaper and cheaper every day, for most of the world, the service is not. In many countries, people spend 10% of their income on mobile communications through the local carrier. Because of the high cost of mobile service, at any given point in time, 35% of the 4.2 billion pre-paid phones in the world don’t have service or credits left. PopTalk aims to change that by allowing anyone with a smartphone to stay connected and get online by simply renting out their lockscreen to our sponsors who then pick up the tab. |
Target Market | Businesses |
How will you make money? | Free – Rent your lockscreen to advertisers and earn credits to make free calls, texts and mobile data recharges |
Tell us about the market & founders, why is this a great opportunity? | The app is the brainchild of former Google managers, UC Berkeley graduate Victor Santos and Harvard graduate Sara Choi, both technology entrepreneurs with immigrant families, as a solution to serve underserved communities.Victor Santos and Sara Choi started PopTalk because they personally experienced the struggle of staying connected with those they cared about. Victor is from Brazil, the country with the world’s highest telecom rates. Sara lived and worked in the most rural parts of the Dominican Republic, where long-distance calling was a luxury. Victor Santos has over 6 years of experience in telecom and technology start-ups as an entrepreneur. Victor was born and raised in Brazil, the country with the highest telecom and mobile communication costs in the world. His personal struggles to afford communication with his family in different states while in Brazil always astonished him. When he moved to the US, he began working for a telecom start-up that used VoIP (voice over the internet) as a cost alternative to expensive carriers, and led and grew the Brazil business to over $2M/year. He founded his first company, Ciao Telecom, while still pursuing his B.S. at UC Berkeley Walter A. Haas School of Business. Ciao Telecom focused on providing companies with cloud telecom solutions with a cheaper service, and grew to an 8 digits / year business under Victor’s leadership. From there, Victor joined Google as a Marketing Manager on the AdWords product where he was responsible for managing a $60M budget and co-led a team with Sara. Sara Choi began her first venture — an NGO — in Latin America when she was 17 and left Harvard College (she later went back to complete her degree in Biological Anthropology). In the course of founding an elementary school, Sara worked with some of the most impoverished people in Latin America and first realized mobile service was an expensive luxury for people who needed it most. Sara joined Google and became YouTube’s youngest ever Media Lead heading a team of digital marketers and ad specialists, launching YouTube’s first integrated media campaign: YouTube’s Comedy Week. Sara met Victor when they co-led an AdWords team and had the idea to use ads as a way to power free communication for the underserved and even unbanked in emerging markets, beginning with Latin America. Sara is passionate about using technology as a vehicle for positive change. She believes the best companies have social impact and can ultimately change the world for the better. |
Founders Names | Victor Santos |
Website | http://www.joinpoptalk.com |
Twitter Handle | @PopTalkApp |
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