Build Mode is back with another episode! This season focuses on lessons learned from the world of go-to-market strategy. Startup Battlefield editor Isabelle Johannessen spoke to Luna co-founder Jas Schembri-Stothart and Untapped Solutions founder Andre Peart about their unique perspectives on reaching niche customer segments following their candidacy in the 2024 Startup Battlefield competition.
In our first episode, we explore what it takes to build a company with a customer-first approach with Deon Nicholas, co-founder of Forethought AI. And the second episode details the guerrilla tactics and experiments that worked to reach two very different audiences: a teenage girl and a former incarcerated worker.
In the case of Luna, a health app for girls, the challenge of reaching its users was clear. Neither co-founder was a teenage girl anymore. To get the feedback and insight they needed, Schembri-Stothart and her team visited schools in the UK and were “basically grilled” by students, gaining tough but clear feedback and even interest in helping build the app. They in turn became the beginning of a swarm of brand ambassadors. They were the “queens behind the scenes” working on the app itself, the creators who created the social content to promote the app, and they became their own go-to-market team, setting up activities at major events like Taylor Swift’s concerts that they knew would draw their target audience in droves.
Untapped Solutions had another challenge. As “LinkedIn for the formerly incarcerated,” Peart needed to find a way to make sure the platform could actually be rolled out in the many places currently or formerly incarcerated people could access to help find employment. And to make that happen, in a field with little exposure to technology solutions, they’ve worked hard on speaking engagements, even started their own National Reentry Coalition and even launched their own events, which began in April of this year. This, combined with partnerships with agencies serving the 600,000 people released from prison each year, has led to increased adoption.
“We’re in almost every prison,” Peart said. “So if you have a tablet, you already have Untapped.”
For an entire episode’s worth of insights, check out the video above, or listen and subscribe to Build Mode wherever you get your favorite podcasts. If you like what we do, please leave us a review. If you have feedback about the show, please contact us at podcasts@techcrunch.com.
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